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Over 150 years ago, the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable was laid between Foilhammerum Bay, Valentia Island in Ireland and Heart's Content in Newfoundland, Canada, thereby reducing the time to communicate between the Old and New Worlds from weeks to minutes. The technology revolution had begun which had a profound effect on commerce around the globe. It all started here!
Recent geopolitical tensions and the concurrent climate crisis have placed the topic of security and resilience of critical infrastructure at the top of policy, industry and research agendas with increased media attention. This includes subsea telecommunications cables, across which 99% of transoceanic data traffic transits.
Concerns about the security and resilience of subsea cable systems are mounting, notably as a result of greater media coverage. However the topic of cable protection and resilience is not new for the industry, and lessons can be learned from the past, applied to the present, and cables can continue to be protected into the future in an increasingly unpredictable world and unstable ecological context. The Valentia Island Symposium will be the first of its kind to bring together actors straddling multiple policy areas and domains to focus on this topic, and to explore different efforts being undertaken to address them.
About the Symposium
The Valentia Island Subsea Cable Symposium is the first such event to bring together stakeholders from across public and private sectors to discuss the topic of subsea cable security and resilience from a broad range of perspectives. It is hosted by the Valentia Transatlantic Cable Foundation and organized by Irish and international researchers as well as Irish and global industry actors. Its strong emphasis on the connections between past, present, and the future recognizes the rich, yet complicated history of these transmission technologies and the geographies involved, as well as the need to ensure greater understanding of what security and resilience means for the different actors and communities involved in - and affected by - their design, development and deployment.A Call for Presentations (CfP) was issued earlier this year with the aim of attracting innovative and diverse thinking on security and resilience of subsea telecommunications cables. The first afternoon of the Symposium will showcase the selected abstracts and serve as an important segue into the following 2 days of proceedings.
Under the umbrella topic of "Subsea Cable Security and Resilience: Past, Present and Future", we seek proposals for presentations that will contribute to ongoing efforts to ensure the security and resilience of subsea communications cables. This includes insights into how subsea cables are protected and made secure and resilient, as well as improvements through technology or other processes. Abstracts are also welcomed regarding how subsea cables contribute to the resilience of communities and the environment. Taking a broad historical perspective, we also seek to learn how lessons from the past can inform how we consider the security and resilience of subsea communications cables today and in the future.
We especially invite presentations that focus on:
Required: Submission of a written abstract of your proposed presentation (maximum 250 words). A review committee will evaluate all abstract submissions and make a final determination based on content, relevance and quality.
Abstract due date: 30 April 2024
Notification of acceptance: 31 May 2024. Due to the number of abstracts received the selection process is taking longer than anticipated and notification of successful submissions will be sent out by end of June.
Confirmation of attendance: 30 June 2024. Sponsorship for travel and accommodation may be available upon request.
infoAbstract submissions are now closed.
