Published on 05 July 2021
Congratulations to Sheryn Gillin, one of our Construction Engineering Master’s students whose research into the risk of building services to healthcare has been announced as the winner of the 2021 Cambridge-McKinsey Risk Prize.
The prize is run by The Cambridge Judge Business School’s Centre for Risk Studies, in conjunction with McKinsey & Company, and is given to the best submission on risk management by a postgraduate student at the University of Cambridge
Sheryn, who is due to graduate from our unique world-leading Master’s in Construction Engineering this summer, described the motivation for her research, saying ‘The theft of health records and vulnerability of medical devices are seen as the foremost cybersecurity risks to healthcare. As someone who commissions the environmental control systems within a hospital, I am acutely aware of the need to mitigate the risks posed by building services.
Humidity control is crucial to the operation of a hospital because it reduces the risk of infection, minimises the risk of damaging medical equipment due to electrostatic discharge or condensation, and ensures the accuracy of laboratory test results and efficacy of drugs. Therefore, a cyber-attack targeting the equipment that maintains humidity threatens patient safety due to the potential closure of operating theatres, or shutdown laboratories and imaging services.
Because it is cheaper to design in, rather than bolt on a cyber-secure architecture, we must start to include clauses in contracts, and consider all failure modes during design if we are to minimise the risk of disruption to a hospital from a cyber-attack.’
In response to being awarded the Cambridge-McKinsey Risk Prize, Sheryn said ‘thanks to the judges from the Centre for Risk Studies and McKinsey & Company for this honour. I hope by sharing my research we can make hospitals safer for patients in the coming cyber-wars.
I also would like to wish all other contestants, especially the other two finalists, the very best for your future endeavours. Keep sharing your research.’
For more details of the prize and Sheryn’s winning research, please see link to the Centre for Risk Studies
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