Interview with Philip Anderson, Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University

Philip, can you tell us something about your background and why you decided to teach digital forensics?

I graduated from Northumbria University with a BSc (Hons) in Business Information Technology in 1997 and gained an MSc in Distance Education with Athabasca University, Canada by distance learning in 2008.

After I graduated I started working at Northumbria University in a number of different IT Support/Developer roles for different departments within Northumbria University before becoming a Lecturer in 2001. I started teaching programming and also web design and development modules. It was in 2004 and 2005 alongside colleagues that we developed the undergraduate Computer Forensic degree. Once validated and in its first year I naturally changed to teach computer forensic modules (and more) as the degree progressed.

I have over seven years’ extensive teaching experience involving Guidance Software (i.e. EnCase) in taught computer forensic modules. I have also successfully worked in the field, on a number of different forensic examinations of digital media for external clients, involving examination, analysis and production of extensive reports.

I was appointed a European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) expert in 2010 for two years for identifying emerging and future ICT risks in the area of Information Security Risk Assessment and Management. I also served as a Special Constable with Durham Constabulary for over 14 years.

For me, the reason I chose and enjoy teaching digital forensics is my computing background and the application of that knowledge in conjunction with strong investigative skills...

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