®Governance
Company secretaries, committee secretariats, board advisers and public-sector governance representatives.
Professional workshop · City of London
Cybersecurity and AI Governance Professionals WorkshopAccountability, Assurance and Decisions
A focused, practical day for professionals who must ensure that cyber and AI risks are understood, challenged, escalated and governed effectively—without needing to become cybersecurity or AI specialists.
DateThursday 19 November 2026
Time09:30–16:30
Investment£995 + VAT per delegate
AvailabilityLimited to 15 places
The workshop
Turn cyber and AI evidence into sound governance decisions.
A focused, full-day workshop for professionals responsible for governing, assuring or supporting organisational cybersecurity and AI risk.
Led personally by Dr John McCarthy, this full-day workshop examines how cyber and AI risks should move through governance structures—from technical evidence and operational exposure to assurance, escalation, risk acceptance and executive decision.
Participants work with realistic governance papers, scenarios and decision exercises to identify weak accountability, test cyber and AI reporting, and strengthen board and committee oversight of responsible AI use and human decision-making.
Who should attend
For professionals carrying governance responsibility.
Risk and GRC
Enterprise risk, operational risk, GRC and third-party risk professionals.
Audit and assurance
Internal audit, cyber assurance and professionals responsible for evaluating evidence.
Legal and compliance
Legal, regulatory compliance, data protection and information governance teams.
Resilience
Business continuity, organisational resilience and critical-service leaders.
Board leadership
Non-executive directors and senior leaders seeking stronger cyber and AI oversight and challenge.
What the day includes
Realistic exercises. Explicit decisions.
The governance responsibility
What boards and governance functions should require from cyber and AI reporting.
Governance architecture mapping
Committees, accountabilities, escalation routes and delegated decision authority.
Reporting quality review
Identify technical detail, ambiguity and missing business consequences in a sample cyber or AI paper.
Translation exercise
Convert technical evidence into exposed outcomes, material consequences and governance relevance.
Risk-acceptance exercise
Test authority, evidence and risk-appetite context before risk is accepted or deferred.
AI governance
Explore responsible AI use, ownership, human oversight and the questions boards should ask.
Assurance mapping
Identify the evidence governance bodies need and where assurance is fragmented or absent.
Committee simulation
Determine what should be challenged, escalated, recorded or decided.
Governance improvement plan
Agree practical improvements to apply in your organisation.
Outcomes
Leave better equipped to challenge, assure and decide.
By the end of the day, participants will be able to:
Recognise whether cyber and AI reporting is genuinely decision-ready.
Challenge technical information without becoming cybersecurity or AI specialists.
Connect cyber and AI evidence to business outcomes and material consequences.
Identify unclear ownership, accountability, human oversight and decision authority.
Determine when cyber or AI risk requires escalation.
Test whether risk acceptance is properly authorised and evidenced.
Distinguish operational reporting from governance assurance.
Improve the quality of board and committee discussions and decisions.
What you get
Practical tools for cyber and AI governance.
A full-day workshop delivered personally by Dr John McCarthy
Practical application of the Five-Layer Cyber Strategy Translation Framework
A model for evaluating cyber and AI governance papers
A structured set of cyber and AI questions for boards and governance committees
A participant workbook and certificate of completion
Right for you if
You oversee cybersecurity and AI use.
You work in governance, risk, audit, assurance, legal or compliance and are expected to oversee cybersecurity and AI use. Particularly valuable where cyber or AI reporting is highly technical, responsibilities overlap, risk acceptance is poorly evidenced, or AI use lacks clear ownership and human oversight. Build confidence in questioning senior and technical leaders. No technical cybersecurity or AI expertise is required.
Deep expertise, expressed in governance terms.
Dr John McCarthy is a Chartered Cyber Security Professional and PhD-qualified academic specialising in cybersecurity governance, resilience and critical national infrastructure. Over more than two decades, he has advised organisations across regulated and critical sectors, helping leadership teams align technical evidence, operational exposure and executive accountability.
His work combines cyber assurance, risk management and governance frameworks—including the NCSC Cyber Assessment Framework, ISO 27001 and NIS2—with a practical understanding of how boards and committees reach defensible decisions.
Every workshop is delivered personally by Dr McCarthy. Participants receive a workbook, practical governance tools and a certificate of completion.
The venue
Information Technologists’
Hall
39a Bartholomew CloseLondon EC1A 7JN
Home of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, the Hall is set among the historic streets of the City of London. It is centrally located near Barbican, St Paul’s and Farringdon stations and provides a professional setting for a focused day of learning and discussion.
View WCIT Hall information and access details →