SGE at BSides
Exeter
2026
Come and Visit Us at BSides Exeter
And experience how we empower young people to rediscover learning and unlock a future in tech.
Next Gen Session - Friday 24th April, 5 pm - 7 pm
Next Gen is an opportunity for students, teachers, and parents to engage with professionals and be curious about a future career in cybersecurity.
The sessions are free and will be held at Exeter University in The Forum from 5 pm-7 pm and doors open from 4.30 pm.
The Main Event - Saturday 25th April, All Day £12.50 per ticket
BSides is a conference for people interested in the Information Security industry and an inclusive event that is open to everyone.
All you really need is an interest in information security or cybersecurity. You don’t even have to work in the industry. BSides attracts a fantastic cross-section of people, from career changers, experienced professionals, industry veterans, and students.
Retro Tech. Real Learning. Future Cyber Professionals.
Simply Great Education (SGE) is proud to be a Gold Sponsor of BSides Exeter and to host the SGE Retro Village at this year’s event.
BSides Exeter is a community-led cybersecurity conference that celebrates curiosity, learning, and hands-on exploration. It brings together students, educators, early-career technologists, and senior cyber professionals in a space that prioritises knowledge-sharing over gatekeeping, making it a natural fit for SGE.
The SGE Retro Village
At BSides Exeter, SGE is hosting the Retro Village: a hands-on, interactive space where vintage technology is used not as nostalgia but as a spark for lifelong learning and creativity in Game Development, Computer Science, Electronics, and Cyber Security.
Our work focuses on young people who may be neurodivergent, have social, emotional or mental health needs, or have struggled to engage with mainstream education. Through gamified, purposeful learning, we help students reconnect with curiosity, often with genuinely life-changing outcomes.
Retro technology plays a powerful role in this process. It removes abstraction. Constraints are visible. Cause and effect are immediate. When something breaks, students can see why and fix it. That moment of “I did that” is where confidence begins.
Why Retro Tech at a Cyber Conference?
Cybersecurity didn’t emerge from compliance frameworks or corporate playbooks. It emerged from curiosity, from people experimenting with systems, games, and machines long before the industry had a name.
Alongside student showcases, we invite BSides attendees to reflect on their own beginnings: the hardware, the games, and the happy accidents that sparked their journey into technology. The aim is to build a community of interest that supports the future of digital education and the next generation of cyber professionals. This directly echoes the BSides Exeter ethos and its guiding idea:
“Curiosity created the cyber pro.”
What You’ll See at the Retro Village
Visitors to the SGE Retro Village can explore and interact with:
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Student-built game projects using Unity, with hands-on opportunities to build a simple game
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3D art workflows in Blender, from concept to in-game assets
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Retro electronics, including a BBC Micro teletext system
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Low-level game development on the Commodore 64 (6510 assembler, sprites, and music)
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Vintage games running on original hardware, including:
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BBC Master (Elite — doing the impossible in 22KB)
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Commodore 64
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Atari 2600
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Amiga
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Atari ST (MIDI and music)
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ZX Spectrum (Manic Miner)
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BBC Micro to Archimedes, tracing the beginnings of ARM architecture
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This is not a museum display
Everything is live, playable, breakable, and discussable.
Effective Education Respects Curiosity
At SGE, we design learning environments that foster self-esteem, confidence, and curiosity, laying the foundations for lifelong learning.
Our presence at BSides Exeter is about more than showcasing projects.
It’s about demonstrating how curiosity-driven learning creates confident learners and future cyber professionals.
Curiosity created the cyber pro.
Our job now is to protect that curiosity and give it room to grow.
