The University of Southampton is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Dame Wendy Hall to the prestigious Chair of Regius Professor in Computer Science.

The prestigious Regius Professorship was awarded to the University in 2013 by HM The Queen to mark her Diamond Jubilee – the first and only Regius Professorship in Computer Science to be granted. A Regius Professorship is a rare privilege and reflects the exceptionally high-quality of teaching and research at the University.

Dame Wendy is known internationally as a leading light in the development of Web Science and recognised the world over for her pioneering role as one of the first computer scientists to embark on serious research into multi- and hyper-media technologies before the existence of the World Wide Web.

Contribution to computer technology

A Professor of Computer Science within Electronics & Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton, Dame Wendy was a founding director of the Web Science Research Initiative - now the Web Science Trust - with web pioneer Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, an Honorary Professor at Southampton. Originally formed to foster research collaboration between Southampton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Trust is aimed at promoting the academic discipline of Web Science globally. She was also instrumental in the establishment of the Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton and is currently the Executive Director of the Institute.

“I am delighted to confirm the appointment of Professor Dame Wendy Hall to the prestigious Chair of Regius Professor in Computer Science following an international external search,â€? said Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi, Dean of Physical Sciences and Engineering - home to ECS. “It is fitting recognition of Dame Wendy’s world-leading contribution to Computer Science and to the scientific community more widely as well as her leadership at the forefront of Web Science.

“It is important now and for the future to have a Regius Professor who is respected as an academic pioneer, with the influence and experience to drive the debate around Higher Education and science,â€? Professor Al-Hashimi continued. “Dame Wendy meets this profile exactly and we offer our congratulations to her on receipt of this exceptional honour.â€?

Dame Wendy said: “I am pleased to accept this prestigious honour from the University and from Her Majesty The Queen. The Regius Professorship signifies an important honour for the University, the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering, and the discipline of Computer Science at Southampton. It also represents years of hard work by a world-leading team of people which I’m proud to continue to lead. I believe it’s a critical time in our history to contribute to our increased understanding of the power of the World Wide Web and the physical and social impact it makes on our daily lives.â€?

Recognition for long-standing career

During a distinguished career, Dame Wendy has served as President of the British Computer Society, Commissioner for the Global Commission on Internet Governance, member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology, and was the first person outside of North America to become President of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). A Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering, and Distinguished Fellow of the BCS (the Chartered Institute for IT) she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2009.

Earlier this year, Dame Wendy headlined once again as a member of the prestigious 2017 Debrett’s 500 of the most influential and inspiring people living and working in Britain today.

A Mathematics graduate of the University of Southampton in 1974, Dame Wendy achieved her PhD in Pure Mathematics from Southampton in 1977 and was later appointed a Professor of Computer Science at the University in 1994.

Over many decades, Computer Science at the University of Southampton has grown in scale and global eminence, attracting students and researchers from around the world, providing academic leadership and continuing to define and develop new leading-edge technologies and approaches.

Southampton’s world-leading achievements in Computer Science include the development of pioneering hypermedia systems in the late 1980s, laying the foundations of agent-based computing and intelligent systems since the late 1990s and developing the discipline of Web Science since 2004.

Dame Wendy succeeds Professor Nick Jennings in holding the Regius Professorship in Computer Science at the University of Southampton. Professor Jennings is now Vice-Provost (Research) at Imperial College and remains a Visiting Professor at Southampton.

The next generation of engineers will engage with fundamental electronics concepts through an interactive teaching tool being rolled out in A-level classrooms later this year. Physics students across the country will experiment with electronic components and circuits with hands-on activities using a new ‘music mixer’ circuit board developed at the University of Southampton. The programme, which is being delivered in partnership between Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton and the UK Electronics Skills Foundation (UKESF), will reach up to 1,500 pupils at 36 schools in a two-year pilot scheme supported by an Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) Engineering Education Grant.

The tool, which was created by ECS Lecturer Dr Daniel Spencer, is centred around a ‘music mixer’ circuit that combines two audio signals, for example music from their mobile phones, encouraging students to control the volume by experimenting with different electronic components. Its design exposes all components and demystifies electronics for the students.

A prototype of the tool was evaluated as part of a Teachers’ Workshop in summer 2016. The workshop, which shares hands-on activities and materials for educators in A-level Physics and Computer Science, will run again this summer from 17-18 July with support from the grant. For more information or to book a free place, see www.workshop.soton.ac.uk.

Dr Alex Weddell, Teachers’ Workshop Leader, said: “This tool was really well-received by the teachers last year. Many commented that they were eager to use it in the classroom, and their feedback helped us to secure this funding. We have a vibrant and growing electronics sector in the UK; however, there is significant shortage of graduate electronics engineers. We are looking forward to seeing this new hands-on tool provide a visual and practical way for teachers to deliver electronics concepts within the physics curriculum and inspire more pupils to take up the subject.â€?

A-Level students currently in year 12 can also find out more about degrees in Electronics and Computer Science by attending a week-long residential “Taster Courseâ€? in July 2017. More information at www.taster.ecs.soton.ac.uk

Innovative electronics research from the University of Southampton has been presented to world experts at a leading international conference.

Researchers from Southampton’s department of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) have presented two papers at the prestigious International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco, the world’s foremost forum for advances in solid-state circuits and systems-on-a-chip.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) event, which ran from 5-9 February, brought together expert engineers from across the globe to study the theme of ‘Intelligent Chips for a Smart World’.

Research carried out through Southampton’s ARM-ECS Research Centre featured in an early session on Analog Techniques. The paper, entitled A 0.68nW/kHz Supply Independent Relaxation Oscillator with ±0.49%/V and 96ppm/°C Stability, demonstrated an oscillator design which compares favourably to state-of-the-art for watts-per-kHz, while still exhibiting comparable temperature and voltage stability characteristics.

The design had been validated as part of the Pipistrelle test-chip family. The paper was presented by Anand Savanth, who is a PhD student at ECS and a Staff Engineer at ARM Cambridge, and was co-authored by ECS academic Dr Alex Weddell and ARM Principal Research Engineer James Myers. The ARM-ECS Research Centre is an industrial research collaboration co-directed by Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi and Visiting Professor Dr David Flynn.

The ISSCC’s Harvesting and Wireless Power session included a paper describing a ‘Self-Tuning Resonant Inductive Link Transmit Driver Using Quadrature-Symmetric Phase-Switched Fractional Capacitance’, authored by Professor William Redman-White in ECS alongside Senior Industrial Teaching Fellow Rares Bodnar and postgraduate research students Teerasak Lee and Henry Kennedy.

Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi, Dean of Physical Sciences and Engineering, said: “I am proud to see the world-leading research in Electronics and Computer Science at the forefront of global discussion to shape our future connected world. It is testament to the cutting-edge work led by our academics, and through our partnership with ARM, that two papers have been accepted into one of the most respected international conferences for electronics design.â€?

More information on Southampton’s Electronics and Electrical Engineering research is available through the ECS website.