The way the internet has transformed society and how it could develop in the future, will be discussed by Professor David De Roure at a free event in Aberdeen this week.

Web scientist Professor David De Roure of the School of Electronics and Computer Science - whose studies focus on the evolution of the Web - will be talking at Waterstone’s Union Bridge branch, Aberdeen, at 7 pm on Wednesday 16 June in the University of Aberdeen's Café Scientifique series.

Professor De Roure will outline how what began as an innovative way of linking documents has now become the most prevalent way of linking people together. He will share glimpses of what the future of how we use the Web could look like, and discuss some of the factors which could shape the way we use the internet in the years ahead.

Professor De Roure is a champion for the Web Science Trust, which brings academics, business leaders, entrepreneurs and policy makers from around the world together to foster research into the World Wide Web, and to look at issues and challenges that will impact on its future use and design.

His current research activities include a social website for scientists and a major project analysing music on the Web.

Professor De Roure moves from the University of Southampton to the University of Oxford in July where he will take up the post of Professor of e-Research.

Dr Ken Skeldon from the University of Aberdeen’s Public Engagement with Science Unit who spearheads Café Scientifique said: “The aim is to provide the public with the chance to gain real insights from leading lights in the world of science and engage in discussion and debate.

“We are very fortunate to have Professor De Roure – a prominent UK figure in the study of the World Wide Web – in Aberdeen to speak to a public audience on how the Web has evolved and the influences and factors which could shape its use in the future.â€?

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453

The BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, is celebrating ECS Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, in a high-profile campaign on Information Pioneers.

Each of the five Information Pioneers in the campaign – Alan Turing, Ada Lovelace, Sir Clive Sinclair, Hedy Lamarr and Professor Berners-Lee - has their work presented by a celebrity advocate, in a series of short films commissioned from the distinguished director Lewis Georgeson.

In a lively and informative film, Dom Joly explains the genius and inspiration of Professor Berners-Lee in creating the Web and making it free for everyone.

Describing the circumstances that led to Professor Berners-Lee creating the Web and his determination that it should be for the world to benefit from, Dom Joly comments: “There was no central mainframe, no giant bureaucracy, no corporate HQ, no-one was going to control the Web. It wasn’t a physical thing to be owned; it was a space for everyone.

“Passionately believing that contributions to the Web mustn’t be at the mercy of financial barriers or hierarchies, Berners-Lee gave his ideas over to everyone to use - for free.â€?

Visitors to the Information Pioneers web site are invited to cast a vote for the pioneer they admire the most. Speaking at the launch of the campaign last week, Elizabeth Sparrow, President of the BCS, said: “We want to celebrate the achievements of these Information Pioneers and demonstrate their contribution to today’s Information Society.

“Everyone should visit the Information Pioneer campaign website and join in the debate on who should be the greatest Information Pioneer of all time, vote for their favourite pioneer and share their favourite film with their friends and colleagues.â€?

In concluding the film Dom Joly sums up what the Web has achieved: “With the power of his daydream from the 1980s, Tim Berners-Lee has put the world at our fingertips and we’re hardly off the starting-blocks. We’re alive during a genuine revolution, who knows what’s next for the Web? Well, we do, because its future is ours to keep creating . . .â€?

Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee is a Trustee and Programme Director of the Web Science Trust, and has been a Professor in the School of Electronics and Computer Science since 2006.

Team Tarka, led by Dr Peter Wilson of the School of Electronics and Computer Science, has achieved outstanding success in Solar Splash - the World Championship of Collegiate Solar Boating.

The University of Southampton boat Tarka II took second place overall and won a string of awards in the Solar Splash event held in Arkansas, USA. It was only the second year Southampton had entered the challenge and for the second year running, the team was the only UK competitor.

Solar Splash is an annual event, taking place over five days and comprising different water-based competitions which test speed, manoeuvrability, endurance, design, and innovation. The boats must be powered by solar energy, which places considerable constraints on their design.

Tarka II was designed and built by Electrical Engineering and Ship Science students from the Schools of Electronics and Computer Science and Engineering Sciences.

Team leader Dr Peter Wilson, who also led the University’s first attempt at Solar Splash in 2009, says: “This was an outstanding team effort, which demonstrated our strength in Engineering across the University, with students in Ship Science and Electrical Engineering working together on the design, build, and performance.â€?

Tarka II took first place in the Solar Slalom event and was placed second in the 300m sprint, in which it achieved top speeds of over 24 knots. The team will also be bringing back awards for Outstanding Hull Design, Outstanding Workmanship and Perseverance.

The boat is constructed in carbon fibre, and is powered by two inboard electric motors driving a propeller designed specifically for each event. The hull, motor-mounting frame and propellers were all made in-house at the University.

Programme Manager Dr Reuben Wilcock comments: “It was very exciting to have the Ship Science students at the core of the Tarka II team. They worked extremely hard on a new hull for the boat and their knowledge and experience enabled us to carry out more theoretical simulations.â€?

Tarka II is currently being air-shipped back from Arkansas and a homecoming celebration is planned at the University's Highfield Campus.

“Coming second was a fantastic result,â€? says Dr Wilson. “The team put in an incredible amount of hard work to achieve these results, and this is testament to their skills and expertise.

“We would like to thank all our sponsors, but in particular our main sponsor ARM, and also Detica, without whom we would not have been able to travel to the competition.

“The aim now is to go one better and achieve top place in 2011!â€?

The Tarka II race team included: Tom Partington, Taddeo Haigh, Jacob Deane, Rory Boardman, Daniel Crowley, Jonathan Burton and Natasha Wilcock, with support from Tom Hebbron, Dirk De Jager, Karim El-Shabrawy, Valentin Muenzel, Dr Dominic Hudson and Dr Mingyi Tan.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.(0)23 8059 5453.

Dr Dominic Buchstaller, Research Fellow in the School of Electronics and Computer Science, has received this year’s Control and Automation Prize from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) for the best UK PhD thesis in the subject.

Dr Buchstaller carried out the research for his thesis – Robust Stability and Performance for Multiple Model Switched Adaptive Control in the Information: Signals, Images, Systems research group in ECS under the supervision of Dr Mark French.

“Dominic's thesis has made a profound contribution to the field of adaptive control,â€? said Mark. “Whilst seen by many to be the key to providing controllers that work in highly complex and uncertain environments, many of the algorithms developed have significant robustness problem: when transferred from the ideal mathematical world to the real systems, they often fail, sometimes catastrophically.

“Dominic's thesis provides an entirely fresh and novel approach to the problems of robust design and synthesis for a wide class of algorithms and represents an important breakthrough in solving these decades-old problems.â€?

Dominic commented: "I find adaptive control a very interesting area to work in, since one knows a priori that the concept of adaptation works: for example humans naturally use it to deal with control tasks that involve large uncertainties, i.e. the picking-up of a packing case of unknown weight (books or pillows?). Then you have a great deal of research results on the engineering counterparts of natural adaptive systems, the classical adaptive control algorithms, that are designed to deal with exactly these kind of large parametric uncertainties. Although these controllers work on paper they usually fail in real-world applications, revealing a disconnect between theory and practice.

"Fortunately, more recent (multiple model type) adaptive control algorithms work rather well in practice. However, as with their classical counterparts, they usually lack a coherent theoretical framework that tells us about their (robustness and performance) properties and how to use them in practice. This is exactly what I attempted to provide with my thesis."

Professor Harvey Rutt, Head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science, commented: “Dominic’s research characterizes two important strands of the School’s research work – our commitment to real-world applications and our innovative approach to fundamental problems. We are delighted with this very distinguished recognition for the quality and success of Dominic’s research.â€?

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.(0)23 8059 5453.

Staff and students at the Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory are celebrating the completion of construction work in the Lab which has provided valuable new space for high voltage research.

The High Voltage Laboratory moved to its current location in 1991 and was refurbished in 1997. Since then it has undergone various extensions to keep up with growing research activity. The impressive second testing hall and materials/measurements laboratory was completed early in 2004 allowing for testing large equipment and simultaneously taking sensitive measurements. The HV lab is now one of only two in the UK which offers such a wide range of facilities for research and industry.

Over recent months work has been carried out to triple the space available for smaller items requiring high voltage supplies for testing by constructing a new mezzanine floor in the Lab.

This increased area meets the current demands of the rapidly growing postgraduate research activity within the HV Lab as well as continued commercial testing. It also generates space for undergraduate students in the School of Electronics and Computer Science, working on individual research projects and group design projects in the final years of their degree programme. This year the School will enrol the first students on the new MSc programme Energy and Sustainability with Electrical Power Engineering and they will also be able to work in the Lab.

Dr Paul Lewin, Manager of the Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory, commented: "We look forward to the first student entry on to our new MSc in Energy and Sustainability with Electrical Power Engineering in October. Part of our commitment to this new course has been to expand our research space to ensure that our MSc students have the ideal environment to develop their dissertation topics. The Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory has an international representation for its work in insulation systems and related technology and our research facilities are second to none.�

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.(0)23 8059 5453.

The unique contribution to research and innovation of an ECS Professor has been recognized by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Professor Dame Wendy Hall of the Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia group in the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton was honoured by the Aristotle University, the largest university in Greece, in recognition of her contribution to the foundation of Web Science and her distinguished service to science. The ceremony was held at the Teloglion Foundation of Arts and Science and was followed the next day by a civic ceremony when Professor Hall received an honorary citizenship award from the City of Veria for her contribution to the establishment and support of the Graduate Program in Web Science at Veria, Greece.

Professor Hall said: "I am honoured to be a citizen of Veria and to teach in the first Graduate Programme in Web Science."

The Programme in Web Science is based on the study of Web assessment, mathematical modelling and operations combined with business applications and societal transformations in the knowledge society. It is administered by the Department of Mathematics of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and supported by the Municipality of Veria and Cyta Telecommunications.

During the ceremony, Professor Hall spoke about how the Web affects interpersonal relationships, safety on the Internet and the enormous role it plays in education. She also refered to distance education and the benefits of the postgraduate programme in Web Science for the city of Veria. "Innovation, Competitiveness and Development", would be the greatest benefits, she said.

After the ceremony Professor Hall visited the campus and met students, concluding her visit with the words: "I am honored to say that I teach in Veria."

Professor Dame Wendy Hall is Managing Director of the Web Science Trust and one of the founders of the discipline of Web Science. She is currently President of the Association for Computing Machinery, the first non-North-American to hold this position.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.

ECS researchers are developing intelligent medical sensors which can be worn by patients to monitor their symptoms and which will alert GPs if medical intervention is needed.

Dr Koushik Maharatna of the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) and Professor John Morgan (University of Southampton School of Medicine) and Dr Nick Curzen at Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust are part of a team working on the £18 million European-funded CHIRON (Cyclic and Person-Centric Health Management: Integrated Approach for Home Mobile and Clinical Environment) project, which aims to combine state-of-the-art technologies and innovative solutions into an integrated framework, designed to enable more effective health management.

Over the first two years of the three-year project, Dr Maharatna and his colleagues will develop advanced ultra low-power signal processing algorithms and circuits embedded within the sensors to create intelligent medical sensors with decision-making capability. During the final year of the project, the team will then use the technology to test approximately 400 people (200 in Southampton and 200 in Rome) from a high risk heart disease group.

"One of the major technical issues when we deploy these sensors is that they need to be wearable, low-power and work in noisy environments 24 hours a day," said Dr Maharatna. "Our task is to develop new ultra low-power algorithms and corresponding circuits so that the technology will make it possible for a patient’s GP to be alerted at any point of time through the patient’s device if medical assistance is needed."

The other project partners are: FIMI S.r.l. (Italy), University of Bologna (Italy), Philips Healthcare (The Netherlands), CIMNE (Spain), Athena RC/ISI (Greece), ESI-TECNALIA (Spain), Mortara Rangoni Europe (Italy), WLAB S.r.l. (Italy), CEIT (Spain), University of Trieste(Italy), ALMA IT Systems (Spain), University of Rome “La Sapienzaâ€? (Italy), I+ SRL (Italy), IBERMATICA (Spain), INTRACOM (Greece), ATOS ORIGIN (Spain), ELSAG DATAMAT (Italy), Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust (United Kingdom), ITS (Italy), CARDIONETICS (United Kingdom), Jozef Stefan Institute (Slovenia), BARCO (Belgium), ZorgGermak (The Netherlands), Mobili d.o.o. (Slovenia), Budapest University of Technology (Hungary).

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.

A new technology platform for testing drugs will simplify the process and drive new research for the treatment of diseases such as chronic pain, epilepsy, and certain types of heart disease.

Scientists at the University of Southampton and Birkbeck College, University of London, are developing a platform consisting of an array of artificial cell membranes that will enable more efficient testing of potential new drugs.

The Bilayer Platform project, which begins this month, has been awarded £1.2 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to develop a new technology that uses artificial bilayer lipid membranes to evaluate the effectiveness of drugs on ion channels.

Professor Hywel Morgan and Dr Maurits de Planque at the University of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) will use the clean room technology in the new Mountbatten Building at the University of Southampton to build this novel platform for parallel on-chip electrophysiology. Each membrane patch will contain different ion channels.

According to Dr de Planque, ion channels play a pivotal role in a wide variety of physiological processes and diseases and are consequently of considerable interest to the pharmaceutical industry. It is for this reason the Southampton group has teamed up with the Birkbeck group, led by Professor Bonnie Ann Wallace, who are international experts in ion channel structure and function. At the moment, pharmaceutical companies use electrodes to test entire cells, which can be expensive and involves testing a number of ion channels within the cell. About 60 per cent of drugs work on membrane proteins (of which ion channels are a subclass) and the effectiveness of the drug is gauged by measuring activity in the ion channel as a result of administering the drug.

"By putting the ion channel into an artificial membrane, we only have one type of channel, no living cells and a relatively inexpensive method for testing for several of these types of channels at once," said Dr de Planque.

The project, which will take just over three years, will benefit public and private sector industries, as well as driving new research for the treatment of diseases such as chronic pain, epilepsy, and certain types of heart disease. The new technology platform will have many applications for drug discovery and testing long after the research period ends.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.

ECS researchers have been awarded a contract to design telecommunications networks across India and China.

Professor Lajos Hanzo, Chair of Telecommunications at the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science, and his team are working in a consortium with nine UK institutions and seven Indian Institutes of Technology to design the next generation of wireless systems across India.

"India has a huge rural population and our aim is to provide telecommunications for remote villages,â€? says Professor Hanzo. “This is very challenging and there are theoretical and practical constraints but there is a huge need for this to support next generation healthcare and other services in India."

The five-year (two phase) initiative is in its first phase and is funded in collaboration between the Research Councils UK (RCUK) Digital Economy Programme and the Indian Government Department of Science and Technology (DST) together with the ICT industry to the tune of over £10 million.

The project is referred to as the India-UK Advanced Technology Centre (IU-ATC) of Excellence in Next Generation Networks Systems and Services, and is led overall by Professor Gerard Parr from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, and Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras.

In another project, UK-China Science Bridges: R&D on (B)4G Wireless Mobile Communications (UC4G), which has the ultimate goal of creating a UK-China Joint R&D Centre for Future Wireless Communication Networks, and is funded by the Research Councils UK (RCUK) to facilitate the collaboration of British and Chinese academic institutions, Professor Hanzo and his team are working with academic and industrial partners to develop next-generation global wireless telecommunications systems.

In this three-year China-UK project, a test bed will be created for the research and development of cutting-edge mobile communication systems.

In the UK consortium, there are six academic partners led by Dr Cheng-Xiang Wang of Heriot-Watt University, four associate academic members, and the Mobile Virtual Centre of Excellence (representing its 15 industrial members). The Chinese consortium consists of seven academic partners and six industrial partners led by the Shanghai Research Centre for Wireless Communications (WiCO).

Professor Hanzo commented: "China and India together form a market of two billion people. The provision of effective telecommunications in these markets will have a powerful influence on industry."

These systems are expected to support flawless tele-presence with the aid of three-dimensional (3D) ‘Avatar-style’ stereoscopic video and audio communications. The team at Southampton has recently made substantial investments in 3D cameras and displays as well as in holographic visualization facilities in support of these radical research goals.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.

ECS senior lecturer Dr Mike Wald has won a prestigious national award which recognizes teaching excellence in higher education.

Dr Wald, of the School’s Learning Societies Lab, has been named a National Teaching Fellow by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) for his work on accessible technologies.

The citation on the HEA web site reads:

"Throughout his teaching career Dr Wald has improved learning for students through his excellence in teaching and his innovative creation, development and use of technology. He has helped change national policy, won many awards and achieved international recognition as a scholar and a champion for disabled students.

"Dr Wald advised and helped establish the disability services at Southampton and many other universities, directly benefitting the learning experiences of many thousands of students. When speech recognition technologies first became available, he identified their potential for enhancing learning for disabled and dyslexic students and worked closely with international colleagues to turn this potential into a reality. His most recent innovation, Synote, is being used by universities worldwide to transform learning for all students.

"A student at the University of Southampton commented: 'Synote is the best system I have ever seen for assistive technology it is very useful for me to understand what the lecturer taught after class I hope all school majors could integrate this system - thanks.'

Dr Wald enjoys seeing others make use of the free technologies he has developed to enhance the learning of their students, and looks forward to developing further Synote and other technologies for the benefit of all students in HE.

Academic colleagues in Europe and North America commented: 'Dr Wald is a model academic worthy of our praise - he genuinely cares about teaching and learning, conducts world-class research, engages students in cutting-edge learning opportunities, and collaborates broadly both within the academic community and beyond on educationally focused initiatives . . . The systems he has envisioned, designed, and deployed are being used in many countries around the world. More importantly, they're providing real, tangible benefits for students. The ripple effect of his dedication to teaching excellence is profound and far-reaching. His approach and his insight make him a "technology visionary", able to build strong bridges between the field of IT skills and those more closely related to educational issues and learning processes."

Simon Kemp, School of Civil Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton also received a National Teaching Fellowship and he and Mike were among 50 awarded in the UK as a whole. Professor Debra Humphris, University of Southampton Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education), says: "The award of National Teaching Fellowships to Simon and Mike provides clear recognition of both their national standing and the esteem in which they are held by the University. Their commitment to students is outstanding and I am delighted that this has been nationally recognised."

This year’s Fellows were chosen from nearly 200 nominations submitted to the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme by higher education institutions, and each will receive an award of £10,000, which may be used for professional development in teaching and learning or aspects of pedagogy.

The Higher Education Academy supports the sector in providing the best possible learning experience for all students. The Academy is an independent organisation funded by grants from the four UK higher education funding bodies, subscriptions from higher education institutions, and grant and contract income for specific initiatives.

Dr Wald commented: "I am very pleased to have my work recognized and look forward to more universities and teachers using Synote as it enhances learning for all students." He is pictured here with the EUNIS Dorup E-learning Award 2009, one of a number of awards he has received for Synote.