Students and researchers in ECS have been taking to the Frisbee field, led by ECS researcher dr mc schraefel, who is passionate about 'geek fitness'.

Starting from the growing field of evidence of the connection between exercise and intelligence, mc is convinced that smarter and more frequent movement will provide a competitive advantage.

"Movement, taking in oxygen, achieving a positive hormonal cascade from positive movement, gets us in a better state of awareness, alertness - and breathing - which is calming for creative brilliance," she says. "It also helps generate BDNF - what some in the field call the 'miracle gro of the brain' that enhances learning."

mc talks about research that shows learning a new skill like frisbee-throwing and coordination also gets the brain working to build new patterns. "Frisbee has two things going for it - it's aerobic to get the neurotransmitters and related hormones gassed up; it's also skills-based, which is building the brain network. Trying to get better at a forehand throw is doing great things for our ability to think better, learn better, perform better", she adds.

mc currently holds a Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellowship, sponsored by Microsoft Research, and a significant proportion of her research is directed towards the impact of environment on the discovery and innovation process, especially factors which hinder creation.

She believes that exercise and physical activity are underrated by research environments, so systems could be geared towards illustrating that activity has benefit, particularly as obesity costs the UK £3.5 billion a year, and low back pain, stress and anxiety all contribute to absenteeism.

"We are not just brains with bodies,' she says. "We are a complex set of interconnected systems. We have brains, some argue, because we move. Isn't it ironic that now with our brains in this culture we tend to inertia? The result may be that we're compromising our brains by de-emphasizing our bodies. In fact we are designed to move. Our sedentary office environment violates the design we have to be most effective."

An ECS student who graduated with First Class Honours in July and will shortly embark on a PhD in the School has been short-listed for the title of Best Electronic Engineering Student in Europe.

Steffi Sesuraj is one of three student finalists for the ARM Award for Best Electronic Engineering Student, one of the prestigious European SET (Science, Engineering and Technology) Student of the Year Awards 2010.

Steffi was nominated by her supervisor, Professor Darren Bagnall, of the Nano Research Group in the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science, on the basis of her excellent performance on the BEng Electronic Engineering course, but especially for her third-year project on the development of more efficient solar cells: ‘Design, Fabrication and Characterisation of a Nano-Plasmonic back reflector for a-Si Thin Film Solar Cells’.

According to Professor Bagnall, Steffi’s experimental work has demonstrated for the first time that plasmonic arrays of metal nanoparticles can be used to significantly improve the performance of solar cells.

"Researchers have been attracted to the idea of using metal nanoparticles to provide ‘plasmonic solar cells’ for around six years," says Professor Bagnall. "Now, as a result of Steffi’s detailed and innovative work we are now much better placed to demonstrating working plasmonic solar cells. This is a considerable achievement since it has provided a new method for how the cells should be constructed."

Steffi will now continue and develop this project in her doctoral research, using the advanced technology in Southampton Nanofabrication Centre. Her aim will be to use nanotechnology to engineer a design for thinner and therefore more cost-effective solar cells that maintain high efficiency.

"Working on developing a Nano-Plasmonic Back Reflector was definitely an exciting venture for me,â€? says Steffi. “The field of plasmonic application for solar cells has demonstrated that nanotechnology is no more a ‘thing of the future’– it has the potential to be implemented in the present, on a large-scale basis.

"This project was a wonderful opportunity to work with the ECS Nano Research Group. Its members are very talented and friendly and made me feel part of the Group.

"I definitely got a lot out of the project in terms of scientific knowledge and research skills. The enthusiasm which I’ve developed for plasmonics applications and nanotechnology in general has motivated me to continue with a PhD in this area, at the Nano Group, under Professor Darren Bagnall and my co-supervisor Dr. Harold Chong.

"I’ve constantly been on the move in my life, from India to the Netherlands and now Southampton. I feel at home in this University and look forward to another four exciting and fruitful years of research."

The SET European Awards will be presented at a ceremony before an audience comprising of hundreds of technology students, academics, senior industry executives; as well as senior figures from government, scientific and technical institutions and the media, which takes place on Friday 3 September at the London Hilton, Park Lane.

____

Steffi Sesuraj is a member of the Nano research group in the School of Electronics and Computer Science. If you are interested in doing PhD research in this group you can find out more on our Postgraduate Admissions Pages.

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

ECS researchers are developing technology that may enable people to power MP3 players and other devices through their clothes and the carpets they walk on.

Dr Steve Beeby and his team at the University’s School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) aim to generate energy through people’s movement, eliminating the need to change batteries on devices.

In a project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Southampton team will use rapid printing processes and active printed inks to create an energy harvesting film in textiles. This film can also be printed on carpets, enabling individuals to generate energy as they walk around the home or office.

“This project looks at generating electrical power from the way people move and then applying an energy harvesting film to the clothes they wear or the materials they have around them,â€? says Dr Beeby. “We will generate useful levels of power which will be harvested through the films in the textiles. The two big challenges in smart textiles are supplying power and surviving washing.â€?

The research, which begins in October and runs until 2015, will provide a toolbox of materials and processes suitable for a range of different fabrics that will enable users to develop the energy harvesting fabric best suited to their requirements.

Dr Beeby has been awarded a prestigious EPSRC Leadership Fellowship to undertake this research, providing up to five years of funding. These awards are a direct investment in Britain's most talented researchers.

Applications for the research include using the energy to power wireless health monitoring systems, as well as consumer products such as MP3 players. Applications also exist in the automotive sector.

The underlying sensor technology, which will make the energy harvesting process possible, is being developed by Dr Beeby and his team through the Microflex project, a Framework 7 European Union funded project due to finish in November 2012. _____ Dr Steve Beeby is a member of the Electronic Systems and Devices research group in the School of Electronics and Computer Science. If you are interested in doing PhD research in this group you can find out more on our Postgraduate Admissions Pages.

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

After their stunning performance in the 2010 Solar Splash competition in Arkansas earlier this year, Team Tarka demonstrated the boat's speed and manoeuvrability at the University's Boathard at Woodmill.

Team Tarka, led by Dr Peter Wilson of the School of Electronics and Computer Science, 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 Fayetteville, Arkansas. 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, said: “It 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 also brought 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 commented: “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€?

“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.

Planning has already begun for the University of Southampton's entry in Solar Splash 2011. Tarka will retain the successful hull design, but more work will be put into the the boat's motors.

To find out more about Team Tarka contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.

Open Days for prospective students take place this month on Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 September.

The School of Electronics and Computer Science will be holding two days of tours, presentations, demonstrations and drop-in sessions, highlighting the opportunities available on our degree programmes, and emphasizing the unique character of ECS. Visitors will have the chance to see all our undergraduate labs, and to meet past and current students, as well as to find out about our students' excellent career prospects.

Presentations begin at 10 am in the Turner Sims Concert Hall with a welcome from the Deputy Head of School (Education), Professor Alun Vaughan; there will then be separate tours and presentations for Computer Science & Software Engineering; Electrical & Electromechanical Engineering; Electronic Engineering; and Information Technology in Organisations. These presentations and tours are repeated at 11 am, 2 pm, and 3 pm.

Between 12 noon and 2 pm we will be holding two drop-in sessions in the Mountbatten Building, where visitors can see demonstrations, tour the labs with our students, and find out more from ECS Admissions Tutors. Refreshments will be available. At 12 noon in the Turner Sims Concert Hall there will also be a presentation on Robotics in ECS by Dr Richard Crowder.

You can book your place on the University of Southampton Open Day web site on the University Open Day Web Site provides further information.

'Visiting universities is extremely important in enabling students to find the best place for their study,' said Professor Alun Vaughan. 'There are many factors which make a difference to the kind of educational experience that will suit a particular student and we urge prospective students to take advantage of these visit days to find out as much as they can about what we can offer them.'

ECS Open Day Hotline: +44(0)23 8059 4506

View our Introduction to ECS Open Days by Professor Alun Vaughan.

Electronics and Electrical Engineering is ranked 1st and 2nd in the UK in recent league tables (May 2010) and Computer Science and IT is ranked 4th or 5th. Find out more about our excellent league table performance and our exceptional graduate career prospects.

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

An ECS student who graduated in July with First Class Honours has won the title of Best Electronic Engineering Student in Europe.

At a ceremony held in the London Hilton on Friday 3 September, Steffi Sesuraj was awarded the ARM Award for Best Electronic Engineering Student, one of the prestigious European SET (Science, Engineering and Technology) Student of the Year Awards 2010.

Steffi was nominated by her supervisor, Professor Darren Bagnall, of the Nano Research Group in the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science, on the basis of her excellent performance on the BEng Electronic Engineering course, but especially for her third-year project on the development of more efficient solar cells: ‘Design, Fabrication and Characterisation of a Nano-Plasmonic back reflector for a-Si Thin Film Solar Cells’.

According to Professor Bagnall, Steffi’s experimental work has demonstrated for the first time that plasmonic arrays of metal nanoparticles can be used to significantly improve the performance of solar cells.

"Researchers have been attracted to the idea of using metal nanoparticles to provide ‘plasmonic solar cells’ for around six years," says Professor Bagnall. "Now, as a result of Steffi’s detailed and innovative work we are now much better placed to demonstrate working plasmonic solar cells. This is a considerable achievement since it has provided a new method for how the cells should be constructed."

Steffi will now develop this project in her doctoral research supervised by Professor Bagnall in the ECS Nano research group, using the advanced technology in Southampton Nanofabrication Centre. Her aim will be to use nanotechnology to engineer a design for thinner and therefore more cost-effective solar cells that maintain high efficiency.

"Working on developing a Nano-Plasmonic Back Reflector was definitely an exciting venture for me,â€? says Steffi. “The field of plasmonic application for solar cells has demonstrated that nanotechnology is no more a ‘thing of the future’– it has the potential to be implemented in the present, on a large-scale basis.

"This project was a wonderful opportunity to work with the ECS Nano group. Its members are very talented and friendly and made me feel part of the group.

"I definitely got a lot out of the project in terms of scientific knowledge and research skills. The enthusiasm which I’ve developed for plasmonics applications and nanotechnology in general has motivated me to continue with a PhD in this area, at the Nano group, under Professor Darren Bagnall and my co-supervisor Dr Harold Chong.

"I’ve constantly been on the move in my life, from India to the Netherlands and now Southampton. I feel at home in this University and look forward to another four exciting and fruitful years of research."

The SET European Awards were presented at a ceremony before an audience comprising of hundreds of technology students, academics, senior industry executives; as well as senior figures from government, scientific and technical institutions and the media. Another Southampton student received an award at the event: The Laing O'Rourke Award for the Best Civil Engineering Student was won by Joseph Scurrah for his project on Offshore Wind Turbine Foundation Loads.

_____________________________________

Steffi Sesuraj is a member of the Nano research group in the School of Electronics and Computer Science. If you are interested in doing PhD research in this group you can find out more on our Postgraduate Admissions Pages.

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

After advising the UK Government on the release of huge quantities of public data, ECS Professor Nigel Shadbolt is now encouraging people to come up with innovative ways of putting the data to use.

Professor Shadbolt is one of the panellists of judges in the OpenUp competition which is searching for the best ideas for information services that use government data. Anyone is invited to contribute – parents, students, businesspeople, GPs, local government officers – in fact anyone who has ever needed to use a piece of government information.

Data.gov.uk, the public data website launched in January 2010 as a result of the work of University of Southampton Professors Shadbolt and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has provided huge amounts of information and statistics on business, crime, education, transport, health, and housing, but it is not yet available in ways that make it easy for the general public to access or use.

The OpenUp competition is offering a top prize of £1000 and £50,000 for subsequent development for the best idea which will then be developed into an application.

Professor Shadbolt told Computer Weekly: “We have lots of data becoming available and the obvious question is what value is there locked up in this data? Governments and businesses are not always the best places to go to find out the answer.â€?

Improving knowledge of their environment and services for UK citizens has been a driving force in the data release, but the positive effects for business of releasing the data are also a driving force.

Earlier this year Professors and Shadbolt commented in The Guardian: “Re-use of data in new - and often unexpected - ways creates both social value and opportunities for economic growth. It's not our job to say where data might be useful; it's our job to unleash it and allow businesses and independent developers to build innovative services which they can then deliver to users.â€?

The OpenUp competition is created and funded by The Stationery Office to generate greater widespread interest in information now publicly available through data.gov.uk. TSO want to encourage the British public “To mash up public data for the greater good of your communityâ€? and demonstrate significant benefits of how this information can be put to use for the UK public now that it is open to all.

The panel of judges include experts with experience of business, government and the media, including Charles Arthur, Technology Editor of The Guardian, and Emma Mulqueeny, Founding Director of Rewired State Ltd. _____

Professor Nigel Shadbolt is a member of the Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia (IAM) research group in the School of Electronics and Computer Science; if you are interested in PhD research in the group, see our Postgraduate Admissions pages for further information.

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

Professor Stevan Harnad, one of the pioneers of the Open Access (OA) movement worldwide, will be reporting on metrics to evaluate the impact of peer-reviewed research papers, at three conferences in Europe this month.

This week, Professor Harnad, from the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), will deliver a keynote on Friday (10 September) on 'Open Research metrics and the Open Access advantage' at Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands.

In his keynote, he will point out that as peer-reviewed research literature becomes openly accessible online, the era of open research metrics is approaching. He will present data on the open access citation advantage as well as methodological recommendations for validating metrics.

"Scientometrics will also include semiometrics, derived from full-text data-mining, and chronometrics will track, analyze and project metrics across time,� he will say. "Existing metrics will also need to be used as an incentive to induce researchers to provide the missing open access content." At a public meeting of university and funding council policy-makers in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 3 September, 'Mandating (Green) Open Access to Maximize the Usage and Impact of Danish Research', Professor Harnad presented the findings of the Houghton Report showing that if all Danish research were self-archived, it would save Denmark over two hundred million DK, with a benefit/cost ratio of over 10 to 1. It also found that OA enhances research usage and impact by 25-250 percent.

Next week (13-14 September), at euroCRIS, the annual Current Research Information Systems seminar in Brussels, Professor Harnad will also talk about analysing the impact of research archived in institutional repositories, a topic which will be acknowledged by the conference as one which is becoming increasingly important.

In a presentation entitled 'Institutional Repositories for Open Access: Mandates Deposit Policies', he will discuss why it is that although over 90 per cent of journals already endorse immediate OA self-archiving by their authors, only about 20 per cent of authors go ahead and do it.

"As the studies by OA researchers such as Alma Swan and Bo-Christer Björk have shown, although academic researchers know and value the benefits of OA, just as with ‘publish or perish’, they will not provide OA spontaneously; they will do so only if OA is mandated by their institutions and funders," said Professor Harnad. "A decade of evidence has now shown that to keep waiting for OA to be provided by a spontaneous ‘people's’ impetus is to keep waiting in vain."

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

ECS is hosting a conference which will report on new developments in the fast evolving field of system design and verification within the electronics industry.

Forum for Design Languages (FDL), which will be held at the University of Southampton from 14 to 16 September is a well-established international forum devoted to the dissemination of research results, and new ideas in the design, modelling and verification of integrated circuits, complex hardware/software embedded systems, and mixed-technology systems.

The conference is being held in the UK for the first time ever and will focus on new methods for developing fast, efficient and reliable system design for the electronics industry.

Four key related themes will be explored: Inheritance and Modelling; Power and Performance Optimisation; Efficient Analysis and Simulation of SystemC Model, and Synthesis for System on Chip and Beyond.

All these themes are of direct relevance to more efficient system design for the electronics industry and conference delegates will be reporting interesting new ideas on the use of energy harvesting and sensor networks in the automotive industry.

Conference chair, Dr Tom Kazmierski of the University’s School of Electronics and Computer Science’s, says: "We are very pleased to host FDL 2010 in Southampton this year. Much of the electronics design industry is based here in the UK and it is a good location to attract international participation.

"We are particularly excited about virtual access to FDL. In fact, one of the keynote presentations will make use of virtual conferencing technology and will be given by a speaker residing in The Netherlands. For the first time ever FDL has enabled virtual participation in addition to real-life presentations. We are expecting a real explosion of virtual conferences over the next few years worldwide and want to be in the forefront of this new, next generation solution to disseminating research results quickly and to wide audiences."

FDL 2010 will be held at the University of Southampton from 14 to 16 September 2010 and will be the thirteenth FDL conference following a series of highly successful events that took place in Lausanne, Lyon, Tübingen, Marseilles, Frankfurt am Main, Lille, Darmstadt, Barcelona, Stuttgart and Sophia Antipolis. FDL is organized in technical cooperation with the IEEE and IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Design Automation (TCDA) and IET in the UK. FDL papers will be available online via IEEEXplore after the conference.

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

An ECS academic has won his third major award of the year for his development of accessible technologies, including an open source Web application which transforms learning for all students, including those with disabilities.

Dr Mike Wald of the University’s School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) has been named runner-up in the Individual Award category in this year's Association for Learning Technology (ALT) Learning Technologist of the Year Award, which is being announced today (Thursday 9 September) at the ALT conference in Nottingham.

Dr Wald will receive the award for the development of the innovative Synote annotation system.

Synote makes multimedia resources such as video and audio easier to access, search, manage, and exploit. Learners, teachers and other users can create notes, bookmarks, tags, links, images and text captions synchronised to any part of a recording, such as a lecture.

The ALT judges were impressed by the wide applicability of the Synote product and its extensive tagging facilities.

They commented: “Mike led the development of the Synote system […], a free Web application used to transform learning from recorded teaching materials for all students including disabled, dyslexic and second language students. This builds on 10 years of work on speech recognition and is in use in a number of universities in the UK, Europe, and worldwide.â€?

Earlier this year Dr Wald won a National Teaching Fellowship awarded by the Higher Education Academy for his work in accessible technologies, which also recognised his work on Synote and described it as a tool “used by universities worldwide to transform learning for all studentsâ€?.

Dr Wald also won a University of Southampton Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Award this year for his inspirational, innovative teaching in this field.

Commenting on these achievements, Dr Wald said: "It’s great to have my work recognised through all these awards, and I look forward to this encouraging more teachers, universities and students to use Synote at www.synote.org." ___

Dr Mike Wald is a member of the Learning Societies Lab in the School of Electronics and Computer Science. If you are interested in doing PhD research in this group, you will find more information on our Postgraduate Admissions Pages.

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