An academic from ECS was part of a team of researchers that developed a system for examining some of the world’s most important historical documents in intricate detail.

Dr Kirk Martinez, from the Web and Internet Science Research Group, worked with Dr Graeme Earl, from the University of Southampton’s Archaeological Computing Research Group, to develop the Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) System for Ancient Documentary Artefacts.

The system, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council in a collaboration with the University of Oxford, allows a researcher to move a virtual light source across the surface of a digital image of an artefact and use the difference between light and shadow to highlight never-seen-before details.

It comprises of a dome with 76 lights inside and a camera positioned at the top. A manuscript is placed in the centre of the dome and then 76 photos are taken each with one of the 76 light individually lit. In post-processing the images are joined and a light moved across the surface of the digital image to reveal the hidden details.

Kirk said: “We aimed to make a modern, fast, but not too expensive version of this imaging system, and it’s great to see we succeeded in making something that is producing valuable data for humanities researchers.â€?

The system was recently used on objects held in the vaults of the Louvre Museum in Paris and images have now been made available online for free public access on the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative website.

Among these documents are manuscripts written in the so-called proto-Elamite writing system used in ancient Iran from 3200 to 3000BC and is the oldest undeciphered writing system currently known.

By viewing the extremely high quality images of these documents and sharing them with a community of scholars worldwide, a team from the University of Oxford hope to crack the code once and for all.

Dr Jacob Dahl, co-leader of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative and a member of the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Oriental Studies, said: “I have spent the last 10 years trying to decipher the proto-Elamite writing system and, with this new technology, I think we are finally on the point of making a breakthrough.

“The quality of the images captured is incredible and it is important to remember that you cannot decipher a writing system without having reliable images because you will, for example, overlook differences barely visible to the naked eye that may have meaning.â€?

He believes the writing system he is examining may be even more interesting than previously thought.

“Looking at contemporary and later writing systems, we would expect to see proto-Elamite use only symbols to represent things, but we think they also used a syllabary – for example ‘cat’ would not be represented by a symbol depicting the animal but by symbols for the otherwise unrelated words ‘ca’ and ‘at’.

“Half of the signs used in this way seem to have been invented ex novo for the sounds they represent. If this turns out to be the case it would transform fundamentally how we understand early writing where phoneticism is believed to have been developed through the so-called rebus principle (a modern example would be for example ‘I see you’, written with the three signs ‘eye’, the ‘sea’, and a ‘ewe’).â€?

For more information visit our website

To find out more about the Archaeological Computing Research Group go to their website, the Web and Internet Science Group go to and the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford go to their website

Three current ECS students and one graduate gave inspiring accounts of their experience of internships at a conference held yesterday (27 February) for first- and second-year students in ECS and Physics and Astronomy.

The event was part of the ECS Careers Hub annual programme and was held for the first time this session. ‘Summer internships are a really great way for our students to experience the working environment and to help inform their future career choice,’ said Joyce Lewis, ECS Senior Fellow. ‘It's really valuable for them to hear from fellow students and recent graduates about internships in different companies, and to learn what they might expect in these roles, as well as how to handle some of the logistical issues, such as accommodation.’

Keynote speaker Ash Browning, who joined FactSet after graduating with an MEng Computer Science degree last summer, talked about the value of the internship experience, particularly in providing the opportunity to be part of a company ethos and to experience the working environment. Ash did a summer internship with FactSet, working in the City of London, after his third year at ECS, and was offered a permanent position with the company before he returned to ECS for his final year.

Emily Rigby, who graduates this summer with a BSc Computer Science, did internships with Ericsson Television and with Bloomberg, and will be joining Bloomberg’s graduate training programme this year. Alex Forward did a 12-month placement with Thales Security between his second and third years, as well as doing an internship last summer with STI. He is joining Halma when he completes his MEng Electronic Engineering degree this year. Thomas Scarsbrook, who is also in the final year of the MEng Electronic Engineering course, gained an internship with Imagination Technologies as part of his UK Electronic Skills Foundation Scholarship, and will join the company in the summer. All the students spoke of the benefits of being able to experience project roles that were very different from their student activities and of the confidence they were able to bring back to their studies and project work through successfully tackling new challenges.

Diana Fitch of University Career Destinations also gave a valuable session on how to prepare and apply for internships, including CVs, applications, and interviews.

All ECS students are encouraged to apply for summer internships during their degree programmes and there are many opportunities offered by the companies which support the ECS Careers Hub activities and the Careers Fair.

"Use the summer break to prepare yourself for your future career,’ says Ash Browning. ‘You can use that time to gain more experience, either through an internship or another project that will stand you in good stead in the future. Building up your experience will make finding the right full-time job a lot easier at the end of your degree."

Ash Browning talks about his internship experience (video)

The global influence and quality of the University of Southampton’s online repository of research is recognised in the latest world rankings.

Southampton’s EPrints repository of over 65,000 research records – and growing - is ranked first in the UK, fourth in Europe and fifth in the world according to the "The Ranking Web of World repositories". As an institution, the rankings place the University fifth in the UK, 16th in Europe and 92nd in the world.

Dr Leslie Carr, Director of the University’s EPrints Repository Software Team, praised the University’s continued recognition amongst the top institutions in the world for creating and maintaining open access to its world-leading research.

“As a University we are clearly at the forefront of the open access ‘revolution’,â€? said Dr Carr. “Our world ranking is an excellent achievement which underlines the success of our policies and practices which ensure that the world can access our scientific research via the World Wide Web for the benefit of all.â€?

The rankings are an initiative of the Cybermetrics Lab, a research group belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the largest public research body in Spain. The rankings have been published since 2006. The Ranking Web provides a list of mainly research-oriented repositories arranged according to web presence and the web impact (link visibility) of their contents with data obtained from major commercial search engines.

The University of Southampton is a recognised pioneer of both the open access and open data ‘revolutions’.

The University, through its expertise in Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), is a world-leader in the technology and design of open access repositories as well as the introduction of institutional open access policy and strategy. Southampton was the first University in the UK to adopt a formal mandate requiring that academic staff make all of their published research available online through the institutional repository which now carries more than 65,000 records.

Southampton created the free repository software EPrints in 2000, which is now used by universities all over the world for Open Access self-archiving - known as ‘Green OA’. (The same Southampton doctoral student who created EPrints also went on to create MIT’s DSpace, the other free repository software being used worldwide.) Southampton had one of the first Green OA Repositories in 2001 and the world's first Green OA mandate in 2003. Southampton’s mandate recommendation was also followed by the 2004 UK Select Committee, which led to the RCUK Green OA mandate as well as Green OA mandates by over 250 universities and research funders worldwide. Ten years after it was made in 2003 Southampton’s recommendation to make Green OA self-archiving in institutional repositories mandatory for all submissions to the RAE has now been proposed by HEFCE for all submissions to REF after 2014.

Professor Stevan Harnad, one of the leading proponents of the OA movement, both as a Professor in ECS and one of the most respected members of the worldwide OA community, explains the importance of the UK's role in OA leadership at this crucial time, in an article published today (4 March): Worldwide open access: UK Leadership?

In December 2012, Southampton’s Open Data Service was awarded the Times Higher Education award for Outstanding ICT Initiative of the Year. The initiative provides open access to University data to help improve the life of the University and local communities whilst increasing the transparency of institutional operations.

Also in December, Southampton Professors Nigel Shadbolt and Sir Tim Berners-Lee took part in the formal opening of the UK government’s new Open Data Institute (ODI) which they jointly lead. Based in Shoreditch in East London's Tech City, the world-leading ODI will become the 'go to' venue for those seeking to create new products, entrepreneurial opportunities and economic growth from open data. The ODI will promote innovation driven by the Government’s Open Data Policy, helping the public sector use its own data more effectively and developing the capability of UK businesses to exploit the commercial value of open data.

A research expedition to Edinburgh was recently completed by Dr Jack Hunter of the Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory (TDHVL) with the aim of verifying the performance of a cable location rig using an operational cable circuit. The objective of the trip was to record the magnetic field produced by a buried 275 kV cable circuit at road surface level using a portable sensor array. The data acquisition system was developed as part of the EPSRC funded, "Mapping the Underworld" project. The system consists of 24 search coils on a portable frame, multiplexer, multi-channel sampling unit and a Laptop. The coils are distributed in a range of orientations such that a 3-D estimation of the magnetic field generated by the cable can be recorded over a period of 10 power cycles (0.2 s). A number of data sets were generated from several locations on the road in order to comprehensively map the magnetic field. The concept of the system is such that, if the geometry and configuration of the cables are known, an estimation of the cable location can be calculated from the recorded magnetic field distribution by solving a minimum fitting error problem. The next stage of the project involves developing a model for the cable configuration and finding if the estimated circuit depth is accurate.

The double circuit used in this study was laid in 2006/2007, energised in 2012 and is operated by Scottish Power; they consist of two sets of single-phase cables with extruded polymeric insulation and were manufactured by Prysmian. The double cable circuit connects Kaimes primary substation on the outskirts of the city to Dewer Place substation in the city centre (a distance of around 7.7 km). The cables are generally installed in trefoil formation at a depth of 825 mm. Several sections of the cable length had to be buried at a shallower depth due to local conditions – at these locations, steel plates were used to provide additional protection. Due to the varying layout of the cable circuits, it was identified as a useful test case to validate the operation of the cable mapping system.

Trials are also being carried out at test sites near Bristol and Wigan “The mapping the underworld project has had several successful outcomes and at Southampton we have developed a sensing tool that allows accurate estimation of buried power cable depthâ€?. Said by Prof. P. L. Lewin – head of the TDHVL.

The University of Southampton’s Head of the Web and Internet Science Group (WAIS) and co-founder of the Open Data Institute, Professor Nigel Shadbolt, will be a key speaker at the British Library’s Inspiring Science events.

Nigel will lead a lively TalkScience discussion entitled Open Data: What’s the Use? exploring the potential of open data and looking at what the open data revolution means for today’s society.

With the UK government, research councils, businesses and private individuals all releasing their data into the public domain he will highlight what the key drivers and enablers of open data are, and what barriers must be overcome to make the most of this new wealth of information.

At the talk on 19 March he will also discuss:

• What is open data and what is its potential for scientific research and innovation? • What are the economic, social and legal considerations for open data and do they matter? • What will motivate organisations and individuals to make their data available for all to use? • What are the areas where open data is already making an impact?

Nigel is Professor of Artificial Intelligence in Electronics and Computer Science. He is an advisor to the Prime Minister, helping to transform public access to UK government information resulting in the widely acclaimed data.gov.uk website that allows people to view public information, with the ability to combine different threads of data and analyse them in innovative ways. He is also co-founder and Chairman of the Open Data Institute that was launched last year to help the public sector use its own data more effectively and develop the capability of UK businesses to exploit the commercial value of open data.

His debate is part of the Inspiring Science event organised by the British Library. Running from 11-24 March, Inspiring Science is a series of events and activities that celebrates science and scientists. The programme is aimed at anyone with an interest in science and visitors can explore the Library’s collections and spaces to share the excitement surrounding scientific discovery, ideas and information.

To find out more about Inspiring Science and Nigel’s talk go to www.bl.uk/inspiring-science

Innovative Southampton software company Snowflake Software held a Code-Off competition in the ECS Zepler Computer Lab last month, with the first prize being a summer internship working in the company’s Southampton office.

The competition was open to all ECS Computer Science students from years 1, 2, and 3, and the challenge was to design a web-based user interface for Snowflake’s GO Publisher Workflow product. The winner, against some excellent results from the group taking part, was Harry Cutts, second-year student in ECS, studying Computer Science with Mobile and Secure Systems.

Eddie Curtis, Snowflake’s Chief Technology Officer, commented: ‘One of the things about the Code-Off that never fails to surprise me is the amount that these guys can achieve in a single day with no advanced warning of the problem they will face. The standard was very high, making it tough to pick a winner, but Harry managed to win us over through the combination of thoughtful user interface design, choosing a good selection of technologies to apply and underpinning the whole ting with some sound engineering principles.’

Harry will work with Snowflake’s development team over the summer and is looking forward to the placement: ‘It sounds like a great place to work,’ he said, ‘and I’ve heard good things about it from Henco.' Last year's Code-Off was won by Hendrik (Henco) Appel.

Ian Painter, Snowflake MD and co-founder of the company, talked about the relationship between the company and ECS in a recent interview in Training and Simulation Forum: "[W]e invest pretty heavily in establishing relationships with the ‘best of the best’ – in a very competitive environment – with students at Southampton University, for example. Sometimes that relationship exists for two years before they join us – and the results are we have a competent, motivated and innovative team of people driving this company forward."

Read more about the Code-Off on the Snowflake Software website.

ECS undergraduate student Arinze Ekwosimba gives an excellent account of the dedication and wide knowledge of ECS students in a feature interview with EEWeb – the Electrical Engineering Community.

Arinze, who is in the third year of his MEng degree in Electronic Engineering with Wireless Communications and has been President of the Student Chapter of the IEEE over the last year, explains why he was drawn to study engineering when growing up in Nigeria, and talks about the strengths of the ECS Electronic Engineering degree, particularly some of the project work involved, such as the D4 Systems Design Exercise. This is a very competitive design and build project, sponsored for the last four years by BAE Systems Detica. Last year’s project, in which Arinze took part and which he describes as his favourite project so far, involved the students in designing and building a football-playing robot which had to perform a certain number of tasks. The teams worked intensively towards a final challenge day (video), which also involved pitching their robots as commercial products.

“The highlight of my second year of studies was our D4 Group Design Project which saw me work in a team of 6 to design and implement a football-playing robot within two weeks,â€? says Arinze. “It remains one of the biggest challenges I have faced in my degree; my team had to work together to apply a lot of theoretical concepts we had been taught to achieve the project goals. In the end, we had a working prototype. The project exposed us to the great difference between theory and practice: simulations don’t always give the correct result! Above all though, it was fun, educative, and gave us something to be proud of.â€?

This year’s programme for the IEEE branch has been very successful, and also included the first time that ECS students had taken part in the worldwide IEEEXtreme 24-hour programme challenge. Eight Southampton teams competed very successfully, with many students on hand to provide support and encouragement over the 24 hours. The branch also has very successful partnerships with companies such as G-Research, Xyratex, Dialog Semiconductors, and Imagination Technologies.

Like many ECS engineering students, Arinze intends to enter the engineering profession when he graduates and to return to Nigeria to help the country’s development. “I strongly believe that most of the daunting challenges facing my home continent - poor health care delivery, poor power supply, lack of basic infrastructure, poor education and famine - can be addressed using the power of technology,â€? he says. “I want to return home and be part of the solution.â€?

Arinze makes a strong plea for the value of engineering to be fully recognized. “Technology is the future, with engineering at the centre,â€? he says, adding: “I hope engineering continues to contribute to the drive and success of humanity; all for a better world.â€?

Representatives from Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) will join other dignitaries to celebrate the formal opening of the University of Southampton Malaysia Campus this week.

Professor Peter Smith, Associate Dean Enterprise; Professor Neil White, Head of ECS; Professor Mark Zwolinski, Director of Programmes in ECS; and Dr Mark French, Electrical and Electronic Engineering Programme Leader, will be in Malaysia to see Adrian Newey, Southampton alumnus and record-breaking Formula One engineer, officially launch the new campus on March 21.

Adrian earned a First Class honours degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Southampton in 1980 and is now Chief Technical Officer of the Infiniti Red Bull Racing Formula One team. He has won more Formula One Constructors’ Championships than any other designer in the sport’s history.

The ECS team will be joined by special guests from Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education, the Iskandar Regional Development Agency and Iskandar Investment Berhad for the ceremony at the EduCity@Iskandar, in South Johor.

The occasion is especially significant for ECS as they will be offering a new degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) in Malaysia later this year.

ECS recently introduced the new degree that combines its academics’ long experience in teaching excellent electrical engineering and electronic engineering programmes into a unifying MEng degree in EEE.

The first two years of the MEng programme will be available at the new Malaysia Campus before the students transfer to Southampton to complete their course.

Professor Peter Smith said: “It is very exciting to be involved in the opening of the University of Southampton’s first overseas campus and our new EEE degree course. It will provide us with a great opportunity to be able to bring together electronics and electrical engineering in a way we haven’t done before and will be a new and exciting option for students.

“As well as offering the course in Malaysia we will also be running it at our Southampton campus and it is already proving popular with undergraduate applications in the UK.â€?

The University of Southampton Malaysia Campus welcomed its first students last September who enrolled on the University’s world-renowned degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Professor John McBride, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysia Campus, said: “The University’s vision is to establish an engineering campus in Malaysia, to form close links with other partners in the region, and to attract high-quality undergraduate and postgraduate students from Malaysia, Indonesia and across the whole of the South East Asia Region.

“In particular, high-performance is a core part of the new campus curriculum and we’re particularly proud to have one of our high-performance graduates in Adrian Newey join us for this special occasion.â€?

Adrian, who is in Malaysia preparing for the country’s Formula One Grand Prix, said: “It is my great pleasure to support the University of Southampton for the formal opening of its Malaysia Campus. My degree from Southampton has certainly assisted me in my career and helped me develop, which I believe will also be true for Southampton’s future graduates in Malaysia and the UK.â€?

Find out more about the EEE degree.

Find out more about USMC.

Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a leading academic in Web and Internet Science at the University of Southampton, is one of five joint winners of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.

The prize, given by The Royal Academy of Engineering, honours Tim for inventing the World Wide Web and is awarded in recognition of ‘outstanding advances in engineering that have changed the world and benefited humanity’.

Tim won the award jointly with Marc Andreessen, who was honoured for his work in inventing the Mosaic browser, and Vinton Cerf, Robert Kahn and Louis Pouzin, who were honoured for their work in developing the internet. The award will be presented by Queen Elizabeth II, this summer.

Tim says: “The prize recognises what has been a roller-coaster ride of wonderful international collaboration. Bob and Vint’s work on building the Internet was re-enforced by Louis’ work on datagrams and that enabled me to invent the web. Marc’s determined and perceptive work built on these platforms a product which became widely deployed across nations and computing platforms. I am honoured to receive this accolade and humbled to share it with them.

“I want the web to inspire and empower new generations of engineers — boys and, especially, girls — who will build, in turn, their own platforms, to improve our global society. I hope the message behind this award, along with the work we are doing with the World Wide Web Foundation and W3C, will assist in achieving the vision of a Web that is open, accessible and of value to all.â€?

Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) held a successful first MSc Open Day, which attracted a cross section of overseas students based in UK universities, as well as students from the EU and UK.

The Open Day provided an opportunity for students interested in studying postgraduate taught courses to explore the campus and see the excellent facilities on offer at the University of Southampton. They could discover more about the range and varieties of one year postgraduate Master of Science courses provided by ECS, learn about what studying an MSc involves and find out about developing a career. Current MSc students were also on hand to talk about their experiences and there were opportunities to chat to and ask questions of our world-leading academics at the cutting edge of their disciplines.

The day also included tours of some of ECS’s outstanding facilities including the high voltage electrical labs, computing suites, award-winning clean rooms and electronic labs, as well as looking at the accommodation available for postgraduate students.

Feedback from students on the day was overwhelmingly positive, and they were particularly appreciative of the opportunity to talk informally with academics and current MSc students.

Head of ECS Professor Neil White said: “Deciding to study for an MSc is a big step. By coming to our Open Day potential students could hear all about our programmes, talk to current students and get the information they need to make the right decision.â€?

www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/postgraduatetaught