The University of Southampton’s goFIT activity and movement challenge has been recognised as an example of best practice by the European Network of Academic Sport Services (ENAS).

goFIT formed a central component of the ‘One Big Thing’ project from Imperial College London, which won the BEST Practice Award at the 2014 ENAS Conference in Lille, France this week.

The goFIT software platform and movement challenge aims to increase the well-being and physical activity of staff and students. The goal is to increase minutes of physical activity each week, which can be as easy as taking the stairs instead of the lift or getting off at a further bus stop and walking a bit more into work.

Professor m.c. schraefel from Electronics and Computer Science, who designed goFIT, said: “Our research is all about how we can design technology to help people connect with each other, and connect with better wellbeing practices. We’d be overjoyed to see every university in the UK and EU running a goFIT challenge - let’s make it happen.â€?

Following a successful trial at Southampton, Imperial College London, was the first institution to implement the initiative and incorporated it into their own wellbeing activities, which culminated with the One Big Thing ‘5K anyway’ event.

Neil Mosley, Director of Sport at Imperial College London, said: “We love goFIT - we support m.c.’s aspiration to have goFIT help create a health practice data picture of wellbeing in the UK. There’s not just the challenge; there’s great content there too - from how to videos to first person accounts of getting more fit. For us, we love how we can customise goFIT to promote our events and how it gives our movement events a real target to get people together.

“At the recent ENAS conference, with people who run sport programs from all over Europe, there was tremendous interest in using the goFIT platform to run challenges from Ireland to Portugal.â€?

goFIT connected with hundreds of Southampton students and some staff last year and it will be running again January 2015 at Southampton, Imperial College London and City University London. If your institution or organisation is interested in participating, please visit gofit.ac.uk or contact Professor schraefel at mc+gofit@ecs.soton.ac.uk and follow her on Twitter @mcphoo

The top three performing students from Year One, Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Southampton Malaysia Campus (USMC) have each been awarded prestigious Lloyd’s Register Foundation scholarships.

Receiving these industry-sponsored scholarships in Electrical and Electronic Engineering for students at its Malaysian campus is a first for the University. In 2013, the Lloyd’s Register Foundation inaugurated scholarships for Southampton’s Mechanical Engineering students based in Malaysia.

Mark Darley, South Asia Area Manager of Lloyd’s Register, presented the scholarships to Stephen Chai Ming Han, (20), Aaron Pang Ken Soon, (20), and Yiqian Hui (20) following their excellent performance in both academic and personal aspects throughout their first year. The scholarships cover each scholar’s tuition and academic fees for the academic year.

A further seven students at Southampton’s Malaysia Campus were also honoured with University of Southampton ‘Top Achiever Awards’, for achieving three A* or higher grades in their A levels. These students – Aaron Teo Yii How, Aastik Malhotra, Ho You Wei, Lim Jin Wei, Ng Guo Hseng, Tan Kim Meng Ronson and Teh Jin Xuan – each received 100% scholarships from the University of Southampton, to cover their tuition and academic fees in their first year of study.

Professor John McBride, Chief Executive Officer, University of Southampton Malaysia Campus, said: “A big congratulations to our students for their achievement in being awarded these scholarships and to the Lloyd’s Register Foundation for their generosity and for maintaining their bond with us. These scholarships will give students, who have the aptitude and enthusiasm, an opportunity to maximise their potential and create the pathways to pursue their dreams."

Mark Darley, South Asia Area Manager of Lloyd’s Register, commented: “We congratulate each recipient of these scholarships offered by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation which allows these deserving students the opportunity to focus on developing their skills and preparing for their careers. We look forward to continuing our ties with the University of Southampton Malaysia Campus and to providing continued support for tomorrow’s engineers to enter the workforce and redefine the industry through their ingenuity."

Southampton Professor Dame Wendy Hall has been named as a founding member of a new International Council on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (iCAIR).

Dame Wendy joins leading researchers and innovators from the world’s best universities, companies and organisations to pioneer the new iCAIR council that has just been launched in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Council was inspired by the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and will offer advice on the best ways to use robotics and artificial intelligence to improve people’s lives.

It will also create educational materials, draw up a global action plan, be managed by the UAE Prime Minister’s Office and will meet annually to pursue a broad range of initiatives.

His Excellency Mohammad Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs for the Federal Government of the UAE, said: “Humanity is on a journey. There are milestones on this journey – from the discovery of fire, to the invention of agriculture, to the industrial revolution. Robotics, automation and artificial intelligence are the next major steps in this journey.

“There is no limit to the imagination. There is no limit to hope. In the UAE, we believe in giving opportunity to everyone, and in using technology to help people achieve their dreams.â€?

Dame Wendy is Director of the Web Science Institute and Managing Director of the Web Science Trust, both based at the University of Southampton. As one of the first computer scientists to undertake serious research in multimedia and hypermedia, she has been at its forefront ever since. The influence of her work has been significant in many areas including digital libraries, the development of the Semantic Web, and the emerging research discipline of Web Science. Her current research includes applications of the Semantic Web and exploring the interface between the life sciences and the physical sciences.

As well as playing a prominent role in the development of her subject, she also helps shape science and engineering policy and education. Through her leadership roles on national and international bodies, she has shattered many glass ceilings, readily deploying her position on numerous national and international bodies to promote the role of women in Science, Engineering and Technology, and acting as an important role model for others.

She said: “I’m delighted to be part of this initiative which reflects the increasingly significant role that automated systems will play in all our lives and the need to harness the benefits for society as well as recognise the challenges. The vision and leadership shown by the government of the UAE to inaugurate this Council will be an inspiration to the world.â€?

iCAIR’s first initiative is the UAE Robots for Good Award that will build on the successful UAE Drones for Good Award that received 800 submissions from 62 countries around the world.

The awards will encourage research and application of innovative solutions to challenges in health, education and social services.

Winning submissions will provide real services that improve people’s lives, ranging from hardware to software intelligence and artificial agents.

Other initiatives of the Council will include educational conferences, the use of robotics in UAE schools and universities, and leading policies on the humanitarian and positive uses of robotics and artificial intelligence.

Dr Corinna E Lathan, Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, said: “We are pleased to collaborate with the UAE to develop a test bed and global action plan that will have measurable economic and policy impact, as well as to encourage public understanding and awareness of the positive potentials of artificial intelligence and robotics.â€?

An innovative University of Southampton project to open up access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects for students with learning disabilities and print disabilities such as visual impairments and dyslexia has proved such a success that it has been awarded further funding to develop the idea from concept to prototype or demonstrator.

ECS Partners’ STEMReader project is one of five around the UK to share in a further £500,000 of funding from the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) that is sponsored by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Innovate UK.

STEMReader was originally one of eight projects that received a total of £500,000 of BIS funding at the beginning of the year to explore proof of concept of their ideas.

The new money will allow the team, based in Electronics and Computer Science at Southampton, to develop a tool to assist with reading aloud and comprehending mathematical symbols and notations.

Project leader Professor Mike Wald said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this further funding for STEMReader. It is recognition of the hard work we have done so far in developing the proof of concept and we look forward to taking this forward to the next stage and translating that concept into a prototype.

“Currently it is extremely difficult for a student with a print impairment, such as a visual impairment, dyslexia or dyscalculia, to read aloud a maths notation using a computer or mobile device.

“STEMReader will enable students to open, reformat into large fonts, and hear aloud maths content. It will make a significant step forward in reading aloud maths for learners at all levels from basics, to people in the workplace, to students at university.â€?

Over the next 18 months the team at ECS Partners will provide learners in colleges with the opportunity to contribute to the development of the STEMReader.

Up to 10 million individuals in the UK are estimated to be affected by print disabilities or dyscalculia, and people that face these barriers to reading and comprehending maths can struggle with STEM subjects. Having a tool to read aloud mathematical symbols becomes one of the most helpful coping strategies when manipulating mathematical concepts.

“By developing the STEMReader tool we will enable for the first time a broader range of publishers and educators to easily share accessible STEM materials that can be read and understood by all types of users,â€? added Mike.

ECS Partners is working with colleagues in other collages and workplace learning providers to investigate how STEMReader can be used to help learners struggling to understand maths and help them to develop their functional numeracy skills.

The funding is Phase 2 of the SBRI project that encourages the development of life changing assistive technologies sponsored by BIS and Innovate UK and managed by Jisc TechDis, a leading UK advisory service on technology and inclusion for people with disabilities or learning difficulties.

Sal Cooke, Jisc TechDis Director, said: “The companies made amazing progress in the first phase. It was an absolute joy watching them work directly with disabled learners and employers using their feedback to adapt the designs.â€?

Greg Clark, Universities, Science and Cities Minister, said: “I believe that education and employment should be open to everyone who has the ambition to get on. I am proud that the government is supporting innovative British companies to make more opportunities available for disabled people.â€?

Students from the University of Southampton are aiming to put the first life on Mars.

LettuceOnMars, a student project from the Mars One, to land experiments on Mars. It is now one of the ten short-listed university projects, and the only UK entry, that was selected for technical feasibility and popularity. The winning payload will arrive on Mars in 2018 together with the official Mars One experiments.

The aim of the Southampton project is to send a small greenhouse to Mars in which lettuce will be grown using the atmosphere and sunlight on Mars.

The team now need the votes of the general public to be chosen as the winner and realise their plan to grow lettuce on Mars. Voting is open now and closes on 31 December 2014.

The Spaceflight Society is an interdisciplinary team of under and postgraduate students including Hector Hamilton, a third year MEng student in Electronics and Computer Science, studying Electronic Engineering with Nanotechnology.

Lettuce on Mars’ Project leader Suzanna Lucarotti, says: “To live on other planets we need to grow food there. No-one has ever actually done this and we intend to be the first. This plan is both technically feasible and incredibly ambitious in its scope, for we will be bringing the first complex life to another planet. Growing plants on other planets is something that needs to be done, and will lead to a wealth of research and industrial opportunities that our plan aims to bring to the University of Southampton.

“We have tackled diverse sets of engineering challenges, including aeroponic systems, bio filters, low power gas pressurisation systems and failsafe planetary protection systems and then integrated them all into one payload on a tight mass, power and cost budget. We can build this here and now, the only step now is to win the public vote.â€?

To vote for the team, vote #LettuceOnMars - details are on the team website www.lettuceonmars.com

You can also follow them on twitter @MarsOneProject or @lettuceonmars, on Facebook www.facebook.com/lettuceonmars and on Google+.

A special imaging system has been delivered to the British Museum and the Louvre. The "reflectance transformation imaging" domes use 76 LED lights and a high quality digital SLR camera to capture unique images of ancient artefacts. The images allow researchers to read the cuneiform tablets more easily as well as study small surface details. The systems were designed and built in ECS by Dr Kirk Martinez and Dr Philip Basford with help from Mark Long in the ECS mechanical workshop. An ongoing collaboration with Jacob Dahl and Klaus Wagensonner from Oxford University has led to the mass capture of cuneiform tablets (over four thousand) which will have a positive impact on historical studies around the world.

A third system has been used in the Schøyen Collection in Sweden to image thousands of tablets. That system is due to move to Pensylvania in 2015.

Partners: Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative and the University of Oxford: Dr Jacob L. Dahl, Associate Professor of Assyriology & co-PI, CDLI

Louvre Museum: Béatrice André-Salvini, Director, Department of Near Eastern Antiquities

Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative and UCLA: Robert K. Englund, Professor of Assyriology & Director, CDLI

Dr John Cupitt, Imperial College

Scientists from Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton are part of a consortium launching a new systems engineering framework, set to revolutionise the design, verification and validation of complex cyber-physical systems.

The result of the EU-funded “ADVANCEâ€? project, the framework provides an engineering process and a free-to-use toolset that addresses safety and correctness at the earliest possible development stage. The ADVANCE toolset has been launched as an upgrade to the existing open-source Rodin platform, extending the capabilities of Rodin with more powerful and innovative verification and simulation capabilities.

Current engineering practices mean that designing cyber-physical systems to high assurance levels is often prohibitively expensive. Three years in the making, the newly launched features will help engineers to reduce the costs of system development by providing accurate models that simulate system behaviour. This means that issues can be identified and design errors eliminated as early in the development lifecycle as possible. The toolset’s new formal verification features will also help engineers to more efficiently test critical systems in ensuring suitable safety-assurance levels.

The upgraded platform has already demonstrated its ability to improve the designs of “event-drivenâ€? systems, such as those controlling railway interlocking functions and low-voltage smart grids, and is capable of supporting the development of systems from a broad range of industries. At “Industry Daysâ€? held in Southampton and Düsseldorf, the platform’s capabilities were demonstrated by industrial users in the railway, smart energy and defence sectors.

Professor Michael Butler, of the Electronic and Software Systems research group and Scientific Coordinator of the ADVANCE consortium, said: “It is widely recognised that development costs will become prohibitive for future systems unless significant improvements are made in the methods and tools used for systems engineering. The Rodin toolset is unique in addressing both simulation and formal verification within a single framework, in a cost-effective way.â€?

José Reis, Principal Consultant Engineer at Critical Software Technologies Ltd, added “Rodin’s new visualisations and simulations will be clear even to non-specialists, allowing engineers to efficiently understand the technical details and consequences of the system they are working on, more effectively fixing errors well in advance of any commitments to a final design.â€?

The new features are freely available as part of the Rodin open-source platform, which can be downloaded at www.event-b.org/install.html

Following the success of the project, the ADVANCE consortium is now looking for further funding streams to continue to develop Rodin’s capabilities, which will enable the platform to handle even larger system-modelling capabilities while introducing further features. In addition to the University of Southampton, the consortium includes CRITICAL Software Technologies, Alstom Transport, Selex ES, Systerel and the University of Düsseldorf.

Further details of the ADVANCE project are available on the project website: www.advance-ict.eu.

The University of Southampton has come out top in the UK for Electrical and Electronic Engineering in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF) results. The REF also shows 100 per cent of the impact of our Computer Science research activity is world-leading or internationally excellent.

The 2014 REF assesses the quality and impact of research submitted by UK universities. The results will be used by higher education funding bodies in the UK to allocate almost £2 billion of research funding per year from 2015-16.

Results from the REF 2014 have confirmed the volume and quality of our research in Electrical and Electronic Engineering as being the best in the UK with 97 per cent of our research outputs rated as world-leading or internationally excellent.

Additionally, the volume and quality of our Computer Science research is in the top 10 in the UK with 100 per cent of its impact being recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent.

Professor Neil White, Head of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton, said “This is an excellent achievement and a superb recognition of our commitment to research work that is world-leading and transformative. Our staff, industry partners and research funders can take pride in these outstanding results and our students can be assured of the research-led education they take part in.â€?

Read about the impact of ECS’ research on web science, energy, agent technologies, open data and more in our case studies.

Cutting edge research into engineering at the University of Southampton is further recognised with General Engineering also being ranked as first in the UK by the 2014 REF.

Overall, Southampton is ranked 11th in the UK based on the volume and quality of its research. Over 97 per cent of the University’s research environment has been assessed as world-leading and internationally excellent. Nearly 90 per cent of its research has been assessed as having world-leading and internationally excellent impact.

The University’s full REF results are available at: www.ref.ac.uk.

The University of Southampton is to share in £20 million of funding to advance the UK’s manufacturing capability. It will lead two of ten new research projects announced today (19 December) by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The project ‘Novel manufacturing methods for functional electronic textiles’ project will receive £2.8 million to develop novel manufacturing methods for wearable technology. It will be led by Professor Steve Beeby from the Electronics and Electrical Engineering Group within Electronics and Computer Science. It also involves Nottingham Trent University and a number of industry partners.

Professor Beeby says: “This project presents a fantastic opportunity to further the developments we have made towards the practical integration of electronics and sensing functionality in textiles. Nottingham Trent bring highly complementary expertise in yarn and textile manufacture to the project and, with the assistance of our industrial partners, we hope to achieve some real impact from this research.â€?

The other project is the Chalcogenide Advanced Manufacturing partnership (ChAMP); a partnership between the University’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) and the Universities of Exeter, Oxford, Cambridge and Heriot-Watt, along with 15 industrial partners. Southampton will receive £3.1 million to revolutionise the manufacture and use of specialised glass, called chalcogenides, in a range of products from optical fibre and infrared lenses to electronic devices, including logic and memory. The University’s Composite Material Facility, unique to the UK, will also help to develop and manufacture radically new and advanced materials.

Welcoming the announcement Business Secretary, Vince Cable, said: “Working with academia and industry to support game-changing manufacturing projects like these is at the heart of the Government’s industrial strategy. By supporting the jump from the manufacturing lab to the market place, we are driving innovation, creating valuable new jobs and delivering economic growth that will secure the UK’s global leadership for decades to come.â€?

Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC’s CEO and former Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Southampton, said: “These grants for Functional Materials research will take advantage of the excellent capability that exists across the UK. The level of partnership between universities and industry means they are well positioned to advance the exploitation of the knowledge and discoveries of our pioneering scientists and engineers. These are really exciting projects that can add to the long term prosperity of our country.â€?

Students at the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering already have an excellent record for their success in the jobs market, and with 85 leading companies and organizations attending the 2015 Engineering and Technology Careers Fair, this looks set to continue.

With 25 per cent of the companies attending for the first time and more companies than ever wanting to take part, there is no shortage of choice for students who are aiming to work in some of the UK’s leading and most innovative companies. The Fair takes place on Tuesday 10 February at the University’s Highfield Campus and runs from 11 am to 3.30 pm in the Garden Court and Mountbatten Buildings. The companies attending will be offering graduate jobs, summer internships and industrial placements, and aiming to build awareness of their opportunities with students who may not be entering the jobs marketing until 2017 or beyond.

‘This is a great opportunity for students to get a really wide-ranging view of the engineering and technology industry,’ said Joyce Lewis, Careers Fair Director, ‘as well as to find out about specific careers and opportunities in many different sectors.’

This year there is particularly strong representation from the energy industry, with companies such as Centrax Gas Turbines, EDF Trading, EdifERA, Opus Energy and Schneider Electric taking part. Security and defence companies make a strong showing, as well as communications, specialist software consultancies, design consultancies, management consultancies, and some of the world’s leading electronics companies. A new feature of the Fair this year is The Innovation Zone, which highlights some of the leading technology being produced by companies based at the University of Southampton Science Park at Chilworth. Eleven companies, all affiliated to the SetSquared consortium of southern universities, will be looking for the brightest students to join their high-tech ventures.

‘We are very pleased with the high quality of companies coming to Southampton to employ our students', said Professor Neil White, Head of Electronics and Computer Science. 'They are taking part in the Fair because they are aware of the quality of our students and their ability to innovate and support the development of future technologies. There are very exciting careers to be built in these industries and we value our strong links with companies and the excellent relationships built up over time. Many of the stands will include Southampton alumni, demonstrating the contribution that our students and graduates are making to the UK’s industrial and business success.’

The Fair is the centrepiece of the annual careers and employability programme at in the Faculty. Students attending the Fair can expect strong interest from leading employers across the technology industries and from companies that are seeking excellent graduates with high-level competence in technology, including computer science, engineering, and the physical sciences.

‘The environment we have created here continues to ensure that companies want to promote their opportunities to our students,' said Professor White. 'For our part we do our best to increase our students’ awareness of career opportunities, right from their very first week at the University. We want to prepare them to find the job they want, and raise their aspirations of future achievement.’

Companies and organizations attending this year’s event are: Acano, Accenture, Altera, Amadeus Services, ARM, ASH Wireless Electronics, Avalon Sciences, Babcock, BAE Systems, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, Betfair, Bloomberg, Cambridge Consultants, Captec, Centrax Gas Turbines, Chemring Technology Solutions, Cirrus Logic, Connectus, Davide Leone and Partners Investment, Deloitte, Dialog Semiconductor, ECM Selection, EDF Trading, EDT: The Year in Industry, EMC, Edif ERA, Ericsson Television, European Information Service Centre, FactSet, FDM Group, Fidelity Technologies, Fidessa, G-Research, Gradcracker, Haseltine Lake LLP, IBM, Institution of Engineering and Technology, IG, Imagination Technologies, ITDev, J P Morgan, Kongsberg Maritime, Lascar Electronics, Mayden, Micro Focus, Montagu Olsen Associates, MWR Infosecurity, National Instruments UK, National Microelectronics Institute/UKESF, Netcraft, NewVoiceMedia, Ocado Technology, OpenMarket, Opus Energy, Oxford Computer Consultants, PwC, QinetiQ, Schneider Electric, SCISYS UK LTD, Selex ES, SETsquared (The Innovation Zone), Snowflake Software, Sparx, SPI Lasers, STFC Technology, Sungard Financial Systems, Surface Technology International, TARGETjobs, Thales, Towers Watson, TTP Group, Ultra Electronics Nuclear Control Systems, Unboxed Consulting, Winton Capital Management

Innovation Zone - Mountbatten Building: Blupoint, Cascoda, ECS Entrepreneur, Korusys, Nquiring Minds, Parabola Research, REAPsystems, Redlux, Softiron, Tekever, Triggered Messaging, Xylostream

The Fair is open to all students and graduates of the University of Southampton. For further information about the Fair, or about the FPSE Careers Hub activity, contact j.k.lewis@ecs.soton.ac.uk; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.