For his two decades of contributions to Open Access, Stevan Harnad, Professor of Computer Science in Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, is to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Liège in Belgium on Wednesday 25 September.

In 1994, the year he came to the University of Southampton, Stevan Harnad launched his "Subversive Proposal", which helped lead to what eventually became the worldwide Open Access (OA) movement. The proposal was that all scholars and scientists should post their peer-reviewed articles free for all online. The proposal was only heeded by a minority even within his own field of cognitive sciences, and even after he commissioned an ECS graduate student in 1997 to create CogPrints, an OA repository for cognitive science papers from all over the world, hosted by Southampton.

So in 1999 Stevan commissioned an ECS postgraduate student to convert CogPrints into free, open source generic software -- EPrints -- with which every university could create its own repository in which it could make its own research output OA. EPrints has since been adopted and emulated worldwide, but the repositories (all registered in the Registry of Open Access Repositories [ROAR] (created and hosted by Southampton) still remained largely empty of their intended OA contents.

In 2001, based on the finding of Lawrence reported in Nature, that computer science articles that were made freely accessible online were cited much more than those that were not, Stevan launched a series of studies (as part of the JISC-funded Open Journals and Open Citation Linking projects in ECS) that tested and demonstrated that the same OA citation advantage occurs in all disciplines. But even the prospect of enhanced citation impact was still not enough to induce more than a minority of researchers worldwide to self-archive their articles, so in 2003, the Head of ECS, Wendy Hall, adopted the world's first OA self-archiving mandate, requiring that all ECS article output be self-archived in the ECS OA repository.

And it worked: Since then almost 100% of ECS research output is OA (and enjoying the citation advantage). But what about the rest of the world -- or even the rest of the University of Southampton? (The world’s first university-wide OA self-archiving mandate was adopted by Queensland University of Technology in Australia, also in 2003, and Europe’s first was adopted by the University of Minho in Portugal, in 2004).

In 2004 the Parliamentary Select Committee on Science and Technology called for evidence on OA. The Committee’s resulting recommendation was that all UK universities and funding councils should mandate OA self-archiving, just as ECS had urged and done. In the ensuing years OA self-archiving mandates were adopted by additional UK universities (including Southampton)as well as all the RCUK funding councils, all registered in the Registry of Open Access Repository Mandatory Archiving Policies (ROARMAP), created and hosted by Southampton.

But both worldwide and in the UK, the adoption was still only by a minority, and most of the mandates were too weak, being intimidated by publisher embargoes on OA. So Stevan designed a new mandate that would be immune to publisher embargoes and could be adopted by all universities and funders, by separating the date of the deposit itself, which has to be immediate, from the date of setting access to the deposit as OA, which may be delayed if the author wishes to comply with a publisher embargo. In 2006 Stevan again commissioned the design of an eprint-request Button for repositories that allows users to request, and authors to provide, a free eprint of any deposited article for research purposes with one click each. This "Almost OA" Button not only tides over research access needs during any embargo, but it provides a mandate model that can be adopted by all universities and funders, irrespective of publisher embargoes.

The other component in this strengthened OA mandate was to stipulate immediate-deposit as the sole mechanism for submitting publications for institutional performance review, research assessment or research funding.

In 2006, the University of Liege became the first university to adopt this mandate model (coupled with a complementary mandate by the Belgian funding council, FNRS in 2011) and this mandate model proved extremely effective, generating deposit rates of over 85%, sustained now for over half a decade.

But while Stevan was promoting adoption or upgrading to this optimal mandate worldwide, the UK's Finch Committee in 2012 -- under the influence of the publishing lobby -- suddenly recommended a U-Turn in UK OA policy, away from requiring self-archiving (“Green OA”) toward instead publishing in journals that make their own articles OA (“Gold OA”) -- for a substantial fee. And that fee would have to be paid to publishers (out of already scarce UK research funds) over and above what the UK is already paying publishers for subscription access, using the UK's already scarce research funds, and abrogating authors’ free choice of journal.

RCUK adopted the Finch model mandate, despite outrage in all sectors (except publishers) in the UK, and no uptake outside the UK. This would effectively have made the UK lose the worldwide leadership in OA that it has exerted since 2003, but fortunately HEFCE came to the rescue in 2013, recommending the adoption of the immediate-deposit mandate for REF2020; and only a few weeks ago a BIS Select Committee also strongly seconded the immediate-deposit mandate while strongly recommending that the 2012 Finch/RCUK policy be upgraded to this mandate. If the RCUK does as Liege and Belgium have done, then the rest of the world is very likely to follow suit, and global OA will not be far behind.

It is for his role in this two-decade sequence of events that the University of Liege is awarding Stevan an honorary doctorate next week.

Together with the ECS Web Science Group, Stevan is organizing an International Summer Institute on "Web Science and the Mind" in Montreal in July 2014 at the Université du Québec à Montréal (where he is also Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Sciences) which will feature the leading researchers in Web Science presenting the new possibilities opening up in an Open Access world.

The UK’s slow progress in preparing for IPv6, the new internet addressing protocol, could threaten UK-based organisations’ ability to compete on the international stage, particularly in vital fast-growing economies, according to IT provider Logicalis and the University of Southampton.

Furthermore it puts at risk strategies in mobility and emerging trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT). The UK currently stands in 16th place in Europe and 27th worldwide in an IPv6 readiness league table compiled by Logicalis based on data gathered by Cisco Systems.

“IPv6 might sound like a techy issue," said Mike Cummins, Technical Services Director at Logicalis, "but failure to keep pace with other nations could ultimately have serious implications for competitiveness. Strategies such as the Internet of Things that are impacting the fundamental nature of how companies operate, are at risk of failure if management do not begin to address the changeover to IPv6.”

Designed to replace the IPv4 protocol already depleted in much of the world, IPv6 will allow the creation of a practically infinite number of public Internet addresses and the internet-enablement of a wide range of products and services such as mobile devices, internet connectivity in devices like cars, residential sensors and heart rate monitors, transportation systems, integrated telephony services, sensor networks, distributed computing, and online gaming. IPv6-readiness is also a requirement for companies looking to tap into growth opportunities in fast growing economies where IPv4 has already run out.

The University of Southampton was an early IPv6 adopter and a founding member of the IPv6 Forum. Dr Tim Chown, lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Southampton, says: “As a university with a strong reputation for computer science it's incredibly important that we provide a leading-edge research and teaching environment. We have been proactive in IPv6 R&D and running IPv6 in production across thousands of systems within our Computer Science department for several years, making many of those services publicly available. We welcome the IPv6 'wake up' message from Logicalis for the UK, and the opportunity to work with them as our IT services partner to roll out IPv6 more widely across our own campus.

“We share Logicalis' view that IPv6 deployment is critical for future Internet innovation and growth. We would thus recommend that organisations survey their systems for IPv6 capability, contact their ISPs to determine their IPv6 readiness, and build IPv6 requirements into all procurements to ease future IPv6 deployment. Furthermore, with almost all common devices supporting IPv6, and invariably having it enabled by default, organisations should also consider and manage the security implications of IPv6, even where their networks are ostensibly IPv4-only.”

Staff and students gathered today for a reception to celebrate the contribution to the University of Southampton and to Electronics and Computer Science of Dr Ken Thomas, who is retiring after 36 years as a member of the University’s academic staff.

Ken recalled his first day in the University in 1977 when he arrived from Oxford University to teach in the Department of Mathematics. Among the people he met that day was Wendy Hall, at that time a PhD student in Mathematics, who later moved with Ken to the newly formed Department of Electronics and Computer Science in 1986. Ken recalled those early days of computing and the contrast with the huge power and availability of computer services today. During his time in ECS Ken has taught many generations of students, as well as members of the academic and professorial staff in ECS. After retirement, Ken will continue his renowned teaching of Databases!

Professor Michael Butler, Head of the Electronic and Software Systems research group in ECS, paid tribute to Ken’s long service to ECS and to his other roles in the University, including dedicated service as University Marshal at Graduation ceremonies. Staff from ECS were joined at the reception by members of the Mathematics department, ISVR, the ORC and Engineering and the Environment.

An article on the value of wasps by Dr James Dyke, Lecturer in Complex Systems Simulation, and a members of the Agents, Interaction and Complexity research group in ECS, appears in today’s edition of The Conversation, a new online news source from UK universities.

James’s article ‘Wasps deserve to be loved’ examines the public’s negative attitude to wasps compared to the importance of the role they play in complex ecosystems – particularly in pollinating species by feeding on nectar, and in feeding solid food, in the form of common garden pests, to their larvae. ‘It would be practically impossible to predict the impact of the extinction of even a single species of wasp on the many other creatures and plants it interacts with, directly or indirectly,’ comments James.

Drawing a parallel with the legal rights accorded by the UK even to suspected terrorists, as in the recent Abu Qatada case, James concludes that while wasps may be a nuisance, and even life-threatening to some people, they and other species deserve our fullest consideration in terms of the benefit of their activities to the biosphere: ‘Until recently, we have simply taken for granted that the other species we share the Earth’s biosphere with contribute greatly to our well being,’ he writes. 'In an important way, these hidden benefits are very much like rights – you only notice how vital they were after they are taken away.’

James confesses to being fascinated by the Earth and in particular the way it has been affected by the emergence and evolution of life. ‘How did life start on Earth? Is there life elsewhere in the universe? - For as long as I can remember I experience a singular mix of emotions when looking up at the clear night sky,’ he says, ‘something that alas doesn't happen very often being a city dweller. My previous job at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry was centrered around the Helmholtz Alliance project, Planetary Evolution and Life, that was coordinated by the German Aerospace Agency.' He is still a member of the NASA Astrobiology Focus Group Thermodynamics, Disequilibrium and Evolution.’

More recently James has become interested in how a particular species is affecting the Earth and what that may mean for life now and in the future. ‘Anthropogenic Climate Change has become something of a cause celebre’, he comments, ‘but other impacts that Homo sapiens are having on the Earth system are arguably as profound and long-lasting.’

James is a co-chair of Sustainability Science Southampton

The Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory (TDHVL) at the University of Southampton in the UK has partnered with Nokia to investigate how natural power resources could be used to a charge a Nokia Lumia with an energy simulation similar to that of a bolt of lightning . Nokia has said it is very excited to have partnered for the first time with the TDHVL on this project and believes this could be the start of an on-going relationship.

The TDHVL has been growing consistently throughout the past decade. The quality of work and expertise within the TDHVL means that it has gained prestige amongst the international research community, making it a leading research laboratory in the field of High Voltage engineering. Therefore, when a company as such Nokia, with 150-years of commitment to innovation, wanted to explore the viability of using lightning to charge a mobile phone they said that the TDHVL was the obvious first choice for helping them to test the effect of an energy simulation similar to that of the power of lightning on the Nokia Lumia.

TDHVL research is always pushing the boundaries to come up with novel ideas to solve problems. That is why the TDVHL is at the heart of many decision and policy making groups in the area of High Voltage engineering. This industrial partnership with Nokia does just that as Chris Weber, Executive Vice President for Sales & Marketing explains; “This is a first for any mobile phone company to trial this kind of technology… As one of the first companies to introduce wireless charging into our products, we believe that this experiment has the potential to jump-start new ideas on how we charge our phones in the future.” “It is generally accepted that disruptive voltage and currents can damage electronic equipment such as phone charges plugged into the mains. This experiment clearly demonstrates the versatility of the Nokia Lumia 925 phone charger” said Professor Paul Lewin.

Nokia have partnered with ECS at the University of Southampton to unveil ground-breaking, proof-of-concept research into harnessing the power of lightning for personal use, an industry first that could potentially see consumers tap one of nature's significant energy sources to charge their devices in a sustainable manner.

This experiment underlines Nokia's 150-year commitment to innovation and delivering the most pioneering products to its customers.

The research will be undertaken in the renowned Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory at the University of Southampton.

See the video here!

The University of Southampton IEEE Branch had a very successful visit to the IEEE UK&RI Student Branch Congress 2013, held earlier this month at the University of Bath.

The Student Congress is held every two years, aimed at bringing together student branches from across the UK and the Republic of Ireland to learn about technology, promoting the IEEE ideals, networking and promoting the sharing of best practice among student branches through learning from each other.

Over 70 students from 8 student branches attended SBC 2013. The event also includes a number of competitions are also organised. This year the University of Southampton IEEE Student Branch participated in and won all three congress competitions: 1. IEEE Student Ethics Competition 2. Student IEEE Standards Education Committee (SEC) Student Paper Contest 3. Innovation in Student Activities Award

Additionally, the branch was last week announced as Regional winner of two Student Branch awards:

1. Region 8 IEEE Regional Exemplary Student Branch Award (the only branch to win this in the UK & RI) 2. Region 8 IEEE Outstanding Branch Counselor and Advisor Award (to Dr Geoff Merrett for his excellent work in supporting the branch)

A pioneering project by the University of Southampton, which aims to improve energy efficiency in the home, has won the British Gas Connecting Homes Startup Competition.

Dr Reuben Wilcock and Professor Alex Rogers, from Electronics and Computer Science, won first prize for MyJoulo at an event which saw 25 companies from around the world pitching innovative products and services in the home energy sector.

As well as the award, which was presented by Baroness Martha Lane Fox of lastminute.com, the researchers received a cash prize of £30,000 and the chance to run a trial with selected British Gas customers.

Dr Wilcock says: “What was clear about MyJoulo was the elegant and simple concept and the careful attention to satisfy every stakeholder, from the supplier to the customer. MyJoulo is given to households free of charge by their energy supplier and in three easy steps gives them personalised advice about what new energy technologies they could benefit from in their home.”

MyJoulo is a simple process, which provides personalised energy-saving advice with the minimum of time and effort – and at no cost. Only three steps are involved in the process: first you register with the project online and you receive your free Joulo data logger (which looks and works just like a conventional memory stick). You place this on top of your central-heating thermostat and leave it for a week to collect data as you continue to use your heating as normal. You then upload the data from the logger to a website to receive instant personalised advice on how to reduce your heating bill.

Professor Alex Rogers adds: “MyJoulo aims to give people understandable energy advice and we’re looking forward to bringing this to millions of customers in the UK.”

The Open Data Institute (ODI) has awarded Honorary Founding Partner status to the University of Southampton in recognition of its exceptional contribution to the setup and development of the organisation. It comes exactly 12 months after its unofficial opening and move to its London HQ. Since the ODI’s inception, the University has provided expertise, practical advice and in the very early stages, seed funding. On an ongoing basis, Southampton remains a key partner: the ODI’s Chairman and co-founder, Sir Nigel Shadbolt is also Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University; and it provides academic guidance and hands-on support in the delivery of the ODI’s training programme. The ODI’s Commercial Director, Stuart Coleman said: “The University of Southampton has played a seminal role in the design, conception and implementation of the ODI. In fact, the ODI could not have been conceived, launched and sustained without the bedrock of support the University provided. In recognition of this commitment the ODI is delighted to afford the University Honorary Founding Partner status. Moving ahead, our teams will continue to collaborate as our partnership expands to focus on the provision of core training, education and research related services in the field of open data.” The confirmation of Founding Partner status will cement the relationship between the ODI and the University bringing benefits to both partners: ● It lends additional professional credibility to the ODI as a training organisation, enabling it to confidently develop an educational offering at the cutting edge of open data science. ● It adds value to other ODI partnership programmes, including one recently announced with the OKF and The World Bank. ● It places the University and the ODI together, as worldwide leaders in university- accredited open data education. ● It opens up opportunities to develop new courses and research projects and to bring them to a worldwide audience. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton, Professor Don Nutbeam, said: “As a recognised pioneer of open data, the University of Southampton is delighted to join the ODI as a foundation partner. We are a university that has a world-class reputation for computer and data science and we look forward to working with the ODI to make data more readily available and accessible, and to further cement the UK's position as an international leader in open data.” The Honorary Founding Partnership comes exactly a year after the appointment of the ODI’s leadership team and the move into their HQ at 65 Clifton Street, Shoreditch. The 12 month anniversary will be celebrated officially with the first annual ODI Summit on 29 October.

A pair of ECS students have won an international award for their research developing a smartphone app to search for a rare insect in the New Forest, UK.

Davide Zilli and Oliver Parson received the award for Outstanding Student Paper in the Artificial Intelligence and Computational Sustainability special track at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence.

The award was in recognition of their work developing the app that is helping to rediscover the rare New Forest cicada (Cicadetta montana) – the only cicada native to the UK.

The app turns mobile phones into portable cicada detectors that scour the area in search of the elusive creature. If a potential cicada song is detected the app prompts the user to upload the recording so that it can be analysed in more detail.

Davide, a PhD student in the Institute for Complex Systems Simulation who is about to start an internship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said: “We are honoured to have received this award. It highlights our potential to develop principled artificial intelligence technology and apply it to real-world problems.

“Coming from the world’s top artificial intelligence conference, it is great recognition for the research we have put into this project. Working in computation sustainability is great because it allows us to apply our work to the natural environment around us.”

As well as the award the pair have also been invited to publish their paper in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research.

Oliver, a PhD student in the Agents, Interaction and Complexity Group who is about to start an EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, added: “We launched the app earlier this year and have had about 1,500 downloads and more than 5,000 reports. Unfortunately no cicadas were detected in the New Forest but we hope next year will provide an even better opportunity to search.”