Professor John McCanny, Director of the Institute of Electronics Communications and Information Technology (ECIT), Queen’s University Belfast, will be giving a Faculty Distinguished Lecture on Tuesday June 10th.

Professor McCanny will be speaking on the Successful translation of Academic Research into wider Economic Impact:

A nation or a region’s ability to remain competitive in a global economy is highly dependent on its ability to innovate and create new products and new services. A key aspect of this is the quality of its research. However, what is also critical is the environment and mechanisms to rapidly translate the outcomes of this research into wider economic impact and benefit. These issues and the challenges are now high on the agenda of many modern economies. This Lecture will give an overview of how these challenges are being addressed at Queen’s University Belfast through its Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT), the research flagship for the Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP).

Professor John McCanny is an international authority on special purpose silicon architectures for Digital Signal and Video Processing and Cryptography. He has published 5 research books, 360 peer reviewed research papers and holds over 20 patents. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the Irish Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET),and the Institute of Physics and Engineers Ireland. He is also a Member of the Royal Irish Academy.

A full summary of Professor McCanny’s lecture can be downloaded on the right of this page.

The event will take place in the Nightingale Lecture Theatre (67/1027) at 17.00, with refreshments available from 16.30. A drinks reception will follow. All are welcome but please register via Eventbrite beforehand: http://john-mccanny.eventbrite.co.uk.

Any questions should be e-mailed to Natasha Webb – n.webb@soton.ac.uk.

2014 sees the 9th Annual International Microelectronics Olympiad. Showcasing the world’s brightest and most talented young engineers, last year the Olympiad attracted over 600 participants from 22 countries.

For the first year, the UK will be competing in the competition with first stage heats hosted by the school of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton on the 4th of June

Can you rise to the challenges of design and test?

The event is open to all students under the age of 30 active in the field of microelectronics. This first stage event consists of a 120 minute knowledge-based test containing 30 multiple choice questions. One winner from this event will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Synopsys’ headquarters Armenia in October to participate in the final stage of the competition. All costs for this trip will be fully covered by sponsorship from Synopsys.

Test topics include • Digital IC Design and Testing • Analog and Mixed Signal IC Design and Testing • Semiconductor Devices and Technology • Mathematical and Algorithmic Issues of EDA

You can find more information about the Annual International Microelectronics Olympiad, including sample problems and solutions at: www.microelectronicsolympiad.am

How to Apply?

If you would like to participate send an email including your full name, student number and your course degree title by 27th of May to microelectronicsolympiad@ecs.soton.ac.uk

Confirmation of registration and further information of the event will be sent to all qualified participants by 28th of May

ECS alumni from almost 60 years attended this year's London reception, held at BMA House, London, on Tuesday 13 May.

Around 200 alumni were able to reconnect with fellow students and academic staff, and to hear news of latest developments in the University and in Electronics and Computer Science.

Professor Peter Smith, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering, told alumni that their support was invaluable to student activities in ECS, enabling student development projects, the establishment of student societies, and the creation of new mentoring programmes. Alumni also play a large part in the ECS Careers Hub activity by offering internships and graduate jobs to ECS students, by bringing their companies to the annual Careers Fair, and by taking part in the programme of student careers conferences.

Professor Smith also introduced Professor Tariq Durrani, distinguished alumnus of ECS, who is this year aiming to become President-Elect of the IEEE. All Graduate Student Members of the IEEE are elible to vote in this election. ECS alumni members can sign the petition electronically at: http://www.ieee.org/petition.

Professor Mark Zwolinski, Deputy Head of ECS, updated guests on recent developments, including the launch of the new degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering at the University of Southampton Malaysia Campus, and the award to the University of the unique Regius Chair in Computer Science, to which Professor Nick Jennings was recently appointed.

The main address of the evening was given by Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering, and Head of the School of Electronics from 2002 to 2007. Professor Hall is this year celebrating 40 years since graduating from her undergraduate degree at Southampton, and will be giving the keynote address at the University's annual alumni reunion event in July.

'ECS has always been a strong and lively community', said Professor Hall, 'and as we continue to innovate with new degrees and new research directions, it is wonderful to see that our alumni are playing such an enthusiastic and innovative role in technology development in their professional lives.

New initiatives for which ECS will be seeking alumni support in the future are the ECS-Inspire programme, which aims to help shape student development across the degree programme, and for enterprise activities, including business start-ups.

For further information on ECS alumni events or supporting student projects, careers activities, or research engagement, contact Joyce Lewis, Senior Fellow-Partnerships and Business Development (tel. 023 8059 5453).

See photos of the event on our flickr Photostream

Our LinkedIn Group: 'ECS Alumni, University of Southampton' contains information on all ECS alumni events, and has over 1300 members. Information on the July reunion is available from the Office of Development and Alumni Relations: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/alumni/2014reunionexperience_makeyourcomeback.html.

The University of Southampton is working in partnership with the government, educators and industry to boost female participation in technology and engineering.

The University’s pledge announced in May, aims to support a change in how women and girls are encouraged to consider technology and engineering careers and the subject choices or vocational pathways that lead to them.

The national aspirations of the ‘Your Life’ campaign is to double the number of women studying engineering and technology degrees at undergraduate level by 2030; boost the number of women pursuing careers in engineering and technology; and increase the number of young people studying maths and physics at 18.

The University will play a major part in this campaign through a number of activities between May 2014 and May 2015. These include:

• Expand on its successful Dragonfly Day to encourage more Year 9 female students to consider careers in science and engineering. • Support Theano, a University community providing guidance an professional development for female students and staff within STEM subjects through a variety of training and networking events with leading female role models • Host “Women in Engineering” seminars at open days to encourage women to study engineering and STEM subjects. • Deliver talks at the Women’s Institute to engage mothers and grandmothers in STEM subjects and encourage them to promote science and engineering to their families.

Professor Rachel Mills, Associate Dean for Natural and Environmental Sciences, said: “The University is proud to sign this important national commitment for action. We will build on our award winning work with young people to enable more women to access technology and engineering degree programmes. Increasing the diversity of the UK technology and engineering workforce over the next decades will be delivered through concerted, consistent and creative efforts by all of us.”

Skills and Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock said: “There has never been a greater focus from government on inspiring people, especially women and girls, to take up science, technology, engineering and maths. STEM disciplines are the heartbeat of the modern world. From agriculture to aviation, the analytical and problem-solving skills they develop are more valuable than ever in a fast-changing, global economy. I'm delighted that 170 leading organisations are joining us in our commitment to inspiring more women and girls to take up study and training in these areas.”

To view the University of Southampton’s full pledge, please visit: http://www.yourlife.org.uk/signatories

Technology meets the natural world in one of the most innovative and creative modules of the ECS undergraduate programme.

Bringing together students from different degree programmes in ECS and different faculties across the University, the final-year Biologically-Inspired Robotics module requires students to design and build a robot, based on inspiration from the natural world.

"At present robots are very crude compared to organisms,” says Dr Klaus-Peter Zauner, joint course-leader. “This is the case at all scales from insect to elephant size, and in any category from endurance to sensing in ambiguous environments. We can still learn a lot from nature and this opens up the unusual opportunity for students to invent something significant within the scope of a single module.”

The students have just 12 weeks to research viable biological projects, devise workable solutions to the selected problem, build and demonstrate a final working device. and submit a project report.

"Our students are used to engineer to set specifications,” says Dr Zauner, “but in this module we don't set them a problem -- we ask them to come up with their own ideas. While the students find this very challenging they also regularly impress us with their innovations."

One of this year’s imaginative solutions was an innovative robotic fish, designed to imitate the natural sub-carangiform locomotion of a fish.

FISHER - a Fully Immersed Swimming Hydrodynamic Electronic Robot, used Body Caudal Fin (BCF) motion for forward propulsion, and pectoral fins for stability. The team of five ECS students - Arinze Ekwosimba, Andrew Cowan, Kenneth Payne, Jonathan Griffiths, and John Alton - designed a complex mechanical body using Computer Aided Design software, and manufactured the robot using the 3D printing and laser-cutting facilities in the ECS workshops.

A sophisticated control Printed Circuit Board was developed to mimic the segmented behaviour of an animal’s nervous system. These can be broadly categorised into the brain, communication and movement sections, and were implemented in FISHER using ARM Cortex M0 microcontrollers.

The swimming motion was facilitated by phased sine waves propagating along the fish against the direction of travel. By controlling the offset, amplitude and phase of these signals, the speed and direction of the fish could be controlled. The robotic fish was tested underwater in the University’s Lamont Towing Tank, enabling the algorithms to be optimised and the BCF motion to be comprehensively evaluated.

The project was supervised by Dr Richard Crowder, and the team benefited from support and expertise from Cambridge Circuit Company Ltd and Hammond Electronics Ltd, as well as from the state-of-the-art resources and technical staff in the ECS laboratories and workshops.

Speaking on behalf of the team, Arinze Ekwosimba summed up the experience: "The team found strength in efficiently dividing the project tasks equitably among members in a way that ensured smooth execution. Overall, we particularly enjoyed the underwater and biological challenges and were spurred to deliver something epic so as to end our degree studies on a high!"

Watch FISHER go through its paces in the Lamont Towing Tank.

"Robots have to act in real-time in a complex world and to do so with limited resources.” says Dr Zauner. “The popularity of mobile phones pushed the development of power-efficient computation and battery technology and thus created the conditions for the revolutionary developments in robotics we will certainly see in this decade."

As part of the University of Southampton’s Reunion Experience 2014, we're welcoming back alumni to a special engineering showcase on Saturday 12 July from 10am to 1pm.

Alumni from the years 1954, 1964, 1974, 1984, 1994 and 2004 are warmly invited back to celebrate the anniversary of their graduation. There will be the opportunity to tour our world-class facilities, find out more about our current research, share memories and catch-up with old friends. Refreshments will be available.

Register for the Reunion Experience 2014.

Cutting-edge facilities

Facilities from Electronics and Computer Science and from the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment will be on display: our interdisciplinary Cleanroom Complex; the wind tunnel; the rapid prototyping facility; Erica the rhino; the μ-Vis and X-Ray Imaging Centre; and the anechoic and reverberation chambers.

The Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory will also be open for tours on the day, but these must be pre-booked separately.

Pioneering researchers

Professor William Powrie, Dean of Engineering and the Environment will be attending on the day, while Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of Physical Sciences and Engineering will be taking part in the evening dinner, organised by the University's Alumni Office.

There will also be a rare opportunity to hear from two pioneering researchers: Professor Sir David Payne and Dr Reuben Wilcock.

Professor Sir David Payne is one of the UK's most eminent scientists and one of the world's most cited academics. His discoveries in the 1970s and 1980s directly underpin today's Internet infrastructure, and his work continues to help ensure its long-term stability.

Dr Reuben Wilcock is an award-winning academic and engaging speaker, whose most recent enterprise MyJoulo, won the British Gas Connecting Homes Startup Competition 2013.

Venue: Highfield Campus, University of Southampton

Contact for more information: Alumni Office +44 (0)23 8059 2747 ARevents@southampton.ac.uk

Refreshments will be available.

Professor Dame Wendy Hall is one of the judges for a new £10M prize which has been launched to solve one of the greatest scientific problems facing the world today.

The innovation charity NESTA, in collaboration with the Technology Strategy Board, the BBC and other partners, has launched the Longitude Prize 2014 to find solutions to one of six key global challenges: dementia, antibiotics, flight, water, paralysis and food.

The competition idea is based on the 1714 Longitude Prize, which was won by John Harrison, whose innovative clocks enabled sailors to pinpoint their position at sea for the first time.

Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering, is a member of the Longitude Committee, which features experts from across the scientific world and who will judge all entries and decide the winner.

Dame Wendy recently appeared in the special 50th anniversary edition of the BBC science series Horizon to launch the prize and presented the argument for how smart devices and new technology can help people with dementia. “This is a great opportunity for us to tackle some of the biggest issues facing society today," she commented. "I believe technology offers us a great opportunity to help people with dementia to live independently for longer in their own homes.”

It is estimated that 135 million people worldwide will have dementia by 2050, which will mean a greater personal and financial cost to society. With no existing cure, there is a need to find ways to support a person’s dignity, physical and emotional wellbeing. The challenge is to develop intelligent, affordable integrated technologies that revolutionise care for people with dementia, enabling them to live independent lives.

The six themes are being put to a public vote to determine which one will be adopted as the winning prize challenge. Voting is open until 25 June, through the Horizon website and by text.

The winning challenge will be announced on 25 June, and will become the focus of the £10M prize fund. The Longitude Committee will then finalise the criteria for how the prize will be awarded, and from September anyone will be able to submit their ideas to the competition judges. The Longitude Prize will run for five years, or until the prize is won.

Longitude Prize

Three University of Southampton research projects have been shortlisted for a national award, which recognises their public engagement work.

The projects are all nominated for awards in the Engage Competition 2014 run by the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). The projects, which were chosen from over 230 entries, include ECS' Erica the Rhino.

Led by a team in Electronics and Computer Science including Dr Kirk Martinez and Dr Reena Pau, Erica the Rhino was created in 2013 as part of Marwell Wildlife’s Go! Rhinos campaign, which aimed to highlight the conservation threat facing rhinos. Erica was one of a series of rhinos created by local artists that appeared around Southampton throughout the summer. Using small low-power computers, she was unique in her interactivity: among other digital functions, she tweeted, changed colour and could learn about her environment with both short and long term memory. The technology formed the basis for regular workshops held in the Marlands shopping centre throughout the school holidays.

Other University of Southampton projects which have also been shortlisted are:

• The Marine Engineering Connections project, led by Dr Steve Dorney, turned routine 40-minute sea crossings across the Solent into exciting engineering journeys. During the summer of 2013, marine engineers from the University and industrial partners were trained in the skills of science-busking, to showcase their engineering expertise on a popular ferry-route in the peak tourist season. Holiday passengers traveling to and from the Isle of Wight on board WightLink’s flagship ferry, the St.Clair, were able to meet the engineers and explore the impact of marine and maritime engineering in a fun, engaging and educational manner.

• Celestial Sirens, led by Dr Laurie Stras, is an amateur female-voice choir, which recreates the musical world of sixteenth-century convents. With a membership drawn from across the South – from Dorchester to Eastbourne – the choir has been active since 2002 and has participated in two award-winning recordings. The choir also participated in a tour of the UK and Ireland in a dramatisation of Sarah Dunant’s novel, Sacred Hearts, which starred Niamh Cusack and Deborah Findlay.

Professor Judith Petts, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Southampton, says: “We are delighted to have three finalists in the NCCPE competition. We believe that it is really important for researchers to engage with the public in a host of innovative and effective ways, and these projects exemplify why it matters.

“From inspiring young people with new advances in knowledge, to encouraging members of the public to contribute to research, it is clear that public engagement at the University is thriving.”

Winners will be announced at the national Engage Competition Awards ceremony on Wednesday 11 June at the Natural History Museum. The competition forms part of Universities Week, a week-long celebration of public engagement with research, which is taking place across the UK from 9 to 15 June. As part of the week, some of the finalists will be showcasing their work at a free event at the Natural History Museum on Wednesday 11 June from 6-10pm.

Nicola Dandridge, Chief Executive, Universities UK, says: “The NCCPE competition has provided an excellent vehicle for universities’ engagement with the public to be recognised during Universities Week, which this year aims to inspire the public about world-leading research taking place in higher education. The standard and sheer volume of entries received is a reflection of the increasing trend for UK researchers and the public to work together. Public engagement is important to the success of the higher education sector and as part of that the NCCPE plays a pivotal role in supporting universities to engage with the public.”

The University of Southampton officially launches its new Web Science Institute on Thursday 12 June to investigate how the World Wide Web is changing the world and the world is changing the Web. The World Wide Web is the largest human information system in history, integrated into the everyday lives of billions of people across the planet, shaping how we do business, conduct our social lives and organise politically. The University of Southampton has played a significant role in the development of the Web over the last 25 years, including the foundation of the innovative discipline of Web Science 10 years ago.

The event, at the prestigious Royal Society in London, will mark the formal launch of the Web Science Institute and opens with an exhibition showcasing its interdisciplinary Web Science research. This will include the Web Observatory and the unique SOCIAM project, which aims to create a greater understanding of ‘social machines’ including the World Wide Web. Institute Directors Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt and Professor Susan Halford, together with Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, will join other leading figures from Web and internet science, including the University’s newly appointed Visiting Professor Liam Maxwell, Government Chief Technology Officer, in a panel-led discussion on future developments. Keynote presentations will also be delivered by JP Rangaswami, Chief Scientist at Salesforce.com and Richard Susskind OBE, author, speaker and IT Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. Professor Dame Wendy Hall says: “As we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Web and think about the role Web Science can play in helping to shape the future Web we want, it is a perfect time to be launching the Web Science Institute. We are looking forward to showcasing current Web Science work and discussing what it means to look at the world through a Web Science lens.” Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt says: “The Web empowers individuals and communities. It is based on open standards and open participation. And now open data on the Web will drive even greater innovation. The Web Science Institute will help us understand these exciting opportunities.” The Institute brings together world-leading multidisciplinary expertise from across the University to tackle the most pressing global challenges facing the World Wide Web and wider society today. It will focus the analytical power of researchers from disciplines as diverse as sociology and computer science, economics and psychology, law and humanities to understand and explain the Web by: • focusing on interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships; • demonstrating clear ambition, adaptability and innovation; • leveraging the visionary leadership and outstanding staff and student expertise across the University; • providing a platform for significant investment by Government and external partners; • showcasing unique and creative education programmes that set new standards internationally.

The University of Southampton has appointed Liam Maxwell, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for HM Government, as a Visiting Professor.

He will be a Visiting Professor in Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. Liam will also be taking part in a panel-led discussion at the launch of the University’s Web Science Institute on Thursday 12 June at the Royal Society.

Liam says: “I’m delighted to be taking up this Visiting Professor role at the University of Southampton. It's one of the country's top institutions for computer science, turning out the web scientists of tomorrow. Having such a direct connection to the innovation and creativity of the web sciences function can only help us identify better ways of delivering a digital government based on user needs. This role will complement my work as Chief Technology Officer for HM Government.”

Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Head of the University’s Web and Internet Science Group, says: “As CTO to the UK Government, Liam Maxwell occupies one of the most significant positions in UK IT and computing. He is leading a transformation of how systems are procured within the Public Sector and the nature of such systems. He is a supporter of Open Standards, Open Source and Open Data.

“He is an enthusiastic advocate of Web Science and of Electronics and Computer Science and is supportive of both our curriculum and students. He was voted number one influential leader in Computer Weekly’s “UKtech50” and it is fantastic to have him associated with the University.”

Liam Maxwell’s team within the Government Digital Service (GDS) is responsible for equipping government with the right technology to deliver great digital services

He supports the adoption of open standards and leads the spend control process for IT which is part of the Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group programme to save multiple billions across government.