The University of Southampton

Published: 8 August 2014
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Southampton researchers are aiming to improve energy efficiency, cut costs and reduce carbon emissions in the country’s non-domestic buildings.

Southampton is one of six universities (along with Imperial College London, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, and Strathclyde) which will share £3m funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), on behalf of the Research Councils UK Energy Programme (RCUKEP), and £1m from the Technology Strategy Board. The research will address how to use technology, data and information, mathematics and sociology to create better energy strategies and behaviours in public and private, non-domestic buildings.

Non-domestic buildings such as offices, supermarkets, hospitals and factories account for approximately 18 per cent of UK carbon emissions and 13 per cent of final energy consumption. Planning energy saving techniques and implementing change with the cooperation of building occupants is going to be essential.

The Southampton project, which was awarded £493,000 of funding, will examine how external sensors can be used to monitor how windows, blinds and lighting are used and how occupants’ needs, such as privacy, comfort and security, can be balanced with energy management.

Project leader Professor Patrick James, a Senior Lecturer in Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton, says: “In a domestic setting, a householder is directly responsible for the energy bills and would therefore not consciously leave a window open overnight in the winter. In an office environment however, there is no financial driver for people to behave in the same energy efficient manner. While there may be a strong reason to open a window in an office (stuffiness, high temperature), the driver to close the window (energy awareness) may be very weak unless there is an additional driver such as external noise, rain or a security risk.

“This poses a real challenge to the facilities manager, ‘happy productive users’ prefer control of the façade, which is what well designed non-domestic building environments should provide, but providing this control introduces significant energy performance risk.”

“Instrumenting existing buildings with additional physical sensors to monitor this user behaviour is often prohibitively expensive”, continues Professor Alex Rogers, a project co-investigator based in Electronics and Computer Sciences. “We hope to be able to provide useful feedback to a buildings occupants through webpages, ambient displays and smartphones, using a small number of low-cost visible and thermal cameras monitoring the exterior of the building.”

Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC’s Chief Executive and former Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Southampton, adds: “Improving energy efficiency is an important piece of the energy puzzle. Worldwide energy demand is rising, as are global temperatures and sea levels. We need to find smart solutions to how we use energy while improving the environment in which people have to work, rest or play. These projects will go a long way to help improve our understanding of what goes on in non-domestic buildings and add to the armoury at the disposal of those managing these facilities.”

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Published: 14 August 2014
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The University of Southampton is one of a select number of UK universities whose students are eligible for the Sagentia STEM Bursary scheme.

Following the successful launch of the scheme last year, Sagentia, the leading global science, technology and product development consultancy, is offering up to 10 further bursaries of £2,500 to support science and engineering students during the academic year starting September 2014. The scheme, which also offers selected students valuable paid placements at Sagentia’s operations in various locations in the UK, is part of Sagentia’s continuing commitment to the development of science and engineering skills in the UK.

Students who are currently studying or have accepted a place on a range of science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) courses at the University of Southampton, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of Bath, Loughborough University, University of Strathclyde and University of Surrey are all eligible for the bursary.

Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Director of the Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton, says: “We are delighted and very proud to be a partner university in the Sagentia bursary. As a global leader in technology development and consultancy, Sagentia recognises the importance of the high-quality undergraduate education provided by the University of Southampton, and the scholarships and internship opportunities will be a great incentive to our students, as well as a great boost to the development of the UK's expertise in science and engineering.”

Sagentia is looking for applications from young people studying chemistry, computer science, electronic engineering, engineering, geology, geosciences, life sciences, mathematics, materials science, mechanical engineering, physics, product design or similar subjects. A proportion of the bursaries will be allocated to students from households with an annual income of less than £42,000.

Martyn Ratcliffe, Chairman at Sagentia, says: “Strong science and engineering skills are the driving force of Sagentia’s success and will play a vital role in creating sustainable economic growth in the UK. We are delighted to be able to offer financial support and professional experience to the next generation of innovators for the second year. The first year of the bursary scheme highlighted the deep wells of talent among the UK’s undergraduate population. If the dedication, skills and commitment displayed by our bursary recipients is an indication, we have every reason to be confident in our future.”

As part of the scheme, Sagentia gives preferential consideration to bursary recipients for both its 10-week summer placements and its one-year placements. Having been awarded a bursary in 2013, Sam Johnstone is this year joining Sagentia as a graduate in Mechanical Systems and Design. “The Sagentia bursary offered a great opportunity to help finance my University degree, while becoming involved with a company that is highly relevant to my future career plans. Receiving the bursary has given me the freedom to pursue my academic studies in more detail, and helped me fund my engineering-related hobbies. The graduate role is a fantastic opportunity to combine the technical engineering skills I have gained with the challenge of consultancy work.”

Bath University student, Leanne Yip Heung Win, is joining Sagentia on a one-year placement in Mechanical Systems and Design: “There are very few technology and product development companies that provide bursaries. The Sagentia STEM bursary has given me the opportunity to further my potential without a financial burden. I applied for the one-year placement because of the support that Sagentia gives students and because of its own successful position. The placement gives me an opportunity to gain vital engineering experience and be part of a truly innovative team.”

The closing date for applications is 19 September 2014. Information about the scheme is available on the Sagentia website: www.sagentia.com/careers/sagentia-stem-bursary

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Published: 14 August 2014
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ECS is sponsoring the first European tech conference for students and recent graduates.

EF UnHacked is a day-long event at Microsoft’s Cardinal Place building in London’s Victoria on Saturday 27 September. Student technologists and entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to take part in panel sessions, workshops, keynotes and networking sessions, and to learn more about the practical and commercial applications of technology and enterprise.

Student participants will be able to gain valuable insights from guest speakers and to connect with students from across Europe. Speakers confirmed so far include Dan Crow (Songkick), Ben Medlock (SwiftKey), and Avid Larizadeh (Boticca & Partners).

Entrepreneur First is a seed investment programme that selects purely on the basis of technical talent. Around 50 graduates from computer science and engineering backgrounds are selected to take part in the programme each year. They are then provided with funding and support, enabling them to work in teams within the cohort developing an entrepreneurial idea.

This year three ECS Electronics graduates have joined the EF cohort and will be working on developing new products over the next six months. All ECS and FPSE students are eligible to attend EF Unhacked; apply through the website at http://www.joinef.com/ef-unhacked.html

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.023 8059 5453

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Published: 21 August 2014
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Professor Tariq Durrani, ECS Alumnus, is one of three candidates in the election for the prestigious role of IEEE President 2015.

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is the world's largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. Through its global membership of over 430,000, IEEE is a leading authority on areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics. It is known and celebrated for its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities.

Professor Durrani, who is based in the department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde, is a Petition candidate for the position of President, and has an outstanding record of service to the organization, including long periods of office on some of the major boards. He has also been President of the IEEE Signal Processing Society and of the Engineering Management Society, and he held the position of Vice-President Education Activites Board.

All voting members of the IEEE on the record on 30 June this year, and holding the membership grade of Graduate Student Member (GSM) or higher, are eligible to vote for IEEE President Elect. Ballot papers have now been mailed to all those eligible to vote.

The IEEE Elections website contains full information on the Election as well as statements of experience and intent from Professor Durrani and the other two candidates standing, Professor Barry L Shoop and Frederick C Mintzer.

Professor Neil White, Head of Electronics and Computer Science, commented: ‘ECS is honoured to have our alumnus, Professor Tariq Durrani, accepted as a candidate in the IEEE Presidential election. This is an important role in the leadership of the global engineering community and Tariq’s credentials and experience would enable him to be an outstanding President. I urge all our alumni who are voting members of the IEEE to support Tariq in his bid.’

Professor Durrani (pictured here at the ECS Alumni Reception held in London in May), graduated MSc Electronics (1967) and PhD (1970) from the University of Southampton. He says in his candidate statement that he will work ceaselessly to support Members and their Careers, maintain the IEEE lead in technologies and standards development, promote innovation in publications, and support globalization and outreach.

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Published: 29 August 2014
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ECS graduates have recorded outstanding success in the 2013 jobs market, according to results of the official DLHE survey (Destination of Leavers from Higher Education), released this month.

Of the 276 students who responded, 100 per cent of those in work recorded that they were in professional and/or managerial graduate roles. Popular destinations for ECS graduates (covering Computer Science, Electronics and Electrical Engineering and Information Technology in Organisations), were ARM, J P Morgan, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, Imagination Technologies, FactSet, Bloomberg, and the armed forces.

Work locations covered the whole of the UK and beyond, with a heavy concentration in London, and in Southampton and the surrounding area. Over 30 per cent of ECS graduates recorded starting salaries of £25-£30,000, with over 20 per cent starting their graduate job with salaries of £30-35,000, and around 15 per cent lucky enough to earn £35-50,000+. The most common job roles were as programmers and software developers, closely followed by electronics, electrical and design engineers. Fourteen per cent of students continued to higher study for an MSc or PhD degree.

‘These are outstanding results,’ said Professor Neil White, Head of Electronics and Computer Science. ‘ECS has always placed a high priority on producing excellent and well-trained graduates for industry and research, and our graduates’ success in 2013 is a great endorsement of our education programme and our strong reputation with industry, as well as of our high-profile careers and employability activities which benefit all our students.’

The DLHE survey is carried out annually by the Higher Education Statistics Agency and results are used to compile official university league tables.

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Published: 1 September 2014
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Photonics Day is a regular annual event in the University calendar in which the very latest photonics research is reviewed through a number of oral and poster presentations. This year, the event is being re-launched by the Zepler Institute as a celebration of the truly multidisciplinary nature of photonics research and will feature presentations from across the Zepler Institute’s constituent research groups in ECS, Physics & Astronomy and the Optical Research Centre, as well as collaborators from across the University, including the Institute for Life Sciences and Chemistry.

Student and post-doc poster presentations

There will be opportunities for students to showcase their work by giving short oral and poster presentations, where there will be cash prizes on offer for the best entries. Post-docs are also invited to present a poster. Abstracts are now being accepted, for an application form please contact r.churchill@soton.ac.uk (deadline for abstracts 1st September).

The International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies

We are pleased to announce that the day will be opened by European Physical Society President, John Dudley who will give an invited talk in his role as Champion of the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015).

The day will include morning and afternoon refreshments and a buffet lunch. A full programme will be available shortly on this website. Registered delegates will receive full joining instructions in advance of the event.

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Published: 3 September 2014
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New research has found that malicious behaviour is the norm in crowdsourcing competitions — even when it is in everyone’s interest to cooperate.

Crowdsourcing provides the ability to accomplish information-gathering tasks that require the involvement of a large number of people, often across wide-spread geographies, expertise, or interests.

However, researchers from the University of Southampton and the National Information and Communications Technology Australia (NICTA) found that a significant feature of crowdsourcing — its openness of entry — makes it vulnerable to malicious behaviour.

They observed such behaviour in a number of recent popular crowdsourcing competitions, through analysis based on the ‘Prisoner's Dilemma’ scenario, which shows why two purely ‘rational’ individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interest.

Co-author Dr Victor Naroditskiy from the University of Southampton says: “Everyone from the ‘crowd’ can contribute to solving the task. This is exactly what makes crowdsourcing so powerful for solving tasks that are all but impossible for a closed group of individuals or an organisation.

“At the same time, the openness makes crowdsourcing solutions vulnerable to malicious behaviour of other interested parties. Malicious behaviour can take many forms, ranging from sabotaging problem progress to submitting misinformation. This comes to the front in crowdsourcing contests where a single winner takes the prize.”

Surprisingly, making the attacks more expensive for the attacker is not an effective way of deterring them. These findings, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, will be important for the design of crowdsourcing competitions, as well as for firms that consider using crowdsourcing to solve a task.

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Published: 16 September 2014
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Professor Sheng Chen from the University of Southampton has been elected as a Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE).

Professor Chen was one of 59 new Fellows who were elected by the RAE at its AGM this week. All new Fellows have been invited to join the Fellowship in recognition of their outstanding and continuing contributions to engineering. Sheng Chen, a Professor in the Communications, Signal Processing and Control Research Group at the University, engages in world-leading research into computational intelligence and signal processing, together with their engineering applications for mobile communications. Professor Chen says: “My election to a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering is recognition of my personal achievements and Southampton’s endeavour in helping to develop these enabling technologies that underpin our information society and digital economy.”

Professor Dame Ann Dowling DBE FREng FRS, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “Our newly elected Fellows bring an enormous breadth of expertise to the Academy, widening our collective scope and knowledge. I know that they will all make significant contributions to the Academy’s activities in their time as Fellows and we look forward to working with them to create benefit for society through engineering.”

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Published: 18 September 2014
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Pete Lockhart, Chief Technology Officer of Chemring Technology Solutions, has been appointed Visiting Professor in Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton.

Pete is a distinguished engineer and technology leader, with over 30 years’ experience in leading-edge contract research and development. He has delivered innovative solutions for a diverse range of customers, from television production companies to government security agencies. His career has covered sensor, communication and internet research, and spans both the civil and defence markets, developing bespoke sensors to full turnkey systems for broadcast, transportation, defence and national security applications. He has filed numerous patent applications. “ECS places a high value on its links with industry and opportunities for joint research,” said Professor Neil White, Head of Electronics and Computer Science, “we are therefore delighted to be able to appoint Pete Lockhart as a Visiting Professor.

“Pete is a highly respected figure in UK industry and our staff and students will benefit from his passion for technology, his knowledge and experience of systems engineering, and his enthusiasm for emerging technologies.”

As Chief Technology Officer of Chemring Technology Solutions, Pete is currently responsible for driving the company’s innovation programme. Its focus is on developing cyber security and information-processing technology by combining sensing expertise with machine learning to create novel sense-making and decision-support systems. Chemring Technology Solutions currently employs over 360 engineers and works across the whole of the systems engineering lifecycle.

Pete has had close links with ECS over the last 10 years, working with staff and students, and serving as a member of the ECS Industrial Advisory Board.

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Published: 29 September 2014
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ECS was a lead sponsor of the first pan-European student conference, held in London on Saturday 27 September.

EF Unhacked, organized by Entrepreneur First, brought together over 200 students and recent graduates from across Europe, to hear from founders and technologists about the practical and commercial applications of tech startups, and to connect with like-minded enthusiasts for the new business opportunities that technology is creating. The event was held at Level 39, One Canada Square in Canary Wharf.

Speakers included Ben Medlock, Co-Founder and CTO of Swiftkey, Avid Larizadeh, Co-Founder of Boticca, and Dan Crow, CTO of Songkick. There were also panel discussions from graduates of the Entrepreneur First programme, as well as student talks and networking sessions. Over 450 applications were received for the 200 places at the event, with participants travelling from over 23 countries to be there.

ECS was well represented with 13 students in attendance. “EF UnHacked was the first conference I've ever attended, and I'm so glad I went!”, said Millie Pearce, final-year student in Information Technology in Organisations. “I had a fantastic time, met some inspiring like-minded people and was privileged to listen to such great speakers - definitely an experience I'd love to repeat!”

"All the keynote speeches really inspired me to get going with my startup and do great things," said third-year Computer Science student Roberto Gregoratti. "Especially Dan Crow's, which showed us how important it is to be passionate about the future of tech!"

Altay Adademir, first-year student in Software Engineering, commented: “It was a really good event for people thinking of making start-ups, especially to be able to hear from programmers who have been so successful with their own business start-ups.”

EF (Entrepreneur First) is the only seed investment programme that selects purely on the basis of technical talent. Students are able to join the programme before they have a team or an idea for a business, and receive funding support over an intensive seven-month programme that enables the founding of a startup. Four ECS graduates have been part of the programme, which began in 2012.

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