ECS Alumnus and Visiting Professor Max Toti has this year seen his company Captec recognized for its success in three notable business listings.

Max set up Captec in 1985. The company designs and manufactures ruggedised computer systems that can be deployed anywhere, regardless of operating environment. Captec's expertise is to design and manufacture computers that will operate reliably, over a long life, in any environment, engineering protection for any one of many stress factors such as temperature extremes, shock, vibration, dust, and fluids. The company is increasingly developing computing platforms at the edge of technology in Mobile Computing, the Internet of Things and Wearable computing applications, with embedded software and cloud connectivity. Captec's Headquarters and operations are based in Fareham with operations in Canada and the USA.

Over recent months Captec has won a place in the Sunday Times Profit Track 100 league table of 100 most profitable companies in the UK; it has been included in the London Stock Exchange list of 1000 companies to inspire Britain, and it has won one of the South's Most Ambitious Companies Awards.

Max commented: “As an ECS alumnus I am proud to attribute part of my career and company’s successes to the excellent degree that ECS gave me, and the self-confidence that it inspired. ECS has created, and continues to create a huge pool of highly talented engineers and computer scientists who are changing the world. The combined successes of ECS alumni around the world is an inspiration to all others following our footsteps, reinforcing the message that if we can do it, so can you. ECS continues to pioneer the nurturing of future talent and provide support and encouragement to its alumni to spark the new generations of entrepreneurs.”

Max has provided mentorship to ECS students in recent years and has also addressed graduating students in recent years, passing on some of the lessons that he has learned in his business career. He is a member of the ECS Alumni Board and will be one of the 'Dragons' in our 'Dragons Den' competition taking place on Saturday 2 May.

"We are delighted to see Max and Captec achieving this national and international success and recognition," said Professor Neil White, Head of Electronics and Computer Science. "Our students are able to experience the highest quality of education and gain excellent jobs in industry. Max's success helps provide inspiration to them by demonstrating that it's also possible to set up an innovative company, providing new opportunities for others in a highly competitive field, achieving great success and benefiting UK business. We look forward to more success in the future, from Max and other ECS graduates!"

Professor Dame Wendy Hall has been recognised by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for transforming the way the world views computing.

As the first ACM President from outside North America, Dame Wendy initiated the establishment of ACM Councils in Europe, India and China, extending the organisation’s scope to a borderless audience. She also focused on the education of upcoming computer science generations, promoting gender diversity and nurturing talent in computing from all corners of the world. She has been recognised for this work with the Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award, which will be presented at the ACM Awards Banquet in June.

Commenting on the award, current ACM President Alexander L. Wolf said "Hall provided leadership and inspiration at a time when the computing discipline exploded onto the international scene, promoting ACM as the foremost association of computing professionals worldwide.”

A Professor of Computer Science within Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, Dame Wendy was a founding director of the Web Science Research Initiative to promote the discipline of Web Science and foster research collaboration between the University of Southampton and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was President of the British Computer Society and, since 2014, has served as a Commissioner for the Global Commission on Internet Governance. In 2009, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). She was elected President of the ACM in July 2008.

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field’s challenges.

Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) achieved excellent results in this year’s Complete University Guide. With first and second place graduate prospect scores for Electronics and Electrical Engineering and for Computer Science, these UK university league tables endorse ECS' success in ensuring its graduates have strong employability skills and industrial experience.

Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Southampton retained its third place position on a range of criteria that included student satisfaction, graduate job prospects, research, and entry standards. In this table, Southampton shares the top three places with Cambridge and Imperial College London and jointly leads the table for graduate prospects.

Computer Science at Southampton saw an increase of five places this year, bringing it to eighth place and sharing second place for graduate prospects with Cambridge.

Alongside ECS within the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Physics and Astronomy retained its top-20 position at 19th place for the third year running.

Engineering at Southampton did well across the board, with Aeronautical, Civil and Mechanical Engineering all achieving top five places. Overall, the University of Southampton has moved up to 14th place from last year’s 16th.

Professor Bashir M Al-Hashimi, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering commented: “We are very pleased to see these excellent results for Electronics and Computer Science, which reflect the high quality education our students receive within the context of world-class research activity. Our commitment to building strong partnerships with employers – as well as providing state of the art, industry relevant facilities – helps ensure that students are very much in demand by leading high-tech companies for the breadth of their technical understanding.”

The Complete University Guide – one of three principal UK-based rankings for UK universities – is compiled by the independent Mayflower Consultants and based on a wide range of criteria.

Davide Zilli from Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) has been named the winner of the 2015 Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT®).

Using just one PowerPoint slide and no additional props or electronic media, postgraduate researcher Davide had just three minutes to present his research. Davide’s research is focused on looking for a critically endangered insect – the New Forest Cicada – using a smartphone app that he developed to track the Cicada’s high-pitched sound.

Speaking about his research, Davide said, “In the future this app has great potential to be extended to other species such as bats and birds or even elephants and rhinos. Eventually I would like to apply everything I have learnt to supporting developing countries through work in charities or non-governmental organisations. Phones and smartphones have a huge market in developing countries, and with these platforms the possibilities are endless.”

Davide is completing a PhD in the Institute for Complex Systems Simulation. He is the second researcher from the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering to win the University 3MT competition. In 2014, Physics student Paul Gow took the prize for presenting his research into 'Emitters for Terahertz'.

Berit Plumhoff from the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment was awarded second place with her research entitled: ‘You are what your Mother Eats’. Meanwhile, the People’s Choice award went to Alan Morris from the Faculty of Medicine for his engaging presentation on beating Alzheimer’s disease.

Davide, Berit and Alan will all be awarded with bursaries to support their research. Davide, as grand champion, will represent the University at the national 3MT® competition later this year in Manchester.

Around 180 alumni from across 55 years of ECS history attended our London alumni reception on Tuesday 12 May. The event, which has been held annually in recent years, enables ECS alumni based in London and surrounding areas to meet fellow graduates and ECS staff, and to hear about latest developments in the University and especially in Electronics and Computer Science.

This year’s event was held for the second year in BMA House, Tavistock Square, the headquarters of the British Medical Association. The most senior alumnus present was Professor Anthony Davies, who graduated BSc Electrical Engineering in 1961 and is now an Emeritus Professor of Kings College London. Also present was Mike Payne, one of the founders of SolidWorks, who graduated in 1965. Every decade of the School’s history was represented, with an especially good attendance by recent graduates.

In his address, Professor Neil White, Head of Electronics and Computer Science, reminded alumni that there are many ways of being involved with ECS and its students, including the 'ECS Alumni, University of Southampton' group on LinkedIn, which now has over 1500 members. "Our current students really benefit from the interest and continuing involvement in the School of significant numbers of alumni who take part in the Careers Fair, give presentations in ECS, and sponsor projects and prizes. We very much value these contributions and the successful interactions that result."

In addition to networking and meeting friends and colleagues, alumni were able to hear a presentation by Principal Enterprise Fellow Dr Reuben Wilcock, about Future Worlds, an exciting new project for ECS and the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering. Future Worlds - to be launched officially later this year - will provide a range of opportunities enabling alumni to be involved in student enterprise and activities as mentors, investors, employers, and supporters. It will also offer involvement in all business-related and entrepreneurial activities in ECS, as well as providing wide-ranging information on the people, the events and new ventures that are making the running in exploiting new technologies.

Alumni wanting to be involved in Future Worlds can email future@ecs.soton.ac.uk to register their interest and to find out more.

The new, EU funded, Open Data Incubator for Europe (ODInE), which involves academics from Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, is today calling out to startups across the UK and Europe, to apply for a place on its new programme with the chance to secure up to €100k grant funding.

The incubator programme, which is being announced at the 2015 World Wide Web Conference in Florence, has places for 50 startup businesses over the next two years. ODInE is being delivered by the Open Data Institute (ODI), University of Southampton and six other European partners, and has received €7.8m of EU funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 funding programme. New startups will be recruited every two months on a rolling basis.

Elena Simperl, Associate Professor in Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, one of the ODInE delivery partners, said: "ODInE is both timely and unique. It is timely because, as open data enters the agenda of big and small industry and governments all over the world, we need to do more to ensure that the effort that went into publishing the hundreds of thousands of open data sets now available bears fruit. This can be achieved only by creating ecosystems, such as ODInE, in which open data is used to create economic and social value. It is unique because it gives companies the freedom to work on open data projects that matter to them, and to the society, using any technology, for no equity. A rarity in the accelerator marketplace."

ODInE has been modelled on the ODI’s highly successful Startup programme, which has so far supported 18 companies, nine of which have now graduated from the scheme. Together these companies have secured over £4m in funding and investment since joining and they employ over 70 people.

ODInE is aimed at small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) building a business around open data. Interested startups should register via http://opendataincubator.eu/. Applicants need to submit a short proposal presenting the idea and the budget required. The applicant must be registered with the European Commission as an SME at the time of submission.

Successful applicants are eligible for:

• a grant of up to €100,000 per company
• expert advice from business mentors
• peer-networking and support
• technology and data sets
• coverage in The Guardian datablog
• brokering introductions to business angels and venture capitalists.

Funds can be spent on salaries, equipment, consumables, travels, subcontracting to other parties (e.g. for marketing or legal support), and indirect expenditure (office space, office infrastructure etc. calculated as 25% of the total direct costs).

Each proposal will be assessed using the following criteria:

• Idea - the strength and novelty of the open data idea.
• Impact - the value proposition and potential scale; market opportunity and timing and the social, environmental, economic benefits.
• Team and budget - the knowledge and skills of the team, the capacity to realise the idea and appropriateness of the budget.

The selection team will prioritise those who work on things that matter.

Gavin Starks, CEO at the Open Data Institute, said: “ODInE offers startups access to the latest open data and business expertise, with funding that can make a real difference. In the existing ODI programme we found that startups valued being immersed in an open data ecosystem with others going through the same experience. We are excited that this new programme will be Europe-wide, given Europe’s thriving startup ecosystem and its leadership in areas such as smart cities.”

Eight partners, including the ODI, bid for the EU funding to develop ODInE: University of Southampton, The Open Data Institute, Telefonica Open Future, The Guardian, Wayra, Fraunhofer, Open Knowledge Foundation (Germany).

Electronics and Computer Science at The University of Southampton has been ranked as number one in the UK for Electrical and Electronic Engineering according to the 2016 Guardian University Guide. This is the eighth time in the last eleven years that Southampton has topped the table for Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

The University is also ranked in the top 10 by The Guardian for Computer Science and Information Systems in the same guide, rising one place to number seven.

The Guardian tables are based on data from the UK’s National Student Survey and Higher Education Statistics Agency, covering teaching quality and feedback, spending per student, staff/student ratios, job prospects, a “value added” criteria (comparing students’ degree results with entry qualifications), and entry scores.

The Guardian has traditionally put a strong emphasis on student-centred issues in the construction of their league table, which continues to be an important factor in student choice, particularly in the international market.

“We are delighted with these excellent results for Electronics and Computer Science, which reflect the impact of high quality education and world-class research activity on employability for our graduates.” said Professor Neil White, Head of Electronics and Computer Science at the University. “This is great news for prospective students who are thinking about coming to Southampton to study on our degree programmes later this year; our students can be sure that when they graduate they will be in demand by the leading high-tech companies in the world.”

The University of Southampton has consolidated its position amongst the UK’s top 15 institutions by placing 14th overall in The Guardian. The climb of five places from last year follows Southampton’s rise to 14th in the recent table published by the Complete University Guide.

Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) been granted a Royal Academy of Engineering Award (RAEng) to fund a Visiting Professor who will help enhance and strengthen their students’ employability after graduation.

Dr Ashish Darbari will provide a strong industrial contribution to Electronic Engineering and Computer Science programmes at the University of Southampton.

Ashish is a Principal Hardware Design Engineer at Imagination Technologies, in Hertfordshire, one of the world’s leading semiconductor IP technology companies whose customers ship billions of PowerVR GPUs, MIPS CPUs, Ensigma RPU communications and other SoC technologies each year into some of the world’s most iconic smartphones, tablets, and much more.

As a Visiting Professor he will bring with him a wealth of industry experience in the field of advance design verification.

During his three-year appointment Ashish will teach on undergraduate modules in electronic design and software engineering, define and mentor fourth year MEng Group Design Projects and MSc Individual Projects, mentor PhD students in the Electronics and Software Systems Research Group, and advise on refreshing teaching modules and programmes.

Professor Michael Butler, Associate Dean for Enterprise and Impact, welcomed Ashish to his new role. He said: “The appointment of Ashish will serve to strengthen our students’ employability further by making direct technical contributions to teaching, by providing career mentoring to students and by increasing the opportunities for internships at Imagination.

“The mentoring support he offers will help our students to identify and qualify for high-end engineering jobs, the teaching contribution will mean that students will have acquired additional knowledge and skills that can be applied immediately in industrial design environments in electronic design organisations such as Imagination and also in the wider embedded software systems industry.

“ECS already has a very strong relationship with Imagination with 10 per cent of their graduate recruits coming from ECS each year. We hope that this Visiting Professorship will further strengthen this relationship and hopefully lead to more internship placements and PhD CASE studentships.”

Ashish already has strong links with the University - he was a PostDoctoral Research Fellow at Southampton for four years and has strong links with the Electronic and Software Systems Research Group at ECS.

He said: “I started my professional career at Southampton after my Doctorate and have since benefitted a great deal through my interactions with the university both when I was an academic and when I moved into industry. At Imagination we are solving some of the most complex and diverse set of problems both in design and verification. I lead the Advanced Verification Methodology group where we are pioneering some of the most advanced verification methods, so thanks to the support from the RAEng and ECS I am looking forward to sharing some of our experiences with the students at Southampton through my new role.”

The University hopes that the relationship will continue after the Professorship ends through building relationships with Ashish’s team and working with Imagination beyond the three years to ensure their programme modules remain refreshed and keeping pace with industry trends.

The University of Southampton’s Web Science Institute (WSI) is celebrating its first anniversary at a special event in London on Monday 8 June. The WSI brings together world-leading multidisciplinary expertise from Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) and across the University to tackle the most pressing global challenges facing the World Wide Web and wider society today. It focuses on 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. WSI Director Professor Dame Wendy Hall says: “One year on from the launch of the Web Science Institute, we celebrate with a showcase of research and an afternoon of debate and discussion. Our theme – ‘Privacy and Trust in the Era of Big Data analytics’ – is one that impacts on everyone in the digital world as personal data becomes a tradeable asset, and carries wide-ranging implications for individuals, business and government.” The event, at the Digital Catapult, marks a successful first 12 months of the WSI. Outcomes include:

• A number of social media research projects are underway, addressing crucial social science research questions around topics such as immigration, health policy and demographic modelling, by trialling social media data and methods in collaboration with PhD students and the Web Observatory.
• Eight new interdisciplinary projects, supported by the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), have been progressed to stimulate interactions with business, government, industry and other users of University research.
• As part of the German Embassy Talks series, the WSI took part in presentations, lectures and a panel discussion on the topic ‘Exploring the Emerging Digital Frontiers: From Mind to Market’.
• The Southampton Web Observatory portal is now deployed; sharing public and private datasets, API access (Javascript, Node) and support for streaming data.
• In collaboration with ANZOG and the University of South Australia (UNSA), a Web Observatory was installed to help local/regional government understand the issues and opportunities around an ageing population. WSI teams also installed India’s first Web Observatory in partnership with IIIT Bangalore.
• WSI is collaborating with Southampton City Council to build a Citizens Panel, an innovative form of online engagement which includes the development of citizen social science.
• As part of the Universities of Southampton/Edinburgh/Oxford joint “Social Machines” (SOCIAM) project, emergency rescue service managers from three counties were briefed on aspects of social computing and Web Observatories.

The event opens with an exhibition showcasing interdisciplinary Web Science research. This will include the Web Observatory, a new class of scientific instruments designed to take measurements from the Web, and the unique SOCIAM project, which has developed the ‘Macroscope’ a vital tool for studying the World Wide Web in great detail. With state-of-the-art machine analysis and visualisation techniques, the Macroscope can monitor the daily 500 million posts created on Twitter, 100 million posts on Chinese microblogging site Weibo and 500,000 edits to Wikipedia, amongst others. This enables SOCIAM to see significant effects that may usually be missed - things like trending topics, conversations and collective actions taking place across the Web, and provides analytical insight for Web Scientists and the wider research community.

Institute Directors Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Professor Les Carr and Professor Susan Halford will then join other leading figures from Web and internet science, including Sir David Omand, ex head of GCHQ and a member of the Global Commission on Internet Governance, in panel-led discussions on ‘Privacy and Trust in the Era of Big Data Analytics’. Professor Les Carr says: “The Institute leverages its expertise in computational, social science and humanities research to provide masters and interdisciplinary doctoral training that examines the disruptive effect of the Web’s data and social media technologies on our personal and professional lives. Our students aim to produce new kinds of cultural and economic value as they work closely with business, industry and government to seize the opportunities for innovation in the digital information economy.” Professor Susan Halford adds: “The Web is not a technical system or a social system but thoroughly sociotechnical. Our path-breaking interdisciplinary educational programmes and links with industry, business and government are underpinned by innovative research that allows us to build the capacities we need to understand and intervene in the Web as it continues to evolve.”

The University of Southampton’s world-leading achievements in autonomous systems and artificial intelligence will be celebrated at a special event in London this week to mark the inaugural lecture of Professor Nick Jennings of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), who has been awarded a Regius Professorship in Computer Science.

The event, which is taking place on Tuesday 9 June at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London, will demonstrate cutting-edge work with examples drawn from state-of-the-art EPSRC and EU-funded projects including:

• Advanced design and methodology tools that help build and fly sub-20kg state of the art fixed and rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with full autonomous control systems and on-board cameras.
• A toolset that provides testing and analysis of autonomous systems based on realistic scenarios before they are built. The toolset is already being applied to applications involving the safety assurance of intelligent control in smart grids, railway interlocking and UAVs.
• Low-cost autonomous robots, such as the Delphin II and the Octopus Robot, that operate in challenging marine environments with a high degree of reliability and minimal environmental impact.
• Light, unmanned aircraft that deliver scientific instruments to extreme altitudes to improve the accuracy of weather prediction and climate models.

Professor William Powrie, Dean of Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton, says: “Engineering at Southampton is about the development and application of pioneering science to provide practical solutions to issues of global and societal importance. Our submissions to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) were judged the most powerful in their units of assessment. As the first of what we hope will become an annual event, this showcase demonstrates our internationally-renowned research that is shaping the future of our world.”

Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi, Dean of Physical Sciences and Engineering at the University of Southampton, adds: “Algorithms and software have a tremendous impact on society, from the Internet and consumer electronics to healthcare and transportation. Autonomous systems, built on these intelligent algorithms and software, will be one of the most powerful tools in tackling global challenges.”

The University of Southampton was one of just 12 UK institutions awarded a Regius Professorship by HM The Queen to mark her Diamond Jubilee and the only institution ever to be awarded a Regius Professor in Computer Science. A Regius Professorship reflects the exceptionally high quality of teaching and research at an institution and is a rare privilege – before the recent awards, only two had been created in the past century.

Nick Jennings, Professor of Computer Science and a Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government, is an internationally-recognised authority in the areas of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and agent-based computing. Professor Jennings has pioneered the application of multi-agent technology developing real world systems and leads the innovative ORCHID programme investigating how people and software agents can effectively work together to improve disaster response operations and enable smart energy systems.

Professor Jennings says: “It is a great honour for Southampton to be awarded a Regius Chair in Computer Science and reflects extremely well on the quality of research and teaching of the whole department over many years. I’m honoured to be the inaugural post holder and will endeavour to use it as a platform to highlight the fundamental importance of computer science to modern society.”

Professor Jennings will also be joined by a number of academics, business leaders and government advisors such as Professor Sir Mark Walport, Chief Scientific Advisor to HM Government and Head of the Government Office for Science, in panel-led discussions throughout the day.