Winton Capital Management renews commitment to student prizes at ECS

Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton is delighted to announce that leading investment management firm Winton Capital Management has agreed to support academic prizes for students in Computer Science over the next three years.

Winton is renewing a commitment made in 2010, recognizing both the quality of student achievement in ECS, but also the importance of prizes such as this in building strong recruitment to the subject area and also to the University of Southampton.

ECS is the UK’s largest and most successful integrated department of Computer Science and Electronics and has a world-leading reputation for its education and research which draws students to the University from around the world. Over the last 20 years ECS has made fundamental contributions to the development of the Web, the establishment of agent technologies, to Open Access publishing and digital libraries, and to a range of other technologies at the forefront of Computer Science.

Winton Capital Management’s philanthropic support will continue three prizes: for the top student in Computer Science Year 1; the top final-year student on the four-year MEng programme in Computer Science; and the top student on the one-year postgraduate MSc in Software Engineering.

‘Being awarded a prize from a notable company for successful academic work at one of the top universities for Computer Science holds considerable value in many ways,’ said Robert Streeting, who received a Winton Prize in July 2013. ‘Receiving one for the top aggregate mark at the end of my degree only enhances this effect; having this prize on my CV gives me great employability and great freedom in pursuing the career that I want.’

Matthew Beddall, CIO at Winton Capital and a Southampton graduate (Maths/Computer Science 2001), commented: ‘As a Southampton graduate myself, I am well aware of the quality of the education and research at the University. We are very pleased to continue our support for ECS and especially for Computer Science students, which we believe is a great encouragement and inspiration for their hard work.’

‘We are very pleased to acknowledge the continued generosity of Winton Capital Management in making these awards,’ said Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering.

‘It is well known that our courses are intensive and challenging and our students work extremely hard. These Prizes will be a great recognition of their effort, and will improve our ability to recruit the best and brightest students from around the world. ‘We very much look forward to working with Winton Capital Management over the next three years and to welcoming the company to ECS to meet our students.’