The top performing students from the University of Southampton Malaysia Campus have each been awarded prestigious Lloyd’s Register Foundation scholarships for 2015-16.

Tim Kent, Technical Director (Marine) from Lloyd’s Register joined Professor Pandeli Temarel, Southampton’s Head of Civil, Maritime and Environmental Engineering , to present scholarships to Electrical and Electronic Engineering students Wen Yee Tey, Aaron Pang and Yiqian Hui and to Mechanical Engineering students Jeremy Fong, Jei See Tai and Yong Hau Kit. The students were honoured following their excellent performance in both academic and personal aspects during the previous academic year. The scholarships cover each scholar’s tuition fees for the coming year.

The Lloyd’s Register Foundation inaugurated the scholarships in 2013 for Master of Engineering (MEng) Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) and Mechanical Engineering students based at Southampton’s Malaysia Campus. For two of the EEE students, Aaron Pang and Yiqian Hui, this is a double success as they were also awarded Lloyd’s Register Foundation scholarships while at the Malaysia campus last year.

All six of this year’s scholars have made the successful transition from the University’s Malaysia Campus in EduCity, Iskandar in southern Johor to Southampton’s Highfield Campus in the UK to complete the final two years of their degree. They are amongst the first group of students in their respective subject areas to make the journey to the UK as part of the University’s Integrated International Engineering Education (IIEE) programme. EEE student Wen YEE Tey is very much enjoying the experience so far, saying: “Lecturers and staff from the ECS department have made me feel very welcome as they give sufficient support and assistance to international students like me. Southampton really is a lovely place where wonderful people from all over the world are gathered.â€?

Mechanical Engineering student Yong Hau Kit, expressed the sense of achievement felt by all six sholars: “Lloyd’s Register is well-known for continuously delivering world-class engineering solutions over its many years in the industry, so it is a very humbling experience to have been chosen as a scholar by such a reputable company. I see it as one of the best forms of recognition for my year of consistent hard work.â€?

Professor John McBride, Chief Executive Officer of the University of Southampton Malaysia Campus, said: “We congratulate our Malaysia Campus students in receiving these scholarships for their academic and personal achievements and to our colleagues at the Lloyd’s Register Foundation for their generosity, and for recognising excellence amongst these scholars who have the aptitude and enthusiasm to maximise their potential and create the pathways to pursue their dreams."

Tim Kent said: “It gives us great pleasure to award scholarships to these deserving students who we know will benefit from their experience of studying with the University of Southampton in both Malaysia and the UK. They truly are tomorrow’s leaders and we hope that with our support they will develop the skills required to become successful wherever their careers may lead.â€?

The University of Southampton has enjoyed a close working relationship with Lloyd’s Register for over 40 years culminating in the formal opening of the new Boldrewood Innovation Campus in Southampton earlier this year where Lloyd’s Register has established its Global Technology Centre alongside the University’s world-class engineering facilities.

A new initiative that brings together researchers from Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) and across the University, millionaire entrepreneurs, successful start-ups and aspiring student innovators was launched on Tuesday evening at Prince Philip House, London.

Future Worlds is an exciting new platform from ECS and the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering, which focuses on the business of invention and entrepreneurship, highlighting the innovative commercial opportunities being developed by researchers and students at the University of Southampton. By providing exclusive access to events, support, and mentors with a global network of contacts, Future Worlds helps turn these opportunities into market-ready solutions for a range of industries.

The launch saw five aspiring entrepreneurs – ranging from an undergraduate student to a professor – pitching their businesses, with investment opportunities as varied as multipurpose, portable medical tests, and an augmented real-time map technology for disaster response.

Also speaking at the event was mobile software engineer, ECS alumnus and Arieso founder, Shirin Dehghan. Arieso was critical to supporting mobile networks at the advent of 3G, and was sold for $85m in 2013. Shirin said: “It's fantastic to see enterprise-minded people at the University of Southampton working together on this model example of a start-up community. This is much needed in the UK and the more universities that follow the example of Future Worlds the better.â€?

Start-ups already benefitting from Future Worlds include BluPoint and Crossa. BluPoint are in talks with The Gates Foundation having recently received £500,000 from Innovate UK to deploy their local web product across the developing world. Meanwhile Crossa, a roadside assistance app for cyclists, are speaking to major UK bike retailers. Crossa founder, Agata Tomaszewska, said at the event: “Future Worlds has been an invaluable resource when it comes to advice and high-value introductions. The mentoring and training that we received has been absolutely amazing.â€?

Other delegates included Chris Broad, Director of Apple Europe and Future Worlds mentor and sponsor. He said: “Being a Future Worlds mentor is giving me the opportunity to have some fun working with really smart people on really interesting projects, where I can help move things along.â€?

Future Worlds has been developed by a team led by serial entrepreneur Dr Reuben Wilcock, Principal Enterprise Fellow at ECS. With a theoretical PhD in Electronic Engineering, Reuben is well aware of the brilliant research taking place at the University and is passionate about ensuring these designs make it into the real world. He said: “It’s hugely inspiring to see what our students and researchers can do and to share their enthusiasm for future technologies. Future Worlds is growing a start-up culture that offers everything our entrepreneurs need to change the world with their ideas.â€?

Investors, mentors and companies interested in joining the initiative can contact Dr Wilcock at join@futureworlds.com

The new International Consortium of Nanotechnologies (ICoN) – led by the University of Southampton and supported by a multimillion pound grant by Lloyd’s Register Foundation – has announced its first call for funding. Funding of up to £50k each for fifteen PhD studentship places is now on offer to academia and industry.

Launched in September this year, ICoN aims to build capacity and knowledge in the application of nanotechnologies to support safety of life and property – addressing issues outlined in Lloyds Register Foundation’s ‘Foresight Review of Nanotechnology’. The doctoral studentships offered by ICoN will explore these issues, focusing on themes such as miniaturisation of sensor technology, big data, engineered smart materials, energy storage and nanoparticles. ICoN and the doctoral scholars will work together with partners from industry on interdisciplinary projects and access world-leading facilities including the Southampton Nanofabrication Centre. The doctoral researchers will meet every year to present their findings and share ideas and concepts, becoming part of a global doctoral cohort addressing the Foundation’s safety mission.

Applications are invited now from academic supervisors and will be assessed on the basis of excellence, impact and fit to the charitable aims of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and themes in the Foundation’s Foresight Review of Nanotechnology (2014). The closing date for application is 1200 (GMT) on Monday 3 February 2016. Full details can be found within the funding section of the new ICoN website at www.lrf-icon.com

Dr Themis Prodromakis, from the University’s Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology Group within Electronics and Computer Science, is leading the programme and looking forward to working with researchers interested in funding for high risk, high reward ideas. He said “The Lloyd’s Register Foundation International COnsortium in Nanotechnologies will assemble the world’s leading universities, research institutions and innovative companies to help them tackle many of today’s most challenging issues by recruiting talented PhD students from every continent.â€?

Evolution may be more intelligent than we thought, according to a professor from Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton.

Professor Richard Watson says new research shows that evolution is able to learn from previous experience, which could provide a better explanation of how evolution by natural selection produces such apparently intelligent designs.

By unifying the theory of evolution (which shows how random variation and selection is sufficient to provide incremental adaptation) with learning theories (which show how incremental adaptation is sufficient for a system to exhibit intelligent behaviour), this research shows that it is possible for evolution to exhibit some of the same intelligent behaviours as learning systems (including neural networks).

In an opinion paper, published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Professors Watson and Eörs Szathmáry, from the Parmenides Foundation in Munich, explain how formal analogies can be used to transfer specific models and results between the two theories to solve several important evolutionary puzzles.

Professor Watson of the Agents, Interaction and Complexity research group says: “Darwin’s theory of evolution describes the driving process, but learning theory is not just a different way of describing what Darwin already told us. It expands what we think evolution is capable of. It shows that natural selection is sufficient to produce significant features of intelligent problem-solving.â€?

"For example," Watson continues, "a key feature of intelligence is an ability to anticipate behaviours that will lead to future benefits. Conventionally, evolution, being dependent on random variation, has been considered ‘blind’ or at least ‘myopic’ – unable to exhibit such anticipation. But showing that evolving systems can learn from past experience means that evolution has the potential to anticipate what is needed to adapt to future environments in the same way that learning systems do.

“When we look at the amazing, apparently intelligent designs that evolution produces, it takes some imagination to understand how random variation and selection produced them. Sure, given suitable variation and suitable selection (and we also need suitable inheritance) then we’re fine. But can natural selection explain the suitability of its own processes? That self-referential notion is troubling to conventional evolutionary theory – but easy in learning theory.

“Learning theory enables us to formalise how evolution changes its own processes over evolutionary time. For example, by evolving the organisation of development that controls variation, the organisation of ecological interactions that control selection or the structure of reproductive relationships that control inheritance – natural selection can change its own ability to evolve.

“If evolution can learn from experience, and thus improve its own ability to evolve over time, this can demystify the awesomeness of the designs that evolution produces. Natural selection can accumulate knowledge that enables it to evolve smarter. That’s exciting because it explains why biological design appears to be so intelligent.â€?

Minecraft enthusiasts can recreate virtual versions of their home towns by combining publicly-available open data with a new tool developed by a web specialist at the University of Southampton.

Christopher Gutteridge, from the University’s Web and Data Innovation and Development Team, came up with the idea for the Magic Minecraft Map Maker after spending eight months of his own time painstakingly building a model of his home town Ventnor on the popular computer game.

“To create the model I had to painstakingly measure everything from maps and aerial photography and do my best to guess the height of the cliffs and buildings,â€? said Chris. “I thought, there must be a better way to do this with all the open data that is now available. So I started work on combining OpenStreetMap with LIDAR - 3D data published by the government. I developed a software tool that when you put this data into Minecraft you can automatically create a lifelike model of any place in England within a very short time. The first time I saw what I had produced I was really excited, it looked so accurate.â€?

Users of Chris’ new software can even turn their towns into netherworlds or winter scenes by using alternative configurations, or come up with their own weird and wonderful creations such as making the sea out of stone and land out of water.

Mark Braggins, of Open Data Aha, said: “Automatically combining 3D LIDAR data with Open StreetMap to recreate Ventnor in Minecraft was ingenious. This is a really impressive demonstration of what can be done with skill, determination, and open data from multiple sources.â€?

The Magic Minecraft Map Maker software can be downloaded for Mac and Linux from:
https://github.com/cgutteridge/geocraft
https://codeload.github.com/cgutteridge/geocraft/zip/master

By giving the software a region to generate it goes to the LIDAR site to work out the shapes of things, and to OpenStreetMap to work out what is a building, grass, roads or water.

Chris, who graduated in Computer Science from the University of Southampton, believes the new software that he developed in his spare time, could be very useful as well as entertaining.

He said: “This is an excellent demonstrator of the open data that the government and community are making available, and the power of combining them.

“It could be used by schools to base projects on such as rebuilding a ruin like Netley Abbey, or improving their town by designing and building new things in their local area and seeing how buildings such as a new block of flats can change things.â€?

To find out more about the Magic Minecraft Map Maker visit:
www.facebook.com/magic.minecraft.map.maker/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUXi8SK39_Q

Demonstrations are available on servers at:
Southampton server: 159.8.141.198:56086
London Server: 159.8.141.199:52664

The University of Southampton is to work closely with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore to develop cybersecurity solutions for smart traffic control systems.

The project is one of six new joint research collaborations announced between UK and Singapore-based researchers to develop new solutions that will enhance the resilience of systems and infrastructure to cyber attacks. The UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Singapore’s National Research Foundation will jointly fund the projects worth £2.4 million ($5.1 million) over the next three years.

Led by Nick Jennings, the University of Southampton’s Regius Professor of Computer Science and Head of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), the project will study human-agent collectives (HAC), in which humans work in partnership with highly interconnected computational components. For example, sensors in mobile devices that collect and analyse information to give the ‘bigger picture’ of an emergency situation as it develops.

The study will also use game theory to discover and analyse major attack scenarios and focus on resource-constrained online machine learning to develop real-time defence mechanisms.

“With the increasing popularity of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, there is a higher demand to make these systems more secure, in order to gain trust and acceptance from the wider communities,â€? said project co-ordinator Dr Long Tran-Thanh, Lecturer in the Agents, Interaction and Complexity research group within ECS. “As such, the success of our project would be a proof of concept that our cyber security solution could be efficiently applied to IoT systems. This would bring us one step closer to the realisation of smart societies, where secure IoT plays an essential role.

“As the traffic network is one of the key national strategic infrastructures, making it secure from possible attacks without creating major disturbances within its normal everyday usage would be crucial,â€? Dr Tran-Thanh continued. “Given this, the success of our project would provide the first efficient solution to this problem, from which the nation would significantly benefit.

“We are quite confident that this project will be successful and will provide a strong impact to both the cyber security and the IoT communities, respectively,â€? Dr Tran-Thanh continued. “In particular, our partners, Assistant Professors Bo An and Mo Li from the School of Computer Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), will add their excellent knowledge in security game theory and IoT hardware systems, respectively, in order to complement our expertise in machine learning and HAC systems.â€?

Assistant Professor Bo An, an expert in artificial intelligence and game theory at NTU, said: “Traffic systems are important infrastructures that have to be protected at the highest security levels, since their high automation and computerisation makes them prime targets for cyber-attacks. A successful cyber-attack by criminals into the traffic system would give them the ability to create chaos, causing heavy traffic on roads, and even to block law enforcement vehicles and to create escape routes.

“Our novel idea in this research project, is to combine game theory and machine learning so that we can detect suspicious behaviour and activity in advance, and to develop mechanisms that could mitigate cyber-attacks on smart traffic systems. In short – we aim to have smart traffic systems in future that will know when and how it is being hacked, adapt to these attacks, and obstruct the hackers every step of the way.â€?

Southampton is leading the national agenda to protect against cyber threats as one of 13 Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research in the UK. The University was awarded ACE-CSR status in November 2012 by GCHQ with a remit to extend knowledge through original research and provide high-quality graduates in the field of cyber security. In November, the University launched a new Cyber Security Academy to help make government, businesses and consumers more resilient to cyber-attack.

The University of Southampton is to share in £500,000 of funding to provide students with the skills to help protect the UK against cyber-attacks.

Southampton is one of eight institutions to receive funding from the Higher Education Academy (HEA), working with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), to develop projects that will help improve the skills of graduates, address the shortage of cyber security skills and future proof the country’s IT sector making it more resilient to cyber-attacks.

Led from Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), the Southampton project ‘Enhancing Campus Cyber Security through Constructivist Student Learning’ will receive over £53,000. It will investigate how universities can benefit from collaboration between external industrial cyber security experts and their own multi-disciplinary staff and students.

“We will analyse how industrial cyber security best practices can be translated to more open campus environments, where, for example, lecturers commonly use their own preferred devices and services, to produce learning materials and improved institutional practices,â€? said project leader Dr Federica Paci, Lecturer in Cyber Security within ECS at the University of Southampton.

“Another perspective will explore how the student learning experience and university’s security posture can be enhanced through activities including supervised penetration tests of university systems and establishing an appropriate responsible disclosure policy,â€? she added.

The project, which was launched last week, will be based within the University’s recently-established Cyber Security Academy (CSA). The CSA is a partnership between the University and world-leading industry and Government partners to provide a focal point for cyber security research, education and outreach.

Professor Simon Cox, the University’s Chief Information Officer, said: “We are very excited to be exploring how the student learning experience and a university’s security posture can be enhanced through activities.â€?

Professor Vladimiro Sassone, director of the CSA, remarked: “Engaging with students to determine methods to harness their interest and desire to learn practical cyber security, through controlled penetration and security posture testing, and the establishment of appropriate responsible disclosure policies is one of the distinguishing features of the Academy.â€?

Professor Stephanie Marshall, Chief Executive of the HEA, said: “The Higher Education Academy is pleased to be able to offer support to these higher education providers to develop innovative projects that will improve cyber security teaching and learning. If the UK is to be equipped to respond to the increasing threat of cyber-attacks, we must ensure that the next generation of cyber security specialists receive the best teaching and learning to furnish them with the skills needed. Each of the projects receiving the Development Grants has the potential to do this.â€?

Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey said: “Protecting the UK in cyber space is a top priority, which is why the Government recently announced £1.9 billion funding for cyber security and an ambitious new skills programme. The grants we're announcing today will enable Universities to develop high quality, innovative teaching and learning, and ensure we have skilled people to address future cyber security challenges.â€?

The work is funded from the Government’s five-year, £860m National Cyber Security Programme to protect and promote the UK in cyber space.

Nick Jennings, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, has been made Companion of the Order of the Bath in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for his services to computer science and national security science.

Professor Jennings, who is Head of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the University, has been recognised for his pioneering contributions to the fields of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and agent-based computing. He is the UK’s only Regius Professor in Computer Science, a prestigious title awarded to the University by HM The Queen to mark her Diamond Jubilee.

He has just finished a six-year term of office as the Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government in the area of National Security. He was the inaugural post holder and helped ensure that the best possible use of science and technology is made for national security purposes.

Professor Jennings said: “I am delighted to receive such an award and feel it is recognition for the excellent teams I have worked with, both in the University and in Government. It’s been a real privilege to see fledgling ideas pulled through into real-world applications in both rolesâ€?

An internationally-recognised authority in the areas of agent-based computing and intelligent systems, Professor Jennings research covers both the science and the engineering of these systems. He is a member of the University's Agents, Interaction and Complexity research group and has undertaken fundamental research on automated bargaining, mechanism design, trust and reputation, coalition formation, human-agent collectives and crowd sourcing.

He has also pioneered the application of multi-agent technology; developing real-world systems in sectors such as business process management, smart energy systems, sensor networks, disaster response, telecommunications, citizen science and defence. For example, the world’s first industrial deployment of multi-agent technology in the area of electricity transportation (with Iberdrola in Spain), environmental sensor network monitoring (Briksdalsbreen glacier -Norway) and engine manufacturing line control (Daimler-Chrysler, Germany).

Professor Jennings is also a successful entrepreneur and is Chief Scientific Officer for Aerogility, a 20 person start-up that develops advanced software solutions for the aerospace and defence sectors.

Professor Sir Christopher Snowden, University of Southampton Vice-Chancellor, said: “I am delighted that the unique contribution Nick has made through his research is being recognised with this prestigious honour.

“He richly deserves it for his personal achievements but it is also an honour for the University of Southampton.â€?

A copy of Professor Jennings’s CV, detailing his notable research achievements, publications, honours and external activities is available at: http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/nrj/curriculum-vitae/

Future Worlds, a start-up platform and incubator at the University of Southampton, will be showcasing products to a global audience at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week (6-9 January).

Future Worlds will be demonstrating an innovative lighting technology called CurveStar and a long range wireless motion capture system called SharkStream and is looking for US mentors and investors interested in joining the Future Worlds network.

An exciting new platform from Electronics and Computer Science and the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Future Worlds brings together aspiring staff and student innovators with entrepreneurs and industry experts. It comprises a web platform, an impressive network of mentors and a product incubator. Mentors include Chris Broad director of Apple Europe, Mike Payne founder of Solidworks and Shirin Dehghan who made an $85m cash exit from her startup Arieso in 2013.

The web platform includes professionally shot videos from start-ups and mentors as well as details of networking events and funding opportunities. By surrounding aspiring entrepreneurs with high calibre support and investment, the initiative is helping grow a west coast US style start-up culture on the south coast of the UK.

Dr Wilcock said: “The UK has less than one per cent of the world’s population yet we produce 16 per cent of all top quality published research. Growing a thriving start-up culture is the best way to help leading innovators change the world with their ideas and Future Worlds is making this happen.â€?

Recently patented by the University of Southampton, CurveStar is a new lightweight and collapsible geodesic lighting system that can be used to create impressive lighting structures, such as conveying clothing texture in online stores, interactive digital Chandeliers and spectacular lighting installations.

Motion capture technology has accelerated in recent years to develop exciting applications in the entertainment, sports and medical industries. SharkStream’s belt-mounted control unit connects to 16 miniature sensors before sending them to a USB receiver, allowing a person’s movements to be visualised on a computer. SharkStream has applications in film making, video games, performance sports and many other industries.

Professor Nick Jennings is to leave the University to become Vice Provost (Research) at Imperial College London from 4 April 2016.

Professor Jennings will take responsibility for developing and spearheading Imperial’s research strategy, and for enhancing the quality, impact, management and delivery of research in the College.

A globally-recognised authority in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and agent-based computing, Professor Jennings is Head of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at Southampton and the UK’s first and only Regius Professor of Computer Science. Since his appointment at Southampton in 1999, Professor Jennings has undertaken a number of leadership roles including Deputy Head of Department, Associate Dean and Head of the Agents, Interaction and Complexity research group.

He also served as the government’s inaugural Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security from 2010 to 2015 and was recently made Companion of the Order of the Bath in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for his services to computer science and national security science.

Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi, Dean of Physical Sciences and Engineering said:

“I wish to congratulate Nick on his new appointment and would like to take the opportunity to say how his new post reflects Nick’s outstanding academic standing and influence within the wider higher education community.

“ECS at Southampton has provided an environment to actively support Nick in his achievements. We all thank Nick for his contribution to ECS and wish him the very best for the future.â€?