Four Academics within the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering have again been named in the prestigious Debrett’s 500 for 2016. Published in association with The Sunday Times, the Debrett’s 500 recognises the most influential and inspiring people living and working in Britain today. Engineering and Technology: Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Professor Sir David Payne, Liam Maxwell

Professor Dame Wendy Hall is described by Debrett’s as ‘a leading light in the development of web services’. She is recognised as one of the first computer scientists to embark on serious research into multi- and hyper-media technologies before the existence of the World Wide Web. A Professor of Computer Science within Electronics and Computer Science, the list also highlights Dame Wendy’s role as a commissioner for the Global Commission on Internet Governance, a two-year project that aims to set out a strategy for the future of internet governance.

Director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre and Zepler Institute, Professor Sir David Payne is recognised in the Debrett’s 500 list for the far-reaching impact that his research has had on our lives today: “His invention of the erbium-doped fibre amplifier is widely regarded as one of the most important developments in modern communications and facilitated the internet’s rapid growth through fast transmission and amplification of large amounts of data.â€?

A Visiting Professor within Electronics and Computer Science, Liam Maxwell is HM Government’s Chief Technology Officer. He is recognised within the Engineering and Technology category of the Debrett’s 500 list for driving innovation in public services at the helm of Government Digital Services.

Digital and Social: Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee

Inventor of the World Wide Web, president of the Open Data Institute and director of the World Wide Web Consortium, Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee features in the list’s Digital and Social category. Debrett’s says he is “arguably the most important computer scientist of our timeâ€? and highlights his work as leading the Alliance for Affordable Internet which aims to make it more accessible to the developing world.

Compiled in consultation with independent expert practitioners and commentators in each of the categories, The Debrett’s 500 was launched in 2014 and is published in association with The Sunday Times to identify and celebrate the most influential people in British society. All the people in the Debrett’s 500 were scrutinised for their level of influence in shaping the lives, choices and ideas of others.

Professor Dame Wendy Hall and Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee have featured in every Debrett’s 500 list since its launch; 2016 marks the second year running for Professor Sid David Payne and Liam Maxwell in the list. This year they are listed among other notable engineers and physicists such as: Dame Ann Dowling, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, honoured for her services to science in 2007, Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell DBE, Astrophysicist and president of the Royal Society; Bob Joyce, engineering director, Jaguar Land Rover and Sir James Dyson, designer of the dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner who rejected 5,127 prototypes before he achieved success.

Researchers from the University of Southampton are aiming to develop a ‘smart’ thermostat to help UK households save money on their energy bills.

The prototype autonomous device allows users to control their heating based on the price they want to pay rather than setting it by temperature alone, which existing smart thermostats such as Nest, do.

To understand how users interact with smart energy systems, a team of researchers from Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at Southampton and the University of Zurich produced three different smart thermostats that automated heating based on users’ heating preferences and real-time price variations: a manual one through which participants explicitly specify how the heating should respond to price changes, and two learning-based ones that employed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to automate the temperature settings based on learned households’ preferences.

The designs were tested through a month-long field study involving 30 UK households. The energy price was changed every 30 minutes, which could be viewed by the participants.

The results showed that participants used all three thermostat systems to effectively manage their home heating and create temperature preferences based on real-time prices.

University of Southampton PhD student Alper Alan, co-author of the study, says: “People were more aware of their energy consumption and were happy with the autonomous system controlling their heating on their behalf given real-time prices. We saw that people liked being able to control their home from anywhere they are. We also observed in all three treatments, most people reduced their temperature at high price levels. We found that people are ready to incur a reduction of four degrees celsius to save money. They said that even though the house was a bit colder than normal, they were okay with it since it was not that cold and they were saving money.â€?

However, following interviews with study participants it was clear that the price was not only the factor that users considered for heating their home. Other key factors were outside weather, occupancy and daily activities within the house. Some participants explicitly stated that the use of the thermostat could be more convenient if it could learn their occupancy patterns. Also, outside weather and the activities that they perform during a day within the house have a significant impact on how people feel the indoor temperature.

Dr Enrico Costanza, co-author from ECS, says: “Future design of learning thermostats should not only take into account occupancy patterns and outdoor temperatures (such as the Nest system), in addition to price preferences, but also people’s daily routines and activities. For instance, we saw that most participants preferred to have the heating on when they shower and have the heating off when they use their oven or perform physical activities.â€?

The study will be presented at ACM CHI 2016, the top conference for Human-Computer Interaction in San Jose, United States, in May.

Dr Sarvapali Ramchurn, co-author from ECS, adds: “Smart energy systems that use machine learning techniques are increasingly integrated in all aspects of our lives. These findings will assist designers in improving user experience, which in return will help us in controlling home heating with real-time pricing and benefit from them.â€?

The research was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through the ORCHID and CharIoT projects.

If it’s February it must be the FPSE Engineering and Technology Careers Fair!

This year’s event – the ninth in the series – was a resounding success, breaking records in terms of companies attending and student visitors, but also showcasing leading technology solutions from global leaders.

More than 1,200 students took the opportunity to find out more about career options from over 90 companies, representing the technology industries, global finance, energy, business and tech consultancy, security, big systems, and communications. Blue chip household names like Bloomberg, BAE Systems, Ocado, Hawk Eye, rubbed shoulders with innovative startups such as Pexip, Senseye, and Cubica. The UK’s three biggest graduate recruiters – Deloitte, PwC and Teach First were also in attendance, seeking to add FPSE graduates to their 2016 cohorts.

The annual Careers Fair is the centrepiece of the careers and employability activity in the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering, and has been running since 2008. The first event attracted 33 companies and it continues to grow year on year – an excellent indication of the continuing strong demand for Southampton graduates.

Many companies attend every year, but new companies this year included industry leaders such as Expedia, BSquare, CGI, Cirrus Logic, Fujitsu, Jump Trading, Ordnance Survey, and Oxford Asset Management.

“The Fair is a great endorsement of the high regard that the UK’s leading technology companies have for Southampton students,â€? said Careers Fair Director Joyce Lewis. “We had over 90 companies attending this year – a significant increase from last year, and it was fantastic to hear the buzz in both venues and to see the great interactions taking place between the company representatives – many of whom were Southampton alumni – and students across all years and many subject areas.

“We’ve had excellent feedback from the companies, who are already looking forward to returning for next year’s event – which will take place on 14 February 2017!â€?

A trial version of Southampton’s innovative STEMReader project is being released to the public.

STEMReader was developed by academics in Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton and aims to make science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects more accessible for students with print impairments such as specific learning difficulties, visual impairments or dyslexia.

The software tool assists with reading aloud and comprehending mathematical symbols and notation and was produced by ECS following the award of funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Project leader Professor Mike Wald of the Web and Internet Science research group said: “Thanks to the BIS funding we have been able to develop our idea from concept to prototype, and now we are looking forward to releasing a trial version to the public and getting their feedback on how we can improve the software even further.â€?

Currently there are up to 10 million people in the UK that are estimated to be affected by print disabilities or dyscalculia, and these people can face barriers to reading and comprehending maths. Access to a tool that reads aloud mathematical symbols can help with coping strategies when manipulating maths concepts.

Mike said: “It is extremely difficult for a student with a print impairment to read aloud maths notation using a computer or mobile device.

“STEMReader enables students to open, reformat into large fonts, and hear aloud maths content. This tool is a significant step forward in reading aloud maths for learners at all levels, from basics, to people in the workplace, to students at university.â€?

The project team has been working closely with schools, colleges and university students across the UK, as well as those in the workplace, to help design and tailor STEMReader and ensure it is a truly effective tool.

Now they are hoping to widen their feedback by opening up the trial to the general public as well as other schools and colleges.

“Having the input of more than 30 potential users and their tutors has been vital in helping us make a tool that will aid learning and accessing maths in the future, but we are keen to engage with other users and get their views about how the software works and how we could improve it,â€? added Mike.

The trial will run until the end of April when ECS plans to release a free version and a premium version of the STEMReader software.

The free version is aimed at people studying maths up to GCSE level, while the premium version is aimed at higher level students.

To download the free STEMReader trial or to find out more about the project visit www.stemreader.org.uk

Researchers from Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) and the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering at the University of Southampton will be attending Parliament today (Monday 7 March) to present their research to a range of politicians and a panel of expert judges, as part of SET for Britain.

Dr Taihai Chen and Dr Jerry Zhenhua Luo were shortlisted from hundreds of applicants to appear in Parliament. Their research will be presented as posters judged against those of dozens of other scientists and engineers in the only national competition of its kind.

Dr Taihai Chen, from the Southampton Wireless group is presenting his research about the world’s first error correction accelerator, enabling the next generation of wireless communications. He said, “It is such a great opportunity for researchers like us to get out of the lab and showcase our fruitful research outcome to politicians who, surprisingly, are so eager to learn about the work our team has done at University of Southampton. The experience at SET for Britain for both parties is invaluable, and that will make both more aware of the benefits each can create for the other.â€?

Dr Jerry Zhenhua Luo, from the Electronics and Electrical Engineering group is undertaking research into a battery-free indoor tracking system powered by energy harvesting footwear. On presenting his research he said, “The SET for Britain event is a great opportunity for us to bring out the things that we have been doing in the lab, and show to the public how these technologies can improve their life. It is also a good opportunity for us to listen to the people’s opinions on our research, and we will use the feedback to further improve our work to serve the communities.â€?

Joining Taihai and Jerry in the competition are three other researchers from the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering. Dr Katrina Morgan and Dr Qiongyue Kang are from the Faculty’s Optoelectronics Research Centre and Dr John Coxon is from Physics & Astronomy

Katrina graduated from ECS with a PhD in Nanoelectronics and is presenting her current research into new types of ultra-fast computer memory, that is also highly tolerable to extreme doses of ionizing radiation.

Qiongyue’s is presenting a poster on optical fibre amplifiers, which are being researched for use in the next generation of telecommunications networks.

John’s poster will cover his research into the Earth’s reaction to solar wind, through studying how it affects the planet’s electric currents and magnetic fields. Stephen Metcalfe MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, said:

“This annual competition is an important date in the parliamentary calendar because it gives MPs an opportunity to speak to a wide range of the country’s best young researchers. “These early career engineers, mathematicians and scientists are the architects of our future and SET for Britain is politicians’ best opportunity to meet them and understand their work.â€?

The research from Taihai, Jerry, Katrina and Qiongyue has all been entered into the Engineering session of the competition, while John’s has been entered into the Physics session. Each session will end in a gold, silver and bronze prize-giving ceremony, judged by leading academics. The gold medalist from each session receives £3,000, while silver and bronze receive £2,000 and £1,000 respectively.

The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee runs the event in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Biology, The Physiological Society and the Council for Mathematical Sciences, with financial support from Essar, the Clay Mathematics Institute, Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), the Institute of Biomedical Science, the Bank of England and the Society of Chemical Industry.

Professor Dame Wendy Hall from Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton has been named among the top 50 most inspirational women in European technology for 2016 as revealed by Inspiring Fifty.

Dame Wendy was recognised for her incredible career achievements in Computer Science, which judges said make her ‘a fantastic role model’. The Web Science pioneer joins leading influencers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, academics and policy makers throughout Europe who were nominated by the public and selected by a panel of judges from Europe and the US.

“Our aim at Inspiring Fifty is to showcase and celebrate amazing women, to provide girls and young women role models who can show them that a career path in technology can be an exciting and rewarding one,â€? say Insipring Fifty. “The ultimate aim of our work is to help address the gender imbalance in the technology sector and build a more positive future for the next generation.â€? Dame Wendy is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, Director of the Southampton-based Web Science Institute and Managing Director of the Web Science Trust. As one of the first computer scientists to undertake serious research in multimedia and hypermedia, the influence of Dame Wendy’s work has been significant in many areas including digital libraries, the development of the Semantic Web and the emerging discipline of Web Science, which celebrates its 10th anniversary later this year. Dame Wendy’s current research includes applications of the Semantic Web and exploring the interface between the life sciences and physical sciences. In addition to playing a prominent role in the development of Computer Science, Dame Wendy is also helping to shape science engineering policy and education through her leadership on national and international bodies. Throughout her career, Dame Wendy has been a leading advocate in promoting the role of women in science, engineering and technology.

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

Professor Richard Watson of the Agents, Interaction and Complexity research group 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).

A cover story article in New Scientist, looks at research from Professors Watson and Eörs Szathmáry, from the Parmenides Foundation in Munich, explaining how formal analogies can be used to transfer specific models and results between the two theories to solve several important evolutionary puzzles.

Professor Watson 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, a key feature of intelligence is an ability to anticipate behaviours that 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€?

Dame Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science within Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton, has arrived at The John W. Kluge Center at the US Library of Congress as the Kluge Chair in Technology and Society. Her tenure began on 24th March and she will be in residence there for three months.

At the Kluge Center, Dame Wendy will research a project titled, “Internet Histories and Futures.â€? She states that she will use the Library’s collections to explore the economic, social, and technical dimensions that have contributed to the development of the Web as a “socio-technical system".

Before her return to Southampton this summer, Dame Wendy will lead a public symposium on 16th looking at how libraries, governments and institutions could preserve and archive the contents of the World Wide Web. She will also co-host a two-day “Hackathonâ€? featuring 20-30 invited participants who will look to develop new open-source tools and approaches for working with large data sets.

The Kluge Chair in Technology and Society is a distinguished senior research position in residence at the Library. Its holder, appointed by the Librarian of Congress, conducts research focusing on the impact of fast-changing technology on human societies, using the rapidly growing digital online resources of the Library, in addition to science and technology reports and documentation worldwide.

A Dame Commander of the British Empire and elected Fellow of the Royal Society, Dame Wendy’s work has been at the forefront of computer science, multimedia and hypermedia, the Semantic Web and digital libraries for more than 30 years. She is a member of the Web and Internet Science research group in ECS and is Director of the University’s Web Science Institute.

A University of Southampton academic will participate in the world’s largest project to expand and update our understanding of evolutionary biology.

Dr Richard Watson, associate professor of Electronics and Computer Science and the Institute for Life Sciences at Southampton, is part of an international multi-disciplinary team of 50 world-renowned experts, from eight institutions in the United States, Great Britain and Sweden. The £7.7m project is supported by a £5.7m grant from the John Templeton Foundation, an organisation promoting the advancement of science and philosophy, with a further £2m contributed by the participating institutions.

The collaboration seeks to expand the theory of evolution with new perspectives on the relationships between genes, organism, and environment. It centres on the ‘extended evolutionary synthesis’ (EES) – a new way to think about evolutionary biology aimed at tackling some of its toughest problems. The EES does not replace traditional thinking, but deployed alongside it, aims to stimulate new research within evolutionary biology.

Project leader Professor Kevin Laland at the University of St Andrews said: “The main difference from traditional perspectives is that the extended evolutionary synthesis includes a greater set of causes of evolution. This shifts the burden of explanation for adaptation and diversification; away from a one-sided focus on natural selection and towards the constructive processes of development.â€?

For example, in the EES, a number of complex biological phenomena are recognised not merely as products of evolution, but as playing a key role in shaping the direction and rate of evolution. For example, in evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), the evolution of developmental organisation changes the variation that selection can act on; and in evolutionary ecology (evo-eco), the evolution of ecological organisation changes the selective pressures that act on that variation.

Dr Watson will lead two sub-projects that aim to expand our understanding of both these evolutionary feedbacks using theoretical tools from computer science. “When the products of evolution modify the processes of evolution in this way, this causes problems for current evolutionary theory,â€? he explains. “But in computer science, these feedbacks are well-understood in the framework of learning systems.â€?

Dr Watson’s recent work, which was featured as the front cover story in New Scientist last week, defines the formal links between evolution and learning that enable results to be transferred from computer science to update our understanding of biological evolution. He said: “This work suggests that these feedbacks are not just ‘a complication’ but change the capabilities of Darwinian evolution; specifically, evolution is smarter than we realised.â€?

The grant, entitled “Putting the extended evolutionary synthesis to the testâ€?, is one of the largest to ever be awarded to evolutionary research. It funds 22 inter-linked projects in total – including theoretical development and empirical experiments – and supports a wide range of additional activities that will promote interaction and collaboration between institutions. The other institutions supported by the Templeton grant are Clark, Indiana and Stanford universities, and the Sante Fe Institute, in the U.S.; Cambridge and St. Andrews universities in Great Britain; and the University of Lund in Sweden. Research on the project will start in September 2016.

Scientists from Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton, in partnership with the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), have developed a graphene-based sensor and switch that can detect harmful air pollution in the home with very low power consumption.

The sensor detects individual CO2 molecules and volatile organic compound (VOC) gas molecules found in building and interior materials, furniture and even household goods, which adversely affect our living in modern houses with good insulation.

These harmful chemical gases have low concentrations of ppb (parts per billion) levels and are extremely difficult to detect with current environmental sensor technology, which can only detect concentrations of parts per million (ppm).

In recent years, there has been an increase in health problems due to air pollution in personal living spaces, known as sick building syndrome (SBS), along with other conditions such as sick car and sick school syndromes.

The research group, led by Professor Hiroshi Mizuta, who holds a joint appointment at the University of Southampton and JAIST, and Dr Jian Sun and Assistant Professor Manoharan Muruganathan of JAIST, developed the sensor to detect individual CO2 molecules adsorbed (the bond of molecules from a gas to a surface) onto the suspended graphene (single atomic sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb-like hexagonal crystal lattice structure) one by one by applying an electric field across the structure.

By monitoring the electrical resistance of the graphene beam, the adsorption and desorption (whereby a substance is released from or through a surface) processes of individual CO2 molecules onto the graphene were detected as ‘quantised’ changes in resistance (step-wise increase or decrease in resistance). In the study, published today in Science Advances, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a small volume of CO2 gas (equivalent to a concentration of approximately 30 ppb) was released and the detection time was only a few minutes.

Professor Mizuta said: “In contrast to the commercially available environmental monitoring tools, this extreme sensing technology enables us to realise significant miniaturisation, resulting in weight and cost reduction in addition to the remarkable improvement in the detection limit from the ppm levels to the ppb levels.â€?

Research group members, Dr Harold Chong of Southampton and Dr Marek Schmidt and Dr Jian Sun of JAIST, have also recently developed graphene-based switches (published in the March issue of Nanoscale, the journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry) using a uniquely thin film developed at the University of Southampton.

The switches, which require remarkably low voltages (below three volts), can be used to power electronic components on demand, greatly improving the battery lifetime of personal electronic devices.

Professor Mizuta and the research group are now aiming to bring the two technologies together to create ultra-low-power environmental sensor systems that can detect single molecules.