The University of Southampton is the best place in the UK to study Electrical and Electronic Engineering, according to the Guardian University Guide 2021.

Electrical and Electronic Engineering climbed five places in this week’s new rankings to mark Southampton’s eleventh consecutive year in the Guide’s UK subject top 10, having also been ranked first from 2011-14 and again from 2016-17.

Overall, Southampton rose one place to be ranked 23rd out of the 121 universities listed.

There is a massive skills shortage in both electrical and electronic engineering, and graduates are actively sought after by employers. Southampton’s degree offering includes a three-year BEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering and four-year MEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering courses, with options for a year in industry and an Engineering Foundation Year.

Professor Paul Lewin, Head of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), says: “Our continued commitment to invest in its teaching facilities and project laboratories ensures that our students get opportunities to use state of the art equipment. Building on a strong fundamental core of electrical and electronic engineering, the practical elements of our courses combined with a wide range of theoretical and applied optional modules mean that our graduates can develop specialist expertise that is highly valued by industry.”

Three of Southampton’s seven top 10 subjects this year are based in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. The University was placed first in the UK for Civil Engineering and sixth in the UK for Mechanical Engineering, which includes Mechatronic Engineering and Aerospace Electronic Engineering.

Professor Phil Nelson, Interim Dean of Engineering and Physical Sciences, says: “Being ranked first for both Civil and Electrical & Electronic Engineering, and sixth for Mechanical Engineering, is a massive tribute to the hard work over many years of our University’s staff and students. It also shows how our well-established strength in research can be used to underpin a first class experience for undergraduate students.”

The Guardian University Guide is entirely focused on undergraduate study, with rankings based around criteria of entry tariffs, student satisfaction, graduate prospects, student-staff ratio and university spend per student. Unlike other rankings, the Guide places a greater emphasis on its subject tables to inform each institution’s overall ranking.

A cycling drag meter that improves aerodynamic performance in real time has been developed with support from expertise and facilities at the University of Southampton.

The Body Rocket device beams readings from the seat post, handlebars and pedals wirelessly to a cycle computer to give riders precise feedback on different positions, movements and kit.

Professor Eric Rogers, from the Vison, Learning and Control (VLC) research group, provided data and signal analysis during the product development, drawing upon specialist knowledge from previous research on inertial navigation in space and sensor fusion algorithms.

The new drag meter was tested and validated at Southampton's RJ Mitchell Wind Tunnel as part of the national SPRINT (SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology) programme.

Dr Martyn Prince, Principal Research Engineer at the Wolfson Unit in the School of Engineering, says: "We were able to apply our knowledge and systems in sports-based aerodynamic testing. This allowed iterations of the Body Rocket product design to be tested and benchmarked against aerodynamic drag results measured in the controlled environment of the wind tunnel with a range of different bike setups."

The RJ Mitchell Wind Tunnel has been at the forefront of aerodynamic research for more than 30 years. It is used extensively, not only by the performance sport industry, but also industries including automotive, aerospace and marine and maritime.

Eric DeGolier, Body Rocket founder, says: "Around 80 per cent of aerodynamic drag in cycling is created by the rider. Body Rocket's Garmin cycle computer gives you precise, real-time feedback as you experiment with different positions, movements and kit. Then, after each session you can sit down and analyse the data on our app to identify incremental improvements and answer questions like 'what's my optimal riding position?' and 'will adjusting my saddle help me go faster?'."

Read the full story in the latest Re:action, the University’s research and enterprise magazine.

Computer scientists at the University of Southampton are using machine learning to help doctors and patients make more informed decisions during fertility treatment.

The collaboration between the University's IT Innovation Centre, and the University Hospitals Southampton Foundation Trust is personalising and streamlining the management of treatment to reduce face-to-face contact during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Analysis of past treatment records has generated reliable predictions of key fertility treatment outcomes that can be used as a decision-making support tool. The new insight can also identify which clinical appointments could be minimised while still maintaining the same level of care.

The Southampton team, led by Dr Isla Robertson and Professor Ying Cheong, is designing new prospective trials for the algorithms and seeking to change data collection practices that will help optimise future models.

Dr Francis Chmiel, an Enterprise Fellow in Electronics and Computer Science, says: "Recent developments in machine learning and data science methods mean it has become much easier to interrogate large databases of healthcare data to draw out clinical insights which could be of benefit to patients.

"In this study we have developed predictions that allow patients to be better informed about their chances of success throughout their fertility treatment cycle. By providing these predictions, under certain conditions, patients could choose a route that best suits their personal circumstances. This information can also provide more context for the clinical care team to manage patient expectations and support their wellbeing throughout their treatment cycle."

The importance of informed decision making is even greater during the current pandemic, where some patients are delaying treatment because of the potential risk of infection. This new insight could highlight cases where the chances of implantation would significantly decrease if a patient waited for a year, therefore building a more complete picture to decide on treatment dates.

The new research has also been further motivated by clinicians being asked to minimise contact with patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During fertility treatment patients can visit the care team up to every other day for measurements that monitor their progress and help predict when they should receive medication,” Francis says. “Our analysis of retrospective cycles has identified days of treatment cycles where the measurements were least predictive and therefore of least use to the clinical care team. This understanding can identify which measurements could be dropped if the clinical care team is required to have less contact with the patient.

“In fact, beyond COVID-19 our results suggest that some measurements may be largely superfluous and do not add significant value to the clinical process and patient care. Clinical trials will have to be performed but if our results translate to clinical practice then measurements could be reduced, making fertility treatment more cost effective and less demanding for the patient.”