Research Programmes
Research programmes are less formal collaborative research groupings.
AIR is a umbrella for a number of initiatives which bring together
researchers and practitioners, exploring the cultural significance of
informatics. These include a Research Artist in Residence; planning for
InSpace, a research site and exhibition space in the new Informatics
building; and Future Academy/Studiolab, a joint initiative of Edinburgh
College of Art (eca) and the University of Edinburgh (UoE), which is
hosting visiting speakers and collaborative masters work.
The main aim of the Artificial Life Programme is to promote interaction between researchers in the
School of Informatics, and other schools at the
University of Edinburgh,
who have interests in aspects of artificial life. Researchers from
other institutions in the Edinburgh area are also welcome to
participate.
Bioinformatics at Edinburgh includes research within Informatics,
Biology and Biomedicine. It investigates a wide spectrum of problems at
a variety of levels of detail. For example: understanding gene
regulation and embryo development; analysing genetic variation ;
understanding the forces that shape gene and genome evolution;
understanding of the development and functioning of specific neural
structures.
The impact of computers on intellectual life goes beyond email, web
surfing and word processing. Computational ideas are beginning to
influence research thinking in many branches of both the sciences and
the humanities. For instance, researchers are using computational
metaphors for enriching theories as diverse as genomics and the
mind-body problem. Computing can also enable us to ask questions that
could not previously have been contemplated, due to the large amount of
data-processing that any investigation would require, for instance the
search for the Higgs Boson.
This programme promotes long-standing collaboration in Edinburgh
between Music and Informatics. Informatics techniques and concepts find
challenging problems in the musical domain in many places, ranging from
analysis of sound signals, sound synthesis algorithms computer
modelling of acoustic phenomena to grammatical and statistical accounts
of musical styles, algorithmic approaches to classifying musical data,
and interaction between natural and artificial musicians. The
electronic music studio in Music engenders interest in the
computational aspects of processing music from music students, at
undergraduate and masters level. The long-standing collaboration
between Music and Physics also has resulted in work in acoustics with a
strong computational underpinning.
This collaborative research programme is intended to provide an
informal platform for Edinburgh researchers to exchange their research
work and experiences in plan, process, event and activity
representation, modelling, reasoning and experiences of using them in a
range of applications.
Applies a wide range of methodologies and techniques to software
engineering problems: empirical studies; applications of AI techniques,
computer science, mathematics, and cognitive science.
SLI will make possible new forms of system, integrating
transduction, computation and communication on a single chip. The
design, analysis and correct implementation of SLI devices presents new
research challenges, and the programme aims to bring relevant expertise
within Informatics to bear on selected problems in the area.
