Reports for Systems and Cybernetics

Citation

(2002), "Reports for Systems and Cybernetics", Kybernetes, Vol. 31 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2002.06731fab.003

Reports for Systems and Cybernetics

United Kingdom's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

The newly produced Newsletter of the EPSRC 9 March 2002, contains much of interests not only to cyberneticians and systemists who work in the UK but also to those engaged in endeavours worldwide. The report highlights, in summary:

Environmental Mathematics

A JOINT EPSRC and NERC thematic programme has been launched to increase the impact of mathematical and statistical methods on environmental science. The Environmental Mathematics and Statistics (EMS) programme aims to improve the effectiveness of current mathematical and statistical methods in the solution of real environmental problems, and develop new techniques to solve environmental problems which have proved intractable with existing methods.

Funding of £2.75 million has been provided for this multidisciplinary initiative designed to allow researchers to experience immersion in an adjunct discipline in order to cross-fertilise ideas and build better links between the two communities. In the main, funding will be delivered through discipline-hopping awards, fellowships and research studentships. Further information from Lisa Hole, l.hole@nerc.ac.uk www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/interdisciplinary

Advanced and Senior Research-Fellowships

CHANGES to EPSRC's Advanced and Senior Research Fellowship schemes will provide the opportunity to request a research grant for up to 3 years, at the time of application. Further details of these revisions were published on EPSRC's website in June 2002. These changes have resulted in a new closing date for Fellowships of 24 January 2003. Decisions should be known by June 2003 for Advanced, and July 2003 for Senior Research Fellowships. Contact Joanne Ross, Fellowships Central Coordinator, 01793 444106 joanne.ross@epsrc-ac.uk

Innovative Manufacturing Research Centres (IMRCs)

£60 MILLION of EPSRC funding has gone to establish 12 Innovative Manufacturing Research Centres (IMRCs) at major universities around the UK. The centres will facilitate the application science and technology research in industry, to the benefit of UK competitiveness. Areas of early activity include rapid prototyping, recyclable materials, and modular construction methods. Further information from Phil Burnell, phil.burnell@epsrc.ac.uk

Post-Genome Era

The collection of genome data is already at an advanced stage and aspects of the process are, we are told, becoming somewhat routine. The huge quantities and complexity of data produced are posing new challenges for the developing discipline of bioinformatics. In the UK the EPSRC are making funds available to create four new professorial posts at its universities. The EPSRC spokes- person says that:

GENOMICS may still be thought of as cutting-edge science, but with the enormous advances made in recent years in the mapping of human and other genomes, the focus of attention is moving away from the mere collection of data to their interpretation and exploitation. Bioinformatics involves the development of computational and mathematical models for the acquisition, archiving, imaging, analysis, and interpretation of biological data. If genomicists are the cartographers of this new world, bioinformaticians are the explorers and prospectors.

Reflecting the importance of the field, EPSRC has recently made grants totalling £3.4 million to establish new Chairs and lectureships in bioinformatics at four UK universities: UCL, Oxford, Imperial, and Manchester.

The holders of the present chairs and of funds made available for developments in bioinformatics say that:

Jotun Hein, the new Chair of bioinformatics at the Department of Statistics, University of Oxford says that bioinformatics challenges fall into four categories: sequence analysis and annotation, structural genomics, analysis of correlated datasets from novel experiments, and the analysis of variation data. Much bioinformatics research to date has focused on the first two, but there is an expected avalanche of data for the second two in the wake of the genome projects, high-throughput techniques, lab-on-a-chip technologies, and proteomics. The £1.2 million EPSRC grant to the university will help establish and equip a new bioinformatics centre there. The other successful bidders for grants were David Jones at University College London, Stephen Muggleton at Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, and Andy Brass at the University of Manchester.

Multidisciplinary Research – Collaboration on Ageing Research

In the UK, as in the rest of the world's communities an ageing population presents society with many challenges. In the UK there is an initiative – The UK National Collaboration on Ageing Research, to help tackle the problems. A recently launched multidisciplinary partnership by the UK's Research Council seeks solutions: The EPSRC Newsletter's article "Putting the gloss on the golden years", says in summary that:

A CENTURY ago, average life expectancy in the UK was just 47 years. Today it is about 80 years, largely as a result of improved social conditions and medical technology. The implications of the demographic shift are by now well understood: the population of pensionable age is set to increase from 10.7 million in/1998 to 11.9 million by 2011, leading to changing demands on areas as diverse as medicine, social security and even road signage.

The launch in November 2001 of a partnership between four Research Councils (BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, and MRC) to stimulate multidisciplinary research on ageing is the UK's first major foray into this pressing issue. The National Collaboration on Ageing Research, NCAR, is an initiative to improve coordination and liaison between existing ageing research initiatives, develop inter- and multidisciplinary research activities, maximise the "policy-into- practice" focus of research, and ensure that UK research is linked to similar work in Europe.

EPSRC's current work on ageing began in 1998 with the launch of the EQUAL (Extending Quality Life) research initiative. This has already funded more than 30 interdisciplinary projects to harness expertise in engineering, design, and the physical sciences to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities. Projects include work to understand and compensate for loss of hearing and sight, improving access to public transport, and design of elements of "smart homes" to assist people with physical or cognitive impairments.

The EQUAL research network brings together researchers with the wider community of practitioners and policy makers who are involved with older and disabled people.

More information on NCAR at www.shef.ac.uk/ukncar More information on EQUAL at www.equal.ac.uk

New Chief Executive of EPSRC

Dr. John O'Reilly is the new Chief Executive of EPSRC. In outlining the key role of the Research Council he says that retaining a focus on excellence and improvements to flexibility and connectivity form the key aims. He writes that:

I have not come to EPSRC planning a major revolution in its style of operation, rather I envisage continued evolution as we strive further to enhance our processes and procedures. But while some changes will be made, EPSRC will retain it's focus on excellence. We will wish to improve further our flexibility of operation, and we intend to give increased attention to promoting connectivity across our portfolio.

The UK is fortunate in the quality of its research community, as recent international reviews of engineering, physics, and computer science have shown. Our engagement with the community will be enhanced by the formation of Strategy Advisory Teams, chaired by myself, for each of our programmes.

The peer review process is central to our focus on excellence and we need to ensure that the status and influence of College membership is such that it attracts the highest quality reviewers.