Advancing our knowledge network

02 February 2011

Ney York Garment Industry

The first month of the New Year has brought significant developments in the School’s recently expanded programme of research. Numerous new projects are now well underway with recruitment exercises bringing an interdisciplinary array of new academics to join the School’s ever-growing network of expertise.

Already this year we have held several cross-cutting seminars and events, as well as ideas-sharing initiatives that offer a chance for researchers from different fields to establish links with their colleagues across the School.

As a result of the recent matched funding challenge, which raised $100 million to fund research into the most serious dangers and opportunities facing us in the future, we now have a total of 30 research institutes composed of interdisciplinary teams working on a range of urgent issues and challenges. All are engaged in developing both their academic research programmes and enhancing access to their work through building informative websites, dynamic events and expert networks.

The Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests has relaunched their website with a new design and three of our new institutes have also launched newly developed websites to showcase their areas of research and the teams behind them:

Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests

The Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests develops collaborative research on issues relating to forest governance, management and conservation. Led by Professor Yadvinder Malhi, the centre is a network of University departments, NGOs and businesses concerned with the preservation and understanding of the world’s forests.

Biodiversity Institute:

Led by the Tasso Leventis Chair in Biodiversity, Professor Katherine Willis, this Institute is bringing together research from the natural and social sciences in order to address the challenges of our sustainable existence on the planet. A key aim of the Institute is to facilitate the translation of science into policy, planning and strategy.

Programme on Mind and Machine:

Jointly led by Professor of Molecular Psychiatry, Jonathan Flint, and Waynflete Professor of Physiology, Gero Miesenböck, the Programme involves a collaboration of biologists, engineers and computer scientists who are working on developing and applying technology that will allow the observation of and intervention in brain function. The ethical, legal and social implications of conducting such research and developing such technologies will be concurrently explored as part of the Programme.

Institute for the Future of Computing:

The Institute for the Future of Computing brings together two major research centres in Oxford under the joint leadership of Professor Bill Roscoe, Director of the Computing Laboratory, and Professor Anne Trefethen Director of the Oxford e-Research Centre. Together, they have created a team of researchers who will conduct cutting-edge research into the challenges brought about by the ubiquity of computers, deluge of digital data, complexity of extreme computing and requirements for usable secure systems. In order to address these key issues, the Institute will support collaborative multidisciplinary research on energy efficient algorithms at both the user and system levels, novel methodologies and software for design.