A major new strategic partnership aimed at combating the global cyber security threat has been signed between Queen’s University Belfast and InfoSys, a global leader in consulting and technology.
The collaboration brings together Infosys with Queen’s University Belfast’s Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT), one of UK’s largest and most prestigious university cyber security research labs, and Invest Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland government’s regional business development agency.
The partnership will establish a research, education and commercialisation model, to develop solutions and intellectual property for combatting cyber security threats arising out of the rise of digital and Cloud-based business models. Infosys and CSIT will work jointly on a range of topics including combatting malware, security of mobile and cloud infrastructures, and privacy issues for financial markets.
The three-year agreement will lead to the establishment of a CSIT-Infosys Cyber Lab that will become part of a global network of companies and institutions developing security technologies. As part of the CSIT advisory and governing board, Infosys will play a key role in developing the centre’s research roadmap and gain access to its research and technologies for commercial usage.
Infosys and CSIT will also promote joint research projects and sponsor PhD scholarships, internships, faculty sabbatical and exchange programs. They will impart training and education on advanced concepts in data privacy, cloud, contemporary web application and wireless security as well as intelligent surveillance systems. Together, the partners will also jointly seek funding from agencies in India and Europe for relevant projects.
Welcoming the agreement, Senior Vice President, Infosys Labs and Products R&D, Subu Goparaju said: “The rise of cloud and mobility solutions has only increased the need for greater cyber security. This is a top concern we hear from executives around the globe. Our partnership with Queen’s University will provide Infosys insights into cyber-crimes and access to the important work being done at CSIT. We believe the outcome of this partnership will not only result in stronger products for our clients, but in a safer digital world.”
Signing the strategic partnership Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast, Professor Sir Peter Gregson said: “Queen’s both welcomes and values its partnership agreement with Infosys, one of the India’s leading technology companies. Cyber security affects us all. Be it via smartphones and their apps, online banking or through developments in cloud based services, we are all at risk of cyber security attacks.
“Queen’s agreement sees InfoSys join with over 20 other industrial partners, including many global players who have committed to supporting CSIT in its quest to solve some of the real world security challenges of the future. It is intended that through this partnership society will be the real winner.”
Today’s announcement comes after Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent visit to India when he signed the UK-India cooperation deal that will see the creation of a joint task force to exchange and share information to identify and counter cyber security threats.
Commenting on the Queen’s Infosys partnership, Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts said: “The UK is recognised as a world-leader in combating cybercrime and has real competitive and technology advantages in this field. The work at Queen’s University’s CSIT, which I have seen at first hand, is a tangible example of our expertise in this area and I welcome its latest partnership with Infosys. It will be good for Infosys, good for Queen’s University and good for the interests of all our households and businesses in both our countries.”
Enterprise Minister, Arlene Foster commented: "I am delighted to see that the initial introductions made by Invest Northern Ireland's team based in India, linking Queen's to Infosys' Global Internship Programme and Infosys Labs, have developed and grown into a viable and important business partnership.
"This partnership between Queen's and Infosys is an excellent example of collaborative working. By pairing knowledge and research contained within our world class universities with business we can work together to provide practical solutions to commercial challenges. Such partnerships are of real importance to growing our economy. I look forward with interest to how this partnership between Queen's, Infosys and Invest NI develops.
"This is also an excellent example of the global opportunities that exist for Northern Ireland. If we are to grow our economy we must look beyond our own shores. This partnership between Queen's in Belfast and Infosys in India just goes to show that there really are no limits to how far we should look for opportunities."
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Notes to Editors
Additional Resources
About Infosys
Infosys partners with global enterprises to drive their innovation-led growth. That's why Forbes ranked Infosys 19 among the top 100 most innovative companies. As a leading provider of next-generation consulting, technology and outsourcing solutions, Infosys helps clients in more than 30 countries realize their goals.
Visit www.infosys.com and see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY), with its 150,000+ people, is Building Tomorrow's Enterprise® today.
ECITs Professor John McCanny will be speaking at Innovate UK 2013 on 11 March on the subject of IKC’s and building early stage critical mass. Innovate UK 2013 is a joint venture from the Technology Strategy Board and UK Trade & Investment which sees the two organisations unite the highly successful Innovate and TechWorld events. The event takes place on 11-13 March in the Business Design Centre, London.
Professor McCanny will deliver his talk as part of the 'Great Technology Commercialisation' track of the event. The subject will be 'IKC’s & building early stage critical mass' with Professor McCanny highlighting the progress that The Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT), the UK’s lead university centre for cyber security research, an innovation and knowledge centre (IKC) based at Queen's University of Belfast's, Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) has made in terms of developing new and disruptive technology and building a critical mass of expertise. He will also talk about CSITs highly successful 'Open Innovation' model and its vision to establish a global innovation hub in cyber security.
You can find out more about Innovate UK 2013 on the event website here.
The Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT), the UK’s lead university centre for cyber security research based at Queen's University Belfast, has today announced that it has been shortlisted for the prestigious SC Magazine Awards in the industry category of “Information Security Consultancy of the Year”. The winners will be announced at the SC magazine Awards Europe 2013 which takes place on 23 April in The London Hilton on Park Lane, London.
The SC Magazine Awards honour professionals working to secure enterprises of all sizes, vendors and organisations that deliver innovative security technologies. The panel of judges are selected for their experience and impartiality and are drawn from the senior ranks of the information security profession.
Commenting on the announcement Stephen Wray, Commercial Director of CSIT said:
“CSIT is a centre of excellence with a remit to accelerate and promote business exploitation of emerging research and technology in the field of cyber security. Our vision is to create a global innovation hub in cyber security. We are honoured to be shortlisted for this prestigious industry award. It highlights how our unique approach to fast streaming applied research into industry through our unique Open Innovation membership model is gaining recognition and traction in the global information security market.”
An example of CSIT’s recent information security consultancy work which was cited in the award nomination is the on-going collaboration with CSIT member company Q1 Labs (IBM) to transfer, evaluate, demonstrate and exploit our research on malware detection methods for fixed and mobile networks within their enterprise Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) tool QRadar.
Chris Meenan – Senior Product Manager of the Q1 Labs Product Suite at IBM commenting on the on-going engagement with CSIT said:
"The Zeus botnet research carried out by CSIT coupled with the QRadar Security Intelligence Platform capability has provided an excellent proof point of how a combination of leading edge security research and security technology platforms can deliver excellent customer value"
CSIT will be exhibiting at this year’s Infosecurity Europe event, which will take place at Earls Court, London on the 23rd – 25th of April. The exhibition is a great opportunity to meet with the CSIT commercial team to discuss how your organisation can engage with the Centre through a broad range of activities including – CSIT Membership, Contract R&D, IP licensing, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) and large scale cyber security public/private sector project consortia.
For more information please contact David Crozier – Technical Marketing Manager at CSIT
Tel: 028 9097 1754
Email: d.crozier@qub.ac.ukApplications are invited for a number of DEL PhD Research Studentships funded by the Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) to commence October 2013 in the area of Data Security, Network Security, Wireless Enabled Security and Intelligent Surveillance Security Systems. The studentships provide fees and a maintenance grant of £13,590 for 2011/12 and are open to UK and EU citizens, subject to eligibility. Some studentships have also been supported by CSIT partner and member organisations with top-up sponsorships available.
Please note that NOT all available projects are funded.
The required minimum academic qualification for the above studentships is a 2:1 honours degree or a qualification considered equivalent by the University. The qualifications must be obtained in Computer Science, Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Physics or a related discipline. Candidates must have official, final results of all qualifications to be used to meet the academic requirements before the start of the studentship.
You can find out more about the upcoming studentships and information on how to apply on the Education section of the CSIT wesbite here.
A separate application for funding must also be completed for each project applied to. Application for admission to study that does not also have an application for funding may not be considered for an award.
The deadline for applications is Friday 15th March 2013.
I once heard a Research Director talk of ECIT as the ‘mothership’. I think this sums ups well what our Institute is all about. A term that has achieved prominence in science fiction and UFO lore, a mothership typically takes up station in an area and remains there for long periods, while smaller ships sortie to interesting destinations. A mothership provides the sustaining environment that will nurture and fuel more focused targeted agile expeditions.
ECIT has taken up station in the area of Electronics, Communications and IT and with its unique mix of people, resources and networks has created a dynamic environment that fosters entrepreneurship. The Vision of ECIT is to ‘create wealth through Research and Innovation’. As we continue to drive that vision forward, we have recognised more focused sorties are needed and those sorties have to be in partnership with strong Industry connections that live and breathe the destination.
The approach is working. Measurable outcomes that include; winning over £6Million new research funding in 2012 (FP7, EPSRC, TSB, Industry contract etc), helping local SMEs bid for and win new tenders beyond their own capability, having numerous pieces of IP delivered to industry, having another spin-out company (Microsense) established, highlight we are continuing to build the right capability and are applying that to relevant and appropriate markets.
In 2009 the ECIT mothership launched CSIT, a £30M Innovation and Knowledge Centre focused on Cyber and Physical Security Technologies. CSIT has proven success in vision fulfillment of ‘creating wealth through Research and Innovation’. CSIT is now the UKs largest university cyber security research lab and is acknowledged by GCHQ and BIS as an Academic Centre of Excellence. ECIT will continue to provide the infrastructure and environment where centres of this caliber can develop and thrive. Strategically we are now also nurturing new centres in:-
These are all at different stages of development but we aspire to have them follow the proven model of Open Innovation that has been crucial to the success of CSIT.
CSITs Open Innovation Model involves partner companies committing £30k per annum to inform CSIT research roadmaps and access CSIT technology to evaluate for exploitation. Member Companies (including BAE Systems, Thales, Q1 Labs, IBM, Altera, Cisco, McAfee, Intel), Associate Members (RepKnight, TitanIC Systems, Seven, Qosmos, Tyco) and government stakeholders (including DSTL, GCHQ, CESG, CPNI) have access to direct, absorb and bring to market over £30Ms worth of applied research in their specific market.
CSIT’s Open Innovation Model provides centralised and aggregated market intelligence, including access to articulated problem statements, a deeper knowledge of market trends and opportunities and access to problem-owners, customer bases and end users. It also provides an ability to build strategic alliances with partners in industry, government and academia, a platform to showcase our capabilities to the wider national and international community, and a mandate from our represented constituents to influence and inspire UK government future direction and funding for research.
Capital Markets Engineering
The Captial Markets Engineering collaborative research program is in conjunction with ISRC at Magee Campus University of Ulster. Member companies include (Citi, NYSE Technologies, Fidessa, Kofax and First Derivatives), Member companies pay £20k per annum and ECIT and ISRC are leveraging this to fund 10 PhDs in Big Data analytics, sentiment analysis and hardware acceleration of high frequency trading algorithms. ECIT are working with colleagues to grow the potential of this initiative and have submitted an application for InvestNI Collaborative Network Support and Competance Centre funding (£1M per annum for 5 years).
Satellite Applications
ECIT provides world leading capability and research excellence in Earth Observation and Satellite Antenna and Front-end Technologies. ECIT have entered into close discussions with the TSB Satellite Applications Catapult Centre to be a strategic partner. We believe we can contribute strongly to its establishment at Harwell, Oxford. ECIT can provide thought leadership, industry insight, a strong team of engineering capability and research excellence to contribute to programs of work.
Connected Health
Another core area of competence within ECIT is based around communications technology particularly with respect tracking, identifying and utilising people and assets within a wireless scenario. This is at an early stage however Prof William Scanlon as DigiComms Diretor of Research is beginning to nuture and develop potential to build a Centre of market focused competence in this area. William is engaging heavily with the Northern Ireland Connected Health activities to understand how ECIT can bring our research and capabilities into this market informed opportunity area.
Everything else
Of course there are numerous other projects and research activities taking place at ECIT that have nothing to do with the above highlighted sorties and this is entirely in keeping with the ECIT mothership taking up station in such a wide a diverse area as Electronics, Communications and IT. ECIT is a Research Institute after all, and an element of horizon scanning is healthy and appropriate and it is important academic experts in their field have the freedom to follow their own path.
Who knows what PhD or unique and novel piece of research will inspire the next major expedition?
So I think this term sums us up very well - ECIT is a Mothership, and it is this environment, this unique mix of personnel and this strategic approach to market informed sorties that set ECIT apart as visionary. A vision we believe that will lead to a globally acknowledged Innovation Hub in Cyber Security and also in whatever other major ‘market informed expeditions’ we may strategically take.
Stephen Wray has 15 years IP Commercialisation experience with significant international technology licensing, negotiating, business development and marketing expertise. Previous roles include Global IP Business Manager at Amphion and VP Licensing at APTX, where he licensed technology to Sony, Samsung, Apple, Microsoft, Google, NEC and Panasonic amongst many others. Stephen was instrumental in the trade sale of both companies, Amphion to Conexant (2006) and APTX to CSR (2010). He is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh with an Honours degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He tweets at @wr4y.
This week we talk to Yun Wu who is carrying out his PhD research on Soft-Core Streaming Processor Design on FPGA at the ECIT Institute.
With his research he aims to to design reconfigurable parallel processing units on FPGA with a high performance, low cost novel ESL synthesis toolset.
PhD recruitment for projects beginning in September 2013 has started at ECIT. You can find out more information about available projects in our PhD area here.
Research projects include:
To find out what it is like to carry out research here at ECIT we continue with our series of featured PhD students.
This week we talk to Dr Robin Todd who researched Multiband Antenna Feeds for Satellite Communications at the ECIT Institute.
We are currently recruiting a number of new Readers, Lecturers, Senior Lecturers, Engineers, Senior Engineers and Researchers across a number of disciplines at ECIT.
PhD recruitment for projects beginning in September 2013 has started at ECIT. You can find out more information about available projects in our PhD area here.
Research projects include:
To find out what it is like to carry out research here at ECIT we continue with our series of featured PhD students.
This week we talk to Jonathan Kelly who is researching Embedded Software Product Families and is based here at the ECIT Institute.
Professor Vincent Fusco, Research Director of High Frequency Electronics at Queen’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT), has been awarded the Mountbatten Medal for outstanding, dedicated, lifetime leadership in establishing the field of active antenna technology for advanced wireless applications, and for his seminal contributions to the fundamental understanding of self-tracking antennas and non-linear phase conjugating surfaces.
The Mountbatten Medal celebrates individuals who have made an outstanding contribution, over a period, to the promotion of electronics or information technology and their application that benefits the UK and was presented to him at the Mountbatten Memorial Lecture which took place on Thursday 15 November 2012 at the IET London: Savoy Place.
Professor Fusco’s work has provoked step change developments in high data rate wireless communications and has influenced many programmes in both industry and academia worldwide. This has impacted upon the development of low cost self-aligning satellite communications terminals for next generation mobile broadband internet.
Speaking after receiving the award Prof Fusco said: “I am deeply honoured and humbled that the IET have awarded me the 2012 Mountbatten Medal. It is recognition of career achievements in the important topic of microwave wireless communications, a key economic driver for mobile radio systems. Many of these achievements would not have been possible without the help of research colleagues and students; I would like to thank them also.”
Suzanne Flynn FIET, Chair of the Awards and Prizes Committee of the IET said: “The IET is proud to award the Mountbatten Medal in collaboration with the British Computer Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering. Professor Fusco, of Queen’s University Belfast, a pioneer researcher and talented communicator, is a very worthy winner and joins an illustrious list of recipients which includes Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Hermann Hauser and IET President, Professor Andy Hopper.”
Commenting on the award Professor John McCanny, Director of the ECIT Institute said “The award of the Mountbatten Medal by the Institution of Engineering and Technology reflects the many outstanding and pioneering contributions that Professor Fusco has made in the field of Microwave and Millimetre wave technology. This includes his research on self-tracking antennae that has resulted in a new class of communication systems that ensure reliable wireless communications in difficult propagation environments and his research on semiconductor based antennas that are world-leading in terms of the performance they have achieved.”
“This is also a very fitting tribute to the very high calibre research team that he leads here at Queen’s. His work is being used by major companies world-wide. These include Infineon Technologies (Austria), OMMIC (France) and by the European Space Agency. It has also led to the creation of two new spin-out companies here at the Northern Ireland Science Park, creating economic and employment opportunities locally”
Presentation of the Mountbatten Medal to Prof Fusco and the following Lecture are available to view online here: http://scpro.streamuk.com/uk/player/?g=d022168
The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham has agreed in principle to sponsor a PhD/Doctoral Studentship at The Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at ECIT in the area of Novel Application of Advanced Machine Learning Techniques for use in Side Channel Analysis Attacks.
This GCHQ-sponsored PhD studentship provides funding for 3.5 years and commences on 31 September 2013 with a proposed end date of March/April 2017. GCHQ will cover the costs of university fees and will provide an annual stipend to the student corresponding to the National Minimum Stipend (currently £13,590 per annum) plus an additional sum of £7,000 per annum (both tax free). For comparison this is equivalent to approx. £26,555 annual salary. A further £5k of funding will also be available per annum for travel to conferences, collaborative partners, and GCHQ visits.
The studentship is only open to UK nationals and the successful candidate will be required to spend in the region of 2 - 4 weeks per year at GCHQ headquarters in Cheltenham. To be considered for this studentship, candidates must therefore be prepared to undergo GCHQ's security clearance procedures.
More information on this exceptional opportunity is available here.
We will shortly be launching recruitment to our PhD Studentships beginning in September 2013. To help potential applicants find out a little more about what ECIT is like as a place to carry out research we will be running a series of profile pieces on current and past PhD students.
This week we begin with Colm Kelly who is carrying out research on "Programmable Architectures on FPGA for Image Processing" with our Digital Communications research cluster.
Queen’s has received its first Investors in People Awards which acknowledge good practice in the management and development of staff.
The Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) and the Human Resources Directorate are the first departments within Queen’s to receive the nationally recognised award.
Investors in People is a framework, or set of standards, based on improving how people contribute to the achievement of organisational objectives – it is about effective management and development of staff.
Both areas have been working towards the achievement independently and were assessed separately with intensive on-site visits from external assessors.
Through meetings with a cross-section of staff from the two teams, management presentations and analysis of supporting records, the assessors were satisfied that the appropriate level of good practice in the management and development of staff was being demonstrated in each department.
In Human Resources, the assessor noted the enthusiasm and professionalism with which staff spoke about their roles, the pride shown those working for the Directorate and Queen’s, and the focus on HR services provided and in working with each other.
Sean McGuickin, Director of Human Resources, said: “It is particularly pleasing that this award recognises that managers are effective in leading, managing and developing people and that all staff are supported with their learning and development.”
In ECIT, the assessor highlighted the excellent opportunities for learning and growth, the growing sense of teamwork and the fact that staff were very focused, felt valued and recognised, and were very committed.
Commenting on the awards, Prof John McCanny ECIT Director said: “This is the manifestation of the hard work and dedication by all here at the Research Institute, since opening in 2004, to foster an environment where teamwork and commitment is rewarded and is key to achieving the very challenging targets we set for ourselves.”
"We set up ECIT with the aim of being a truly internationally leading Research Institute focused on tackling much bigger, more ambitious advanced technology challenges than is traditionally the case in a university setting. That position can only be retained and built upon by recruiting, developing and retaining world leading researchers, academics, engineers and support staff in a very competitive global marketplace. This award will help us to do that."
"We will not be complacent, however, and will continue to review our performance and take the necessary action to ensure ECIT continues to grow and deliver ground breaking research of widespread benefit to the economy as is evidenced, for example, by the growth in numbers of people working at the Institute and the growth in high technology business that has and is occurring on the Northern Ireland Science Park."
If any other departments would like to learn from the experiences of ECIT and Human Resources, the contact points are: Francis Guinane, Training and Development Manager, Human Resources and Lesley Moreland in ECIT.
Professor John McCanny, Director of Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT), welcomed Sir John Parker, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, back to Queen's Island on 27th September as he began a two day visit to Northern Ireland to take part in the Northern Ireland Science Park's Festival of Innovation.
Sir John is a former Chief Executive of Harland & Wolff and this visit was the first time he has returned to the Queen's Island site, which is now home to ECIT and the NI Science Park, since leaving the company back in 1993.
Sir John was accompanied by Philip Greenish, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Dr Tony Barry, President of the Irish Academy of Engineering, during his visit to ECIT where they had lunch with Northern Ireland Fellows prior to touring the Institute and its facilities.
During the tour Sir John met with senior researchers, engineering and commercial staff who demonstrated some of the world class engineering research carried out at the Institute as well as founders from several ECIT spin-out and spin-in companies such as ACT Wireless and Aetopia.
A grand place for innovation
Speaking during his visit Sir John said: "There has been a tremendous transformation on Queen's Island since I left here 19 years ago. It’s wonderful to see. It’s even more exciting to see the tremendous amount of scientific, engineering and research talent that has been assembled on this site, and the way it is creating tomorrows companies."
"Northern Ireland deserves to be promoted as a good place to do science, a great place for research in our universities and a grand place for innovation."
"We are all in this together and because we can do so much more collectively, I believe in an industrial policy which is underpinned by a stronger relationship between industry, government and our universities."
Taking research out of the ivory tower
Commenting on Sir John's visit to ECIT, Professor McCanny said: "It is a great honour to welcome Sir John Parker back to this part of Belfast where he founded his career at Harland & Wolff, a company renowned for its use of advanced engineering."
"Things have changed considerably since then with the ECIT Institute now playing a key role in the development of the advanced technology economy with its unique university model where academic researchers, experienced engineering and commercially focused staff work side by side to accelerate the impact of university based research into wider economic impact."
"What we showed Sir John today is how we are taking the research base out of the University, out of the ivory tower, and bringing it much, much closer to business to accelerate the whole impact of research, engineering and its impact on economic development."
During his visit, Sir John also visited the NI Science Park, University of Ulster, and the annual £25K Innovation Awards organised by NISP. Sir John returned to ECIT on 28th September to take part in an Open Discussion: “Optimising the contributions of our World-class Research Institutions within our Economy” facilitated by Dr Norman Apsley and featuring presentations from Professor John Boland, Director of CRANN at Trinity College Dublin, Prof John McCanny Director of ECIT and Mr Kieran Flynn, Head of Business Development of Tyndall Institute at University College Cork.
Sir John Parker has chaired five FTSE100 companies, including National Grid, from which he stepped down in December 2011, and is currently Chairman of the mining conglomerate Anglo American. He is Vice Chairman of DP World (Dubai) and a Non-Executive Director of Carnival Corporation and EADS (AIRBUS).
Video
Audio
Audio from Sir John Parker talking about his visit to ECIT is avilable here (479kb, mp3) and Prof John McCanny commenting is available here (1.60MB, mp3).
The announcement comes as leading figures from UK and European space agencies gather for Northern Ireland’s first Space Summit at Queen’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) this week (Wednesday 12 September).
Currently, the UK’s space industry contributes £9.1bn annually to the economy. The aerospace, defence, security and space sectors contribute over £1bn to the NI Economy.
Those attending the Space Summit at ECIT are aiming to increase this share by outlining future research requirements for antennas and related technologies, and highlighting potential commercial opportunities for both local and other UK-based companies involved in the space industry.
One ECIT research project being highlighted at the event could eventually lead to a huge increase in the number of people able to access the internet around the world, particularly in rural areas and other sparsely populated regions of the planet.
Overseen by Professor Vince Fusco, Director of Research at ECIT’s High Frequency Electronics Cluster, it is sponsored by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Professor Fusco, who has recently been appointed to the UK Satellite Applications Catapult Centre's Applied Research Group (SAARG), said: “At the present time, only 30 per cent of the world’s population is able to get online. The aim of our work is to test ways to increase the telecom and antenna capabilities of satellites. One potential consequence of this work is that it could ultimately lead to greatly increased internet access via broadband satellite connections, so the benefits could be very significant.”
“ECIT is well known within the European space industry for our expertise in this highly specialist field and we are the main supplier of various types of sophisticated components both to the UK space industry and to the European Space Agency. We now have 30 researchers working at the Institute who have been involved in numerous high-monetary value programmes for UK and European clients in recent years.”
Paul Febvre, Project Director of the UK Satellite Applications Catapult, a new technology and innovation centre currently being established at Harwell in Oxfordshire, is among the key speakers at the Summit, he said: “The rapid growth of the space sector continues to be driven by innovation in technology and applications. The strong heritage of satellite-based research witnessed at ECIT places the Institute in a strong position to collaborate with industry and other partners across the UK and Europe.
“ECIT at Queen’s provides Northern Ireland with a focal point for the development of novel and innovative satellite applications and technologies, leading to significant potential for commercial exploitation and growth.”
More information on the ECIT Space Summit can be found at http://www.ecit.qub.ac.uk/Space2012
For media enquires please contact David Crozier - ECIT Technical Marketing Manager on +44 (0)28 90971754
Research produced by Dr Simon Cotton, Lecturer at the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT), and colleagues took centre stage at the recent “UK research: building bridges, building prosperity” event held at The Royal Society, London. The event, jointly organised by the Royal Society, Academy of Medical Sciences, British Academy and Royal Academy of Engineering, featured Dr Vince Cable, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with responses from Roland Aurich, the UK CEO of Siemens, and Paul Nurse.
Only eight institutions were invited to showcase their research at the event. The fact that Queen’s University Belfast’s ECIT was one of the two institutions invited by the Royal Academy of Engineering is testament to the quality of the research carried out at the Institute.
Dr Cotton used the event as an opportunity to demonstrate his latest work on body centric communications and how the research is already being adopted for use in commercial products for the real-time localisation market. He commented “It was a great honour to be invited to such a prestigious event organised by some of the UK’s leading Academies and being able to show case some of the cutting-edge research being conducted in ECIT as well as our strong links with Industry.”
Dr Cotton added “It was also nice to be able to demonstrate some of the entrepreneurial aspirations of the Institute, through the promotion of QUB/ECIT spin out company ACT Wireless of which I am a co-founder especially in the context of a meeting of so many prominent figures such as the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Dr Vince Cable.”
Speaking about the event Prof. William Scanlon, Director of Research, Digital Communications Cluster said “This event highlighted the link between world leading research and its transformational impact on our society and our economy. I am therefore delighted that the Royal Academy of Engineering chose Dr Cotton’s research on wireless communications as an exemplar for this event.”
More information on the “UK research: building bridges, building prosperity” event can be found on the Royal Society website here: http://royalsociety.org/events/2012/uk-research/
The High Frequency Electronics Research Cluster (HFEC) of ECIT co-received the Antenna Theory Award of the 2012 European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2012), which took place in Prague, Czech Republic, between 26-30 March 2012. The award was received for the paper:
M. García-Vigueras, P. DeLara-Guarch, J.L. Gómez-Tornero, R. Guzmán-Quirós, G. Goussetis, “Efficiently Illuminated Broadside-Directed 1D and 2D Tapered Fabry-Perot Leaky-Wave Antennas,” European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), 26-30 March 2012, Prague, Czech Republic which Dr. George Goussetis of HFEC co-authored in collaboration with the group of Dr. Jose-Luis Gómez-Tornero in UPCT, Spain. Maria García-Vigueras has been a visiting researcher with the HFE cluster of ECIT during 2011 and again 2012.
EuCAP is the major Antenna and Propagation conference in Europe. The total number of papers received for EuCAP 2012 has been 1237 from 61 countries with the total participation of 3693 authors.
Further information on the work of the High Frequency Electronic Circuits Research Cluster of ECIT can be found online at www.ecit.qub.ac.uk/Research/HighFrequencyElectronicCircuits
The School is currently seeking a number of academics at all levels to help it achieve its ambitious growth targets.
If you are at the start of a promising career or an established leader in innovation we want to hear from you.
This is an exciting time to join the School of EEECS at Queen's University Belfast. Ranked among the top 100 in the world for Electrical and Electronic Engineering (QS World Rankings), the School is also consistently ranked in the top 10 in UK University League tables for its subjects. We are entering an exciting and challenging period of growth, due to significant investment over the past several years, and you can play a key part in that.
The School's £40m Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) is a new world-class centre specializing in key areas of advanced digital and communications technology, with a unique focus on blue skies, strategic and industrial research projects. ECIT is also home to the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT), a £30m innovation and knowledge centre, which develops secure solutions to problems such as the protection of mobile phone networks and the creation of secure "corridors" for the seamless and rapid transit of people. EEECS is not only about electronics and computing - we are also a member of the UK Power Academy, made up of the top 7 UK Universities for Electric Power Engineering.
Interested? Why not consider joining us at this exciting time and help to shape your future and ours. So if you are at the start of a promising career or an established leader in innovation, we want to hear from you. We are interested in recruiting to all areas of the School but would encourage applications from academics in the fields of Cyber Security, Vision Systems, Energy and Intelligent Control.
See further details on opportunities in the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at qub.ac.uk/jobs
The Irish Academy of Engineering is currently involved in a campaign to promote its belief that the key to economic recovery and future employment opportunities lies in the contribution which engineering research can make to economic development and job creation. It further believes that much closer integration of our Universities’ research programmes with industry is a vital component in a national economic recovery strategy.
As part of their campaign the Academy, with the generous support of Intel Labs Europe, has arranged a series of public lectures by internationally renowned speakers on this subject. The third lecture in the series will be delivered at the Great Hall, Lanyon Building, Queen’s University Belfast at 6.00 p.m. on Tuesday, 21st February 2012 and everyone interested in engineering research and its contribution to future job opportunities should attend. The speaker will be Professor John V. McCanny, CBE FRS FREng FIAE.
Prof. McCanny is Director of the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) at Queen’s University Belfast and founder of several high technology companies. His awards include the Institute of Engineering & Technology’s Faraday Medal, the Royal Irish Academy’s Cunningham Medal and the Royal Dublin Society/Irish Times Boyle Medal. His lecture will be on “Research and Development: Successful Models for Economic Impact”, a subject upon which he is internationally recognised.
Individuals wishing to attend the event are invited to register in advance here. Directions to the Lanyon Building at Queen's University Belfast can be found here.
For any further information contact the IAE at www.iae.ie or Prof. John Kelly at +353 86 8327462
Flish, a team from Queen's University Belfast who have developed a low cost, low power antenna capable of picking up satellite signals automatically, which could make satellite dishes a thing of the past, are 'flying high' after being announced as the 'the next big thing' to come out of Northern Ireland's research community at the NISP CONNECT £25K Awards last night.
They have walked away with a total prize fund of £13,000 as overall winners of the technology entrepreneur awards which are sponsored by the Bank of Ireland UK, QUB, University of Ulster and AFBI (Agri Food and Biosciences Institute) and supported by NI's Health and Social Care Trusts. Designed as a commercial experience the Awards aim to encourage researchers to act on their talents, ideas and energy to produce tomorrow's leading commercial opportunities.
The innovative equipment developed by Flish is a high gain antenna which has the ability to 'point' to distant signals such as a satellite. It does not need to be aligned, like a satellite dish, and has no moving parts.. It enables satellite dishes to be replaced with flat panels on walls or roof tiles that need no set-up or calibration and will have particular relevance to the commercial satellite broadband market with the long-term aim of replacing the cumbersome domestic satellite dishes. It also has potential application in transportation as it can fit around the curves of vehicles or aircraft. The more compact antenna which has the ability to point to a signal in milliseconds has further application in the military and disaster relief market when a team may only have minutes to setup a lifesaving video link.
Neil Buchanan from Flish said: "It is a great honour to be crowned the overall winner of the £25K Awards. We have worked in conjunction with the European Space Agency to fine tune our unique analogue circuit design and have been able to produce an end product that is more power efficient, lighter and less costly than anything else currently available. The global market value of antennas was estimated to be $10.1billion in 2009 and expected to increase to $13.3billion in 2014 and we believe our innovation has the potential to be a real game changer for the industry. We plan to capitalise on our learning experiences from the £25Ks to seek funding to see the business through to profitability."
The £25k Awards category winners were as follows, each picking up a cheque for £2,500:
NISP CONNECT Director, Steve Orr, said: "The £25K Awards offers a showcase for regional research talent to display their world-class innovations while providing a valuable training and development process towards commercialisation of their innovations. I would like to congratulate all the category winners for their innovative entries however special acknowledgement must go to the overall winners, Flish, who wowed the judges with their pioneering antenna device, which offers great commercial potential.
"This is an extremely exciting time for the team and moving on from the initial stages of business development I have no doubt that Flish will be able to benefit from other NISP CONNECT programmes which are designed to inspire, encourage and nurture local technology entrepreneurs during idea conception, growth and improvement stages."
Clare Guinness, Regional Business Manager, Bank of Ireland UK added: "Once again the £25K Awards have been a resounding success with the spotlight shining on Northern Ireland's research community who have worked hard to produce truly innovative projects with real commercial potential. At Bank of Ireland UK we are delighted support the Awards and look forward to developing our relationships with the teams and other local entrepreneurs who are committed to the commercialisation of knowledge for the benefit of our local economy."
The awards were presented at a gala ceremony in the Titanic's Dock & Pump-House at the Northern Ireland Science Park.
Leading Security Intelligence provider joins BAE Systems, Thales and Altera on Industrial Board
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Waltham, Mass. and Belfast, NI – Aug 11, 2011 – Q1 Labs, the global provider of total security intelligence solutions, today announced that it has become a member and official partner of the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This builds on the company's existing European efforts out of its distribution, R&D, sales and support centre, also located in Belfast.
"Over the past 12-18 months, we have added 25 jobs in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with many more across the rest of Europe, to increase our European presence while also trying to educate customers on security best practices," said Brendan Hannigan, CEO of Q1 Labs. "We took a keen interest in CSIT as the national centre for cyber research, because its efforts greatly align with our own – to provide IT users with the security intelligence necessary to safeguard their infrastructures."
The Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) is a new innovation and knowledge centre and is based at Queen's University of Belfast's, Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) in the Northern Ireland Science Park, Belfast. CSIT's purpose is to create the security infrastructure needed to safeguard the trustworthiness of information stored electronically.
"As well as informing our pioneering research, CSIT membership provides access to that research. We look holistically at cyber security to develop ground-breaking security technologies and we act as an honest broker in the industry, bringing together industry leaders, government policy makers and the best of academia." said Stephen Wray, Commercial Director for The Centre for Secure Information Technologies, Queen's University Belfast.
"We are eager to work with Q1 Labs because of their dedication to providing security intelligence and thereby providing the most visibility available from the network security marketplace."
Q1 Labs, as a sponsor and board member, will contribute extensively to CSIT's research projects taking place at Queen's University Belfast, including the implementation of the QRadar Security Intelligence platform in CSIT's research lab.
For more information on CSIT, please click here.
About Q1 Labs
Q1 Labs is a global provider of high-value, cost-effective next-generation security intelligence products. The company's flagship product, the QRadar Security Intelligence Platform, integrates previously disparate functions - including SIEM, risk management, log management, network behaviour analytics, and security event management - into a total security intelligence solution, making it the most intelligent, integrated and automated security intelligence solution available. QRadar provides users with crucial visibility into what is occurring with their networks, data centers, and applications to better protect IT assets and meet regulatory requirements. Q1 Labs is headquartered in Waltham, Mass., U.S.A., and the company's global customer base includes managed service providers, healthcare providers, energy firms, retail organizations, utility companies, financial institutions, government agencies, and universities, among others. For more information, visit Q1Labs.com, e-mail info@Q1Labs.com , or call 781-250-5800.
Queen's University Belfast's Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) is becoming a major force in European research. A team from the Institute led by Dr. Charles Gillan and Dr. David Linton, became the first from Northern Ireland to co-ordinate and win an FP7 security proposal.
Dr. Charles Gillan said, "The ECIT Institute is delighted to be coordinating HANDHOLD, a project that will deliver a mobile device to provide enhanced detection facilities at border crossings and airports. While the dog will remain a central part of the detection process the time is right to develop substantially improved mobile detection devices that can complement the role played by dogs".
The HANDHOLD consortium consists of nine partners who bring complementary expertise in all the fields needed to develop a mobile network based, low power CBRNE sensor system. Irish involvement in the consortium includes the Irish Customs Authority, Scorpion Networks, Tyndall National Institute Cork and NUI Galway. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Germany and representatives from law enforcement from around Europe give the team a strong multi-national flavour.
The addition of ECIT based firm Capna DSP in the consortium further highlights the strengths in Northern Ireland and indeed the ECIT Institute environment for international security research and development.
Partnerships involving businesses and academic groups from the Island of Ireland featured in five of the 11 successful projects in the EU Seventh Framework security research programme for 2010-2011.
According to figures from Enterprise Ireland, the indicative total European Community expenditure for security research in the period is €242,822,043. The aim of the research is to develop technologies and knowledge needed to ensure the security of EU citizens from threats such as terrorism and crime, natural disasters and industrial accidents.
Northern Ireland, is estimated to have won 0.98pc or €2,240,367 of the EC's total expenditure. (The final figure may even be higher, since the calculations were done manually and some of the allocations may have been misattributed to mainland UK).
If Northern Ireland were a country then on a cash-per-capita basis it would be third among the EC-27, behind Luxembourg and Belgium.
Appropriately in a year where cyber attacks have become centre stage, Queen's University Belfast's ECIT Institute also landed part of the PRECYSE project (Prevention, protection and REaction to CYber attackS to critical infrastructures).
Weiqiang Liu, a PhD student from the Data Security Systems Group at CSIT, was a best paper finalist at the 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 2011.
He presented his paper on 'Design Rules for Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata (QCA)', as part of a Special Session on QCA Circuit Design. He also presented a poster of his research as part of the best paper competition. His research work is carried out in collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin.
The ISCAS conference, sponsored by the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society, is the world's premier networking forum for research in the theory, design and implementation of circuits and systems. Over 700 papers were presented at the conference and Weiqiang was one of only 8 finalists in the student best paper competition.
With Invest NI, the University of Ulster and Queen’s University Belfast, five of the world’s leading capital markets firms - CITIBANK, FIDESSA, FIRST DERIVATIVES, NYSE Technologies and SINGULARITY have come together to establish a research collaboration in Capital Markets Engineering. Funded by the Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) and the collaborative companies these 3 year PhD studentships commence in October 2011 and provide fees and a maintenance grant of £18,590 for 2011/12. The studentships are open to eligible UK and EU citizens
The School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer now invite applications for 5 of these PhD Studentships to be based at the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT), Queen’s University Belfast. It is envisaged that the students will also spend a considerable amount of time at the company locations.
Candidate should hold, or expect to hold by 15 August 2011, a first class or 2.1 honours degree in a relevant branch of engineering, mathematics, physics or computer science. An appropriate degree at Master’s level will be an advantage.
Applicants should apply electronically through the Queen's online application portal at https://dap.qub.ac.uk/portal/
The deadline for submission of applications is 13 June 2011
Click here for further information on these projects.
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The School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science invites applications for a number of fully funded 3 year research studentships, commencing in October 2011. The studentships provide fees and a maintenance grant of £13,590 for 2011/12 and are open to UK and EU citizens, subject to eligibility.
Further information on studentships and individual projects available can be viewed at http://www.ecit.qub.ac.uk/Jobs/Studentships/
Please note that NOT all available projects are funded.
The required minimum academic qualification for the above studentships is a 2:1 honours degree or a qualification considered equivalent by the University. The qualifications must be obtained in Computer Science, Electronics, Electrical Engineering or a related discipline. Candidates must have official, final results of all qualifications to be used to meet the academic requirements before the start of the studentship.
Applications should be made electronically through the Queen's online application portal at https://dap.qub.ac.uk/portal/
A separate application for funding must also be completed for each project applied to. Application for admission to study that does not also have an application for funding may not be considered for an award.
The deadline for applications is Monday 28 February 2011.
For further information please contact Yvonne McKnight (y.mcknight@qub.ac.uk)
