University of Ulster academic, Professor Gerard Parr has been invited onto a prestigious UK Government Committee which identifies priorities for research and early career science training funding.
Professor Parr is currently the only representative from Northern Ireland serving on the committee.
The Chair of Telecommunications Engineering in the School of Computing and Information Engineering at Ulster’s Coleraine campus, he has been appointed to the Strategic Advisory Team of the UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC).
Membership of the team are drawn from across the UK scientific and industrial community and Professor Parr’s appointment is seen as an acknowledgement of his distinguished academic career to date and as recognition of the high quality research being carried out at Ulster.
The EPSRC is the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences with an annual budget of over £800 million. It covers a broad range of subjects – from mathematics to materials science, and from information technology to structural engineering.
Professor Parr will have a specific focus on the ICT sector and will be joined by other leading UK academics and representatives from global companies to help identify research and research fellow training priorities and strategy within the Research Council Portfolio.
A native of Hilltown in the Mournes in Co Down, Professor Parr explained that in his new advisory role, he will be expected to alert EPSRC to new and emerging research and early career researcher training opportunities, including international initiatives; to advise on the balance between research and training activities; and to identify and advise on priority areas for future funding that will be of benefit to the UK economy.
“EPSRC supports excellent, internationally-leading long term research and high quality postgraduate training in order to contribute to the economic competitiveness of the UK and the quality of life of its people. At any one time, it supports a portfolio of research and training between £2-£3 billion," he said.
“Our role will be to ensure that the funding of early career researchers and fundamental science support the skills and the research base to meet the future needs of government, industry and society in the UK.”
Professor Parr continued: “The ever increasing reliance on the Internet and the proliferation of wireless access devices and associated applications means that investment in fundamental science and training of future engineers can benefit everyone, regardless of their economic situation or geographical location. So funding of ICT research and training is a priority for the EPSRC.
“Increasingly, consumers, companies and government view the provision of services and data on the Internet as vital to their day-to-day living and business operations. The continued growth in fixed and wireless broadband access using smart phones and tablet PCs and related technologies is vital for the UK’s economic prosperity, as well as for the competitiveness, safety and well-being of its people,” he said.
Professor Parr said the challenges facing the ICT sector include the need to ensure that the underlying technology and systems needed for the continued growth, access to and management of intelligent information infrastructure are designed, tested and brought to market.
“The vision for ICT capability is to support UK scientists to deliver internationally recognised excellence and the high impact research and training to meet the future needs across the science base," he observed.
Professor Parr said there are significant engineering challenges ahead to address the management, distribution and storage of ever increasing amounts of digital data across our national telecommunications infrastructure.
“Systems for so-called intelligent cities with connected sensors for services such as health monitoring at home, smart vehicle transport, Internet-TV based education, and power/gas/water utility monitoring are no longer the stuff of the movies. They are already here.”
But with such developments come challenges, continued Professor Parr.
“There are many challenges ahead. They include the design and capacity planning of hardware and software, regulation and ethics, system performance and the ability of the technology to support hundreds and thousands of customers. With these demands come other challenges related to security and trust of the systems, energy efficiency of the devices and telecommunications networks and ultimately, keeping the financial costs down. The desire for such innovations support the growing demand for services such as Cloud Computing.”
He continued: “UK universities have an international reputation for cutting-edge research into the technologies and industries that will change the face of society and the economy and how we engage with key areas such as digital communications and linked applications is an enabler in that development."
Professor Parr and other members of the Ulster Information and Communications Engineering Research Group at Coleraine - Professor Bryan Scotney, Professor Sally McClean and Dr Philip Morrow – already contribute to national and international research projects funded by industry and government.
His appointment to the EPSRC comes on the back of a very successful year for the School of Computing and Information Engineering which has attracted significant funding from the EPSRC ICT Theme (India-UK Centre of Excellence) and the RCUK Digital Economy Theme(IT as a Utility) for projects with India and across the UK.
In the most recent UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), Computer Science research at Ulster was ranked amongst the top universities in the UK. Computer Science research at Ulster was ranked 15th out of 81 UK universities in terms of research power. The unit submission of 41 staff was the 8th largest in the UK, with 55% of the submission judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent, and 90% internationally recognised.
