The Computing Department

Academic Excellence


Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Bill Gates, presents the first Windows Embedded Award for Academic Excellence to Dr. Andrew Scott, following the adoption of Lancaster code by Microsoft's Windows and Windows CE product groups.

The Computing Department at Lancaster is one of Europe's premier Computer Science departments and was awarded a rating of 5A in the 2001 RAE. It has a strong emphasis on collaboration both with other departments in the University and with leading organisations world-wide. The Department is an international centre of excellence in Computer Science and we pride ourselves on the quality of our graduates.

Staff

The Computing Department at Lancaster currently consists of

  • 11 Professors
  • 11 Senior Lecturers
  • 10 Lecturers
  • 45 Research Staff
  • 55 Research Students
  • 14 Suport Staff

The majority of staff are involved in teaching. Lecturers and Professors in the Department teach on courses, whilst many research staff and students provide specialist support and advice for tutorials and practical classes.

Research

As part of their role as educational institutes most universities are involved in research; that is, investigation that extends human knowledge and understanding. In Computing this focuses on the development of new technology and its applications, and feeds directly into teaching by updating courses and syllabuses. In a fast changing discipline such as Computing a strong link to research is vital, to ensure that courses are kept up to date and that the skills which students learn are relevant to current practice.

Lancaster has an international reputation for research, and was rated 5 (excellent) in the 2001 research assessment exercise. One of the Department's particular strengths is the overall coherence of its research, with the work clustered around experimental systems-oriented computer science. This strength was acknowledged by a recent International Review of UK Computer Science which cited us as one of only a handful of centres undertaking "leading-edge systems research". The research in the Department has a strong practical focus, with excellent links to industry; it currently holds over £10m in grants; and over 25% of this figure comes directly from industry.

Many of the members of staff in the department are world experts in their area. All of them teach undergraduate courses and many provide specialised options in their area of expertise.