With national and internationally renowned academic staff - many of them respected experts in their fields, the University now has specialist research groups and projects covering most areas of science, engineering, technology, arts and humanities.
During this month...
The School of Computing and Information Technology was given the go-ahead to lead a £900,000 Europe-wide project to increase public participation in politics. The three-year Webocracy project aims to use Internet technology to increase public participation in Local Government. Ultimately, online facilities will enable people to keep in closer touch with their councils, take part in discussions, register opinions about local issues and also help them find the relevant official when they have complaints, compliments or other comments.
The School's E-Business Initiative Group also designed, hosted and managed an Internet-based supplier survey on behalf of the Rover Task Force. The work, which followed the Rover/BMW crisis of the time, formed part of a wider £800,000 project designed to help businesses understand and exploit technology in the 21st Century.
Health research too was given a boost at the University. The School of Health Sciences received two awards for further research into antibody switches in diabetes and to study causes of the life-threatening lupus disease, which causes the body to attack its own tissue. While Biomedical Sciences student Sarah Drury was hailed the British Fertility Society's Best Young Scientist for her assistance in a research project by the Assisted Conception Unit at Birmingham Women's Hospital into the quality of female eggs.
