Orchid Project

High-tech analysis of a 2011 DARPA Challenge shows why we can’t have nice things
Meet Adam. He’s a mid-level engineer at a mid-level software company in a cookie-cutter California office park. He can code a handful of languages, has a penchant for computer vision and enjoys soccer and skiing. In short,...

Joulo, a spin-out from the University of Southampton, has been acquired by Quby, Europe’s leading developer of smart thermostats and energy displays.
Joulo, co-founded by Dr Reuben Wilcock and Professor Alex Rogers from Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, develops smart energy monitoring technology that delivers insight into...

Jemilah Mahmood
Chief, World Humanitarian Summit Secretariat at the United Nations
“The number of people affected by disasters or conflicts will keep rising amidst trends like population growth and climate change. Countries will have to invest more in disaster preparedness. Mobile technology will help save more lives through SMS warning systems and...

An ORCHID student at the University of Southampton has achieved third place – and best in the UK – in the ninth annual International Microelectronics Olympiad.
Zoltán Beck, a PhD student in the Agents, Interaction and Complexity research group, was one of 856 participants from 22 countries to take part in...

In 2012, data scientists from the University of Southampton, UK, developed an algorithm that could beat 2M human players at the Fantasy Premier League. Two years on, they are now launching the RateMyTeam tool that allows all football fans around the world to use the algorithm to improve their team....

New research has found that malicious behaviour is the norm in crowdsourcing competitions — even when it is in everyone’s interest to cooperate.
Crowdsourcing provides the ability to accomplish information-gathering tasks that require the involvement of a large number of people, often across wide-spread geographies, expertise, or interests.
However, researchers from the...

Crowdsourcing competitions, popular with companies seeking to tap into groups of knowledge, are often diminished by malicious behaviour, according to a new study.
The research, published today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, found the opennesss of crowdsourced competitions, particularly those with a “winner takes all” prize, made them...

We live in what has been described as the Information Age, but at times a better term would be the Disinformation Age. This is due to the sheer volume of information being propagated by the Internet, and in particular, social media, every day at the click of a mouse. Finding...

A team comprising scientists from Kew Gardens, The Malaria Atlas Project and Engineering Science has been announced as a finalist in the 2014 Google Impact Challenge UK, which will award funding to 10 charitable projects using innovative technology to change the world.
The Department of Engineering Science is working in partnership...

Researchers from the University of Southampton have helped to develop a new web application for gathering evidence during natural disasters, which will enable more effective emergency response.

Accurate information can be life-saving in extreme situations, such as earthquakes and tsunamis. However, finding out the accuracy of that information from the vast...