The University of Nottingham

Research into Big Data — including new ways of capturing data, extracting information and visualising new insights — is the focus of a new initiative at the University.

Spanning all faculties and levels of research experience — from undergraduate to professor — a series of events taking place over the next six months to bring together researchers working on Big Data, helping them to access support, funding and collaboration opportunities.

£50k of funding has been made available to pump-prime new Big Data research ideas. Professor Ian Dryden is chairing the team responsible for the events.

“We want to hear about anything that you’re doing with Big Data,” Prof Dryden said.

“We’re looking for ideas on how you could use the collection of new methods and techniques that come under the heading Big Data. How could your research benefit from these new ideas, which push the boundaries of existing data analysis techniques? Do you have big datasets? Can you provide skills and methods in analysing Big Data?”

The Big Data Kick-Off event took place on Monday 23 June, showcasing existing and potential activity at the University. Researchers publicised their ideas, had the opportunity to join collaborative groups and found out about support and funding.

Future events will include a two-day sandpit in September aimed at developing new research strands; a week-long study group at the end of October where early career and PhD researchers are particularly encouraged; and a HackFest competition for undergraduates and postgraduates taking place in mid-December.

Professor Saul Tendler, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, said: “We are living in the data-rich era, with huge datasets being collected routinely in all areas of research endeavour. Making sense of Big Data is a major research challenge, and indeed is one of the eight great technologies announced by the Government. This initiative aims to discover and form new collaborations across all faculties, building on our special strengths at Nottingham.”

For more information about the programme, visit  www.nottingham.ac.uk/go/bigdata or email ian.dryden@nottingham.ac.uk