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School Overview
University College Cork has played a pivotal role in the development of Computing. George Boole, first Professor of Mathematics at what was then Queen’s College Cork, now known as University College Cork, developed the formal foundations of propositional logic, which underpins the hardware and software of all modern digital computers. The Schools ethos reflects this tradition, emphasising scientific development and exploitation of knowledge, fully integrated with teaching, public engagement, and practical application for the benefit of society and the wider economy.
The current Head of School is Professor Utz Roedig.
School Mission
“To provide high-quality undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in the foundations, technology and applications of computing; to extend the frontiers of knowledge in computer science, emphasising the relationship between theory and practice; to apply our knowledge and expertise in contributing to the growth of a strong Irish industry."
School Staff / Students
The school has 8 professors, 4 senior lecturers, 19 lecturers, 5 systems support staff and 5 administrative support staff (2 of whom are part-time) funded by the core budget. CSIT is one of the largest Schools within UCC and will increase the number of academic staff in the coming years in line with growing student numbers.
In addition to the core-funded academic staff, the CSIT research team currently includes 3 Senior Research Fellows, 3 Research Fellows, 29 Postdoctoral researchers, 4 Research Support officers, 5 Research administrators, 3 Research computer officers, and 68 PhD students. All of these positions are funded by external research income.
In 2021/22, there were 657 student Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) registered for School undergraduate (461) and postgraduate taught (198) programmes. This number is expected to increase to approximately 850 by 2025 across all student cohorts.
Taught Programmes
The school teaches across a broad range of programmes, including:
- BSc in Computer Science
- BSc in Computer Science (Software Entrepreneurship), jointly offered with the UCC Department of Economics
- BSc Data Science and Analytics (commencing in 2018), jointly offered with the UCC School of Mathematical Sciences / Department of Statistics
- BA in Digital Humanities and Information Technology, jointly offered with the UCC College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Science
- BA Psychology and Computing, jointly offered with the UCC School of Applied Psychology
- MSc in Data Science & Analytics jointly offered with the UCC School of Mathematical Sciences / Department of Statistics
- MSc Computing Science
- MSc in Interactive Media
- Higher Diploma in Applied Computing Technology
Research
The school has a vibrant research programme across a range of areas including:
| Research Programme | Areas |
|---|---|
|
AI, data analytics, algorithmic fundamentals, constraint programming, optimization, recommender systems, machine learning, decision support |
|
Wireless networking, internet computing, cloud computing, software engineering, IoT, distributed systems |
|
HCI, universal design, multimodal computing, virtual reality, affective computing, wearable systems |
|
Cyber security, cyber-physical security, resilient systems, data privacy, ICT ethics |
Of special significance is that academics in the school have leadership roles within the major national ICT research Centres funded jointly by Science Foundation Ireland and industry. These are:
| Research Centres | Areas | Principal investigators | Research Areas |
|---|---|---|---|
| the SFI Centre for Smart Manufacturing | Professor Barry O’ Sullivan, Professor Dirk Pesch | Data analytics, Product & process control, Enterprise modelling & simulation, Software systems, Network systems & IoT, Sensors, Robotics & controls, Materials processing |
|
| the SFI Centre for Future Networks | Professor Cormac Sreenan, Professor Utz Roedig, Professor Dirk Pesch |
Dependable Networks, Sustainable IoT, Link Performance, Customised Networks, Data-driven optimisation and management, Network Ecologies. | |
| the SFI Centre for Data Analytics | Professor Barry O’Sullivan; Principal Investigator: Professor Ken Brown, Dr Derek Bridge, Dr Steve Prestwich | Artificial intelligence, constraint programming, operations research, data mining, machine learning, recommender systems, and case-based reasoning | |
| the SFI Irish Software Research Centre | Professor Gregory Provan |
Lero’s research programme comprises systems (what we build), methods (how we build) and context (for the world we want) in six key application domains: Connected autonomous vehicles, Health, wellbeing & human, Performance, Smart communities/cities, GovTech, FinTech, AgriTech & food |
In addition, school professors lead two centres for research training (CRT). Each CRT is inter-institutional and recruits twenty PhD students annually (over four years).
Director: Professor Barry O’Sullivan
Director: Professor Dirk Pesch
Other research groups in the school include the Centre for Unified Computing (CUC), Director: Professor John Morrison; Cork Complex Systems Lab - Professor Gregory; Boole Centre for Research in Informatics (BCRI) - Professor John Morrison; Interaction-Design, E-learning and Speech (IDEAS) – Dr Ian Pitt.
In the recent Research Quality Review, the School was rated 4/5 overall, with 5/5 for research income and 4/5 for the other major categories, including published output. In the past 4 years, research funding of over €20M has been secured from the EU, SFI and through collaboration with several dozen companies.
The goal of the School’s research strategy is to ensure that our research programmes are strengthened in strategically important areas whilst improving opportunities for staff and students.
Outreach
The school engages with primary and secondary school pupils via a range of courses and activities including Munster Programming Training, All Ireland Programming Olympiad, International Programming Olympiad, European Girls Olympiad in Informatics and HEA summer camps. Over 200 young people per year participate in these programmes.
CSIT staff and students operate an active Student Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and run the Irish Collegiate Programming Competition each year.
CS Facilities
Since 2009, the school has been based in the Western Gateway Building, which offers state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities. This architect-designed modern building is the largest on campus and in addition to Computer Science houses the School of Mathematical Sciences and the IGNITE/Gateway centres for entrepreneurial activities.