research

Research at OUCL is classified into seven broad themes. This provides a map of the research landscape of the Laboratory for public presentation of our work. The themes also help to structure our research management: each researcher is nominally assigned a primary theme, according to research interests; each theme has a head, who has general oversight of its work.

Within (and across) themes, research is conducted by teams of people, or individually, as best suits the staff, the topic, and the funding. If the research has a specific target, or an end-date, then it is presented here as a project; otherwise, it is presented as an activity. Most activities are focussed around a named research group or a funded research centre.

The Department's research activity was evaluated in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE2008), published in December 2008. 80% of the submitted researchers were found to be in the top two tiers, either 4* (world-leading) or 3* (internationally excellent). A more detailed analysis is available.

Computational Biology

The Computational Biology Group engages in theoretical and applied, interdisciplinary and practise-based research at the interface between computer science, mathematics and the biomedical sciences. Our research focuses on applying computer science and mathematical techniques to clinically and biologically pressing problems. Key applications include physiological modelling (heart, cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory systems, soft tissue mechanics and cancer), biological image and signal analysis, and systems biology. Work is almost entirely done jointly with domain specialists in life sciences and clinical departments. The Computational Biology Group also plays a key role in interdisciplinary initiatives across the University, including the Life Sciences Interface and Systeme Biology DTCs, the BBSRC/EPSRC-funded Centre for Integrative Systems Biology, and the EU FP7 projects euHeart and PreDiCT.

Foundations, Logic and Structures

The Foundations, Logic and Structures theme encompasses our research into the mathematical underpinnings of computer science and their application in a variety of different areas. Major activities within this theme include our work on Quantum Information and Computation, led by Samson Abramsky and Bob Coecke; on Game Semantics and applications to Verification, led by Luke Ong; on Dynamic Epistemic Logic, led by Alexandru Baltag; and on Constraints, led by Peter Jeavons.

Information Systems

The Information Systems group carries out world leading research covering four broad and overlapping areas:

Databases, where the focus is on topics ranging from query languages and optimisation to web data extraction and the implementation of lightweight database applications for devices such as mobile phones;
Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, where the focus is on knowledge representation formalisms, ontology languages, reasoning systems, and applications in areas such as e-Science and the Semantic Web;
Computational Linguistics, where the focus is on combining established knowledge-based approaches with statistical and machine learning methods; and
Spatial Reasoning, where the focus is on problems whose solution is highly dependent on the exact shape of objects, such as collision detection, path planning, wire-loom design, and assembling jig-saws.

Numerical Analysis

Numerical analysis concerns the development of algorithms for solving all kinds of problems of continuous mathematics; it is a wide-ranging discipline having close connections with computer science, mathematics, engineering, and the sciences. Oxford's Numerical Analysis Group has long been a leader in the UK; the permanent faculty Raphael Hauser, Ian Sobey, Endre Suli, Lloyd N. (Nick) Trefethen, and Andy Wathen. Nick Gould, former member of the faculty is still associated with the group as visiting professor.

Programming Languages

Research falling under this theme includes our work in programming language design and implementation, a long-established research strength of the Laboratory. We have two research groups in this area, one focussed upon programming tools, the other upon the algebra of programming. It includes also much of our work in metacomputation, an area covering several fields, but with a particular focus upon languages and programming calculi.

Software Engineering

Software engineering is the application of scientific and engineering efforts in the development of software systems. Our research addresses every stage of the development process, from requirements analysis to the maintenance of existing implementations. Areas of particular interest include information modelling, requirements engineering, model-based development, research informatics, systems security, and sensor networks.

Verification

The verification group at Oxford is internationally recognized as among the largest and strongest in the world. Our work spans a wide range of research, from fundamental investigations into the decidability and complexity of model checking for various types of infinite-state systems, through process calculi, logics and semantic models, all the way to practical, machine-assisted methods applicable to real-world problems and programming languages. We also have strong industrial links. Our key strengths include concurrency, abstraction, industrial-scale hardware verification, software model checking, and verification of real-time and probabilistic systems, with applications in security protocols, power management, nanotechnology, and biology. A major source of impact is the adoption by others of verification tools resulting from our research: FDR (model checker), Casper (security protocol compiler), SatAbs (SAT-based model checker for C with predicate abstraction), CBMC (bounded model checker for C) and PRISM (probabilistic model checker). All are highly cited and widely used in industrial contexts, both for research and teaching.