Open Day Talks: Abstracts

11:00-11:45 — Jim Davies,  Introduction to the Programme

The Software Engineering Programme delivers one-week graduate-level courses in over 28 different subjects. The Programme is aimed primarily (although not exclusively) at professional software engineers: courses are taught with a view to current and emerging practice and technologies, and the Programme's structure reflects the fact that its students often have to deal with many and varied competing pressures. In this talk, we will introduce the Software Engineering Programme and discuss its potential for providing benefits to its students.

11:45-12:15 — Niki Trigoni Sensor networks: Applications and Research Challenges

Technological advances in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) are envisaged to allow the dense deployment of nodes with sensing, communication and processing capabilities in large areas for monitoring purposes. The severe energy and bandwidth constraints of sensor networks raise a number of challenges in the areas of data dissemination, query and storage management. In this talk, I will discuss issues and approaches to data management in three different sensor network applications - traffic monitoring, emergency detection and wildlife monitoring.

12:15-12:45 — Ivan Flechais Human-centred security

At the heart of computer security lies the need for protecting information assets. Many of the mechanisms used for protecting these assets are technical, complex, and precise -- their correct operation depends on very specific configuration and usage. The paradox facing information security is that growing numbers of individuals are faced with the dual problem of being routinely exposed to malicious attackers and having large amount of personal data being hosted on computer systems. The importance of providing security mechanisms, processes and policies that are easy to use and suited to the needs of people is an undeniable concern -- one which isn't restricted to unskilled users either. This talk will explore the topic of human centred security, providing examples where even knowledgeable and skilled people make mistakes due to mismatches between technical systems and the needs of their users.

Read about the Programme, see some testimonials from past and present students, find out how to apply, return to the open day schedule, download the open day poster, look up directions to the Computing Laboratory, or register or ask for more information.