Research

An international reputation

Informatics Research Centre defines informatics as ‘the study of the creation, management and utilisation of information in scientific and economic activities.’

Informatics research in IRC covers a wide range of research themes from information management to information processing within the information lifecycle. One of the key aims of our research is to help organisations to maximise their added-value and enhance their business competitiveness by the effective management of information resources.

IRC research activities can be found in domains of business and management, IT for strategic management, enterprise information systems, financial modelling and prognostics, bio-computing, construction management, intelligent buildings, pervasive intelligent spaces, and IT supported collaborative work. IRC attracts researchers and students from around the world. Our current research outcomes are actively disseminated to the research communities and industries.

Research themes and topics

• Pervasive Informatics - Pervasive Informatics is an emerging discipline for the effective use of information through embedded sensors and distributed processing to form contiguous intelligent environments for working and living.

• Social Informatics - Social informatics relates to the interdisciplinary consideration of design, use and consequences of information and communication tools in cultural, or institutional contexts.

• Health Informatics - Health Informatics relates to the conjunction of information systems, computer science and health care. Information flow is critical to understanding how to maximise recourses, devices and methods in order to provide outstanding care and safety whilst maintaining low cost.

• Business Informatics - Business Informatics supports decision making by intersecting IT, informatics methods and management concepts, to allow identification of business problems, development of relevant solutions, and appreciation of their impact.

• Accounting and Financial Informatics - Research using analytical, empirical, experimental, and field study methods in all areas of accounting; and research developing and/or evaluating applications, tools, processes, and structures used for managing financial data in support of investment processes.

These themes reflect the research expertise and focus of current IRC researchers. There are common issues and methods that span across these themes. IRC maintains a close-knit community of researchers working together as a team to carry out research in one or more of the research themes.

Common reference application domains include e-business, e-enterprise, e-learning, and intelligent buildings. Recent projects include autonomic computing, intelligent buildings and pervasive spaces, agent-based distributed systems, ICT for public safety, collaborative information retrieval, and enterprise modelling, funded through government, EU and industrial grants.

Associated labs

There are four labs associated with the IRC:

• Futures Forum Research Group (FFR)
• Intelligent Buildings Research Group
• Bio-diversity Informatics Lab (BDI)
• Innovative Construction Research Centre
• Technologies for Sustainable Built Environment (TSBE)

Please see further information.