Wessex Institute of Technology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wessex Institute of Technology
Established: {{{established}}}
Location: Ashurst, New Forest, England
Website: http://www.wessex.ac.uk/
WIT New Forest Campus
WIT New Forest Campus

The Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT, usually referred to as just Wessex Institute or WIT) is an educational institute offering higher degrees validated by the University of Wales,[1] and is located in the New Forest National Park, in the south of England.

The overall aim of Wessex Institute is to develop a series of knowledge transfer mechanisms, particularly directed towards the exchange of information between academics and professional users within industry.

This is achieved through a range of activities organised by staff of the Institute and its associate companies. A large network of contacts and links have been established with many organisations throughout the world.

Contents

[edit] Core activities

  • Graduate Programmes at Doctoral and Master level, many in collaboration with other academic institutions throughout the world.
  • Specialist Research within the areas of Damage Mechanics, Environmental Fluid Mechanics, Industrial Research and Information Communications Technology.
  • International Conference Programme which is constantly expanding in both size and scope.
  • Publishing Arm: The Institute has a publishing arm which produces numerous scientific books, monographs and edited works as well as the proceedings from the Institute’s conference programme. Activities have been expanded to include the publication of papers as well as other material in electronic format, much of which is available through the WIT eLibrary.
Graduation at WIT
Graduation at WIT

[edit] Graduate programmes

The academic activities of the Wessex Institute, associated with the University of Wales, are centred on its New Forest campus at Ashurst Lodge. They consist of a series of graduate programmes at Doctoral and Master level, many of which are held in collaboration with other academic institutions all over the world.

Several International Master Programmes are available covering areas such as Information and Communications Engineering, Environmental Modelling and Computer Aided Engineering.

The graduate programmes of the Wessex Institute are supported by a variety of research and industrial organisations throughout the world. In addition, support is provided on some programmes by the UK Government and through the Wessex Institute Foundation.

The academic success of the Institute can be measured not only by the substantial number of PhDs that have been awarded but also by the positions of responsibility in outstanding academic institutions and industry obtained by those who have carried out research at WIT. Many have become Full Professors at some of the best UK Universities including Imperial College, Nottingham and Brunel, whilst others are now Professors in Universities within their country of origin. These are major achievements for an independent research institution.

Wessex Institute is proud to retain strong links with the Alumni, who actively collaborate with its activities. This interaction is another way in which WIT promotes the interchange of information.

[edit] Major research divisions

  • The Damage Mechanics Division is involved in the development of complex computational methods, including boundary element techniques for stress analysis problems.
  • The Environmental Fluid Mechanics Division is dedicated to the modelling of environmental and fluid dynamics phenomena including applications of high performance computing to the solution of problems in science and engineering.
  • The Industrial Research Division concentrates on solving problems of importance to industry and demonstrates the significance that Wessex Institute attaches to producing practical research. The division also carries out an intensive programme to train professional engineers in the latest techniques for advanced engineering design.
  • The Information and Communications Engineering Division is concerned with a variety of areas of research related to the latest developments including Management Information Systems, Data Mining and Web-based technologies. The division has links with many countries and collaborates in the organisation of joint research and training programmes at postgraduate level.

[edit] Recent research achievements and activities

  • A substantial number of Higher Degrees were awarded to successful PhD and Master candidates on completion of their research thesis.
  • The current research programmes at this Institute continue to be supported by the EU, NATO, industry and other prestigious organizations.
  • The International Master Programme on Information Systems. Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, which is supported by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office attracted high calibre students from the Ukraine. A number of students who have completed their Master degree are now registered on full-time PhD programmes at this Institute.
  • The International Master Programme in Environmental Electromagnetic Compatibility organised by the Wessex Institute and administered by the British Council supported a number of outstanding Croatian students. Some are currently registered on the PhD programme at WIT.
  • Around 25 International Conferences are organised by WIT each year. These were held throughout the world from throughout the world in association with different organisations and universities.
  • The Transactions of the Wessex Institute of Technology continues to expand and now offers over 20,000 papers online.
  • The Prigogine Medal, in memory of the late Professor Prigogine, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, is awarded each year in collaboration with the University of Siena
  • Several international journals have been launched, namely ‘Ecodynamics’ , ‘Sustainable Development and Planning’ and Design and Nature.
  • Many scientists visit WIT present short courses and seminars on a variety of topics.
WIT Conference
WIT Conference

[edit] International conference programme

Wessex Institute organises an extensive annual meetings programme, including short courses, seminars and conferences.

The conference programme is particularly active; short courses usually take place at Ashurst Lodge, whilst international seminars and conferences are held in many different locations around the world. Originally focused on physical sciences and engineering, the range of topics covered by the meetings has expanded to cover a wide variety of fields ranging from ecology to finance.

A particular feature of WIT conferences is that papers presented are available in hard-back book format, in time for each conference, as well as being available online.

[edit] Publishing activities

WIT Press publishes conference proceedings and a number of specialized monographs and edited works, generally appealing to specialized groups of researchers. Works are available in hard copy and online; WIT Press is committed to making its material available in Open-Access format.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ University of Wales Validation Services entry for WIT, retrieved 01-May-2008