July 2011 Leading Web Science Experts Speak at Postgraduate Summer School

A Web Science Doctoral Summer School, bringing together an international group of 50 postgraduate students, continues this week at NUI Galway. Organised by the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI), the Summer School attendees will learn analytical techniques to study the complex social and economic forces driving the evolution of the Web.

Sixteen leading international authorities in Web Science such as Professor Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, and Dr Marc Smith, a sociologist specialising in social media, will deliver lectures and seminars on state-of-the-art Web Science research.

Also featuring at the event is Professor Stefan Decker, Director of DERI, who comments: “Research and study in the field of Web Science is made all the more challenging through the sheer complexity of social and economic forces driving its evolution. This Summer School provides a unique cross-disciplinary grounding in techniques for Web analysis. A mix of national and international contributors will delve into the dynamics and dimensions of the Web, providing an opportunity to explore ways and means of undertaking this research challenge.”

A Centre for Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET), supported by Government through Science Foundation Ireland funding, DERI was established in 2003. It has become an internationally-renowned Web Science research centre, providing the technology which underpins intelligent services on the Internet. Current research results include semantic search engines, novel collaboration and social media as well as sensor network technologies.

This, the second annual Web Science Doctoral Summer School organised by DERI, commenced on 6 July runs until 13July. A Reasoning Web Summer School is planned for 28-30 August.

-ENDS-