University of Kent

• that in order to successfully deploy biometric technology among younger people, it is important to be able to understand and predict individual behaviours as ‘young people’ do not represent a homogeneous, well-defined and completely characterised community
• that because this community has grown up with the internet, they tend not to modify their behaviours between the real and virtual worlds, with their concept of “identity” fundamentally different from that experienced by preceding generations. This phenomenon, together with the acceleration in the volume of personal data in the virtual world, is leading to an increasing risk to young people’s identities
• that they often treat issues of identity in a more informal way than has traditionally been the case. Yet they are very sensitive to the requirements of establishing identity in many practical situations, and welcome attempts to make this an easier and more reliable process
• that the current Schools Curriculum provides, in principle, the opportunity to discuss matters relating to identity protection and that this does occur, but there is also a sense that more could and should be done in this regard that, in general, young people had no serious concerns about using biometric technologies. The ease with which students adapted to the practical use of biometric devices was striking, as was their ability to identify and discuss some of the issues associated with their use.

Project

Application Requirements

Joe and Gavin produced the website for their final year project, as a major part of their BSc degree programme in Multimedia Technology & Design.

As a result of the exceptional quality of submissions this year, the Academy has recognized outstanding entries as Official Honorees alongside their Nominees and Winners. The Official Honoree distinction is awarded to the top 15% of all work entered that exhibits remarkable achievement. With nearly 10,000 entries received from all 50 states and over 60 countries, this is an outstanding accomplishment.

Joe and Gavin’s listing on the Webby site is located at:

http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current_honorees.php?season=13

The Kitchen Wall Website can be found at:

http://www.thekitchenwall.com/Pages/Home/

The objective of the essay was to write about the experience gained upon working a year in industry, where academic and work-based learning are fully integrated. Tim’s essay was entitled “Industrial placements; beyond academic learning” and gives an account of his experience both in terms of his apprehensions and achievements, and concludes that undertaking his year out in industry has enhanced his studies. After spending his Placement Year at BAE Systems, Tim returned to the University of Kent to complete his studies, which include a final year project which is being sponsored by BAE Systems.

A small reception will be held for Tim Chapman on Wednesday 13th May 2009 in the Department of Electronics where he will be presented with his prize. Professor Sarah Spurgeon, Head of the Department of Electronics said: 'I was delighted to hear of Tim's success in the ASET competition. Within the Department of Electronics at the University of Kent we are fully committed to the important role of the work placement in giving our students the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they have developed during our taught programmes in an industrial context. These strong links with industry were commended by the Institution of Engineering and Technology during a recent accreditation visit and Tim's essay is further endorsement of the experience. I am sure this essay will be helpful to future students.'

Extract from Tim Chapman’s essay:

‘All in all, the industrial placement year is an invaluable experience that should not be missed. If you have the option, I highly recommend that you make use of the opportunity. At worst, you will come away with experience to enhance your CV for future job applications and have some idea what work is like. At best, you will gain an understanding of your chosen subject and what aspect of this most interests you. This is something that cannot be taught; you must learn this lesson for yourself.’

You can read Tim’s full essay on www.ee.kent.ac.uk/industry.

All degrees offered by the Electronics Department offer a placement year. Further information on taking a year out in industry can be obtained from the Departmental Industrial Liaison Officer, Catherine Butler or visit www.ee.kent.ac.uk/industry.

Further information about ASET can be found at www.asetonline.org.

The students, about to embark on their final film projects, were fascinated to be shown the methodology, reference images and plans that resulted in the enormous Greek island village set that was built on the Bond film stage at Pinewood for “Mamma Mia”, including special surfaces designed not to trip up leading actress Streep. The methods of assembling reference and choosing final designs for live action movies are identical to those involved in creating 3D computer animated and digital set extensions that the students are engaged on.

David Byers-Brown, who leads the Masters programmes in Computer Animation and Digital Visual Effects, said: ‘We are very lucky to be able to present the ideas and approaches of a professional production designer with such current and cutting edge experience. This is exactly where we want to set the bar for our students’ abilities on graduating. We aim to produce graduates able to fit right in to the current film industry in Britain.’

As part of her new role, effective from now until July 2011, Professor Spurgeon will help represent and promote the Academy’s work, policies and achievements in education and engineering to the media.

Professor Peter Jeffries, Dean of the Faculty of Science, Technology and Medical Studies at the University of Kent, was among those to acknowledge Professor Spurgeon’s new role. He said: ‘Professor Spurgeon is an excellent role model for the Academy. Engineering is a much wider subject nowadays than the traditional view might suggest and we are pleased that her contribution has been recognised in this way.’

Professor Spurgeon said ‘I am delighted to have been given this opportunity by the Academy to promote the discipline of engineering, in all its guises. Engineering has a vital role to play in many of the challenges facing 21st century society including security, energy and healthcare and is key to our future economic growth, prosperity and well-being’.

In 2008, Professor Spurgeon received the highest accolade in her discipline when she was elected a Fellow of the Academy. Election to the RAE is by invitation only; up to 60 Fellows are elected each year from nominations made by existing Fellows.

Three students from the Department of Electronics have won the "£10 Challenge"

One student, Sinan Assaf, signed up for the Challenge and organised a team to help him with his mini enterprise called 'Cheaper Computer Care' and offered his services as a computing technician.

Sinan had business cards printed for free in exchange for distributing the printing company's leaflets. He advertised his services on his website and negotiated advertising for outside companies on his website in exchange for a percentage of any sales generated through he website. He used his £10 to travel to London to work for one of his new clients. Sinan worked with three of his friends to make a fantastic profit of £370.24 from the £10 loan.

In the photo—left to right—are Anna Fitzgerald-Clark (3rd year multimedia technology and design), Sinan Assaf (3rd year computer systems engineering), Fares Moustaf, (1st year web computing) and Victor Ponsford, (1st year politics and international relations).

The Department of Electronics shared in the University of Kent’s success in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), with 85% of the Department’s research activity assessed to be of international standard. Overall the University of Kent was ranked in the upper quartile of participating institutions in terms of the best, or 4*, research.

Head of Department, Professor Sarah Spurgeon FREng, said “We are very proud of the result. As a Department we are committed to providing an environment which is supporting world-class research in the subject areas in which we teach. Such external endorsement of the consistent performance of our research groups is welcomed.”

Congratulations to Joanne Mathias who has been awarded a two year Fellowship from the Daphne Jackson Trust. The Trust enables scientists, engineers and IT specialists to return to work after careers breaks. The Fellowship Scheme for Women Returners to Science and Engineering is designed to improve employability through updating of skills and knowledge.

Joanne will be working with Mike Fairhurst on "Development and Enhancement of an Automated System to Investigate Dyspraxic Children".

The Department is delighted to announce the publication of "High-Speed Wireless Communications" by Professor Jiangzhou Wang. Published by Cambridge University Press, this book describes the theory and major applications of high-speed multimedia wireless communications, covering recent developments and identifying directions for future research.

Providing both the fundamental theory that underlies the technology and the latest developments in key applications, this book is an invaluable resource for graduate students of electronic, communications and computer engineering, as well as practitioners in the wireless communications industry.

A more detailed description is available on the publisher's website. Read Full Article

Professor Jiangzhou Wang of the Department of Electronics has been awarded a Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Grant by the Royal Academy of Engineering to support a visit from Professor Zhenhui Tan of Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU), a prestigious university in China.

Professor Tan was a former Vice-Chancellor of BJTU and is a distinguished figure in the field of wireless communications. He will visit three universities (University of Kent, University of Southampton and Imperial College London) and deliver a seminar at each university reporting on Higher Education and the national research strategy in China. Professor Tan’s visit, which is scheduled to start in October, will be hosted by the Department of Electronics at Kent.

Karl Harmer and Gareth Howells received the Best Paper Award for "Fuzzy Vault Fingerprint Smartcard Implementation using an Orientation-Based Feature Vector, K. Harmer, G. Howells, W. Sheng, M.C. Fairhurst, F. Deravi" at the 2008 ECSIS Symposium on Bio-Inspired, Learning and Intelligent Systems for Security in Edinburgh on 4-6 August. The work was part of the EPSRC grant on "Template-Free Biometric Encryption for Data Integrity Assurance".

Abstract
With the increasing employment of biometric authentication systems worldwide there has been significant concern over the security regarding the storage of biometric templates. In this paper, a fuzzy vault fingerprint smartcard implementation, which is unlocked by using an orientation-based feature vector, is presented. The fuzzy vault contains an unknown key which can be used either for identification or for file encryption/decryption.

Sagittarius Marketing Prize for the Best Integrated Multimedia Project:

Shared jointly by Joe Campion and Gavin Clark. This is a new prize for 2008 and Paul Stephen, Director of Sagittarius Marketing presented the prize.

IET prizes presented by Doug Marriott of the IET Kent Network

• IET Prize for Distinction: Mr. Alex Pabst
• IET Kent Network Final Year Project Prize: 1st Prize - Mr. Omer Kilic, 2nd Prize - Mr. Odafe Ojenikoh

IEEE UK&RI Communications Chapter Prize

• Best Final Year Communications Project: Mr. Dan Ludlow
• Best Student on the Broadband and Mobile Communication Networks MSc: Mr. Shrenik Rathod

Softpro Prize for the best overall student performance in the MSc in Information Security & Biometrics:

Awarded to Colin Wilmshurst.

Rohde & Schwarz Prize for the best MSc Project in Broadband and Communication Networks:

Awarded to Philippos Assimakopoulos. Philip McCluskey from Rohde & Schwarz presented the prize to the MSc Course Director, Dr. Nathan Gomes.

BAE Systems Prize for the Most Oustanding Project by a Third Year CSE Student:

Mr. Olufemi Adeleke.

Faculty Prizes

• Edward A Lamb Prize for the Best Performance in Stage 3: Mr. Zhiguang Geng
• Dean's Prize in Recognition of Outstanding Performance in the Examinations: Mr. Zhiguang Geng
• Rotary Prizes: Miss Catherine Walker, Mr. Michael Green, Mr. David Cook

• Foundations of Biometrics and Secure Systems
• Industrial Context of Biometrics
• Practical Biometric Systems
• Advanced Biometrics

Winston Waller, Senior Lecturer in Electronic Engineering at the University of Kent commented "Joining the CEESI-Training consortium is a very important development for the University. We are joining the leading consortium providing advanced training for industry in electronic engineering in the UK and will benefit from the many advantages this brings: cooperation, marketing and financial assistance. It will help the University deliver modules in biometrics and security to a larger proportion of the population of engineers in UK industry who require training in this new and fast developing area."

Chairman of the CEESI-Training Board of Management, David Rees, a leading electronic engineer and industrialist said "I am very pleased that the CEESI-Training portfolio is being expanded to cover the rapidly developing areas of biometrics and security. The consortium will be strengthened by the addition of the world-class expertise and advanced training modules of the leading UK university in this field. The University of Kent is joining a group of other leading UK universities in providing excellent advanced training for the electronic engineering industry in a positive attempt to counteract the skills gap in the UK."

A graphic is showing the structure of modules available from CEESI-Training is published on the website:

Graphic on CEESI website: www.ceesi.ac.uk/overview.html

PDF download: www.ceesi.ac.uk/images/module-structure-jan08-heading.pdf (2.5MB)

Home page for CEESI-Training: www.ceesi.ac.uk

Contacts

Professor Ted Pritchard
Tel. 01204 903433
Email: t.pritchard@bolton.ac.uk

Roy Attwood
Tel. 01204 903555
Email: r.attwood@bolton.ac.uk

Dr Batchelor is a Senior Lecturer in Electronic Engineering with research interests in the design and modelling of multi-band antennae for personal and mobile communication systems, and reduced size frequency selective structures for incorporation into smart buildings for control of the radio spectrum. Professor Parker is Professor Emeritus of Radio Communications, with research interests in microwave antennae, frequency selective surfaces for microwave and millimetre wave multiband antennae, radomes, and the electromagnetic architecture of buildings, particularly time-dependent and frequency-dependent screening for secure buildings.

The 6th International Conference on Recent Advances in Soft Computing (RASC 2006) will be held from 10 to 12 July at Kent. This international event aims to provide a forum for researchers and engineers to report key advancements and exchange state-of-the-art knowledge and experience in the field of Soft Computing. The conference will cover the theory and application of soft computing techniques including, but not limited to, Fuzzy Logic and Systems, Multiple Classifier Systems, Classifier Ensembles, Neural Networks, Hybrid Systems, Genetic Algorithms, Evolutionary Computing, Smart Adaptive and Intelligent Systems for Image Processing, Pattern Recognition, Security and Biometrics. Developments in these areas gain increasing importance as new everyday products and services are added fast to the already extensive list incorporating Soft Computing based technologies. Examples include washing machines controlled by Fuzzy Logic, mobile phone networks, and intelligent security systems based on human biometrics.

Dr Konstantinos Sirlantzis, General Chair of RASC 2006 and Lecturer at the Department of Electronics said: “I am delighted and honoured to be invited to organise such a high profile event here at Kent. This is the sixth in a series of biennial conferences and more than 200 researchers chose this year to present and discuss their most recent work during the three days of the conference. Delegates come from more than 25 different countries extending as far as Japan, the Republic of Korea and China to as near as France and Belgium. RASC 2006’s Honorary Chair is Professor Lotfi Zadeh from University of California at Berkeley, the founder of Fuzzy Logic Theory, and it is endorsed by significant professional and academic associations such as the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the European Neural Network Society, the European Society for Fuzzy Logic and Technology, and the International Association for Pattern Recognition. I believe that the selection of the Department of Electronics at Kent to host this year’s RASC Conference is a clear recognition of our long and important contribution to the advancement of the Soft Computing field."

Following the success of XtremeMedia 05, This year’s XtremeMedia 06 is currently running in the Department of Electronics at the University of Kent. XtremeMedia ’06 is Kent’s largest dedicated exhibition for everyone interested in the production and creation of digital media.

The event includes a presentation of the Museum of Canterbury Digiguide project, examples of the most outstanding work from the Department’s own Multimedia Technology and Design degree programme, and workshops for schools covering website design, 3D animation, image editing and special effects.

Among the exhibitions, visitors have the opportunity to view work from the Department’s new MSc in Computer Animation. This programme, a collaboration with Framestore CFC, the largest visual effects and computer animation studio in Europe, equips students to become highly skilled professionals in the animation and visual effects industry. Visitors are also able to see a wide range of digital films and animation, interactive and web-based creative tools and exhibitions of digital photographs and final year posters. Les Walczowski, director of the multimedia courses, said: ‘Our students consistently win prizes for their work. This year’s showcase is the best ever with some truly outstanding animation and interactive applications’.

XtremeMedia 06 is open from 10am – 4pm, 20 – 21 June. It is free of charge and open to all.

Not only did this Department recently top the National Student Survey student satisfaction tables in its sector, but a Table published this week in the Guardian newspaper has also placed us in the top five in the national rankings of similar Departments. The Guardian league tables assess teaching quality, staff-student ratios and graduate job prospects. The guide also takes into account the average entry qualification, spending per student, the value-added improvement each university gives students and its record on attracting candidates from under-represented groups.

This year, the Guardian is presenting its on-line tables grouped by tariff band – the total tariff points a student expects to have when entering university. In our tariff band (4), the department comes top, and ranks number five overall across all six tariff bands.

Head of Department Professor Michael Fairhurst said: “This is an indication of the high esteem in which our courses are held nationally, but it is also important to note that the basis on which the Table was compiled includes components reflecting the quality of our teaching and the employability of our graduates, so it is pretty comprehensive in its scope. Taken together, these two recent surveys show quite clearly that, both in course quality and in the experience which we offer to our students, we are very much one of the leaders in our education sector.”

Dr. Yong Yan, Professor of Electronic Instrumentation, was recently appointed a Chang Jiang (Yangtze) Scholar by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. He is the first scientist in the area of measurement and instrumentation to receive this prestigious award.

The Chang Jiang Scholar’s award was granted by the Chinese Ministry of Education and acknowledges special contributions made by Chinese scientists and overseas scholars in various research fields. To be considered for this award, the candidate must have achieved an outstanding international recognition in his or her field. The Chang Jiang Scholar’s award is part of an ambitious programme initiated by the Chinese government to rapidly develop and improve the quality of research conducted at major research universities in China through the development of collaborations with eminent scientists throughout the world.

Prof. Yan will receive an initial grant of 2 million Chinese RMB (£150,000) to establish a collaborative research programme in measurement and instrumentation at Tianjin University, one of the premier science and technology universities in China, where he has held a visiting professorship since 2002.

Almost 1000 schools in Kent will receive a copy of the Canterbury Blitz DVD, a 42-minute multimedia educational resource and teaching aid about the local environment and the Second World War.

Funded by the National Lottery and Kent Local Education Authority, the DVD – created using computer models and animations, archive film, photographs, documents and maps – follows a successful series of workshops in local schools run as a collaboration between the Department of Electronics and the School of Film, Drama and Visual Arts at the University of Kent. The Museum of Canterbury, local historians and residents of Canterbury during the Second World War also made a significant contribution to the project.

Ian Coulson, History Advisor for Kent Local Education Authority, said, ‘As part of a Big Lottery Fund project all Kent schools will receive a copy of this DVD that brings together a unique collection of resources about the Canterbury blitz. It is sure to both enliven lessons and reconstruct for pupils the harsh reality of the event.’

John Batchelor, Lecturer in Electronic Engineering and director of the project, said, ‘The Canterbury Blitz DVD has arisen from the exceptional enterprise of our final year Multimedia Technology and Design students. Working with Kent Local Education Authority has provided a great opportunity to improve links between the University and local schools, and I’m looking forward to future multimedia projects with them.’

Canterbury Blitz was showcased to the general public during the three day XtremeMedia event hosted by the Department of Electronics at the University’s Canterbury campus in June 2005. Read Full Article

Sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering as part of their Engineering Education Scheme (EES), the Workshop will enable students to engineer solutions to real industrial problems provided by companies linked to each school or college. For the Workshop, the Department of Electronics will make available its workshops and laboratories, as well as providing support from its highly qualified technicians and academic staff.

The Workshop will also enable the students to discuss the academic expertise, internationally regarded research and wide range of courses the department has to offer, from electronic or computer systems engineering to medical electronics or multimedia design and technology.

This year, the schools attending the three-day Workshop are: Beths Grammar School (Bexley); Canterbury College; Chatham Grammar School for Boys; Dartford Grammar School; Highsted Grammar School (Sittingbourne); Kent College (Canterbury); Langley Park School for Girls (Beckenham); Maidstone Grammar School; Newstead Wood School for Girls (Orpington); Rainham School for Girls; Southlands School (New Romney); Sutton Valence School; Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys; Wilmington Grammar School for Girls (Dartford); King Edward VI Grammar School (Chelmsford); and King Alfred’s Community College(Wantage).

Their projects range from redesigning a sluice gate system for a new road while accommodating and maintaining full flood protection at all times, to the design and development of an automatic solar panel positioning unit that keeps the panel facing the sun during daylight hours.

Participating companies include: Pfizer, Johnston Sweepers, RWE NPower, BAE Systems, May Gurney, Glaxo Smith Kline, British Energy, Jacobs Babtie, DSTL, KEF Audio, Kent County Council, Cameron Taylor, Rutherford Appleton Laboratories, RWE Nucem and Selex Communications.

Commenting on the Engineering Education Workshop, Frank Manning, Regional Co-ordinator for the Engineering Education Scheme in Kent, said, ‘Without doubt the University workshop experience is the highlight of the six-month project for the students. They have dedicated staff at the University to assist them on the many various and complex tasks they have to complete to produce viable solutions to the engineering problems they have been set.’

Dave Smith, Laboratory Manager in the Department of Electronics, added, ‘The Scheme for Kent and Sussex teams was launched at the University in October and work on the project started from then. The purpose of the Engineering Education Workshop is to develop the projects and carry out as much practical work as possible. The Scheme culminates in a celebration and awards day at the University on 26 April 2006, where the students will exhibit their projects and give a presentation to assessors. This is the fifth year that we have hosted the Scheme.’

Commenting on the wider implications of the Workshop and Scheme, Dr Richard Guest, Lecturer and Undergraduate Admissions Officer in the Department of Electronics, said, ‘Apart from the practical aspect of the Workshop, the three day event provides students with the opportunity to experience a sample of life at the University of Kent, view our facilities, and interact with teaching and research staff from whom they can obtain first-hand information about the diverse range of courses on offer. Like the EES, the Workshop plays a formative role in shaping the engineers of tomorrow.’

Since its inception in 1984, over 7,000 sixth form students, around 700 schools and 600 industrial companies have participated in the EES.

Second-year Electronics student Ken Roberts was presented on 28th September with a certificate and prize by Mr. Keith Morriss, the Technical Director of Dover-based electronics manufacturer Megger Limited, for his outstanding effort last year in a ‘robot buggy’ project sponsored by the company. This is the first occasion that Megger have sponsored this particular project, having generously sponsored the previous first-year project for many years.

Mr. Morriss also entertained a large group of students and staff with a talk about some of the work undertaken by Megger, who are a world leader in the design and manufacture of electrical and electronic test equipment.

Head of the Electronics Department, Professor Michael Fairhurst, said “The Department has very strong industrial links and we are always grateful to companies who sponsor prizes to reward and encourage students. We greatly value our long-standing links with Megger which, as well as having an outstanding international profile, has a strong local presence”.

The recently-published results of the National Students' Survey show that the Department has come out top of the list of Departments in Electronic and Electrical Engineering with respect to student satisfaction with their course.

The figures also show that Kent ranks 26th out of a total of 128 higher education institutions nationwide, with ten departments in the top 20 for overall student satisfaction and four ranked as being the best.

Of these, the Department of Biosciences ranks first out of all 58 biology and related science departments with full-time students; Kent Institute of Medicine and Health Sciences (KIMHS) has placed first out of 38 similar institutions with part-time students; and the Department of Electronics has ranked first among 26 electronic and electrical engineering departments nationwide.

Responding to the news, Professor Peter Jeffries, Head of the Department of Biosciences said, ‘In Biosciences we pride ourselves in the personal attention we give to all our students. We are very pleased to get this confirmation that our students appreciate our efforts and enjoy the Bioscience experience at Kent. It follows on from the top marks we received in the last Teaching Quality Assessment, and reinforces our belief that our teamwork in the Department translates into the best courses in the country.’

Other successes include Business and Economics featuring within the top five for those subjects with full-time students.

Art and Design students from the University’s Regional Colleges Partnership have also topped the survey as the Art and Design students most satisfied with their course. The partnership colleges providing Art and Design programmes are South Kent College and Canterbury College.

The NSS results have been welcomed by Professor David Melville, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent, who said: ‘This is excellent news. We are pleased to see that the feedback from this survey is so overwhelmingly positive. We already encourage our students to let us know what they think of every aspect of university life. The results of this survey confirm what they have been saying in our own surveys and we are currently looking at new ways to further improve the quality of the student experience. The results are a real tribute to the hard work of staff here at Kent.’ Read Full Article

The Department of Electronics showcased its expertise in biometric identification technologies at the major homeland security conference, US-UK Homeland Security Symposium, organised by UK Trade and Investment and the British Consulate-General, in Los Angeles recently.

The event, on September 8 and 9, looked at coordinating the developing of security technology between governments, industry and universities in the UK and US. Issues under consideration included risk and economic assessment of terrorist attacks; sensing systems and sensor networks and information security and, of course, biometrics.

The Department of Electronics is a world-leading research centre in biometric technology, researching and developing all aspects of biometrics – from building reliable systems for identifying people (from their facial features, iris patterns and voice, for example) to finding better ways of defending biometric systems from attack or fraud. Professor Mike Fairhurst, the leader of the research team and Head of Department, was one of 25 UK delegates and spoke at the Conference, which was attended by around 200 international representatives.

He said in a press release just before the Conference:

“Biometrics is one of the most important and vibrant areas in the security sector. We are looking at opening up opportunities for ourselves and other groups in the sector to exploit the opportunities that technological developments are increasingly making available.

“We look at all aspects of biometric processing – from establishing reliable and foolproof technology to analysing human behaviour when using a biometric system.

“This event is crucial in giving us a platform to discuss our work in biometrics with key US government agencies, industry figures and other universities, so that we can focus and coordinate our research effort.”

Duncan Fisken, homeland security sector specialist, UK Trade & Investment said:

“Since 9/11, Governments and the public have been extremely concerned about security breaches and attacks, so events like the Los Angeles symposium are crucial.

“The US Department of Homeland Security has called for increased international cooperation in combating terrorism and this gives US and UK high-tech firms, security services and governments a chance to work together. We need to share expertise to develop technology like biometrics, sensor technology, IT systems and emergency resilience.

“UK Trade & Investment and other UK government agencies and departments are working to foster the kind of academic and commercial collaboration is key quickly improving, strengthening security procedures, bolstering the economy, public safety and potentially saving lives.”

The event was hosted by the University of Southern California, home to the Centre for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events, which is the leading homeland security academic institution in the US. The Government research agency QinetiQ and BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre were also present. US companies attending included the Boeing Corporation.