Research

Research, both pure and applied, is an essential academic activity.  At Abertay we strongly believe that research activity must, in the context of the emerging knowledge economy, focus on the needs and aspirations of industry and society at large.

The Abertay research agenda includes world leading environmental research in soil science, innovative visualisation of complex datasets, policing research ranging from witness analysis through to face identity and aspects of money laundering, aspects of regional and national economic analysis and accountancy as related to the oil and gas industry.  

A number of themes link this activity together – interdisciplinarity, applicability, delivery and effectiveness – but the key is interdisciplinarity.  The compact nature of Abertay means that statisticians can interact with psychologists, civil engineers with data visualisation experts from computer science, animators with sociologists and so on.   

Our unique agenda is full of research projects that we believe reflect our ability to develop novel ways of researching issues which will effect all our lives in the 21st century.  For example, how will our fast-eroding soils maintain the fertility needed to continue feeding the UK’s population?  We can answer questions in this area by linking soil physics to three-dimensional modelling and technology that allows us to look inside 3D structures.  We can ask how best to improve the training of our security forces, and answer this by producing interactive full scale crime scenarios utilising the skills of computer graphics designers and computer games programmers and then ask the police to evaluate, under controlled conditions, the facilities that we have developed.  

We could look at cancer research and ask how to analyse and interrogate the complex datasets produced by biologists in an integrated and holistic way, and then ask biologists, mathematical modellers and computer graphics experts to come up with algorithms and visualisation systems that would allow medical experts to ask critical questions of treatment methodologies. And what about energy reserves, costs and value?  Can we produce methodologies for improving oil and gas accounting?  Can we evaluate holistically the importance of new fuel technologies such as biofuels?

Can we use social activity in simple robots to understand the development of human cultures, and if so then what does this tell us about ourselves?  Are there any ways we can use an understanding of the incredibly complex processes going on in soils to understand how our natural landscapes have developed, and can we apply this knowledge to help ameliorate climate change, desertification, loss of soil fertility and so on?  

And perhaps most importantly of all, how can we use the incredibly rich datasets that have inevitably developed in all sorts of fields over the past few years, from supermarket loyalty card information to witness and crime scene evidence and from molecular biology research to sports analysis, to help us improve health, rescue the environment, promote sustainable economic growth and find answers to the endless research questions about the world that we live in?  

This type of research is not easy.  It takes researchers with a flexible mindset, who are prepared to listen to experts from outside their own discipline area and to ask the seemingly obvious questions about other people’s research areas. This is what makes the Abertay approach so distinctive, enabling us to develop and explore some of the most interesting and stimulating research questions imaginable.

These pages give only a flavour of the full range of work going on at Abertay.  To find out more, please visit SIMBIOS, UWTC, ACE Eco-Partnerships or Food Innovation@Abertay, and remember to bookmark this page and return regularly to find out more.