News Story

IEE Director of Knowledge Services Visits

Marc Eisenstadt, Monday 15 Apr 2002

Dr. Mike Rodd, Director of Knowledge Services Department of the Institution of Electrical Engineer’s, visited KMi today as part of an OU-wide series of discussions arranged by Prof. Bashar Nuseibeh, Research Director of the OU’s Computing Department. Prof. Nuseibeh and Dr. Rodd are initiating discussions on possible collaborative links between the IEE and the OU.

During the visit, KMi Director Dr. Enrico Motta talked to Dr. Rodd and his colleagues Richard Best and Janet Tomlinson about a range of KMi’s knowledge modelling projects, including our EPRSRC-funded Advanced Knowledge Technologies project and a range of ontology-oriented research activities such as PlanetOnto. Prof. Eisenstadt talked to Dr. Rodd about a series of other related projects in the lab.

The KMi visit was followed by lunch and a meeting in Prof. Nuseibeh’s lab, with the participants mentioned above joined by Prof. Diana Laurillard, Professor Anne De Roeck, Dr Joel Greenberg, Professor Mary Thorpe, and Dr. Nicky Whitsed.

Dr. Rodd has been involved in activities which include helping the UK to address a serious brain drain in computer science by looking at ways to attract and keep academics in key research areas.

The IEE itself has the following to say about their Knowledge Services Department: “The environment in which the professional engineering institutions operate is evolving at a rapid pace as they face up to meeting the needs of the changing worlds of employment and education. Nowhere is that more apparent than within the IEE’s Knowledge Services Department, where, as a result of two years of intense work by Members and staff, the stage is now set for an exciting future. A radical new approach to the working of the KS Department is designed to ensure truly international participation and brings with it increased benefits to the membership.”