THE Prince of Wales has officially launched Queen’s University’s first Global Research Institute.
The Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT), the first of four Global Research Institutes unveiled at Queen’s, was launched at the Northern Ireland Science Park.
Global Research Institutes are the university’s flagships for interdisciplinary research in areas of societal challenge.
ECIT’s unique innovation model, strong links with industry around the globe and its track record for attracting and creating high value jobs in the technology sector are factors which secured its elevation to Global Research Institute status within Queen’s.
It is made up of three world leading centres: The Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) which looks at cyber security, The Centre for Wireless Innovation, which is redefining communications for a smarter world and The Centre for Data Science and Scalable Computing, which is addressing the information explosion.
President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s, Professor Patrick Johnston, said: “Our Institutes bring together a critical mass of researchers from a wide range of disciplines in world-class facilities to tackle some of the greatest global issues of our age. Our work in Cyber Security, one of the key tenets of ECIT, was recognised by Her Majesty earlier this year with a Queen’s Anniversary Prize.”