We are happy to announce that Prof Christian Ikenmeyer joined the Department of Computer Science and the Warwick Mathematics Institute on October 1st 2022. In his research, he combines ideas and challenges from theoretical computer science, algorithmic algebra, algebraic complexity theory, algebraic geometry, representation theory, and algebraic combinatorics. We welcome him to the department!

We're happy to announce that Shuichi Hirahara has joined the department as a Research Fellow.

Shuichi completed his PhD at the University of Tokyo in 2019. He is currently an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo.

Shuichi's primary research area is computational complexity theory. During his stay at Warwick, he will be involved in the activities of a joint project with the University of Oxford on the limits and possibilities of efficient algorithms.

We are happy to announce two promotions in the department.

Dr Fayyaz Minhas has been promoted to Associate Professor from 1 July 2022.

Dr Rossella Suma has been promoted to Assistant Professor from 1 August 2022.

Many congratulations to our colleagues for all their achievements!

We would like to congratulate Alex Dixon on his recent win in the Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence!

Alex has made a huge impact within the department this year and it is great to see his hard work going rewarded with this prestigious award in the Postgraduates who teach category. You can find more information about the WATE awards here.

Professor Edmund T Rolls' book, Brain Computations: What and How, has now been reviewed in Brain, where it has been described as "the first complete attempt to summarize our current knowledge about computation in the brain". The book considers what is computed in each brain system; and how it is computed. The reviewer considers that this book may provide a grand unifying theory, with biologically plausible models of brain computations. The book review, and information about Brain Computations: What and How (Rolls 2021) Oxford University Press are available here.

Colleagues, friends, family and former students of Professor Roland Wilson gathered last Friday to celebrate his life and to inaugurate a bench in his memory. The bench is located outside the Department, surrounded by daisies at this time of year, overlooking the lake and the fountains.

Roland's son and daughter toured the Department and visited one of the research groups which is building on Roland’s intellectual legacy under the leadership of his former PhD student Nasir Rajpoot (now a Professor in the Department). Dr Abhir Bhalerao, also a former student and close colleague of Roland, said a few words about Roland's contribution to our community and his lasting importance to us. Head of Department Professor Yulia Timofeeva cut a ribbon on the bench before we all returned to the common room to share memories and anecdotes.

Although an emotional occasion for many of us, it was very nice to be able to gather together again after the restrictions of the last two years and to remember Roland and his legacy.