Big Data focus for University | News | – University of Edinburgh

Big Data focus for University | News | – University of Edinburgh

Big Data focus for University

Edinburgh’s expertise in handling Big Data is to be strengthened with the appointment of medical informatics expert Professor Andrew Morris.

His appointment as the University’s new Vice-Principal of Data Science will see him work closely with colleagues to create cross-disciplinary opportunities for education, research and innovation in the field.

Professor Morris will advise the Principal and senior management on policy changes and other matters of data science that impact on the work of the University.

He will work closely with Professor Richard Kenway, Vice-Prinicipal for High Performance Computing, to establish a new umbrella body – Edinburgh Data Science.

Global opportunity

The ever-increasing volume and significance of data in our daily lives, and the power of the information locked inside, represents one of the World’s greatest opportunities and challenges.

Data underpins business and our economy, providing new insights into consumer needs and enabling new products and services to be developed.

Unlocking healthcare data offers tremendous opportunities to identify the factors that underpin health and disease. The next generation of scientific discovery and innovation will be increasingly data driven.

New initiative

Edinburgh Data Science aims to accelerate solutions to these global challenges.

The initiative, which will be launched later this year, also aims to generate new business opportunities.

Leading authority

Professor Morris, who is Chief Scientist at the Scottish Government’s Health Directorate, is the UK’s leading research authority in medical informatics. He joins the University from the University of Dundee and will take up the post of Chair of Medicine in the School of Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences.

Vice Principals and Senior Management

Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Science

School of Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences

This article was published on Sep 2, 2014

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Big Data focus for University | News | – University of Edinburgh

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