Information and computer sciences

The excellent reputation of the Human Computer Interaction and Multimedia Lab, a research facility in the Computer Science Department at UC, combined with the natural attractions of the stunning South Island of New Zealand, make the lab an appealing destination for sabbatical leave. 

Our goal is to understand human factors in computer use, and to use this knowledge to create interfaces that are faster to learn, more efficient to use, and more subjectively satisfying than the current state of the art. 

Our research in Computer Networking includes enhancing TCP performance on both wireline and mobile wireless networks. Current projects at the Research Laboratory on Network Management, Performance and Simulation are in multimedia communications networks, the Internet, grid processing, and distributed computer simulation. 

Research strengths

Theoretical computer science and software engineering

Areas of current research in theoretical computer science and software engineering include:

• Software requirements engineering, architecture, development processes and practices
• Visualising class cohesion with virtual worlds
• Algorithms and data structures
• Computability and complexity
• Formal languages, grammars and automata
• Formal methods of software engineering
• Logic, theorem proving and verification
• Programming language concepts and compilers
• Semantics of programs and specifications

Research centres and groups

• Computer Science and Software Engineering Research 
• Software Engineering and Visualisation Group
• Theoretical Computer Science Research Group

Researchers and supervisors

Staff actively working in these areas are:

Artificial intelligence and intelligent computer tutoring

Areas of current research in Artificial intelligence and intelligent computer tutoring include:

• Machine learning including statistical learning and connectionism
• Biologically-inspired computation
• Artificial life in particular open-ended evolution
• Combinatorial search in particular meta-heuristic and hyper-heuristic approaches
• Cognitive rehabilitation
• ASPIRE system for building and running intelligent tutoring systems
• SQL-Tutor system for learning SQL
• KERMIT Knowledge-based Entity-Relationship Modelling Intelligent Tutor
• EER-Tutor and ERM-Tutor systems for learning database design
• NORMIT data normalisation tutor
• UML-Tutor system for learning UML class diagrams
• CAPIT system for learning capitalisation and punctuation

Research centres and groups

• Artificial Intelligence Research Group
• Intelligent Computer Tutoring Group

Researchers and supervisors

Staff actively working in these areas are:

Computer networking

Areas of current research in computer networking  include:

• Enhancing TCP performance on both wireline and mobile wireless networks
• Fast mobility and admission control mechanisms in multimedia cellular IP networks
• IPv4-to-IPv6 transition mechanisms
• Control-theoretic approaches to self-similar traffic management
• Ad hoc wireless networks
• Differentiated services IP networks and quality of service routing
• Sequential estimators for automated output data analysis during MRIP (Multiple Replications in Parallel) simulation
• Comparative studies of sequential estimators of mean values during steady-state simulation
• Sequential estimators of quantiles during steady-state simulation
• Sequential quantitative simulation of rare events
• MRIP simulation and Variance Reduction
• Sequential analysis of heavy-tailed data and data from self-similar processes during steady-state simulation
• Akaroa2 automated controller of distributed quantitative discrete-event simulation

Research centres and groups

• Research Laboratory on Network Management, Performance and Simulation
• Network Research Group
• Simulation Research Group

Researchers and supervisors

Staff actively working in these areas are:

Human-computer interaction and multimedia

Areas of current research in human-computer interaction and multimedia include:

• Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)
• Augmented Reality (AR)
• Virtual Reality (VR)
• Touchscreen input for cockpit flight displays
• Spatially-stable overviews for document navigation
• The influence of visual angle on popout effects
• The effects of artificial landmarks on learning and performance in spatial-memory interfaces

Research centres and groups

• Human Interface Technology Laboratory of New Zealand (HITLabNZ)
• Human Computer Interaction and Multimedia Lab

Researchers and supervisors

Staff actively working in these areas are:

Computer vision, computer graphics and image processing

Areas of current research in computer vision, computer graphics and image processing include:

• Orthogonal feature descriptors
• Segmenting motion
• Tracking complex articulated motion
• Robot guidance and electric wheelchair collision avoidance
• Real-time, Non-photorealistic and Terrain rendering
• Facial expression analysis, recognition, mapping
• Crowd simulation
• Fluid modelling and rendering
• Moment-based image features
• Tchebichef moments
• Texture analysis
• Multifractal analysis
• Biomedical image analysis
• Parallel computations

Research centres and groups

• Computer graphics and Image Processing Research Group (CGIP)
• Computer Vision Lab

Researchers and supervisors

Staff actively working in these areas are:

Cybersecurity

Areas of current research in cybersecurity include:

• Cloud computing security
• Internet of Things (IoT) security
• Security for Software Defined Networks (SDN)
• REASSURE (REliability, Availability, Security, SUrvivability and REsiliency) modelling and analysis
• Automatic exploit generation

Research centres and groups

• Cyber Security Lab

Researchers and supervisors

Staff actively working in these areas are: