Thanks to all who attended the Board Games afternoon on Wednesday.
There was a great turnout and it was good to see everyone enjoying themselves before teaching begins next week!
Pictures
Retirement of Professor Alan Dearle
Colleagues gathered recently to wish a happy retirement to Professor Al Dearle at the end of August.
Having received both a BSc and a PhD from St Andrews, Al has spent most of his career here, interrupted by sojourns in Adelaide and Stirling. His research has cut across several themes, beginning with persistent programming (still arguably a better approach to data management than what we use currently), moving onto middleware and languages for ubiquitous computing and sensors, and most recently focused on algorithms for similarity search.
He was our third Head of School, following on from Ron Morrison.
He’s always been relentlessly focused on both student experience and staff excellence, and oversaw the expansion of the School away from our traditional core in back-end systems and programming languages into the front-end of sensor networks and HCI. As part of this he emailed one potential new hire, “We have a professorship on offer: if you can’t find the advert on the web yourself, you’re probably not the calibre of person we’re looking for”.
He then moved to College Gate as Dean of Science, during which time he introduced the GAP policy (codifying what we already did) and pushing the institution to adopt more digital teaching (which we definitely didn’t already do) by buying Teams and Panopto. It’d be easy to hold this against him, but it almost certainly saved us later when the pandemic struck and we had all the digital infrastructure we needed already in place and understood. And then he successfully returned to the School and to his research, which is a transition that very few people manage successfully.
We’re not expecting to see much less of Al now he’s retired: he’ll still be around to assess and criticise us. That’s something the School management would not have any other way. He has been (and will continue to be) central to shaping the School into what it is, with the most collegial atmosphere and the best balance of teaching and research of anywhere you could choose to work.
Happy retirement Al!
🎉PhD Viva Success: Yaxiong Lei 🎉
Congratulations to Yaxiong Lei (supervised by Dr Juan Ye) who has passed his PhD viva subject to minor corrections.
Thanks to Yu Guan (University of Warwick) for serving as the external examiner.
Research Activities by Open Virtual Worlds Research Group
Throughout July, the research group Open Virtual Worlds from the School of Computer Science was involved in digitalising the archaeological artefacts, historical sites, and natural landscapes in collaboration with their important partner, Timespan Museum in Helmsdale, Highlands.
Two PhD students, Junyu Zhang and Sharon Pisani, who are researching digital heritage and sustainability, were using 360 photogrammetry to document the local area, which included the Helmsdale Harbour, the former fish curing yards, the Jurassic Coast, the Flow Country UNESCO World Heritage Site, and other natural reserves.
The efforts and work from the Open Virtual Worlds will contribute to the HERITALISE project, which includes seventeen partners from seven different European countries – the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Scotland, Malta, and Cyprus, forming an interdisciplinary group to bring about intelligence, methodology and expertise towards the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage.
old and new harbours in Helmsdale
old and new harbours in Helmsdale
old and new harbours in Helmsdale
old and new harbours in Helmsdale
outdoor fieldwork at natural reserve sites, historical landscapes and heritage ruins
outdoor fieldwork at natural reserve sites, historical landscapes and heritage ruins
members from Open Virtual World and Timespan Museum
members from Open Virtual World and Timespan Museum
members from Open Virtual World and Timespan Museum
Interviews with descendants of historical heritage site
3D scanning of archaeological artefacts
3D scanning of archaeological artefacts
Helmsdale
Graduation Reception – Thursday 3rd July 2025 🎓
On behalf of the School of Computer Science, we would like to congratulate all of this year’s graduating students.
The school welcomed graduates, their families and friends and academic staff to reflect on and celebrate their student journey at St Andrews. Drinks and cakes were enjoyed. 🍰🥂
The school wishes all our graduates the best of luck in their future endeavours. ✨
CS Grant Writing Away Day
Staff and PGR students from the School enjoyed a grant-writing “away day” on Thursday 12th June. There were useful discussions on structure of UKRI grants, applications and assessment of grants. Lunch, cakes and refreshments were enjoyed by all!
PhD Viva Success: Bailey Eccles
Congratulations to Bailey, who has successfully defended his PhD thesis with minor corrections. Bailey was supervised by Dr Blesson Varghese.
Thanks to Dr Yehia Elkhatib from the University of Glasgow, who was the external examiner, and Dr Peter Macgregor from our School, who was the internal examiner.
Successful Technology Through The Ages Event with Madras College
The school hosted a highly successful outreach event on May 8th, welcoming S1 pupils from Madras College to the school. Attendees had the opportunity to explore the development of computing technology through the ages and interact with a large number of interactive technology demonstrations and exhibits. It was lovely to see how well behaved and engaged they all were with Computing, which is a real credit to Madras College and its values, and it was great to see everyone having fun, including the older kids too i.e., CS staff 🙂
Special thanks to all staff in CS who got involved with this, volunteering their equipment and time to talk to the S1 pupils, testing, setting up, and clearing away
Also, special thanks to the S1 pupils for joining us and to Janice Patterson, Stephen Forbes, and Keith Maskell at Madras for all their work organising the trip from the Madras end.
Successful Doors Open Event
The school hosted a highly successful Doors Open event yesterday, welcoming many visitors including industry professionals, university colleagues from other schools (e.g. Psychology & Neuroscience, Biology and Chemistry) and prospective students. Attendees had the opportunity to explore cutting-edge projects in Artificial Intelligence, Human-computer Interaction, Software Engineering and engage with interactive technology demonstrations.
Highlights of the event included the popular “Hot Tattie” sessions in Artificial Intelligence, Programming Languages and Human Computer Interaction. The enthusiastic participation and positive feedback from visitors highlighted the school’s commitment to outreach, education, and fostering a strong connection between academia and the broader community.
Special thanks to Ruth Hoffmann and Kirsty Ross who organised this event. We would like to thank all who attended Doors Open and made it a success. We look forward to seeing you next year!
🦙 Alpacas a Heartwarming Success for CS 🦙
In a change from traditional stress-relief activities, the school hosted an alpaca wellbeing event yesterday that brought fun and relaxation to those who came along. The event featured a visit from a charming herd of alpacas from Bowbridge Alpacas Scotland, named Joseph, Angus, Jacob, Balthazar, Owain and Simon.
Timed during the lead into exams, the event provided a welcome escape from revision. Alpacas are known for their gentle and inquisitive nature, making them ideal companions for stress relief.
This was Georgia Chiswick’s last event as CS school president and we would like to thank her for all she has done for the school. Good luck Georgia!
