The Information Systems group carries out world leading research covering four broad and overlapping areas:
- Database Theory, where the focus is on topics ranging from query languages and optimisation to web data extraction and the implementation of lightweight database applications for devices such as mobile phones;
- Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, where the focus is on knowledge representation formalisms, ontology languages, reasoning systems, and applications in areas such as e-Science and the Semantic Web;
- Computational Linguistics, where the focus is on combining established knowledge-based approaches with statistical and machine learning methods; and
- Spatial Reasoning, where the focus is on problems whose solution is highly dependent on the exact shape of objects, such as collision detection, path planning, wire-loom design, and assembling jig-saws.
