Research in the Department of Information Science
Our research strategy starts from the premise that research lies at the heart of University activity. We aim to build strongly upon the international research success we have achieved through the work of the Centre for Interactive Systems Research by extending the strong team-oriented, methodological and evaluative approach pioneered by the Centre to a wider range of information problems. Upon this firm base we have built an enterprising, innovative and interdisciplinary research culture, with the production of quality, policy-relevant research as the primary goal.
This strategy has seen us move to a networked and more inclusive research environment, and has led to an expansion in the number of research groups, which continue to be our research drivers. Our research reflects the integration of science, technology and practice in the field of informatics, with our research constituency being the whole information industry and the entire information chain. We are looking to innovate and push back the boundaries by creating new knowledge and seek greater interaction between the academy and practitioners/policy makers so that together we can better understand and evaluate change.
Over the next 5 years we aim to establish an internationally recognised research grouping which will provide a base for domain experts in the fields of biomedicine/pharmaceuticals, health care, the media and environment within information science – especially those connected with information evaluation and performance. These experts will undertake collaborative work on the impact of information on organisational behaviour and policy. We have already begun in this endeavour, working closely with epidemiologists, public health specialists, journalists and geographers as the publications on our web pages show.