Project Lifetime and Activities

The research cluster will run from July 2003 to January 2004.

The research cluster and its corresponding research proposals will be iteratively developed via several events and activities, namely an opening workshop, subgroups meetings, visits to other institutions and centres of excellence, and a review workshop, in addition to a continuous virtual discussion (via e-mail and the web) throughout the project. These activities are as follows.

Opening workshop (22/23 July)

The main purpose of this workshop is to identify major research topics and scope for collaboration among the different institutions participating in the cluster. Members from each institution will present their current work on swarm intelligence and their ideas for future research projects. These presentations will be followed by a brainstorming process and interactive discussion among the participants. This will lead to the identification of high-level research project ideas that will be refined in the next phases.

Virtual networking activities (throughout the project)

E-mail and web-based discussion of all issues related to the project.

Subgroup meetings

As a result of the discussion in the opening workshop and the follow-up virtual discussion via e-mail and the web, several topics for future research projects will have been identified. Each project will probably involve collaboration between some of the institutions, which we call a subgroup. Hence, in this phase each subgroup will meet to discuss in more detail its associated project.

Visits to other institutions and centre(s) of excellence.

In order to further refine their ideas and research proposals, subgroups will also visit other institutions and centre(s) of excellence. As a result of these visits, new partners might be invited to join the research cluster as well.

Review workshop (2 days)

Once research proposals have been developed as a result of the previous phases, all member institutions will meet again in a review workshop. Each research proposal will be presented by one or more members of the subgroup associated with that proposal. This will allow that subgroup to receive feedback from all the other subgroups participating in the research cluster. The presentations will be followed by further discussion and refinement of the research proposals.

Final research proposals writing-up

Once the previous activities have been concluded, each subgroup will be in a good position to write up the final version of its associated research proposal, to be submitted to EPSRC. Of course, this phase will also involve virtual discussion via e-mail and the web, and it may involve additional meetings between the members of some subgroups