Press release: New Jisc service draws on UK visualisation expertise

Visualisation is already providing a rich tool for researchers in the UK and this visualisation service will tap into existing expertise whilst supporting other universities to exploit the potential of visualisation in their research activities. One example of the use of visualisation demonstrated at the All Hands e-Science meeting in Nottingham this week has been developed at Loughborough University. Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), researchers there have developed a lightweight visualisation tool for the RealityGrid e-Science project which uses Grid technologies to model and simulate very large or complex condensed matter structures, such as water moving through oil-saturated rock or DNA moving across a cell membrane. 

Another example, also demonstrated at All Hands, is the Resource Aware Visualisation Environment (RAVE), which has been developed at Cardiff University to provide collaborators working at different locations with a visualisation package that allows them to share and view complex sets of data. RAVE has been designed with groups of professionals in mind, for example a team of doctors, working at separate locations, who need to view and discuss patient MRI scans before formulating surgical or treatment plans.

Jisc has allocated funding for the Visualisation Support Network over the next three years to centres based at Loughborough University and King’s College London. The Loughborough centre, representing a consortium of Loughborough University, the University of Cardiff, the University of Leeds, the University of Manchester, and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, will provide a focal point for sharing knowledge and best practice between application domains and provide training in advanced visualisation techniques. The centre at King’s College London will provide a 3D Visualisation in the Arts Network, with the same broad aims as the Loughborough centre, but focusing on the needs of researchers in the arts and humanities. The centres will work closely together to ensure maximum synergy and to avoid duplication of effort.

For further information:

Philip Pothen (Jisc)

Judy Redfearn (Jisc/e-Science Core Programme)

Notes for editors

1. Jisc – the Joint Information Systems Committee – is a joint committee of the UK further and higher education funding bodies and is responsible for supporting the innovative use of information and communication technology (ICT) to support learning, teaching, and research.  It is best known for providing the JANET network, a range of support, content and advisory services, and a portfolio of high-quality resources.  See more information about Jisc and its services and programmes or contact
Philip Pothen