School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh

School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
Name	School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
Established	1998
Type	Academic school
City	Edinburgh
Country	Scotland
Parent	University of Edinburgh

Contents

School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh is a major academic unit within the University of Edinburgh specialising in computing, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and related areas. It brings together historic strands from the Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh, Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, and the Centre for Cognitive Science, University of Edinburgh to form a leading centre for research and education. The School interacts with global partners such as Microsoft Research Cambridge, DeepMind, Google Research, Alan Turing Institute, and industry clusters in Silicon Glen.

History

The School traces roots to early computing activities at the University of Edinburgh beginning with the Edinburgh Mathematical Society’s interest in computation and the establishment of the EDSAC-era computing culture that influenced the National Physical Laboratory. Key predecessors include the Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh and the Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, both of which contributed to breakthroughs recognised alongside work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge. The formal merger into the School in 1998 united groups working on machine learning, natural language processing, robotics, and cognitive modelling, aligning with national initiatives led by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and collaborative projects funded by the European Research Council. The School has participated in large consortia with Wellcome Trust, Royal Society, EPSRC programmes, and collaborations with Microsoft Research Redmond and IBM Research.

The School is organised into departments and research groups that reflect interdisciplinary strengths: Artificial Intelligence research groups historically linked to the A.I. Department (Edinburgh); the School of Informatics’s computing systems and software engineering groups; cognitive science and psychology interfaces with links to Roslin Institute-adjacent life sciences; and formal methods and theoretical computer science with ties to Heriot-Watt University and University of Glasgow. Departments coordinate postgraduate training, undergraduate degrees, and joint appointments with centres such as the Centre for Speech Technology Research, the Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation, and the Bayes Centre. Governance integrates academic committees that interface with the Senate of the University of Edinburgh and external advisory boards drawn from organisations like Amazon Web Services, NVIDIA, Siemens, and Siemens Healthineers.

The School offers undergraduate programmes in computing and artificial intelligence designed alongside partner departments at the College of Science and Engineering, University of Edinburgh, with options for study-abroad through exchanges with ETH Zurich, University of Toronto, Peking University, National University of Singapore, and Tsinghua University. Postgraduate taught degrees include masters courses in machine learning, natural language processing, robotics, and data science with collaborations with Imperial College London, King's College London, and University College London. Doctoral training is delivered via doctoral training centres funded by the EPSRC and the European Research Council, and includes collaborative doctoral partnerships with Wellcome Trust and industry-funded PhD schemes with Google DeepMind and Facebook AI Research. Short courses and executive education are offered for partners such as BT Group, Rolls-Royce, and Baillie Gifford.

Research spans machine learning, natural language processing, robotics, formal methods, computational neuroscience, and human-computer interaction, with thematic centres including the Centre for Intelligent Systems and their Applications, the Bayes Centre for data science, the National Robotarium partnership, and the Centre for Speech Technology Research. Major research projects have collaborated with CERN, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Roslin Institute, and consortia involving UK Research and Innovation and the European Commission. The School hosts initiatives connected to the Alan Turing Institute and contributes to international efforts such as collaborations with OpenAI, DeepMind, IBM Watson, Siemens Mobility, and public policy work engaging UK Parliament advisory groups and the Royal Society.

Physical facilities include dedicated buildings on the Kings Buildings, Edinburgh campus, specialist robotics labs with motion-capture suites, high-performance computing clusters linked to national services such as the ARCHER supercomputing facility and cloud partnerships with Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. The School provides access to datasets and corpora developed in collaboration with the British Library, European Research Council projects, and the UK Data Service. Teaching and collaboration spaces include seminar rooms used jointly with the School of Engineering, incubator spaces linked to the Edinburgh Innovations technology transfer unit, and maker facilities coordinated with Heriot-Watt University and the National Robotarium.

Faculty and alumni have held prominent roles across academia and industry, including appointments at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Oxford, and leadership at DeepMind, Google Research, Microsoft Research, Amazon Research, OpenAI, Facebook AI Research, and national research bodies such as the Royal Society and the Alan Turing Institute. Distinguished individuals associated through teaching, research, or alumni networks have received awards from the Royal Society, ACM, IEEE, Royal Society of Edinburgh, and European Research Council. Alumni have founded or led companies in Silicon Valley, Silicon Glen, and European technology hubs, and have served on advisory boards for UK Research and Innovation, NHS Digital, and the European Commission technology panels.