Top software company runs workshop for Essex students

Leading global software company Oracle ran a special workshop and training session on cloud computing for research for University of Essex students.

During the event, students learned how to work on and make applications with computing resources that can be fully scalable, accessible anywhere, flexible and safe. The workshop and hands-on training sessions together attracted nearly 200 undergraduate and postgraduate students from the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering (CSEE), Essex Business School and the Department of Economics.

Organiser, Dr Javier Andreu-Perez, from CSEE, said: “We were delighted with the success of this event. It is fantastic that a major corporation such as Oracle is giving back to their community by supporting researchers in developing science that can have a positive impact on society and the planet, as well as offering in-kind materials for university students to develop their projects and stay ahead with the latest technology.”

Essex is proud of its reputation in computer science. The University is currently ranked sixth (out of 90) in the UK for research power in computer science and informatics by Times Higher Education. This follows REF2021 rating 100% of Essex's research impact in computer science as world-leading or internationally excellent, the 9th highest rating in the UK for research impact.

Richard Pitts, from Oracle for Research, said: “I am delighted that Dr Javier Andreu-Perez invited the Oracle for Research European team back to the University for a second year. It was extremely interesting to spend some time reviewing the progress of our collaborative research projects and to see how Essex researchers are working in AI and robotics.”

During the event, Dr Ryan Payton and cloud expert Mike Riley, from the Oracle team, ran a special cloud foundation training session for Essex PhD and post doc students, which is part of Oracle for Research’s commitment in providing a great cloud computing platform on which to conduct research and analyse results.

Such was success of the programme, there are hopes it will become a regular annual event for Essex students.