New urban research centre to break down Big Data

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Dr Piyushimita (Vonu) Thakuriah: Research Profile School of Social and Political Sciences College of Social Sciences The University of Glasgow has received a share of £14 million funding to create a unique facility designed to research complex and cross-cutting urban issues such as transport, employment, migration, housing, education and social exclusion and to bring a mix of expertise in the urban social sciences and the data sciences to address problems of dynamic resource management, social justice, lifelong learning and urban engagement. The centre will develop technologies to create a linked urban Big Data infrastructure focussed around the city of Glasgow as an exemplar, to support such research. The project will be led by the University of Glasgow, with the Universities of Edinburgh, Cambridge, Reading, Bristol and Illinois-Chicago as partners. Dr. Piyushimita (Vonu) Thakuriah, Halcrow Chair of Transport and Professor, Urban Studies and Affiliated Professor, School of Engineering, University of Glasgow is the Principal Investigator for the project. She said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for researchers to analyse and mine data that has been created from a host of different public and private organisations and agencies across cities, as well as through citizen-science projects and urban infrastructure-based sensors. Complex issues like housing, transport, social exclusion and environment need to be looked at in a broader context to come up with robust planning and policy solutions and business innovations.