I am flabbergasted! I do hope reason will prevail. AI, computational modelling, data science and digitalisation are indubitable important and timely _application_ areas, but all applications have to be based on a strong multidisciplinary science base, see David Alvargonzález: "Multidisciplinarity, Interdisciplinarity, Transdisciplinarity, and the Sciences", International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 387-403, December 2011.
F
Frits Vaandrager
5 years ago
I understood that research in Leicester on foundations of software science, concurrent systems, and testing and verification is being thrown out. I collaborate with researchers from Leicester on these topics, and believe they are doing great research, both from a scientific and application perspective.
S
Solon P Pissis
5 years ago
Computer Science has so many real-world applications merely because it is a mathematical science. Solidarity with all FoCo colleagues.
J
June Mitchell
5 years ago
Research is so important
M
Mieke Massink
5 years ago
There is nothing more practical than a good theory! (Kurt Lewin, 1952)
A
Aris Pagourtzis
5 years ago
Dear VC and Board members: this will be a serious blow to the reputation of your university and deprive you of good teachers and eventually of good students. I would strongly discourage my students and colleagues to study or work at a university that disregards millenia of collective effort of the brightest human minds in such an unacceptable and unethical way!
Sincerely,
Aris Pagourtzis, Professor,
National Technical University of Athens, Greece
C
Cosimo Laneve
5 years ago
I hope Leicester Management may have a look at these comments. No chance to have Excellence without Foundations.
J
Jørgen Kirksæther
5 years ago
You are shooting yourselves in the foot. You will end up as a second-rate school of applied computing instead of a first-rate university. Don't go there.
C
Chris Heunen
5 years ago
University of Edinburgh
M
Miquel Bofill
5 years ago
This is a very very wrong short-term strategy and a shame for a University. Maybe we may have gotten to the point where we have forgotten that there are some theoretical foundations that underpin TV, airplanes, and so on. This is crazy.
J
Jiri Fiala
5 years ago
Can you mathematics without counting?
Can you do computer science without logic?
Can you do applications without theory?
Can you manage a school without professionals? Wihout students? Without any reputation?
S
Salvador Lucas
5 years ago
Shameful and crazy
E
Ernst W Mayr
5 years ago
Where will all the fundamental and sustainable ideas for the future come from? Also, we should always be aware of the many ups and downs of AI in the past 75 or so years.
M
Matthias Hauswirth
5 years ago
I assume their funding situation must be terrible that they would consider such draconian measures. It must be a difficult time for that administration. However, it seems to me that this plan would be incredibly counter-productive. Besides literally undermining their declared goal (without foundations, their house is built on sand and will crumble in future storms), this also would deter strong faculty candidates from applying there in the future. Why would outstanding candidates want to work there if they know that they will be made redundant as soon as another research topic becomes hotter?
M
Manuel Kauers
5 years ago
Johannes Kepler University
T
Tim Boykett
5 years ago
It is dreadful to see such a shortsighted decision being made at Leicester. At the Johannes Kepler University here in Linz, there is a strong appreciation of the strength in interweaving theoretical and practical aspects of computer science and mathematcs, from the esteemed RISC research group around symbolic computation to the ongoing research in speeding up linear algebra computations, to mention just two. Leicester recently held one of the ongoing series of Reversible Computation conferences where researchers shared new developments on highly theoretical issues as well as detailed engineering developments in emerging technologies. Cutting out the foundations of any structure endangers it; please reconsider this proposal.
F
Flemming Nielson
5 years ago
While management has the right to set strategic goals for the development and future hiring, it is despicable if management does not engage in developing career plans for existing staff, so that they might better fit into the strategic goals. (This should not be read as an endorsement of those strategic goals.)
Y
Yuval Filmus
5 years ago
Neural networks were also once considered fringe. It’s impossible to know in advance where the next big idea comes from. The most you can do is hire the best people, even if they don’t follow the current hype.
P
Paolo Milazzo
5 years ago
I can't believe...
M
Martin Dietzfelbinger
5 years ago
Many great applicable ideas have grown out of fundamental research, carried out for years and decades without applications in sight. (Where would internet security be without its foundation in (pure) number theory and (pure) algebra?) This
holds for areas as well as for minds. Stop training young researchers in doing theory and cut off the richest source of innovative ideas in the years to come.
I am flabbergasted! I do hope reason will prevail. AI, computational modelling, data science and digitalisation are indubitable important and timely _application_ areas, but all applications have to be based on a strong multidisciplinary science base, see David Alvargonzález: "Multidisciplinarity, Interdisciplinarity, Transdisciplinarity, and the Sciences", International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 387-403, December 2011.
I understood that research in Leicester on foundations of software science, concurrent systems, and testing and verification is being thrown out. I collaborate with researchers from Leicester on these topics, and believe they are doing great research, both from a scientific and application perspective.
Computer Science has so many real-world applications merely because it is a mathematical science. Solidarity with all FoCo colleagues.
Research is so important
There is nothing more practical than a good theory! (Kurt Lewin, 1952)
Dear VC and Board members: this will be a serious blow to the reputation of your university and deprive you of good teachers and eventually of good students. I would strongly discourage my students and colleagues to study or work at a university that disregards millenia of collective effort of the brightest human minds in such an unacceptable and unethical way! Sincerely, Aris Pagourtzis, Professor, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
I hope Leicester Management may have a look at these comments. No chance to have Excellence without Foundations.
You are shooting yourselves in the foot. You will end up as a second-rate school of applied computing instead of a first-rate university. Don't go there.
University of Edinburgh
This is a very very wrong short-term strategy and a shame for a University. Maybe we may have gotten to the point where we have forgotten that there are some theoretical foundations that underpin TV, airplanes, and so on. This is crazy.
Can you mathematics without counting? Can you do computer science without logic? Can you do applications without theory? Can you manage a school without professionals? Wihout students? Without any reputation?
Shameful and crazy
Where will all the fundamental and sustainable ideas for the future come from? Also, we should always be aware of the many ups and downs of AI in the past 75 or so years.
I assume their funding situation must be terrible that they would consider such draconian measures. It must be a difficult time for that administration. However, it seems to me that this plan would be incredibly counter-productive. Besides literally undermining their declared goal (without foundations, their house is built on sand and will crumble in future storms), this also would deter strong faculty candidates from applying there in the future. Why would outstanding candidates want to work there if they know that they will be made redundant as soon as another research topic becomes hotter?
Johannes Kepler University
It is dreadful to see such a shortsighted decision being made at Leicester. At the Johannes Kepler University here in Linz, there is a strong appreciation of the strength in interweaving theoretical and practical aspects of computer science and mathematcs, from the esteemed RISC research group around symbolic computation to the ongoing research in speeding up linear algebra computations, to mention just two. Leicester recently held one of the ongoing series of Reversible Computation conferences where researchers shared new developments on highly theoretical issues as well as detailed engineering developments in emerging technologies. Cutting out the foundations of any structure endangers it; please reconsider this proposal.
While management has the right to set strategic goals for the development and future hiring, it is despicable if management does not engage in developing career plans for existing staff, so that they might better fit into the strategic goals. (This should not be read as an endorsement of those strategic goals.)
Neural networks were also once considered fringe. It’s impossible to know in advance where the next big idea comes from. The most you can do is hire the best people, even if they don’t follow the current hype.
I can't believe...
Many great applicable ideas have grown out of fundamental research, carried out for years and decades without applications in sight. (Where would internet security be without its foundation in (pure) number theory and (pure) algebra?) This holds for areas as well as for minds. Stop training young researchers in doing theory and cut off the richest source of innovative ideas in the years to come.