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UEL reaches finals of prestigious UK IT industry awards

Thursday 23 September 2010

UEL reaches finals of prestigious UK IT industry awards

The University of East London has been named as a finalist in the Research and Development Achievement of the Year category at the UK IT Industry awards.

The awards, which are run by the Chartered Institute for IT (formerly known as the British Computer Society and still recognised as BCS) are seen as a benchmark for excellence throughout the computer industry in the UK. They focus on the contribution of individuals, projects, organisations and technologies that have excelled in the use, development and deployment of IT in the past 12 months.

The UEL research team, comprising Anthony Ijeh, Chris Imafidon, and Johnnes Arreymbi, was recognised because of its groundbreaking work around security solutions. The team’s award-nominated Geofencing technology can be used to provide security to wireless local area networks. This is done by using the predefined borders of an area such as an office space which is trained using positioning technology attached to a specially programmed server; the office space then becomes an authorized medium for designated users and wireless mobile devices.

For any university to be shortlisted for this award is a huge achievement; the other finalists in the same category are British Telecom and Portaltech, an eBusiness consultancy that specialises in web based transactional solutions for retailers including Royal Mail and Vodaphone. Out of over 150 finalists, just three other academic institutions were shortlisted. The same team won the Institution of Electrical Engineers award for Security Innovation last year.

A judging day will take place at the Madejski Stadium, Reading, where two representatives from the University will be asked to give a short presentation about their entry to the judges.

The winners will then be announced on Thursday 11 November at an awards dinner taking place at Battersea Evolution, formerly Battersea Park Events Arena; a multi-thousand-seater conference venue situated in the grounds of Battersea Park.

Team member, Anthony Ijeh, said: “We are all really excited to have reached the finals of these prestigious awards. UEL empowers its students with entrepreneurship, any university can give you a degree but UEL is more practical, offering more industry relevant skills. I’m so grateful for the skills they have given me, when I came to UEL my knowledge was very niche I was focused on accounting and computing. Now I know lots of different roles in business including marketing, the support is invaluable. We all hope we can go all the way and pick up this prestigious award, putting UEL resolutely at the forefront of Information Security research”.

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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