Computer Science (Informatics) & Physics

University of Edinburgh

Our world is a treasure trove of natural and digital information ranging from the position of the sun informing bees about navigational paths back to their hives to us skimming through our friends’ posts on social media. Specific information is often hidden amongst the vast amount of ‘stuff’ or data in the world and making sense of this is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Agents, whether they are natural organisms or computers, rely on some form of cognitive intelligence to be able to identify and interpret information. Natural and machine learning systems strive to identify patterns and make deductions from large amounts of data.  Once information is gleaned from the data, it may be communicated between various agents which, again, could be natural organisms or machines. Informatics is the study of all of these different processes that pertain to information in our world. At the School of Informatics, in addition to learning how computers work, we focus on understanding how information is transformed. This includes computation, cognition (learning) and communication. The lectures in this programme will introduce you to different forms of information and the relevance of computational tools across different topics. In addition to lectures, you will also have an opportunity to engage practically via a group project where you might be able to develop an application for a mobile phone or programme miniature robots.  

The Physics programme aims to give you a sense of studying Physics at a university level, and also introduce a flavour of the scope of modern Physics in unexpected areas. The topic areas to be covered include astronomy (the strange unexplored worlds round other stars), particle physics (what goes on at CERN?), statistical physics (from flocking birds to the spread of language), and computational physics (exploring physics on big computers). There will be one session dedicated to each topic and you will have time to discuss the topics in groups and with staff. You will also take part in a group project in an area of modern physics, where you will work with young researchers from the School of Physics & Astronomy to produce a poster presentation.

22 June 2020 - 27 June 2020

116 across all programmes PROGRAMME PLACES

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS: