School of Computing

Established in 1998, the School of Computing at NCI has grown to a staff of sixty faculty under the direction of its Dean Dr Pramod Pathak. Its members include expert associate faculty hired ex-profeso to bring practical, relevant industrial experience to the sound academic credentials of its full-time members. This year, the School expects to register almost 1000 students making it one of the largest providers of computing programmes at third level in Ireland.

The School vision is to establish itself as a leader in the field of computing and informatics with special emphasis in the the strategic areas of Mobile Computing, Cloud Computing, Big Data and Technology Enhanced Learning at postgraduate level. This vision has been endorsed by the School’s National Advisory Board, which is comprised of indigenous ICT companies and multinational with a strong presence in Ireland as well as the International Advisory Board which includes distinguished computer scientists from leading institutions.

Research in the school centres on technology enhanced learning and parallel and distributed computing. On the one hand, technology enhanced learning has been supported by the setting up of the Research in Education and Learning Technologies (REALT) group and the National e-Learning Laboratory (NELL). REALT pioneers research into interactive learning environments and NELL specialises in usability testing and user experience for human computer interactions. This combination allows researchers to systematically explore and improve the use of learning and knowledge-based technologies. On the other hand, the parallel and distributed computing research involves the systematic application of innovative high-performance and enterprise computing to the solution of complex problems in different scientific, engineering, and commercial domains. It is underpinned by the new Cloud Competency Centre (CCC) led by Dr Horacio González-Vélez. Arguably, the school is well set to become a global hub of excellence for teaching and research in this area.

The School delivers a range of high quality programmes from certificate to doctorate level that cater for both full and part-time students. All programmes have undergone rigorous programme development in consultation with industry and society. This development has resulted in a suite of cutting edge programmes in:

• Cloud Computing
• Web Technologies
• Networking and Mobile Technologies
• Gaming and Multimedia Design
• Software Systems
• Business Information Systems
• E-Learning
• Learning & Teaching
• Technology Enhanced Learning

The School takes pride in the delivery of programmes using innovative educational strategies such as Problem Based Learning in state-of-the-art classrooms with dedicated support staff. The programmes provide hands on practical experience with learner focused assessment structures that make for a positive and enjoyable learning experience.

Dr Pramod Pathak

• Research
• Staff
• Courses
• Cloud Competency Centre