The Department has around 340 people engaged in research: academic staff, research associates, and PhD students. Research is carried out across a broad range of subjects within Computer Science.

Research themes

Visit our research-themes pages to meet the people currently working in these areas:

• Algorithms and Complexity
• Computer Architecture
• Graphics, Vision and Imaging Science
• Human-Centred Computing
• Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence
• Mobile Systems, Robotics and Automation
• Natural Language Processing
• Programming Languages, Semantics and Verification
• Security
• Systems and Networking

Research-group pages

This work is conducted primarily in small research groups. Many of them manage their own web spaces on this site, with lots more information about and results from projects, often covering the past three decades:

• Artificial Intelligence Group
  Theory and applications of intelligent systems.
• Computer Architecture Group
  Microarchitecture, VLSI techniques and design, electronic CAD, secure hardware.
• Digital Technology Group
  All aspects of technology in particular for pervasive, sentient and mobile computing and communication systems.
• Graphics & Interaction Group (Rainbow)
  Computer graphics, image processing, human-computer interaction, affective computing.
• Natural Language and Information Processing Group
  Computational modelling of natural (human) languages and related applications.
• Programming, Logic, and Semantics Group
  Programming languages, compilers, and analysis; development and application of automated reasoning tools; mathematical models of hardware, software, and networks; finite model theory.
• Security Group
  Security, cryptology, criminology, and their applications.
• Systems Research Group
  Networks, operating systems, multimedia, mobile and sensor systems, distributed systems.

Publications

Academic staff publications can be found from each individual's web page. More recent publications can also be found in the University's Apollo repository.

The Department has published its own Computer Laboratory Technical Report series since 1974. Many of these reports are available online. Many of the PhD dissertations prepared at the Department have been published in this series.

Seminars

The Department runs a series of general seminars on Wednesdays in term. They are open to all members of the University and other interested parties. Individual research groups run seminars and group meetings. Details of these are on the weekly seminar timetable.

Research degrees

The PhD is the primary research degree offered in the Department of Computer Science and Technology. The Cambridge PhD is a three-year programme of individual research on a topic agreed by the student and the Department, under the guidance of a staff member as the student’s supervisor. Students primarily work on their own project from the start of the PhD. There is no taught component other than a mandatory course on Research Skills. Students are expected to complete the substance of their research by the end of their third year. Please look at the information on applications for the PhD for more detail.

The MPhil in Advanced Computer Science is a nine-month masters degree, designed to prepare students for doctoral research. The course consists of 5 taught modules; a research project report (worth seven modules); and 12 units from the mandatory Research Skills Programme including compulsory units in written English and presentation skills.

See also

• A general introduction about the department
• A September 2018 report describing the Department's research and the wider environment in which it operates, which was originally prepared for the University's Strategic Research Review of the Department
• The research admin section summarises the departmental processes to apply for research grants, potential funding sources for projects and fellowships, open access for publication, commercialisation and impact as well as departmental ethics processes.