Collaborative Computational Project in Tomographic Imaging (ccpi.ac.uk) includes a dedicated team of Software Engineers focusing, through development of a Core Imaging Library (CIL), to provide the UK tomography community with a toolbox of algorithms that increases the quality and level of information that can be extracted.

As part of the BBC Data Partnership, Joshua Woodcock, a Research Software Engineer in Research IT, developed the Interaction Data Visualisation Tool, (IDVT); a web-based data visualisation tool for the initial analysis of low-level interaction data taken from object-based user experiences.

Research IT will be supporting a new 3D, large-scale visualisation facility in The Alliance Manchester Business School. Not only will we be supplying our expertise by supporting the facility, but we will also be working to integrate it with the rest of the computational infrastructure at the University.

vDAL is a bookable space in Research IT where researchers can access VR, MR, mobile devices and high-end graphics workstations for testing, prototype development and collaboration with Research Software Engineers. We are now pleased to announce the addition of the Microsoft HoloLens to our vDAL.

Research IT's vDAL (Visualization and Data Analysis Laboratory), isn't only a place for exploring different realities with your research with VR, but a way to test out graphically intensive research.

It was great to see such a good turnout for the February Research IT club - thank you to everyone who came along! If you were unable to attend all the presentations are now available at the links below. There are updates on research IT infrastructure and software engineering and applications support as well as the presentations on our new Visualization And Data Analysis Laboratory (vDAL) and the launch of a new university wide service – Digital Image Viewer.

Come along to the Research IT club on the 13th of Feb to hear more about our brand new Visualization And Data Analysis Laboratory – vDAL and the launch of a new university wide service – Digital Image Viewer. There will also be updates on the latest news from Research IT infrastructure and Applications and Software.

The abstracts for the event at 3pm on the 13th of Feb in Rm 4.4 Roscoe are below and we ask all attendees to register for the event.

Data visualization, virtual reality (VR) and mixed/augmented reality (MR/AR) technologies offer exciting opportunities for researchers to explore and understand their research data. Prominent in the news and rapidly evolving, the technology is finally having a massive impact. Research IT has identified this as a largely untapped potential within the research environment and is now formally announcing vDAL - The Visualization And Data Analysis Laboratory.

Thank you to everyone who came along to the Christmas Research IT Club and to those who took the opportunity to ask questions! If you were unable to attend all the presentations are now available at the links below. There are updates on research IT infrastructure and software engineering and applications support as well as the presentations from our guest speakers - Dr Antony Payton from the Division of Informatics, Imaging & Data Sciences and Malcolm Whitehouse, CIO IT Services.

Come along to the Research IT club in December to find out more about all the large research IT infrastructure procurements that are coming soon as well as the use of HTC Vive Pro in VR teaching. There will also be a presentation from Malcolm Whitehouse, CIO of IT Services about his vision for a digital university.

We have just announced a new course – Introduction to Mathematica, which is available now for booking to all research staff and PGRs. Remember that all our courses are free to University of Manchester staff and PGRs!

Research IT will soon be helping Oscar Seip from Italian Studies, School of Arts, Languages and Cultures to recreate a 3D prototype model of a 16th century theatre supposedly built for the King of France, Francis I. There has been some debate whether this theatre had in fact been a ‘real’ theatre but Oscar has discovered new evidence which suggests that it did actually exist.