I work at the School of Computing Science of the University of Glasgow, where I am a Reader (the equivalent of an Associate Professor in the US).
Research
I am the leader of the Terrier Team, where we are developing and evaluating novel large-scale text information retrieval techniques and applications. In recent years, this has encompassed models for Web search - including selective approaches and search results diversification - as well as expert search, blog search, medical records search, and searching of the physical world through sensors. Moreover, we are addressing the infrastructure aspects of Information Retrieval (part of the Big Data theme) including both efficient indexing - through MapReduce - and retrieval, using technologies such as dynamic pruning, and efficiency prediction. We have regularly participated in several and various TREC tracks using our well-known Terrier search engine and technology since 2002 (The latest release is Terrier 3.5). We currently participate in a number of projects, including the SMART FP7 project dedicated to search from social and sensor networks in support of Smart Cities, and the CROSS EPSRC project, dedicated to the real-time first story detection from massive parallel streams. We are part of the Glasgow IR Group.
I am keen to accept PhD students in the above general areas of research. Feel free to contact me about this to discuss possible topics of mutual interests and possible funding opportunities.
Activities
I have chaired a number of major information retrieval-related events. For example, I was Co-chair of the 6th ESSIR 2007 IR summer school, General Chair of the 30th ECIR 2008 IR conference , and more recently General co-chair of the 20th ACM CIKM 2011 conference.
Since 2006, I have led the International TREC Blog and Microblog track initiatives, which explore information seeking behaviour in the blogosphere and microblogging environments, addressing tasks such as opinion mining and retrieval as well as real-time search. I am also a co-organiser of the NTCIR Math IR task initiative dedicated to the retrieval of content from large-scale mathematical document repositories.
I am on the program committees of all major information retrieval conferences and related events, serve on the Editorial Board of the Information Processing & Management journal, and I am on the advisory or steering committees of a number of initiatives. You might wish to consult my current activities.
Teaching and Management
I have an extensive teaching experience at all undergraduate and postgraduate levels, covering both general Computing Science topics (e.g. Database Systems) and specialised research-driven courses (e.g. Information Retrieval). I am currently involved in the teaching of the following courses: Information Management 2, Database Systems 3, and Advanced Research Readings in Information Retrieval M.
I am currently the Director of the Computing Science PGT programmes, overseeing our Masters programmes, and an outreach champion for the School of Computing Science.
Iadh Ounis School of Computing Science University of Glasgow Glasgow G12 8QQ |
email: iadh.ounis@glasgow.ac.uk tel: +44 141 330 5652 fax: +44 141 330 4913 |
