Aims

The key aim of AlgoUK was to facilitate multi-faceted interactions within the UK’s algorithmics research community and also inter-disciplinary interactions between these researchers and those in industry and other subjects such as Mathematics, Biology, and Chemistry. The primary objective was to provide an inclusive framework for UK algorithmics research so as to

• enable the transferral of algorithmics research into applications and other academic domains
• facilitate engagement from the UK algorithmics community with new (inter-disciplinary) research opportunities
• facilitate collaboration within the wider UK algorithmics community (not restricted to the six initial member sites)
• support training and dissemination of algorithmics expertise within the wider UK algorithmics community (including established researchers, postdoctoral researchers, and PhD students)
• provide a voice from the UK algorithmics community to funding agencies and others.

AlgoUK was open to all with interests in algorithmics, which we recognise is a diverse research area. It was hoped that after the network grant finished, AlgoUK would be self-sustaining.

Workshops

AlgoUK was structured around six workshops with workshops held at the six initial member sites at roughly six-monthly intervals. Each workshop would last one day with the workshop starting after lunch on one day and ending at lunch on the next. The overnight stay would encourage social interactions. Each workshop would have the same structure, as follows.

• The host site would organise the workshop and choose an inter-disciplinary theme around which the talks on the first day are organised. All speakers on the first day would address this inter-disciplinary theme.
• Talks on the second day would be of a general algorithmics nature although priority may be given to talks which encompass more than one facet of algorithmics or to survey talks.

Between workshops

There would be activities between the workshops, generated by attendance at the workshop. It was envisaged that activities at workshops would engender new potential collaborations and grant submissions. These collaborations would be supported by very small amounts of travel money to allow researchers to meet and further discuss their ideas. Activities emerging from workshops would be reported at subsequent network workshops. Also, small amounts of funding would be used to support short visits by PhD students to other researchers engaged with the network where the visit would provide additional training for the PhD students.

Other activities

It was hoped that the network’s workshops would generate other activities and that the AlgoUK website would become an activity portal for algorithmics activity in the UK. For example, the website might be used to

• advertise network activities, research collaborations arising through the network, and relevant funding opportunities
• advertise PhD student support mechanisms such as PhD student internships
• advertise algorithmics PhD opportunities
• host a register of the algorithmics researchers
• host shared algorithmics teaching material.

The extent of the website would ultimately be driven by the algorithmics community.

Steering group

Representatives from the six original sites formed the steering group for the network. The membership of the steering group was as follows:

• Professor Iain Stewart (PI, Durham)
• Professor Daniel Paulusma (Co-I, Durham)
• Dr. Kathleen Steinhöfel (King’s College London)
• Professor Thomas Erlebach (Leicester)
• Professor Leszek Gąsieniec (Liverpool)
• Professor Gregory Chockler (Royal Holloway, University of London)
• Professor Artur Czumaj (Warwick)