EXPO, celebrating third-year project work, goes virtual

The School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering (CSEE) held their third-year project exhibition online this year.  Each year the students from the school exhibit posters that showcase their individual project work. In 2021, due to the global pandemic, the event was moved online. The school setup a three-dimensional virtual reality gallery, where students could wander around and view different posters, and we had conversations using Microsoft Teams chat.

The Expo was held on Wednesday, 11th March 2020, between 13:00 and 16:00. There was a wide range of topics this year, including Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence for Games, Visualisation, Communications, Computer Vision and Materials Science. Dr Dave Perkins (Director of Teaching and Learning at the School) and Dr Iestyn Pierce (Head of School) introduced and welcomed everyone.

 Dave Perkins said “It was great holding the Expo event online. I especially enjoyed walking around the virtual space and speaking with the students. The Expo is a great opportunity for students to show what they have been working on. While the pandemic has changed the way we work, it has enabled us to do things differently. The 2021 Expo was a great success and the students enjoyed it.”

Daniel Farmer (Computer Science BSc student) said “It was a really unique experience getting to present at the online EXPO, I enjoyed getting to walk round the rooms and seeing what all my peers had spent the past several months working on, and it was far more engaging than just staring at a page of posters. I was able to present my work in a virtual space and talk to more people than I might have been able to, without being overwhelmed by presenting to a crowd.”

The Virtual reality software was developed by Dr Pete Butcher (post-doctoral researcher in the school) and Dr Cameron Gray (Lecturer in cyber security), with the plan to use it as an example virtual reality world in our teaching. Dr Panagiotis Ritsos (Lecturer in visualisation) said “The virtual world was built using AFrame, and develops from content that we teach in our modules, such as Web Technologies, and AI & Game Design, for the Computer Science with Games Design and Creative Technologies degree courses. It was exciting to engage with the students in this virtual environment”.

Daniel Roberts (Lecturer in Electronic Engineering) commented “Every year the expo event gives the students the ability to showcase their project work, see what other students have created, and for us to celebrate the work of our students. It was especially great speaking with the students online and immersed within their work in a virtual environment”.

Publication date: 14 May 2021