Postgraduate students from across the UK and Europe are meeting at the University of York for the York Doctoral Symposium on Computer Science and Electronics.

The event is aimed at PhD and Masters students in computer science, electronic engineering and related disciplines who wish to work at the cutting edge of technology and computer science research.

The event, being held today at the Ron Cooke Hub, is hosted by the University’s Departments of Computer Science and Electronics, and has attracted 100 delegates from the UK and countries including the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Germany.

The event will provide postgraduate students with an opportunity to present and publish their research at a peer-reviewed conference, as well as to learn the process of organising and running a conference.

University of York PhD student Sam Simpson, chair of the programme committee, said: “The goal of the symposium is to bring together doctoral students from around the UK and Europe to share and exchange their research and ideas with others.”

"By bringing students together from a wide range of areas, we hope to promote more interdisciplinary research. It is a great chance for doctoral students to gain experience presenting their work to colleagues."

The symposium keynote speakers are Dr Sue Black, a Senior Research Associate at University College London's Department of Computer Science, and Professor Rashik Parmar, President of IBM's Academy of Technology.

Dr Black, who is also a Senior Consultant with Cornerstone Global Associates, successfully campaigned from 2008 to 2011 to save Bletchley Park and has recently launched Techmums. Professor Parmar has nearly 30 years of practical experience at IBM, where he has worked for financial, retail and manufacturing clients on IT projects of all sizes. He is currently leading projects related to IBM's Smarter Cities programme.