In addition to the faculty groups, the research of the IT University is organised into research initiatives that work across academic borders. In the research initiatives, researchers work on interdisciplinary projects that combine several competences and professional skills.

GIRI

GIRI is the acronym for Global Interactive Research Initiative. The research initiative is part of the IT University’s globalisation strategy to prepare students, researchers and society for tackling globally interactive processes. With the concept of ‘global interaction’, the research initiative wants to focus on two very important characteristics of modern information technology: It is global, and it is interactive.

IT plays an essential part in globalisation. Global interaction between people, organisations, businesses and society is based on information technology, and the IT University’s researchers are working to understand and design global interaction technologies. The term ‘interaction’ also denotes a paradigm shift in modern computer science. Technologies such as multicore processors, cloud computing, grid and ubiquitous computing make it necessary to view IT from an interactive angle. Technology has changed from centralised mainframes to distributed and ever-present computer technology.

GIRI is concerned with three partly overlapping research themes:

• Distributed interaction: The one-on-one interaction between a user and his/her personal computer is replaced by ‘many-on-many’ interaction between users and computers. The interaction also spans several continents, time zones and organisations.
  
• Global health care: Healthcare systems in the Western world will face big health challenges in the coming years. Ageing populations, increased demand for health services and a shortage of doctors and nurses. These challenges are global in nature, and so are the solutions. Fresh approaches and new technologies can relieve the pressure on the healthcare systems and provide the elderly with the opportunity to remain active.
  
• Global software: Today, software is developed by globally distributed teams of developers, and that poses brand new opportunities and challenges. But the use of software is also becoming globalised. User communities are becoming increasingly heterogeneous and intercultural and that implies a need for new design methods based on the specific needs of the users.  To an increasing extent, the users also take part in the development when the Internet creates user-driven innovation.

The global perspective is also reflected in the initiative’s research collaborations in Madras and Beijing.

Visit the initiative’s own website here: http://global-interaction.org/