Academic Spotlight

At Coventry University, our Excellence with Impact strategy puts research at the forefront of our long-term vision. Over the next 3 years, £100m will be invested into our new research centres and put forward to attract world renowned experts. Professor Kevin Warwick, one of the world's leading cybernetics Professors, has been appointed as the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and will be leading the initiative.

We want to show you the exciting, ground-breaking research that takes place at Coventry, so you can see for yourself the academic environment that your daughter/son will become a part of and benefit from.

Kevin Warwick:

This November has seen the release of Oscar-tipped film, The Imitation Game, which depicts and celebrates the life of mathematician and code-breaker Alan Turing. One of his pioneering experiments known as The Turing Test is being continued by Professor Kevin Warwick through his own research.

The Turing Test determines whether a machine can be defined as intelligent or not, this is done by assessing whether an individual can assert if who they are talking to is a machine or a human. This test was created by Turing whilst he worked at Manchester University and cemented him as a leading figure in computer science.

During the Second World War, Turing was the driving force behind the cracking of the Enigma Code and shortly before his death he predicted that machines would one day be able to pass his test. Professor Warwick, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), has played a pivotal role in the carrying out Turing’s tests for the past ten years. In an event organised by Warwick and Dr Huma Shah, a computer passed the test for the first time. The computer, named Eugene Goostman, achieved 33% incorrect identification by the human judges involved in the testing. The testing involved a five minute keyboard conversation with the judges and the threshold for a pass mark is 30%.

The work conducted by Warwick and Shah is incredibly important area of research due to the growing nature of the cybercrime threat and the possibility that a computer could manipulate humans could have considerable implications on the way we negotiate the online sphere.

Professor Kevin Warwick said:

'The Turing Test is one of the most important yet controversial milestones in the field of artificial intelligence, and Coventry University is critically involved with its practical assessment. This will have a dramatic impact on future communication not only where computers are involved but in all aspects of cyber-crime where identity and deception are key elements.'

For more information about our Research strategy or if you'd like to find out more about our academics, see our Research section.