The e-Science Institute: 2006 To 2011

E-Science has been described as the science, engineering and medicine that is made posssible by the development of powerful computers and high-speed networks. It represents a new way of doing research in which complex systems, which are not solvable by pen and paper, can be explored. It can investigate phenomena, such as the collision of black holes, that cannot be explored by experiment. It is about global collaboration and the next generation of computing infrastructure that will enable it. It is a method of research that is now understood to extend beyond the sciences, and includes all areas of research which will benefit from computationally or data intensive techniques. The e-Science Institute (eSI) is the national UK centre and the meeting place for e-researchers. The Institute runs a programme of workshops, lectures, conferences and tutorials with hands-on training. There, e-researchers can share knowledge and ideas about their particular research projects, forge new interdisciplinary activities, investigate ways in which distributed computing can advance their research. They recognise new challenges and invent new research strategies to address them. The eSI runs a visitor programme, in which researchers can focus on their research with like-minded experts and enthusiasts. International visitors bring research expertise to the UK community and take home an impression of the UK's strength in e-Science. The eSI will run three Summer Schools a year, intended to seed the UK with highly motivated young researchers with well advanced e-Science research skills. Much of the work will be based on themes in which a series of visitors, meetings and schools focus on a few related topics. The eSI also responds to current issues.