Head of new research group convinced there is a growing awareness of the potential of big data

 A new Big Data Research Group led by Professor Sherif Sakr has started working at the University of Tartu Institute of Computer Science. In addition to research and teaching, the new research group is going to develop novel and comprehensive services that help end users to effectively analyse excessive databases. 

In the future, analytical models created by the Big Data Research Group will help to tackle problems in a vast variety of fields from health to digital identification. For example, the research group will elaborate on the highly complex predictive models used currently in health services. So far medical professionals have only been able to use the results predicted by computers, but the group is aiming to develop a novel solution that offers a clear rationale behind each prediction. As such, the updated model helps physicians to determine, for example, whether a patient will develop diabetes within a period of two years and explains the rationale for making such a prediction.

According to the head of the group Professor Sherif Sakr, research communities, as well as industry and public sector have started to realise what an enormous potential big data analytics has. “It is essential that Estonia is at the forefront of research in this strongly emerging field, and has a great potential to influence the international agenda and benefit from the outcomes,” he says.

The establishment of the Big Data Research Group at the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Tartu was supported by the European Regional Development Fund’s Mobilitas Plus Programme that aims to foster a research climate that nurtures creativity, values interdisciplinary research, and stimulates effective knowledge transfer.

According to Andres Koppel, Chairman of the Board of the Estonian Research Council, this science policy measure was created to support the establishment of such research groups: “We are very glad that Mobilitas Plus top researcher grant, aiming to attract the best foreign researchers to carry out their research in Estonia, has been successful and about to fulfil its purpose – a researcher who arrived in Estonia thanks to the grant, has been able to create a new research group, and that his research field coincides with the strategic interests of the university. The university in turn has contributed a lot to support the establishment of this research group.“

More information: Sherif Sakr, Research Professor of Big Data, Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, 737 6431, sherif.sakr@ut.ee