About
Mark is a Professor in the Digital Health and Biomedical Engineering Group in Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. He is a Co-Director of the Web Science Institute, the Director of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Web Science Innovation and the Centre for Doctoral Training in Human Centred AI. Mark is a Web Science Trust Fellow and a member of the University strategic research groups the ECS Centre for Health Technologies and the Centre of Excellence for the Future of Human Communication and the Interdisciplinary Dementia and Ageing Centre (iDeAC).
He is a co-director and the technical lead for the LifeGuide project, a multidisciplinary initiative led by Professor Lucy Yardley that has attracted funding of well over £45 million (from MRC, EPSRC, ESRC, NIHR, EC and medical charities) for the development of online digital public health interventions such as weight management, hand hygiene and smoking cessation, as well as illness management interventions including diabetes, cancer, respiratory conditions and eczema.
In addition to online behaviour change initiatives, Mark's research interests include the application of Semantic Web technologies to pervasive systems and methodologies for the use of social media data to assist in disaster management. Mark has worked for a number of years in the area of information systems, from hypermedia systems for eLearning through to information infrastructures for multi-user pervasive experiences as exemplified by his work on the Equator IRC.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Digital Health
- Behavioural Interventions
- Semantic Web
- Information Systems
- Social Media Analytics
Current research
Projects
LifeGuide
The LifeGuide research programme is a multidisciplinary initiative led by Professor Lucy Yardley (Psychology) and Dr Mark Weal (Computer Science) at the University of Southampton. We have developed a unique set of open source software tools, that allows intervention designers with no experience of programming to create interactive web-based interventions to support healthy behaviour.
Social Sciences, Social Data and the Semantic Web (S3W)
The research will be the detailed investigation into if and how Semantic Linked Data might be harnessed for social science research. To achieve this we have drawn together a strong team of social and computational scientists, with a well-established track record of collaboration. This team will be supported by an outstanding Advisory Group of experts, who have already agreed to participate in this project
Personalised long-term follow-up of cochlear implant patients using remote care
A Health Foundation funded project to design, implement and evaluate a person-centred long-term follow-up pathway for cochlear implant users offering a triple approach of remote and self-monitoring, self-adjustment of devices and a personalised online or smartphone intervention package (LifeGuide) for testing their own hearing at home, information, self-rehabilitation, advice, equipment training and troubleshooting.
Previous Projects
Developing a smartphone app to monitor real-world listening behaviour and assess risk factors
A British Tinnitus Association funded project to to create an smartphone app that works unobtrusively in the background, monitoring the sound level output, as well as behaviors such as how volume settings are adjusted, which media apps are being used, and what content is being accessed.
StoryPlaces
A Leverhulme funded project exploring the poetics of location-based narratives.
UBhave
The UBhave project seeks to investigate the power and challenges of using mobile phones and social networking for Digital Behaviour Change Interventions (DBCIs), and to contribute to creating a scientific foundation for digitally supported behaviour change.
WIME: Developing and Evaluating Interventions to Reduce Inappropriate Prescribing of Antibiotics in Primary Care.
The WIME will be targeted at inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics in primary care. It will systematically develop and evaluate theory-based interventions that correspond to the theoretical, modelling and experimental phases of the MRC Framework.
LifeCIT
Development and pilot evaluation of a web-supported programme of Constraint Induced Therapy following stroke (LifeCIT)
OpenImpact
Open Impact is a project to help collect evidence about the impact of research that has been undertaken in UK universities and to provide it to a range of stakeholders (government, funders, press etc) through an independent third party agency (a learned society).
Semantic Technologies in Learning and Teaching (SemTech)
Identifying and quantifying the benefits of Semantic technologies for formal and informal learning.
Grid-Enabled Data Collection and Analysis - Semantic Annotation in Skills-Based Learning
A case study in semantic annotation focused on the research and practice of skills-based learning in the context of health care education.
Electronic Visualisation of nineteenth-century French literary-scientific texts
Created and piloted an interactive electronic visualisation tool to be used in 2008-9 delivery of research-led nineteenth-century French literature and culture teaching using Web 2.0 technologies to allow students to explore the multiple perspectives, themes contexts and timelines within their core texts.
Research projects
Completed projects
Publications
Teaching
Module leader on COMP1205 Professional Development
Supervisor on COMP3200 Part III Individual Project
Supervisor on COMP6200 MSc Projects
Supervisor on COMP6228 MEng Individual Research Project
Supervisor on ELEC6200 MEng Group Design Project
Moderator on COMP2213 Interaction Design
Biography
Mark is a Professor in the Digital Health and Biomedical Engineering Group in Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. He is a Co-Director of the Web Science Institute, the Director of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Web Science Innovation, a Web Science Trust Fellow and a member of the ECS Centre for Health Technologies.
He is a co-director and the technical lead for the LifeGuide project, a multidisciplinary initiative led by Professor Lucy Yardley that has attracted funding of well over £45 million (from MRC, EPSRC, ESRC, NIHR, EC and medical charities) for the development of online digital public health interventions such as weight management, hand hygiene and smoking cessation, as well as illness management interventions including diabetes, cancer, respiratory conditions and eczema.
In addition to online behaviour change initiatives, Mark's research interests include the application of Semantic Web technologies to pervasive systems and methodologies for the use of social media data to assist in disaster management. Mark has worked for a number of years in the area of information systems, from hypermedia systems for eLearning through to information infrastructures for multi-user pervasive experiences as exemplified by his work on the Equator IRC.