Computer scientists are working on a series of research proposals that they hope will result in advances comparable in significance to the Human Genome project.

The UK Computing Research Committee (UKCRC), a joint expert panel of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and the British Computer Society is working with the Council of Professors and Heads of Computing to start seven new projects.

The hope is that some, or at least one, of the initiatives will be taken forward to become a Grand Challenge - a major, long term project that will create great advances in computer science (see below).

Researchers involved in the proposals exclusively told Computing about the projects and what they hope to achieve.

1. IVIS: In Vivo <-> In Silico

The project is focused on 'breathing life into the data mountain'. This will involve simulating what happens in real life and reproducing it in silicon.

The research will attempt to analyse data gathered about the physical world and build advanced simulation models to allow scientists to perform an increasing range of experiments with virtual life forms.

'This is a long term project to enlarge our understanding,' said Professor Sir Tony Hoare, senior researcher at Microsoft Research in Cambridge and UKCRC member. 'We are working in an area that we believe is of important social and economic importance.'

2. Science for Global Ubiquitous Computing Within 20 years computers will be ubiquitous and globally connected, and academics and scientists believe they will be regarded collectively as a single Global Universal Computer (GUC).

Professor Robin Milner of the University of Cambridge says the challenge is to work out who will program the GUC, who will benefit, how will they benefit, and how do we trust it.

'The aim is scientific,' he said. 'In 20 years time perhaps all computer systems will be built on a theory that is understood. We are trying to establish these theories.'

3. Memories for Life

In 10 to 20 years digital data and images that are unique to us will have grown substantially. This data will include digital pictures, emails, phone numbers and audio recordings.

The project will seek to establish a way in which all this data can be securely stored and searched.

Professor Aaron Sloman of the University of Birmingham says research will attempt to establish how someone can search all records and data stored on their system - whatever form that may take - in a secure environment, from wherever is convenient.

4. Scalable Ubiquitous Computing Systems

As computers become increasingly networked and the internet proliferates throughout society, organic models add to computing complexity creating a major problem in the future.

'People are moving far too quickly and building systems with no design rules,' said Professor Jon Crowcroft from the University of Cambridge. 'If you have the same vulnerabilities in the internet and you times that by 1,000, the world around us would go wrong in mysterious ways.'

The challenge of the project is to establish design principles working on a 'build and learn' principle. Crowcroft says the way computing components draw their power will change and will come directly from the environment around them.

5. Architecture of Brain and Mind

This project aims to find out how the human brain works, although Sloman admits that 15 years to simulate the brain on a computer is a little optimistic.

'These people are trying to understand the mind, trying to understand what processes are involved in seeing and thinking, and then replicate them on to computers,' he said.

Researchers want to implement various kinds of abstract mental processes and mechanisms in physical systems, comparable to abstract machines like spellcheckers and email systems.

6. Dependable Systems Evolution

The Code Red virus caused an estimated $4bn of damage. The case for dependable, secure and trustworthy computer systems is obvious.

'We see a computer system as dependable if you can justify the reliance we place on it,' said professor Jim Woodcock from the University of Kent. 'That justification involves the gathering of evidence, so can we gather evidence to ensure my program is safe?'

The project aims to establish a scientific foundation to build systems whose dependability can be justified, even when it is faced with the most extreme threats.

7. Journeys in Non-Classical Computing

Professor Susan Stepney of the University of York says this project is about drawing on nature for inspiration and building complex computer systems.

'If you take your immune system, it has to recognise something isn't right, and if that disease should come back again, it recognises it even quicker,' she said.

Working on the basis that biology can operate accurately and safely in an open, changing environment, the project will seek to mimic that with computers.

The Grand Challenge for researchers

For a research project to achieve Grand Challenge status, it must meet specific criteria.

A Grand Challenge must be a 15-year project with international participation. There should be a clear evaluation of success or failure, and it should offer fundamental and radical advances in basic science or engineering.

Previous Grand Challenges include:

• The Human Genome Project - achieved
• The Turing Test - outstanding
• A championship chess programme - achieved
• To find a cure for cancer within 10 years - failed in the 1970s
• Unify the four forces of physics - in progress