About
Professor Jim Harkin serves as Head of the School of Computing, Engineering and Intelligent Systems at Ulster University's Magee Campus in Derry~Londonderry. He is a prominent member of the Computational Neuroscience and Neuromorphic Engineering team within the Intelligent Systems Research Centre (ISRC), where he leads cutting-edge research bridging biological neural processes with hardware implementations.
Harkin's research focuses on developing intelligent embedded systems capable of self-repair under error conditions, drawing inspiration from neural network models. His work explores how computer models of neural networks can be mapped to hardware to build highly efficient and reliable embedded computers. Key innovations include Networks-on-Chip strategies and hardware implementation of self-repairing Spiking Neural Networks. His research spans multiple domains including fault tolerance, neuromorphic computing, and AI hardware acceleration, with applications in healthcare, structural monitoring, and energy systems.
Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong trend toward practical applications of neuromorphic computing, particularly in healthcare monitoring systems, structural health assessment, and energy-efficient computing. His work shows increasing integration of spiking neural networks with real-world hardware implementations, demonstrating a clear trajectory from theoretical models to deployable systems with commercial applications.
Harkin has received numerous scientific accolades including the
- Life and Health Startup Company of the Year 2019 from InventNI
- Ulster Distinguished Learning Support Fellowship
- Multiple awards for innovative routing strategies in neural network hardware implementations
Professor Harkin has secured significant research funding exceeding £3.5 million from diverse sources including EPSRC, MRC, Innovate UK, HSC R&D, InvestNI, and DEL. His grant portfolio demonstrates strong industry and healthcare sector engagement, particularly through his co-founded startup Respiratory Analytics which focuses on medical analytics. He has supervised numerous research students and has been instrumental in Ulster University's Computer Science submissions to major research assessment exercises including RAE 2008, REF2014, and REF2021.
As Head of School and leader within the Intelligent Systems Research Centre, Harkin oversees multiple research teams focusing on computational neuroscience, neuromorphic engineering, and intelligent embedded systems. His lab has developed specialized FPGA-based platforms for simulating and implementing self-repairing neural networks, including the AstroByte multi-FPGA architecture for accelerated simulations of fault-tolerant spiking astrocyte-neuron networks.
