Brunel University has an excellent reputation in the fields of engineering, social sciences, technology and science, and, since 2000, has been awarded more than 60 EU contracts worth over £10 million and has coordinated a number of projects under the European Framework programme, including several Integrated Projects (TEL-Map, INSTINCT, e-Start, MAGNET, DIADEM etc.). The Department of Information Systems (DISC) and Computing (DISC) is the largest department of its type in the UK, and arguably in Europe. The Department has achieved a recognised “international standing”. DISC was awarded the top rating in its area the last Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008) – for the last 12 years DISC has been the top Information Systems Department in the UK in terms of research power. The research group’s work is already making an impact on the EU at large and the National policies of member states, with recent high-profile projects in Education and Culture (Open Discovery Space, TEL-Map, e-START, OpenScout, ICOPER, BASE2, DialogoS+) now bring in additional international recognition and visibility.