Oceania Researchers in Cloud and Adaptive-systems (ORCA): Ohu Rangahau Kapua Aunoa

The Oceania Researchers in Cloud and Adaptive-systems (ORCA) lab–known as Ohu Rangahau Kapua Aunoa in Te Reo Māori–was formed in 2018 at the Department of Computer Science, University of Waikato. Its mission is to facilitate excellent research in the fields of Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing software systems focusing on Cloud, Language Runtime and Embedded Systems.

Self-Adaptive Software is an exciting new field merging ideas from traditional Software Engineering and Computer Systems, with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Control Theory, Data-Driven Control, Game Theory, etc. Its goal is to enable applications to satisfy dynamically changing requirements in a dynamically changing environment. Self-Organization studies how groups of potentially adaptive agents behave over time.

Our Team

The ORCA lab is currently led by Dr. Panos Patros, a Lecturer (equivalent to an Assistant Professor in North America) in Software Engineering. Panos completed his Master's and PhD in Computer Science, in collaboration with IBM, at the University of New Brunswick, Canada before moving to the Waikato.

Image Credit from Left to Right Back: Dr. Vimal Kumar, Professor Eibe Frank, Martin Van Zijl, Christopher Symon, Alex Lumsden, Stephen Burroughs, Daniel Wheeler, and Dr. Michael Mayo. Front: Neil Bradley, Alvin Yeo, Chris Anderson, Dr. Panos Patros, Dr. Abigail Koay, Alex Geary, Harry McCarthy

 

University of Waikato and the NZ Golden Triangle

ORCA is part of the University of Waikato, which is internationally famous in Computer Science and Software Engineering due to its cutting-edge research, software projects such as WEKA, MOA and WATERS, home of the first Cyber Security group and STRATUS, the largest Cyber Security research project in NZ, and being the first place providing Internet in New Zealand.

As such, the university has been recording a constant rise in world rankings over the last years and attracts great talent from both NZ and crucially, overseas. According to QS, the University of Waikato Ranks as the Best Research University in New Zealand and #72 in the world, as measured by the number of citations per faculty.

The University of Waikato has two Campuses: one in Hamilton and the other in Tauranga. Both are located in what is described as the Golden Triangle of NZ (the areas between Hamilton, Tauranga and Auckland), which is an area experiencing a tremendous growth both in terms of population and IT-oriented industries.

The ORCA lab currently operates in the Hamilton campus. Hamilton is a growing city of quarter million with all the expected amenities and centrally located in the heart of New Zealand's beautiful North Island. Attractions such as the Tongariro Crossing (Mount Doom), Mata Mata (Hobbiton), Raglan (surfing capital of the world), Lake Taupo (huge volcanic crater-lake) and Mount Maunganui (volcanic hill in Tauranga) are conveniently situated around Hamilton.

Software Products

Publications

Funded Projects

External Collaborators

Contact ORCA

UoA CS Building

Oceania Researchers in Cloud and Adaptive-systems

Department of Computer Science
University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240.