Biomedical Engineering is a discipline in which the techniques of engineering and quantitative sciences are applied to the solution of problems in medicine and biology. The applications include research and design of instrumentation and technologies to enhance health care. In addition, the discipline deals with the development of a quantitative understanding of the human body and other living systems, in engineering terms.

The Biomedical Engineering Research Group within the School of Electrical and Information Engineering offers a range of research options at postgraduate level.  The field of Biomedical Engineering is inherently multidisciplinary, and hence the research is usually undertaken in collaboration with other research groups and in some cases with other departments and institutions.

The group has been active in the fields of medical imaging, artificial intelligence and bioreactors. Some of the work has been done in collaboration with the School of Pathology and the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, as well as other research groups within the School of Electrical & Information Engineering.

The Centre for Systems and Control is a research group that resides within the School of Electrical and Information Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. The activities of the group range from classical control to modern linear and non-linear control. All aspects of systems and signals namely, modelling, synthesis, control analysis and design pertaining to linear and non-linear, time-invariant as well as time varying systems and signals form part of the focus.

The Electric Power Research Group (EPRG) is an on-going and well-established programme in the School of Electrical & Information whose mission is to contribute expert knowledge and skills in the fields of high voltage, lightning/EMC, computational electromagnetics and power system engineering. It aims to establish a sound base in research and teaching in the various associated disciplines and is committed to being a world key player in contributing expert knowledge. It views research and teaching in these disciplines as a critical ingredient to economic growth as well social well-being of the region.

This group researches systems and technologies that ensure adequate secure supply of clean electrical energy into the future. Access to energy, in conjunction with access to water is one of the biggest drivers of quality of life. Given the current environmental impact issues of traditional fossil fuel based energy, expanding access to energy in this direction is not an option.

The Software Engineering and Data Intensive Computing (SEDIC) Research Group has a number of current research interests including: software development methodologies, smart grids, big data and bioinformatics. The members also work closely with the Wits Institute of Data Science

The Center for Telecommunications Access and Services (CeTAS) has a long legacy of research. We perform research in a variety of interesting fields - please see our staff member interests below and contact them if you are interested in joing us. 

History

In 1997 Telkom set up its Centre of Excellence (COE) programme which had two objectives: to promote postgraduate research at South African Universities in areas that support the Telecommunications Sector and to develop some of the high-level skills needed in this sector.

The Wits University Center of Excellence, established in 1997 under the leadership of Prof Hu Hanrahan, defined its focus as "Telecommunications Access and Services". It was initially supported financially by Telkom, Vodacom, Nokia-Siemens, Telsaf Data and the DTI (via the THRIP programme). 

Over the last two and a half decades, the Wits CoE (now called CeTAS), has achieved an excellent research publication record, and has educated a significant number of students who have gone on to fill key positions in the South African and African telecommunications industry.