Dr Joanna Leng discusses her role at the School of Computing at the University of Leeds, with a focus on Research Computing and Imaging
Dr Joanna Leng is funded by EPSRC on a RSE (Research Software Engineering) fellowship working on Research Computing and Imaging. The focus of the fellowship is Research Computing and Imaging and the reference is EP/R025819/1. This builds on her formal qualification as she have a BSc in Biophysics, a MSc in medical visualisation and a PhD in visualisation for solar physics which included both visualisation of simulation data and observational data. She has worked in environments that cross between academic and research computing services; while at the University of Manchester she worked for nearly 15 years in both an academic visualisation services and a national flagship HPC service. At the University of Leeds she has worked on local and regional HPC services for 4 years and for 2 years was a Research Fellow in Biomechanical Engineering.
Recently Dr Leng worked with Futurum to write an article and activity sheet based on her fellowship.
Dr Leng joined EPSRC’s e-Infrastructure Strategic Advisory Team (SAT) in 2020 and was voted into the position trustee of the Society of Research Software Engineering in autumn 2019 and served a 2 year term.
Dr Leng has 25 years’ experience as a software developer in C, C++, Java, python and scripting on both UNIX platforms and Windows PC using agile development methods. She is particularly accomplished at making 3D and stereographic applications look good. She has supervised and mentored staff and students since 1997, creating and managing teams of 1 to 6 in an agile management environment where flexibility and mentoring were important. A technical writer and presenter who has contributed to over 40 technical documents and over 10 research proposals, 8 training courses and seminars.
Dr Leng is a visualiser who has experience as a manager, researcher, educator and software developer with broad interests in visualization and computational science both its theory and its cross-disciplinary practices; application areas include physics, biology, medicine and engineering.
Research interests
Dr Leng is developing software for 7 imaging case studies, across 3 imaging modalities and across disciplines. She is partnered with Diamond Light Source (DLS) a national synchrotron facility, SuperSTEM an EPSRC national research facility for Advanced Electron Microscopy and the SCI (Scientific Computing and Imaging) Institute in Utah, USA.
The case studies that she is working on with Sven Schroeder use the DLS facilities and a type of spectroscopy called XANES (X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy). These are:
- Multi-phase and multi-component products;
- tomography of impurity and additive distributions in organic and inorganic crystals;
- imaging of the early stages of wear on orthopedic implants;
- and in situ fluid flow of in devices.
The case studies she is working on with Rik Drummond-Bryson use the SuperSTEM facilities and are:
- Nanostructure advanced alloys, compositor and surface engineered materials;
- functional thin fils and devices;
- and chemical catalysis.
Dr Leng is also working on a case study with Michelle Peckham using her super high resolution light microscope and is:
- Muti-dimensional imaging and cross-correlation methods.
Dr Leng has also worked with a sociologist, ethnographer and an expert in the social construction of science, Wes Sharrock, since 2001 while working on my PhD. They have studied the development and adoption of computers to academic research since that time. She is currently interest in the software development practices used in academic research and the environments that the developers work in.
Research projects
Research projects Dr Leng is currently working on are listed below.
Qualifications
- PG Cert in Innovation Management from the University of Leeds, UK in 2016.
- PhD; A Visualization Toolkit for Solar Physicists from the University of Manchester, UK in 2007.
- MSc; Volume Visualization of Third Trimester Placenta from the University of Manchester, UK in 1997.
Professional memberships
- Women in HPC
- Society of RSE
