SOUTHAMPTON University has signed a multi-million-pound research agreement with defence giant BAE Systems and one of its joint venture companies, AMS Limited.

The deal marks the start of an important new strategic partnership twinning the university's research expertise with BAE's product development.

The partnership centres on a planned £3.5m integrated research programme into automated decision-making in complex environments.

The Distributed Data and Information Systems programme, which involves a network of leading academic groups across the globe, will be led by a team in the University's School of Electronics and Computer Science.

The partnership, which runs for a minimum of five years, will also evolve to deliver linked education and training courses, providing graduates with the skills needed for the future.

Professor Nick Jennings of the School of Electronics and Computer Science is the strategic partnership's academic director.

He said: "This is an exciting initiative bringing together a number of leading academic and industrial research groups to do both fundamental and application-inspired research in this highly challenging area.

"Industry needs increasingly sophisticated information systems that meet the requirements of the people using them.

Professor John Murphy of BAE Systems said: "We must sow seeds for our future capabilities. We recognise Southampton as having in-depth skills and the breadth of knowledge to pull together a global academic network."