The Informatics Teaching Laboratory is the primary teaching space for all computer science students and is exclusively accessible to students within the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science.
The Informatics Laboratory (ITL) is currently undergoing a £25 million refurbishment. Students use the lab to study, work on coursework and assignments, engage in group projects, and conduct extracurricular experiments.
The project will create an additional 160 student workspaces and aligns with the University's 2030 strategy which focuses on investing in Queen Mary’s infrastructure to enhance the student experience. The development will add two new floors to the existing three, modernising the building and its facilities throughout. It will also redesign the teaching labs and incorporate new collaboration spaces, providing students with more areas for group work and other collaborative activities.
While the refurbishment is underway, ITL facilities have been relocated to the Temporary Building in Graduate Square on the Mile End Campus. Measures have been taken to ensure teaching remains unaffected, and students continue to have access to the same facilities and quality of education. The building work is on track to be completed by early 2026.
Our rolling replacement programme ensures that we maintain a high-quality, modern computing provision with over 300 fully networked multimedia workstations, which run both the Linux and Windows operating systems. Network ports are also provided for students choosing to use their own laptops for practical work. In addition, a wireless network covers all areas of the School. A high quality printing service is provided by laser printers on each floor and in each lab.
Students have access to a wide range of industry-standard software, including a variety of integrated software development environments, database management systems and web servers. A variety of specialised equipment and software is also available for course and project work.
The various labs are open seven days a week, generally between 8am and midnight. During supervised laboratory sessions some areas may be reserved for use by individual courses. Access is under security card control. Students can also gain remote access to the School’s computing facilities 24-hours-a-day.