THE Millennium Bug may have failed to bite but making sure computer systems don't go wrong is the subject of an £8.2 million research project involving Lancaster University.

All aspects of reliability, safety and security of computer systems will be explored and at Lancaster, where the share of the award is £1.4million, experts will be part of a team that is looking at the risks involved with complex medical systems and how to design these systems so that patients are not harmed and their records are kept secure.

They will also be looking at ways of ensuring that e-commerce systems will always be able to deliver services to customers quickly and reliably.

Professor Ian Sommerville, leader of the project at Bailrigg, says that the answer is not complete automation but flexible systems where people and computers work together so that service can always be maintained and risks are reduced. He said: "At Lancaster the computing department has been working closely with colleagues from sociology to understand how teams use computer systems and how computer systems designers should take social factors into account in their design. Developing a better understanding of the relationships between people and the ways in which they use computers is essential if we are to build systems that society will depend on."

The award was made by the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) over 6 years.

The university received further good news this week with five campus trade unions making the first successful bid to the Union Learning Fund for £27K to carry out research into the learning needs of university employees.

The Union Learning Fund was set up by David Blunkett to encourage unions to promote the benefits of lifelong learning in the workplace. The bid, led by Lancaster AUT in collaboration with the other union branches and the university's Higher Education Development Centre.