Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, will take up the Computer Science chair at the University of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science.

"We are delighted that Tim has accepted this appointment," said Professor Wendy Hall, head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science.

"Many of the staff have worked with him on the development of the World Wide Web over many years, and we are now closely involved with the evolution of the semantic web, which is Tim's vision for the future of the web."

The semantic web is described by Berners-Lee as "an extension of the current web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in co-operation".

It aims to provide a common framework which allows data to be shared and reused across applications, enterprises and community boundaries.

The semantic web is a collaborative effort led by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) with participation from a large number of researchers and industrial partners.

In 1996 the University of Southampton was the first university to award Berners-Lee an honorary degree in recognition of his role in developing the World Wide Web. In 2003 he was awarded a knighthood for his pioneering work on global communications.

Berners-Lee will hold this latest position alongside his current appointments as senior research scientist at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and director of the W3C.