News from Head of
School
Support Staff Away Day
As you know, there was an away day for support
staff last week. Roger and I spent some time at the event and from
what we saw, and the feedback we have received, it seems to have been very
successful. It was encouraging to find that staff morale is still
generally high, despite Unity, HERA and everything else that has been
thrown at us over the past couple of years. Many thanks to all of
you who gave up some of your own time and joined in so wholeheartedly –
though it comes as no surprise that our staff are prepared to contribute
beyond the call of duty. The role of support staff will be critical
in achieving the School’s 2015 goals and it is important that we value
their contribution and invest in the personal development of all the
individuals concerned. I hope we can also have fun, and was pleased
to see that the away day involved plenty of that too.
BCS/IEE Accreditation Visit
The joint BCS/IEE accreditation visit is a key
event for the School, since the ‘kite mark’ of these professional bodies
is an important attraction for some potential students, and is one of the
ways we can differentiate our programmes from the competition. The
visit will take place on the 18-19 May, and preparations are now well
under way under Ian Watson’s watchful eye. One key component of our
submission is a set of mini-CVs for all our academic staff. Draft
versions have been sent out and it would be very helpful if you could
correct and return yours as soon as possible.
Manchester Turing Lecture
A reminder that the Manchester Turing Lecture
takes place next week. I believe that places are still available,
but it is essential to register. This should be an enjoyable event,
but it is also important that we have a good turn-out, so can I encourage
any of you who have not yet done so to sign up.
JeS Applications and fEC costings – Important
Information
There are a couple of
important issues with research proposals submitted through the JeS system
and with fEC costings that the Research Office would like to bring to your
attention.
First, if you are putting
together a research council proposal, please can you ask the Research
Office to create the JeS form for you. The reason for this is that it is
important to choose the right type of form; if you do it yourself and
choose the wrong form, the already hard-pressed Research Office staff have
to re-input everything, having created the correct one. This has happened
more than once recently. As soon as the form has been created and
you have been listed as an investigator, you will automatically get an
email notifying you of its existence, and you will then be able to log
into JeS to edit it directly.
Second, under fEC we have
to cost for investigator time. We have an algorithm (which is driven by a
number of factors, but includes a variable for the amount for direct
research input you will have to a project). The School has had to choose a
method for calculating PI time, so that if we are audited, we have some
justification for the costs we have included. Unfortunately, this means
that it is not possible for another School, or another Faculty, to
calculate our staff costs. If you have a project with another
school, please let us know at an early stage.
This is also important,
as different Schools across the University have different estates rates,
and the academic and RA staff time drive these costs.
The School Seminar
Series resumes on the 8th
Feb
Regular Seminar Series
See links in
contents bar for information on seminar series organised by the School of
CS, E-Science North
West and National Centre for Text Mining.
Internal Meetings and
Events
top
None this week.
Manchester Turing
Lecture
25 Jan 06
Lifestyle access for the
disabled – adding positive drift to the random walk with technology.
Chris Mairs, Data
Connection.
Registration necessary. More
Information
EPSRC Public Engagement
Workshops
8 Feb & 9 Mar 06
Introducing PE to ‘virgins’ and passing on best
practice. Space limited.
More information and
registration.
Genomes to Systems
Conference
22-24 Mar 06
An important conference concerning the latest
concepts and breakthroughs in genomics and systems biology.
Discounted registration before 31 Dec 05
More
Information
BCS/IEE Accreditation Visit
New
18-19 May 06
Those who will definitely need to be involved
should already know and have these dates in their diaries, but could all
staff involved in teaching please note the dates and try to ensure they
will be available if required.
Funding
Opportunities
top
Data & Content Storage, Management, Retrieval
& Analysis New 31 Jan 06
Funding is available from the DTI to support
Collaborative Research and Development projects that address innovations
in the systems issues associated with the management, storage, retrieval,
presentation and interpretation of high volumes of data, to help mitigate
the technical risks and uncertainties associated with the development of
new information storage technologies.
More
Information
Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical
Sciences
31 Jan 06
Call for Proposals. The Isaac Newton
Institute for Mathematical Sciences is a national research institute in
Cambridge.
It aims to bring mathematical scientists from UK universities and leading
experts from overseas together for concentrated research on specialised
topics in all branches of the mathematical sciences from pure mathematics,
applied mathematics, and statistics, to engineering, computer science,
theoretical physics and mathematical biology. The Institute now
invites new proposals for programmes for 2008 onwards.
More
Information
BBSRC International Scientific Interchange Scheme
(ISIS)
Open
BBSRC's International Scientific Interchange
Scheme (ISIS) provides support to help scientists make and establish new
contacts with their international counterparts. Funding is available to
BBSRC grantholders, and researchers working on BBSRC-supported projects at
BBSRC-sponsored Institutes for travel and subsistence for three main types
of visit. The scheme is open to bids at any time (at least 6 weeks before
travel) with payments being made in advance of any visits. Please note
BBSRC-supported students are not eligible to travel under ISIS support.
More
Information
EPSRC Senior
Media
Fellowships
26 Jan 06
The Public Engagement Programme invites
applications for Senior Media Fellowships. These enable leading
researchers to devote time to develop a higher media profile. The aim is
to advance public engagement with the physical sciences, mathematics and
engineering via the broadcast and written media. Senior Media Fellowships
are intended to be used for active development of media opportunities (not
research, scholarship or teaching).
More
Information
Royal Commission Research
Fellowships
23 Feb 06
The scheme of 1851 Research Fellowships is
intended to give a few young scientists or engineers of exceptional
promise the opportunity for conducting research for a further period of
two years. Approximately six awards are made each year. Candidates in
science subjects must normally be in possession of a PhD degree, or in the
final stages of their PhD studies.
The Fellowships are open to
candidates in any of the physical or biological sciences, in mathematics,
in applied science, or in any branch of engineering.
More
Information
RAEng
Industrial Secondment
Scheme
Open
The Industrial Secondment Scheme provides an
invaluable opportunity for university lecturers in engineering to gain
state-of-the-art industrial experience.
Applicable to engineers of all
disciplines, the Scheme's objective is to enable the secondees to impart
the fruits of this experience to their students through teaching, through
case studies using up-to-date material and, in the longer term, through
course design. The benefits also accrue to the host organisation which
gains a temporary but highly qualified member of staff, and to the
university which has the opportunity of strengthening its links with
industry. The Scheme provides funding for the university to employ a
temporary replacement for the secondee. In this way it minimises the
effects on the normal flow of teaching, and makes it easier for
universities to release members of staff for secondment. The Scheme has
also been well received by industry, and many organisations have indicated
a willingness to offer places to engineering academics: where possible The
Royal Academy of Engineering helps in the 'matchmaking
process'.
More
Information
Royal Academy of Engineering Global
Research Awards
Global Research Awards provide an opportunity for
engineers currently engaged in research and development to undertake
projects in centres of excellence overseas. Projects should focus on
activities which could help stimulate wealth creation and improvements in
the quality of life, supporting the international development of research
networks and encouraging the uptake of globally competitive technology in
the UK.
More
Information
Prize and
Award
Opportunities
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We have acknowledged the need to raise the profile
of the School both nationally and internationally. Nominating
individuals for awards, and working actively with others to ensure that
deserving individuals are nominated is one way of doing
that.
MacRobert Award for innovation in engineering
New
31 Jan 06
The Award, first presented in 1969, honours the
winner company with a gold medal and the team members with a prize of
£50,000. The presentation of the Award recognises the successful
development of innovative ideas in engineering. It seeks to demonstrate
the importance of engineering and the role of engineers and scientists in
contributing to national prosperity and international
prestige.
More
Information
IEEE Internet
Award
31 Jan 06
The IEEE Internet Award was established by the
IEEE Board of Directors in June of 1999. It is presented annually for
exceptional contributions to the advancement of Internet technology for
network architecture, mobility and/or end-use applications. This award can
be given to an individual or team of up to three.
More
Information
The IEEE Koji Kobayashi
Award
31 Jan 06
The IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and
Communications Award was established by the IEEE Board of Directors in
1986 for outstanding contributions to the integration of computers and
communications. This award can be given to an individual, multiple
recipients, or a team.
More
Information
The IEEE Emanuel R Piore
Award
31 Jan 06
The IEEE Emanuel R. Piore award is presented
annually to an individual, or team of two individuals, for outstanding
contributions in the field of information processing, in relation to
computer science, deemed to have contributed significantly to the
advancement of science and to the betterment of society.
More
Information
René
Descartes Prizes 2006 New
4 May 06
The European Commission is inviting proposals
under its framework 6 science and society programme for Rene Descartes
prizes. These are to recognise excellence in research and science
communication. Prizes for research will be at least 200000 euros each, and
projects must include legal entities from 2 different member or associated
states, and include at least one member state or associated candidate
country.
More
Information
None this week
Awards and Promotions
None this week
Academic Arrivals
None this week
Academic Departures
None this week
Research Arrivals
None this week
Research Departures
Giovanni Cusinu - APT
Administrative Arrivals
None this week
Administrative Departures
None this week
Sabbatical Leave
Andrei
Voronkov: Microsoft Research, Redmond USA
Aug 05 – Aug
06.
Ian
Horrocks: University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bell Labs, and Stanford University
Feb 06 – Sep
06.
Peter
Aczel: Nijmegen University, and Maths Institute at the
University
of Munich
Jan 06 –
Sep 06.
Alasdair
Rawsthorne: 80% secondment to
Transitive Technologies
Oct 05 – Sep 06.
Alvaro
Fernandes: IBM Almaden Research Centre
US
Jul – Dec 06.
Academic Staff
None
Research Staff
None
Administrative Staff
None |