News from Head of
School
CS-Informatics Review
As you all know, the details of the agreement
reached between EPS and Humanities, regarding the repositioning of the
School of
Informatics, were
published this week. I believe that what is proposed is in the best
long-term interests of the University, but it is clear that this view is
not shared currently by all those directly affected. A great deal of
hard work will be involved in reaching a successful outcome but, perhaps
more importantly, we will need to gain the trust of our colleagues in the
School of Information and Society, so that we can work together in a
constructive way to further the ambitions of both Schools. I met
with a group of academic staff from the School of
Informatics last
Thursday, and it is clear that some have anxieties that the University
will need to address. I will be meeting informally this week with
individuals from the School of Informatics, with a view to moving
the process forward.
Resit Exams
This year's resit examinations will take place
between Mon 21 Aug -Thurs 31 Aug inclusive. Timetables will be
published next week and the Exams Office will contact students with their
individual timetables. Students can also obtain this information on-line
through the Student Exams Portal. The CS Student Support Office will
contact academic staff to inform them of the time and date of their resit
exam, and to gather contact information in the event of any queries being
raised on the day. If you are NOT going to be available during this
period, please inform the Student Support Office and provide them with the
name of your nominated representative. I am aware, of course, that
the outcome of the UCU ballot is due to be published imminently, and that
this could result in a resumption of industrial action. That is a
bridge we will have to cross if and when we reach it.
Headstart Visit to the
School
On Tuesday a group of 40 Year 12 students visited
the School as part of the Royal Academy of Engineering Headstart
Programme, a residential event for pupils interested in studying for a
career in Science, Engineering or Technology. The students took part in
two workshops introducing Linux and assembly language (MU0), both of which
were very well received. Many thanks to Pete
Jinks and John Latham for running the workshops, and to
the numerous demonstrators who helped out on the day. The School is
planning a significant increase in activities with local Schools from
September, so if you are interested in helping out please contact Bernard
Strutt. Please note that we will be allocating
full admin load credit to these outreach activities, so that those who
volunteer will not be disadvantaged.
Media Success
The Faculty Press Officer has been working with
the School on two press releases and has also arranged some radio
coverage. The article 'Scientists build brain box computer' can be viewed
here
and has so far been picked up by Computing, MEN (featured 13 Jul 06 article),
BBC Radio Manchester, Electronics Weekly, VNUnet.com, The Engineer and Dr
Dobb's. Steve Furber was
interviewed on GMR radio about the article on Fri 14 July. GMR also asked
me to give an interview on Friday, covering the breadth of work in CS, for
inclusion in a three part series on technology in Manchester, due to
be screened in the autumn. A press release on the use of Virtual Reality
in telepathy experiments is due to be released today. We are keen to
keep up the momentum, so we are looking for other interesting stories for
the media, based on our current research. The External Affairs Office will
shortly circulate advice on what the press office believe makes a good
news story. For further information please contact Bernard
Strutt
School Website
After a long wait we have finally received the web
page templates from Faculty and have started to develop the new website
for the School. The website steering group met on the 15 June and
discussed the structure and content of the site, which is under
construction alongside our existing site. The priority at this first
stage of development will be to get the main external facing areas of the
site up and running by September, including the UG, PG, Our Research,
Business (formerly Industry), International, News & Events, Schools
and About Us sections. The staff and current student pages
(intranet) will be developed in a second phase – after September. In the
meantime these pages will retain the old look and feel and run alongside
the new site. Once we have the test site at a reasonable stage of
development, and have managed to iron out most of the snags, we will ask
for comments. For more information please contact Mahalia
Rimmer.
Reminder to Update Database for RAE08
The deadline to update the database for RAE08 has
now passed. Thanks to those of you who have completed your
updates. For those who asked for more time (and those who didn't ask
but evidently need it), this is to remind you of the need to deal with the
requested updates URGENTLY. As highlighted by Nancy Rothwell at the
recent meeting of the School Board, the 100 word comments on each output
are crucial to the assessment, and it is impossible for the Research
Office to generate these on your behalf. If you are finding it
difficult to follow the detailed guidelines in John Gurd’s original e-mail
about what the panel is looking for in these comments (see link on the
webpages showing each of your chosen RAE outputs), then please do the best
you can. We plan to review all your attempts internally, identify
best practice, and provided both general and individual
feedback.
Events this
Week
top
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.
Future School
Events
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No announcements this week.
Future
External
Events
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CLASS (Clerical and Secretarial Support)
Network
30 Jul 06
One Day Conference giving staff the opportunity to
attend a range of personal and professional development sessions and the
chance to network with colleagues from across the University.
More
Information and Registration
Interdisciplinary Summer School on Complex
Systems
20 – 29 Aug 06
From Individual to Collective
Behaviour in Large-Scale Complex Systems
Organised by the Schools of Computer Science,
Mathematics and Physics
St.
Martin's College,
Ambleside.
More
Information
Lunchtime Yoga Classes – Karon
Mee
Every Tues
1200 – 1300 Tues, Staff House
UMSA members £1.50; non-UMSA £2.00 per
class
Funding
Opportunities
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RAEng Industrial Secondment
Scheme
Open
An opportunity for university lecturers in
engineering to gain state-of-the-art industrial
experience.
More
Information
BBSRC International Scientific Interchange Scheme
(ISIS)
Open
To help scientists make and establish new contacts
with their international counterparts.
More
Information
RAEng Global Research
Awards
Open
Projects in centres of excellence overseas
focussing on stimulating wealth creation and improvements in the quality
of life.
More
Information
EPSRC Engineering Visits New
Open
Support for salary costs and travel subsistence
for scientists and engineers of acknowledged standing, either from within
the UK or abroad, to visit the
investigator's organisation. Applications must be made by the host
organisation in the UK to which, if the proposal is
successful, the grant will be made. Funding is limited to 12 months
per individual.
More
Information
The Leverhulme Trust - Research Leadership
Awards
21 Jul 06
Aimed at those who are confronted with the task of
building a research team of sufficient scale to tackle an identified but
distinctive research objective. The Trust is limiting the number of
applications to one from each university. If interested in being
considered by the University's Research Group, please send a 1 page
outline of the case to the Associate Dean for Research, Professor
Helen Gleeson by Friday 21 July.
More
Information
Royal Society Short Visits from the UK
1 Sep 06
The key objectives of short visits are to initiate
one-to-one collaborations, explore opportunities to build lasting networks
and gain access to complementary equipment, data observations and ideas.
More
Information
Royal Society Conference
Grants
1 Sep 06
The Conference grants scheme supports
UK based scientists to either
present their own paper/poster or chair a session at an overseas
conference.
More
Information
Royal Society Research Professorships
New
8 Sep 06
Research Professorships provide 10-15 years
support for internationally recognised scientists of outstanding
achievement and promise. Applications are particularly welcomed from
scientists currently resident outside the UK and who wish to
return.
More
information
EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowships
26 Sep 06
For talented young researchers, shortly or
immediately after completing a PhD.
More
Information
ESF Research Networking Programmes
New
30 Oct 06
2006 Call for
Proposals
An ESF Research Networking Programme is a
networking activity bringing together nationally funded research
activities for four to five years, to address a major scientific issue or
a science-driven topic of research infrastructure, at the European level
with the aim of advancing the frontiers of science. A successful
Programme proposal must show high scientific quality and also demonstrate
added value by being carried out at a European level rather than by
individual research groups at the national level.
More
Information
Royal Society Research
Grants
1 Nov 06
Seed corn funding for new projects. For research
scientists at an early stage of their career or established scientists
wishing to change the direction of their research.
More
Information
Royal Society
University
Research Fellowships
2007
1 Nov 06
The timetable for the Royal Society
University Research Fellowships (URF) 2007 has been brought
forward. The Scheme will open on Monday 26 June 2006.
More
Information
Prize and
Award
Opportunities
top
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.
ACM Grace Murray Hopper
Award
31 Oct 06
A prize of $15,000 awarded to the outstanding
young computer professional of the year. More
Information
Research
Awards
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None this week
Staff
News
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Awards and Promotions
Prof Chris Taylor, elected Fellow of the Royal
Academy of Engineering
Academic Arrivals
None this week
Academic Departures
None this week
Research Arrivals
None this week
Research Departures
None this week
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 06 – Dec 06.
Vacancies
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Academic Staff
None
Research Staff
None
Academic-Related Staff
None
Administrative Staff
None
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