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1824 |
School
of Computer Science |
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Weekly Newsletter |
16 January 2012 |
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Contents |
News from Head of SchoolEPSRC visit 18th January Four of the EPSRC Senior Managers of the ICT theme will be visiting the School on Wednesday 18th January. There will be an open meeting at which EPSRC will be explaining their strategy, and the new requirement that the ‘importance’ of projects is explained in grant applications. We have to properly understand both of these in order to secure funding. There will then be themed meetings throughout the afternoon. The Open meeting will be 12:00 – 13:00 in Lecture Theatre 1.3 Kilburn Building, please try to attend. If there is anyone who wants to meet EPSRC to discuss potential funding in their area or grants that they are expecting to submit, there may still be possibilities in the afternoon, please contact Robert Stevens. EPSRC Fellowships – application deadlines approaching EPSRC have changed their approach to fellowships. Anybody who is in a strong position to apply for a fellowship is encouraged to read the EPSRC website carefully and then start work on a proposal. EPSRC’s fellowship website http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/fellows/Pages/default.aspx contains details of requirements and links to specific areas of interest for all Themes. Because of the changes in the EPSRC’s procedure, all Fellowship applicants must submit draft proposals to Faculty for advisory input and formal letters of support; this process will occur twice per year, and the next deadline for this internal submission is 3rd February 2012 (submissions to Vicky Holt, E: Victoria.holt@manchester.ac.uk, T: 65803). This is aligned with the expected date of an EPSRC fellowship panel. Computing in Schools You will be aware that there has been considerable activity last week over how computing is treated as a school subject. Michael Gove gave a speech on Wednesday reported in full here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/jan/11/digital-literacy-michael-gove-speech and on Friday a Royal Society Advisory Group led by Steve Furber issued a report on the subject: http://royalsociety.org/education/policy/computing-in-schools/ The School of already has a range of activities to support schools and to engage schoolchildren, and also a Schools Liaison Group led by David Rydeheard. This renewed debate about Computer Science education is a great opportunity for us to influence the policies and to further engage with schools to the benefit of all. Kilburn Heating Feasibility Study Faculty have agreed to fund a feasibility study of changes to the heating/air conditioning system in Kilburn Building. There is no commitment to fund any actual works or to fix any specific problems; the study will only determine what would be needed and what the cost would be. Once that is known the School will have to decide whether it wishes to go ahead with what might be very extensive and disruptive works, and would then to persuade the University to prioritise funding the work above all of its other Estates commitments. EventsPaying for Long-Term Digital Storage 30 Jan 12 David S. H. Rosenthal, Stanford University Libraries 11:00 - 12:00, Atlas 1&2, Kilburn Building. Abstract: Paper is a remarkably durable medium. Society has come to rely in many ways on the persistence of printed information. The rapid transition from paper to the Web carries with it the assumption that digital information will be similarly persistent. The LOCKSS (Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) program at Stanford has worked since 1998 on part of this problem, preserving e-journals. Experience shows that while there are technical problems in digital preservation, the biggest challenges are economic. No-one believes they can afford to store everything that needs to be stored with the care it deserves. But it is generally believed that the 3 decade history of exponential decrease in cost-per-byte of disk media will continue, making the problem eventually go away. Storage experts are casting doubt on the industry's ability to continue the price drops for even one more decade. The recent floods in Thailand caused disk prices to double. The talk will describe work in progress on an economic model of long-term digital storage aimed at answering questions like "how much will it cost to store this data forever?", "is cloud storage cost-effective?", "what is the effect of short spikes in disk costs?" and "can flash memory compete with disk for long-term storage?" The 28th British
Colloquium for Theoretical Computer Science (BCTCS 2012) 2-5
April 2012 The 28th British Colloquium for Theoretical Computer Science (BCTCS 2012) is hosted by the School from 2 to 5 April 2012. The purpose of BCTCS is to provide a forum in which researchers in theoretical computer science can meet, present research findings, and discuss developments in the field. It also aims to provide an environment in which PhD students can gain experience in presenting their work, and benefit from contact with established researchers. This year BCTCS is collocated with the 19th Automated Reasoning Workshop. http://bctcs2012.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ The 19th Automated Reasoning Workshop (ARW 2012) 2-4 April 2012 The 19th Automated Reasoning Workshop (ARW 2012) will take place in the School from 2 to 4 April 2012. The workshop provides an informal forum for the automated reasoning community to discuss recent work, new ideas and applications, and current trends. It aims to bring together researchers from all areas of automated reasoning in order to foster links and facilitate cross-fertilisation of ideas among researchers from various disciplines, from theoreticians, from implementers and from users of automated reasoning methodologies. This year the workshop is collocated with the 28th British Colloquium for Theoretical Computer Science. Funding OpportunitiesDorothy Hodgkin Fellowships 18 Jan 12 The Dorothy Hodgkin
Fellowship scheme supports excellent scientists and engineers at an early
stage of their career, and is designed to help them to progress to a
permanent position. It is aimed specifically at researchers who require a
flexible working pattern due to personal circumstances including
parental/caring responsibilities and health issues. Female candidates are
particularly invited to apply.
UK Biological Engagement Programme (UKBEP): Strengthening Biological Security 8 Mar 12 Call launch 18th January 2012, Central London, Call Closes Thursday 8th March 2012 Registration is only via the website http://www.science.mod.uk/events/event_detail.aspx?eventid=158.
Collaborative Scientific Engagement between UK and Overseas Laboratories to Strengthen Biological Security: through Effective Understanding and Control of Infectious Diseases.
The Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) is part of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (dstl) and is the Ministry of Defence’s gateway into defence research for UK science and technology for industry, academia and other innovators.
Both natural disease outbreaks and accidental or deliberate release of infectious agents are risks to global security. Infectious diseases remain a major cause of mortality and morbidity, and social and economic disruption for millions. New and emerging diseases expose global vulnerabilities, highlighting the need for investment in policies, infrastructure, education, and training for infectious disease specialists. The UK Biological Engagement Programme aims to reduce the risk of deliberate misuse of biological materials and expertise by fostering international scientific engagement, promoting best practice in biosecurity and biosafety, and building capability for effective understanding and control of the infectious disease threat.
The programme currently funds a variety of activities in support of these aims such as: · collaborative research projects that link UK experts from government and academia with scientists overseas; · training (including biosafety, biosecurity, veterinary & public health diagnostics and experimental design & analysis); · development of regional biosafety associations; · training and workshops in support of the aims of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.
This call invites proposals on any of the above areas of activity that link a UK institute with an overseas partner that is likely to be located in: the Former Soviet Union (particularly Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Ukraine and Tajikistan); the Middle East or North Africa. Projects will be led by the UK institute but must demonstrate significant benefit both to the programme’s aim of strengthening biological security and to the collaborating overseas partner. Preference will be given to proposals that address organisms that feature on the USA’s Select Agent List (http://www.selectagents.gov) and are of a duration of 6-12 months (with potential for extension).
The call for proposals will be launched at a seminar at the Royal Society of Medicine, One Wimpole Street, London on Wednesday 18th January 2012 (pm) and will close 1200 noon on Thursday 8th March 2012.
Registration is only via the website http://www.science.mod.uk/events/event_detail.aspx?eventid=158. Further information on CDE and our other research calls is available on www.science.mod.uk. MOD does not charge to attend CDE events. International Exchanges Scheme Various/rolling round Aim: This scheme
is for scientists in the UK who want to undertake a collaboration
with scientists overseas through either a one-off visit or bilateral travel.
Brian Mercer Feasibility Award 30 Aug 12/Rolling round Subjects Covered: Built environment, clean
technology, energy and nanoscience/nanotechnology.
One award in each round will be specifically in the general field of electrotechnology (including telecommunications and IT
systems), and this award is supported by the ERA Foundation.
REMINDER: Nominations
required for University Distinguished Achievement Awards The 2012 University Distinguished Achievement Awards process is underway. Awards will be made in the six categories listed below, please suggest names in any of the categories to one of the people listed before 20th January 2012. 1) Teacher of the Year suggestions to Steve Pettifer, Toby Howard, Graham Gough or Uli Sattler. 2) Researcher of the Year suggestions to Robert Stevens. 3) Undergraduate Student of the Year suggestions to Toby Howard or Graham Gough. 4) Postgraduate Student of the Year (this category is open to both PGR and PGT students) suggestions to Alvaro Fernades or Uli Sattler 5) Professional Support Services and Academic Services Members and Teams of the Year suggestions to Ursula Hayes. 6) Distinguished Achievement Award – General (any exceptional achievement or contribution not covered by one of the categories above) suggestions to Ursula Hayes or Jim Miles. |
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