News from Head of
School
Retirement of Professor Barry
Middleton
This week sees the retirement of Barry Middleton,
following a long career in the University. Barry joined CS in 1999,
transferring from the Department of Electrical Engineering, where he had
spent many years. Barry and his group added considerably to our strength
in computer engineering and were central to obtaining £1.82M SRIF funding in 2001, to establish
a new Centre for Mesocience and Nanotechnology in the IT Building (jointly
with the Department of Physics). At a personal level, Barry has been
a delight to work with, and will be sorely missed though not too sorely
since, Im pleased to say, he intends to keep actively engaged with the
School. We all wish him the very best in his
retirement.
EPS Planning Conference
Last week saw individual
School plans brought together to form an overall EPS plan. This was
discussed at a Faculty Leadership Team (FLT) Planning Conference.
Academically, the Faculty seems to be progressing well towards its 2015
targets, but the financial projection for 2006/7 is not particularly
encouraging. If School plans are left unaltered, the Faculty will
accumulate an overall deficit of around £6m. This is probably more
than the University will think reasonable, even though we are being
encouraged to invest aggressively in the future. CS has the largest
projected deficit for 2006/7 of all the Schools in EPS, so we are likely
to come under intense pressure to reduce it, either by increasing our
income or by reducing expenditure. We believe we have been realistic in
our forecasts of student numbers and research income though we will, of
course, be doing everything we can to perform at a higher level than
forecast. Much of the 2006/7 expenditure is already committed, so we will
have to look very closely at whether any planned expenditure can be
deferred. In our School plan, we have made clear the need for the
University to support the School during a period when falling student
numbers are likely to lead to a shake-out of the UG market in our
discipline. I will argue strongly that it would be short-sighted in
the extreme to hold back on investment in a 5* School at a time when the
University is striving for excellence. The current version of the
School plan will be posted on the intranet later this
week.
Have a Good Break
Finally, I hope that you will all have an
enjoyable Christmas and New Year, and look forward to seeing you
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when the University opens
again.
Walking in a Semantic Wonderland
New
21 Dec 05
Sean Bechhofer, University of
Manchester 1400-1500, Atlas 1,
Kilburn Building More
Information
Academic Intellectual Property &
Commercialisation New
19 Jan 06
Corporate Intellectual
Property: What companies look for in I.P Collaboration with
Universities.. Seminar series
commissioned by UoM, MMU and Salford. 1030-1430, Room
G.16, Music & Drama
Building (Martin Harris Building). Email registration only please : Lorraine Joseph,
Seminars
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
School Christmas
Party
Tue 20 December
1500 onwards Staff Common
Room | |
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
Funding
Opportunities
top
Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences
New
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
Weizmann Institute Visiting
Professorships
31 Dec05
The Visiting
Professorships are available to suitable candidates from all countries.
They are intended for outstanding scientists from institutions of higher
learning and research institutions, who have achieved appropriate
recognition in their fields of activity and who hold the rank of Full
Professor (or an equivalent rank) in their home institutions. The
Visiting Professorships are awarded for a period of from two months to a
maximun of one year and provide financial remuneration in accordance with
the Weizmann Institute salary scale for visiting scientists. (The average
stay is three months.) Recipients are eligible for a round trip air fare
(at the cheapest direct commercial fare) for the awardee and spouse, and
rent-free housing.
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 New
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
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.
Roger Needham
Award
21 Dec 05
The Roger Needham Award, sponsored by Microsoft
Research, and established in memory of the late Roger Needham, is for a
distinguished research contribution in computer science by a UK based researcher within ten
years of their PhD. It consists of a £5000 prize together with an
opportunity to give a public lecture on their work.
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
Royal Academy of Engineering Global
Research Awards New
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
Project Title: Graphene Spintronic Devices
Funding Body: EPSRC PI: Ernie Hill Award Total:
£264436
Awards and Promotions
None this week
Academic Arrivals
None this week
Academic Departures
Professor Barry Middleton, retires after 19 years
in the University
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 Dec 06.
Academic Staff
None
Research Staff
None
Administrative Staff
None |