News from Head of
School
Review of Faculty
Administration
This is an appropriate point at which to give you
an update on the root and branch review of administration that Faculty has
been undertaking. For the past few months three working groups have
been examining key ‘business processes’, with a view to simplifying how
they are organised. Several members of our administrative staff have
made a significant contribution to this process, and draft reports from
the working groups were presented last week to a meeting of the Faculty
Administration Leadership Team (FALT). Although there is still some
way to go, the general principle has been accepted of delegating more
authority to Schools, where that will lead to improvements in
efficiency. The draft reports propose significant simplifications to
processes, and envisage a net devolution of administrative resource from
the Faculty centre to schools. There is still an active debate as to
whether the changes envisaged are as radical as the situation requires,
but at least there is movement in the right direction. As chair of
the group that conducted the top-down phase of the review, I am likely to
be asked to report to the Faculty Leadership Team (FLT) on the extent to
which the proposed implementation plan is likely to achieve the original
objectives of the review. The aim is for a proposal to come from
FALT to the next FLT, with a view to making changes in the very near
future. I support the idea that change is urgently required but, at
the same time, will argue strongly that we need to ensure that the
resource implications of doing things professionally are looked at
realistically. It is clear that, as a Faculty, we need to prioritise
the deployment of administrative support in those areas that are key to
achieving our long-term goals.
RAE Action Plans
The professors met last week to discuss any action
we should take in the light of the outcome of the external review.
We agreed that, given there is still time to improve our RAE 2008
submission, we should ask every member of the School to prepare an action
plan identifying the key steps they will take during the next 12 months to
improve their personal return. This is likely to revolve primarily
around publications, though we would also like everyone to think about
other ways of improving impact/esteem. We need to complete this
exercise by the end of January, since the window of opportunity to improve
our RAE return is very limited. Detailed guidance will be circulated
shortly, but in the meantime, could all RAE-returnable staff (academic
staff and independent researchers) start to put together a simple action
plan, and could all research groups discuss their tactics
internally. If everyone could move up by half a grade overall
(before rounding), that would make a huge difference to our
return.
PDR Interviews
There seems to be some confusion regarding
performance and development reviews (PDRs). After a lengthy
gestation period, the University asked for reviews to be completed for
all staff by December
2005. We argued that this was impractical and have undertaken to
complete this first round of reviews by the end of April 2006. Although we
have developed a fully electronic system for dealing with the
documentation, there are currently concerns regarding confidentiality, so
we will have to use a paper based system for this round. The Plan
for future reviews is to revert to our established scheme of conducting
the review during the month of the reviewee's birthday, so reviewers may
wish to take this into account in deciding the order in which to undertake
their reviews. Everyone should have received information about who
they need to review and who will review them. If you are in any
doubt, please contact Lynn. Could all reviewer-reviewee
pairs please agree an interview date as soon as possible, and forward the
information to Lynn so that she can keep track
progress. You should then download the forms from
http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ACSO/documents.php
and agree whether you wish to complete them electronically or
print out blank forms and complete them by
hand. Details of teaching/admin loads and publications are available
online.
Loads: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ACSO/staffLoads/
Publications: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/Research_subweb/publicat.php
The School Seminar
Series resumes on the 8th
Feb
Faster Real-World CAE
Solutions New
27 Jan
06
Faster
Real-World CAE Solutions - Using Integrated Knowledge-Based Systems
Dr Ian McLuckie, Advanced
Integrated
Engineering Solutions
1400-1500. Room 1.10, Kilburn Building (ESNW Access Grid)
More
Information
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
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School Leadership Team
Meeting
23 Jan 06
1415-1600, Atlas 1
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
BBSRC Open Meeting 2006 New
20 Feb 06
At
BBSRC's second Open Meeting, facilitated by Nick
Ross, Julia Goodfellow will invite discussion on the
Council’s current and future scientific priorities, and views on how best
it can work with industry. Questions will also be welcomed on any aspect
of BBSRC’s policies, either raised on the day, or submitted in advance to
maggie.leggett@bbsrc.ac.uk.
Entrance free but tickets required.
1600-1830, Manchester
Town
Hall, tickets from
diane.sly@bbsrc.ac.uk
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
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
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Data & Content Storage, Management, Retrieval
&
Analysis
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
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
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
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 |