News from Head of
School
Turing Lecture
Congratulations to all those involved in
organising the Manchester Turing Lecture, which we hosted last
Wednesday. The event, which was sponsored by BCS, IEE, and IBM, was
a great success, and provided us with an excellent opportunity to raise
the profile of both the School and the University. Chris Mairs
provided a fascinating insight into the not-always-positive impact of
technology on the disabled and sent us all away to think again. The
organisation was impeccable, with outstanding attention to detail.
Many thanks to Bernard and particularly to Mahalia for all their hard work
in making this a success, and to everyone else who contributed. We
know that the sponsors were also extremely pleased with the event, and
hope that this will help to establish Manchester as a permanent venue for the
lecture.
IBM Partnerships
You will probably remember a previous item about
the new UoM-IBM Partnership scheme, encouraging you to think about
submitting proposals by the deadline in early December.
Unfortunately, we only managed to secure one partnership in the first
round (congratulations to Kung-Kiu Lau), whereas Informatics was
successful with several. Given the importance we attach to
engagement with industry, this seems like a missed opportunity. The
partnerships do not carry any funding, but provide an opportunity to build
relationships that will inform our research and may lead to funding
opportunities in the future. The good news is that, now the initial
cohort of partners has been agreed, we can come forward with new proposals
at any time. Trevor Hopkins, our School contact at IBM, is happy to
discuss ideas at an early stage, and will help us find suitable partners
within IBM. If you have any ideas, please keep Steve Furber and Bernard Strutt in the
loop.
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
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School
Board
Wed 1 Feb 06
Any items for the agenda to Iain
Hart 1530-1700, IT407
Developing an Academic Portfolio
New
31 Jan 06
What is an
academic portfolio? Why do I need one? These are the sort of
questions that we shall try to answer at this lunchtime session, presented
by Bland Tomkinson (University Advisor for Pedagogic Development).
Portfolios are increasingly used by universities around the world, often
for the purposes of tenure and promotion, but they can also be used for
personal development. Are these two purposes compatible? The
short answer is 'Yes' but we can explore the ways in which to make it a
reality. Please book at least two days in advance (for catering
purposes) by emailing: eps-tsu@manchester.ac.uk
1200-1330,
Whitworth Council Chamber
More
information on this and other Teaching Support Unit
Events
BBSRC Open Meeting
2006
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
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
Royal Society Research Grants
New
4 April 06
The Research grants scheme
provides seed-corn funding for new projects of timeliness and promise
initiated by research scientists at an early stage of their career or by
established scientists wishing to change the direction of their
research. The objectives of the scheme are to increase the
availability of equipment and consumables for high quality
research.
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
UK National Science Week 2006 – Nominations New
17 Feb 06
Young researchers in science, engineering and
technology (SET) are invited to participate in the annual presentations in
the House of Commons that have been a feature of National Science Week
since 1999. Successful applicants present posters at Westminster on
"leading-edge" science, engineering, medicine and technology research, and
compete for prestigious national awards and prizes. This year’s
event is sponsored by Dr Brian Iddon MP. This is an opportunity to
strengthen your CV, whilst helping to communicate the importance and
excellence of UK SET to MPs and ministers. The event will take place
in the House of Commons on 13th March 2006 with separate
lunchtime and evening presentations.
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 |