From: Chris Taylor [chris.taylor@manchester.ac.uk]
Sent: 03 April 2006 01:34
To: Chris Taylor
Subject: CS_Newsletter_2006-04-03.doc

 

 

MANCHESTER

           1824

School of Computer Science

Weekly Newsletter

3rd April 2006

Contents

News from HoS

This Week

School Events

External Events

Funding Opps

Prize & Award Opps

Research Awards

Staff News

Vacancies

 

Links

Newsletter Archive

School Strategy

School Intranet

School Seminars

ESNW Seminars

NaCTeM Seminars

 

News from Head of School

Visit by the President                                                                                                       

The President, Vice President for Research and the Registrar & Secretary made one of their regular visits to the School last Monday.  They met several of our younger academics, including short presentations of some of their work, and also spent time visiting our Research Office, and Recruitment & External Affairs Office.  They also spent some time with key members of SLT, discussing progress towards 2015 and some of the important issues that currently face us.  The feedback we received on the visit was extremely positive.  Many thanks to everyone involved in making the event a success.

Office Moves                                                                                                                       

A series of office moves starts this week.  The trigger is a significant expansion in the activities of IMG, but this is being used as an opportunity to achieve improved geographical coherence within the Kilburn building for FM, IPG and IMG themselves.  We are extremely grateful to staff in CNC who have made this possible by agreeing to move lock-stock-and-barrel to the IT building, and to Hilary, who has done sterling work solving a highly constrained optimisation problem.

Research Away Days – Urgent

Some staff have not yet contacted the Research Office with details of their availability for the research retreat. This is the final reminder to please email the information to Anna Smethurst.

UMSA 2006 Quiz Winners

Congratulations to the Computer Science team of Lynn, Ruth and Lesley (ACSO), Marie (Finance), Andy (Robotics Group) and Gavin (AI Group), who beat 15 other teams to win the UMSA 2006 quiz last week.  They are pictured with their first prize of £100 and a bottle of champagne.

 

Events this Week                                                               top

SLT Meeting New                                                                                                 3 Apr 06

The main agenda item will be the Recruitment & External Affairs report presented by Bernard StruttAny additional items for the agenda to Lynn please.  A final version of the report will be presented to the School Board.

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                                                        top

CEEBL - Half day workshop for CS staff                                                   21 Apr 06

An opportunity for CS staff to learn about enquiry based learning.

1230 – 1700 (Lunch will be provided.)

Register by emailing Kath Mullins

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.

Research Retreat                                                                                       29-30 Jun 06

Palace Hotel, Buxton

Programme under development, input welcomed (email Ursula)

 

Future External Events                                                      top

Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-Based Learning                                    5 Apr 06

An update on CEEBL activities including:

·        results and plans of selected CEEBL funded projects;

·        Faculty initiatives from CEEBL Academic co-ordinators;

·        opportunity to talk to the CEEBL student interns;

·        EBL networks and events – a National and International perspective;

·        looking forward to 2006-07.

Limited to a maximum of 50 participants.

1300–1430, C24 Sackville Street Building (Lunch provided)

 More Information & Registration

EPS Faculty Meeting New                                                                                 6 Apr 06

All members of the Faculty are invited to attend an open meeting at which the Vice-President & Dean will present the Faculty Plan.  There will be an opportunity to ask questions of a panel consisting of the Dean and Associate Deans.

1400 – 1530, Lecture Theatre A, Roscoe Building, Brunswick Street.

E-assessment Event New                                                                                 6 Apr 06

Tim Wallace (Chemistry) and Michele Warren (Earth Sciences)

Talk on the very successful incorporation of WebCT quizzes into a first year course and the use and cunning modification of the WebCT coursework submission tool.

1200 – 1330, Whitworth Council Chamber (lunch provided)

More information

Grantsmanship Training Sessions                                                            6-7 Apr 06

Organised by Faculty, and run by EPSRC.

The last set of these were attended by some of our staff who found them very useful - especially the mock panel sessions. The courses are very popular, so if you would like to attend please put your name forward asap to avoid disappointment.  The courses are aimed at new staff (including young staff and recent appointments who are new to the UK) and established members of staff who have not had any recent interaction with the EPSRC, either as applicants, grant holders or referees/panel-members. Email louise.rogers@manchester.ac.uk

eProtein Scientific Meeting and Workshop                                         24-26 Apr 06

EMBL-EBI, Imperial College London (IC) and University College London (UCL), are delighted to invite you to attend a one-day scientific meeting on Protein and Genome Annotations on 24th April.  The meeting will be held on the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus at Hinxton and is funded by the UK Department of Trade and Industry, BBSRC and the BioSapiens EU Project. The aim of the meeting is to describe the current approaches, both technical and scientific, which will allow contributions and access to annotations from many different laboratories, based on GRID DAS technologies.  The meeting will be followed by a two-day practical workshop addressing the use and implementation of the systems designed by the eProtein partners.  All of the systems and results of the project are freely available for the academic community to access and use, or implement within your own lab.

More Information and Registration

Lunchtime Yoga Classes                                                                       Tues & Thurs

Karon Mee

People have been practicing yoga for over 3, 000 years. The benefits of practice can be experienced on many levels, physical and spiritual. A healthy spine, improvement to physical health and body awareness in general is experienced through asana (postures), while calmness of the mind and improved use of the respiratory system are effects of meditation and breath awareness.  Classes are non-competitive and suitable for all levels.  Do not eat at least an hour prior to class. UMSA members £1.50; non-UMSA £2.00 per class

1200 – 1300 Tuesdays, 1310 – 1400 Thursdays, Staff House

 

Funding Opportunities                                                       top

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 Society Research Grants                                                                     4 Apr 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

JISC ITT: Information Governance Gateway                                               6 Apr 06

The JISC invites tenders to design, implement, host and maintain an online gateway containing resources of relevance to both the public and practitioners regarding the HE sector’s compliance with information governance legislation.
Initial funding of up to £50,000 is available for stage 1 of the project for the detailed scoping and pilot development of the JISC Information Governance Gateway, inclusive of VAT, if applicable, and all travel and other expenses. The successful bidder will be expected to commence work on the research and design of the Gateway by no later than May 2006, to be completed no later than by the end of September 2006.

More Information

Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Awards                                      27 Apr 06

Jointly funded by the Wolfson Foundation and the Office of Science and Technology, this scheme aims to give universities additional support to attract key researchers, with great potential or outstanding achievement, to this country or to retain those who might seek to gain higher salaries elsewhere.  The focus of the award is salary enhancement. Research expenses are also considered for research costs not suitable for Research Councils research grants applications and for overseas applicants to support integration into the UK research and funding environment.

More Information

Wellcome Trust Equipment Grants                                                          Apr/May 06

The Wellcome Trust consider applications for multi-user items of equipment, including equipment required to create a central resource for a number of disparate scientific programmes.  The maximum amount awarded is £1 million. It is expected that applications will include a contribution from the university, or other source, proportional to the total request.  Applications for less than £10 000 will not normally be considered under this scheme. Small, project-dedicated items of equipment can, however, form part of a project, programme or fellowship application.

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

RAEng Global Research Awards                                                                        Open

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                                          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.

BCS Distinguished Dissertations                                                                10 Apr 06

The Conference of Professors and Heads of Computing (CPHC), in conjunction with the British Computer Society (BCS), annually selects for publication the best British PhD/DPhil dissertations in computer science.  The scheme aims to make more visible the significant contribution made by Britain - in particular by post-graduate students - to Computer Science.

More Information

IBM Unstructured Information Management Awards                             14 Apr 06

IBM is pleased to announce the 2006 Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA) Innovation Award program, an international award competition designed to encourage the use of open source and open standards-based tools for academic curricula and research.

More Information

Teaching Excellence Awards                                                                       18 Apr 06

The University has recently instituted "Teaching Excellence Awards", which focus on achievement in teaching (including learning support) and involve a grant of £5,000 to recipients for the further development of their teaching or their career.  If you believe you have a case to be considered for an award, please submit a statement of not more than five sides of A4 detailing your eligibility against the published criteria. Each Head of School has been asked to put forward one nomination only, so I will consult with the Heads of UG, PG and the Teaching Assessment Panel to select the strongest case. Nominations need to be with the Faculty by 28th April, so please get your case to Lynn by 18th April.

IBM Eclipse Innovation Award program 2006                                          28 Apr 06

IBM is pleased to announce the 2006 IBM Eclipse Innovation Award program, an international award competition designed to encourage the use of open source and open standards-based tools for academic curricula and research. Qualified faculty and researchers may submit proposals for work with applications in teaching, research or community building around Eclipse.

More Information

Renι Descartes Prizes                                                                                    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

The IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal                                                           1 Jul 06

The IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal was established by the Board of Directors in 1986 'for exceptional contributions to information sciences, systems and technology.' The award is named in honour of Dr. Richard W. Hamming, who has had a central role in the development of computer and computing science, and whose many significant contributions in the area of information science include his error-correcting codes.  Recipient selection is administered by the IEEE Medals Council through the IEEE Awards Board.  It may be presented to an individual or group, up to three in number.  The award consists of a gold medal, bronze replica, certificate, and honorarium.

More Information

The IEEE John von Neumann Medal                                                             1 Jul 06

The IEEE John von Neumann Medal was established by the Board of Directors in 1990 and may be presented annually 'for outstanding achievements in computer-related science and technology.' The achievements may be theoretical, technological, or entrepreneurial, and need not have been made immediately prior to the date of the award.  Recipient selection is administered through the IEEE Medals Council of the IEEE Awards Board.  It may be presented to an individual or group, up to two in number.  The award consists of a gold medal, bronze replica, certificate and honorarium.

More Information

 

Research Awards                                                               top

None this week

 

Staff News                                                                           top

Awards and Promotions

None this week

Academic Arrivals

None this week

Academic Departures

None this week

Research Arrivals

None this week

Research Departures

Adel Taweel - HBIG

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.

 

Vacancies                                                                            top

Academic Staff New

Chair in Computer Engineering

More Information

Chair in Computational Systems Biology

More Information

Teaching Fellowships in Computer Science

More Information

Career Development Fellowships

More Information

Research Staff

None

Administrative Staff

None