News from Head of
School
League Tables
Most of you will have seen the very disappointing
result for the School in the Guardian Higher Education League
Tables. There are two distinct problems: we are listed under tariff
band 5, and our overall score is not particularly good. Of these,
the first is probably the most important – it tells the most able
students, who expect to gain A-level grades that would place them in
tariff band 6, not even to consider Manchester. Eleven of our key
competitors are recommended to students in band 6. Our overall score
conspires to make matters worse. We are currently trying to get to
the bottom of exactly what happened but, to a first approximation, the
answer is simple: we were lumped in with the School of
Informatics.
Their lower offer level will have pulled down the overall entry standard –
hence the tariff band 5 designation. The two dominant factors in the
overall score (accounting for 40% of the total) are A-level score at
entry, and student:staff ratio. The former is a double whammy,
because being grouped with Informatics again pulls down our score to below
that of our competitors. As regards the latter, our score is
comparable to those of most of our competitors but, on our own, we would
probably have scored better than most. There are one or two other
difficult to explain scores (eg spend per student), but these are less
significant. Overall, this fiasco emphasises the importance to the
School of the outcome of the current review of Informatics. Most of
the problems will be addressed if the recommendations of the
Implementation Group are accepted (we should hear soon).
Undergraduate Teamworking
Awards
Congratulations to the CS team who finished in the
top four in the University Undergraduate Teamworking Awards. The
competition involves teams from across the University and making it to the
final shortlist was a significant achievement. Thanks also to the
members of staff who supported the team.
National/International Student
Awards
As you know, I am keen that we should do
everything we can to raise the profile of the School, particularly in ways
that might attract outstanding students (despite our league table
position). I have come across a number of relevant national and
international competitions for students, but we do not seem to have made a
point in the past of actively pursuing these. This is a pity, since
success in such competitions is potentially good for both the students and
the School. Two examples are http://www.setawards.org/index.vc
and www.imaginecup.co.uk. Toby Howard has agreed to take on the role of promoting
participation in such events (for which many thanks). We would both
be keen to receive details of any relevant competitions you come
across.
Events this
Week
top
Learning and context in spoken dialogue systems
10 May 06
Recent results from the TALK
project
Dr Oliver Lemon, University of
Edinburgh
1415 – 1515, Lecture Theatre 1.5, Kilburn Building
More
Information
Finite satisfiability for the guarded two-variable
fragment
11 May 06
The finite satisfiability
problem for the guarded two-variable fragment with counting is in
EXPTIME
Dr Ian Pratt-Hartmann, School of
Computer Science, UoM
Room G.16, Newman Building (time not available at
time of writing)
More
Information (though not
posted at time of writing)
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
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BCS/IEE Accreditation
Visit
17-18 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. PLEASE NOTE there was a misunderstanding
over dates and this was originally advertised as taking place on the 18 –
19 May.
Requirements
and Technologies for
Provenance
23 May 06
ENSW technical meeting. Volunteers required
to give 10-15 min presentations.
1400 – 1700, Atlas 1
Email Dean Kuo or visit wiki
Research
Retreat
29-30 Jun 06
Palace Hotel, Buxton
Programme under
development, input welcomed (email
Ursula)
School UG Graduation
Party
5 Jul 06
We will (hopefully) be
celebrating the graduation of our UG students
1430 – 1530, prize-giving
1445, graduation ceremony 1645.
Future External
Events
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OPEN MEETING ON
eLEARNING
10 May 06
You are invited to an Open Meeting on eLearning at
which Professor Bob Munn, Vice-President for Teaching and Learning, will
make a brief presentation and respond to questions about current
initiatives to enhance e-learning. Full
details
Building the Business Infrastructure for the 21st
Century
11 May 06
North West Grid Seminar hosted by the Advanced
Internet Methods and Emergent Systems (AIMES) Centre, Liverpool.
0930 – 1230, AIMES Centre, 10 Duke
Street, Liverpool
More
Information and Registration
Metamorphosis – Induction
Issues
11 May 06
So how can we encourage students to use the
academic and non-academic support systems that are available so that they
will achieve their full potential? What additional support
strategies need to be put in place? A range of speakers will
consider the development of student support strategies – particularly
induction programmes – from a student perspective, discuss the issues that
need to be addressed, and what the student satisfaction survey can tell
us.
1200 – 1330 (lunch included),CEU Suite, 4th Floor,
Simon
Building
Email to book (for catering purposes) at least two days in
advance.
HL7 Clinical Genomics Family History Specification
New
15 May 06
Amnon Shabo (Shvo), Ph.D, IBM Research, Haifa
Amnon is Co-Chair of the HL7 SIG and Co-Editor of
the Clinical Document Architecture developed by the Structured Documents
Technical Committee. HL7 is the computer coding system used to
exchange information between medical software systems - it is the coding
that has been chosen for messaging in the NHS Connecting for Health
systems. The SIG is tackling one of the main concerns of genetics
health care professionals looking at clinical coding systems – their
inability to represent both genetic data about people, and family data
such as the patient's pedigree (family tree) and family history of
disease.
1100, NoWGEN
building, Grafton Street, Manchester, M13
9WU
Email Andrew Devereau for more
information.
E-learning for the Physical Sciences
New
16 May 06
Guest speakers from the Universities of Hull,
Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester
Organised by TSU and the HEA Physical Sciences
subject centre.
On line-testing; use WebCT or build your own
system; principles of e-learning design; teaching students on work
placement.
1200 – 1400, 7.27 & 7.28, Chemistry
Building, Brunswick St
(lunch from 11.45)
Email Sue King to reserve a
place
TRDN Annual
Symposium
23 May 06
Manchester: a learning
community?
Alison Johns, Head of Leadership, Governance and
Management, HEFCE
In addition to the keynote address, there will be
sessions dealing with the University as a community, and with its
relationships with the wider community both locally and
nationally/internationally. Posters are invited on the theme of
'community' or on wider educational issues.
1000 – 1500, Hulme Hall
Email Veronique Rizzuto to
book or offer a poster
EPSRC Regional Academic
Seminars
26 May & 14 June 06
Presentation by Professor John O'Reilly, Chief
Executive of EPSRC, Question and Answer session, session on Peer Review
and the grant application process. At the Manchester event,
there will also be a session on opportunities for interaction between
industry, academia and other organisations.
26 May 2006 London: The Royal Society (register by
18th May)
14 June 2006 Manchester: Manchester Conference Centre
(register by 2ns June)
More
Information
Lunchtime Yoga Classes – Karon
Mee
Every Thurs
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
1310 – 1400 Thursdays, Staff
House
Funding
Opportunities
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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
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
European Science Foundation EUROCORES Scheme
New
1 Jun 06
The aim of the ESF European Collaborative Research
(EUROCORES) Scheme is to enable researchers in different European
countries to develop collaboration and scientific synergy in areas where
European scale and scope are required for leading-edge science in a global
context and in this way create the critical mass necessary for scientific
excellence. The scheme provides a flexible framework which allows national
basic research funding organisations to join forces to support top class
European research in and across all scientific areas.
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.
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
Microsoft European Science Award
New
31 May 06
This prestigious new award, sponsored by Microsoft
Research, is designed to recognise and reward scientists working in
Europe who have made a major contribution
to the advancement of science through the use of computational
methods. The 2006 award is open to any research scientist who has
made a significant contribution at the intersection of the biological
sciences and computing. (In 2007, the award will focus on computing and
the physical sciences.) The award will comprise a trophy and a
monetary amount of 250,000 EUR, of which 7,500 EUR will constitute prize
money with the rest earmarked for further research. The award will be
presented at a ceremony in October/November 2006
More
Information
Research
Awards
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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
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.
Vacancies
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Academic Staff
None
Research Staff
Research Associate in Automated Reasoning and Web
Ontologies
More
Information
Administrative Staff
None
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