From: Chris Taylor [chris.taylor@manchester.ac.uk]
Sent: 18 December 2006 00:35
To: allstaff@cs.man.ac.uk; Phil Galvin; Carole Twining; Jim Graham; Neil Thacker; Susan Astley; Tim Cootes
Subject: CS_Newsletter_2006-18-11_draftv2.doc
For pdf and html versions of the this newsletter, click the 'NewsletterArchive' link below

 

MANCHESTER

           1824

School of Computer Science

Weekly Newsletter

18 December 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

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Another year almost over, and I know that it has been a challenging time for many of you.  I very much hope that you will all have a enjoyable Christmas, and that the New Year will prove a good one.

Turing Lecture

Some of you will know that we have been negotiating for some time to bring the Turing Lecture to Manchester for a third year running.  The good news – we learnt this week that our efforts have been successful; the bad news – the lecture has been fixed for 22 January, so we have only five weeks (including the University Christmas break) to prepare!  The Turing lecturer is Grady Booth, who has an international reputation for his work on software architecture, software engineering, and modelling.  Details of the lecture will be announced this week, and a website will be open soon for online registration.  I’m sure that many of you will want to attend what promises to be another excellent event.

EPS Teaching & Learning Innovation Funding

Congratulations to Adrian Albin-Clark, CS Teaching Fellow, who has been successful in a bid to the EPS Learning & Teaching Innovation Fund. His project ‘Development of a software application: An interactive Computer Processor Simulator for ARM and Java Instructions’ was rated highly, and has been allocated £5,000. We look forward to seeing the outcome.

Graduation Ceremony

Many thanks to all of you who attended the graduation ceremony and/or the graduation party last week.  I think we managed to give our MSc and PhD students a good send off.  Congratulations to all those who graduated, particularly to Chenchen Xi, Kalim Dean, joint winners of the Peter Jones Prize for the highest mark in the taught component of the MSc programme, and to Liam Ardern, Sam Rapley, Henry Wilkinson and Kamyar Zargar-Kharazi, winners of the SAS Prize for technical/analytical excellence in an MBS-supervised group project.

Funding for EBL Projects

The Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-Based learning (CEEBL) has recently announced a further opportunity to bid for funding of up to £3,000 to support EBL projects.  Applications are encouraged from individuals or small teams (2-5 people) and project outcomes are expected to be achieved within the academic year 2007/8.  Successful applicants will be informed by the end of February 2007 in order to give adequate time for project set-up.  If anybody has plans to incorporate Enquiry-Based Learning into their course units for the next academic year, and would like to complete an application, please contact Adrian Albin-Clark to discuss this further. The deadline for submission is 31st January 2007.

More Information

Outstanding PhD Student Nominations

The University makes annual awards to outstanding PhD students, and Schools have been invited to make nominations.  If you think that one of your students is a potential candidate, please let Jim Miles know, and provide a few words stating what they have achieved and why it is outstanding. The Research School will select the best candidate, and work with the supervisor to prepare a supporting statement to send to Faculty.

National Teaching Fellowships

Fifty National Teaching fellowships will be awarded in 2007, each worth £10,000. HEIs are invited to nominate up to three candidates each.  The scheme is open to all staff who teach or support students' learning, so technical and teaching support staff will be considered as well academic colleagues. Nominations by 31 Jan 07.

More Information

Reminder – Leave of Absence cases

A reminder that we are keen to receive proposals for sabbatical leave.  The deadline for applications is 8 January 2007.

Call for MSc Projects, Summer 2007

This year's MSc project book is being assembled. Each FTE member of academic staff should email at least four project descriptions to Janet Boyd by January 10th 2007. Browse the 2006 Projects

 

Events this Week                                                             top

School Christmas Party                                                                               19 Dec 06

There will be a DJ, wine, beer, soft drinks and food aplenty, but don't forget to bring a bottle of your favourite tipple as well to help things along.  Offers of help with food preparation and Christmas decorations on the day would be gratefully received – drop in to ACSO/Lynn during the morning for instructions.

1600 -2200, Staff Common Room, Kilburn.

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

UMIP Open Door Day                                                                                    11 Jan 07

David Eales, UMIP, will be available to discuss intellectual property and commercialisation.  If there are issues you would like to discuss, email David to arrange a mutually convenient time, or drop in ‘on spec’ during the day.

0930-1300 and 1400-1700. Kilburn 2.09a

Induction to Grid Computing and the North West Grid New      25 & 26 Jan 07

A NW-GRID and NeSC collaborated training event that helps to gain better understanding of the concepts of Grid Computing and e-Research. Participants will be demonstrated on how to access to the NGS and NW-GRID resources, as well as some hands on experience on using the NW-GRID services in the future. All interested users are welcome to attend this event.

Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury, Warrington WA4 4AD

More Information and Registration

Turing Lecture                                                                                                22 Jan 07

The annual Turing Lecture will be presented in Manchester as well as London for the third year running.  The speaker is Grady Booth, who has an international reputation for his work on software architecture, software engineering, and modelling.  Details of online registration to follow.

President’s Visit                                                                                             28 Feb 07

The President and Vice-Chancellor will be visiting the School.  Please make a diary note – more details nearer the time.

1400-1600

 

Future External Events                                                      top

National Science Week                                                                           12-16 Mar 07

The 12th to the 16th of March 2007 is National Science week. Activities for 13-16 years olds will be taking place in Schools across the Faculty. The External Affairs office will be coordinating Computer Science activities and is currently looking for suggestions for interactive/hands-on sessions that we can run in the School. If you have any suggestions, or feel you could help in any way, then please contact Bernard.  As you know, we need to give student awareness and recruitment activities a very high priority, and I would encourage you all to put some energy into coming up with ideas

Mathematical and Statistical Aspects of Molecular Biology         29-30 Mar 07

With participants from mathematics, statistics, computer science, bioinformatics, biology and related fields, the MASAMB meetings provide an intimate setting for exchange of ideas in methodological and applied research. Research students and scientists newly entering the field of genomic research are particularly welcome. To be considered for a talk or poster, authors should submit a one page abstract describing their research. This abstract will be used to select presentations and should provide an overview of the research objectives, methods and results.

More Information

IAS'07 New                                                                                                 29-31 Aug 07

Information assurance and security has become an important research issue in networked and distributed information sharing environments. Finding effective ways to protect information systems, networks and sensitive data within the critical information infrastructure is challenging even with the most advanced technology and trained professionals. The International Symposium on Information Assurance and Security aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, developers, and policy makers involved in multiple disciplines of information security and assurance to exchange ideas and to learn the latest development in this important field.  Organised by Dr Ning Zhang, IMG.

 

Funding Opportunities                                                       top

DTI Technology Strategy - Competitions for Funding                         08 Jan 07 

The Autumn 2006 Competition for Funding was launched in London last week and the Technology Priority Areas are as follows: Network security; Moving towards the zero emission enterprise; Emerging energy technologies; Bioscience and healthcare; Sensors and imaging for medical, security and environmental applications; Plastic electronics

More Information

Royal Commission 1851 Industrial Fellowships 2007                         25 Jan 07

The Commission now sees its Industrial Fellowships as catalysts in the encouragement of innovation and creativity in British industry. Although the Fellowships are awarded to individuals, their parent Companies and associated Universities derive equal advantage from the scheme.  About eight Industrial Fellowships are offered each year for selected graduates, working in British Industry, who have a good first degree in engineering, science or medicine.

More Information

EPSRC Challenging Engineering Call for Proposals New                     1 Mar 07

Challenging Engineering is a high priority for the EPSRC Engineering Programme, as it is specifically focused on providing funding and developmental support for engineering researchers at an early stage of their careers.  Due to the strict eligibility of this call you must contact the CS Research Office if you are planning to submit an application so that we can liaise with the central Research Office. Schools are asked to submit no more than 2 outline proposals.  These should be sent to Helen Gleeson by Friday 2 February 2007 to allow sufficient time for the prospective applicants to make an excellent application.

More Information

UoM Simon Industrial and Professional Fellowship                                1 Jul 07

The regulations and faculty financial allocations for the Simon Industrial and Professional Fellowship appointments during the 2006/07 academic session are available here.  Any applications should be sent to Helen Gleeson initially (not the Dean as stated).  Nominations must be received no later than 1 July 2007.

EPSRC ICT Platform Grants                                                                               Open

EPSRC invites outline proposals for its information and communication technology platform grants. Platform grants aim to provide world-leading UK groups with continuity of funding for strategic development, longer-term research and international networking.

More Information

Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chairs                                        Open

The Royal Academy of Engineering invites applications for its research chairs. 
Research Chairs are full-time professorial appointments, in any engineering-related subject. The academy particularly welcomes proposals of a multidisciplinary nature. Funding is provided for 5 years.

More Information

RAEng Industrial Secondment Scheme                                                          Open

An opportunity for university lecturers in engineering to gain state-of-the-art industrial experience.

More Information

BBSRC International Scientific Interchange Scheme (ISIS)                       Open

To help scientists make and establish new contacts with their international counterparts.

More Information

RAEng Global Research Awards                                                                      Open

Projects in centres of excellence overseas focussing on stimulating wealth creation and improvements in the quality of life.

More Information

EPSRC Engineering Visits                                                                                  Open

Support for salary costs and travel subsistence for scientists and engineers of acknowledged standing, either from within the UK or abroad, to visit the investigator's organisation.

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.

EPSRC Computer Science Writing Competition 2006/07                   31 Jan 07

We want unpublished articles of up to 750 words about research that’s part of any EPSRC-funded computer science project.  For this competition, computer science means the study of methods for acquiring, storing, processing, communicating and reasoning about information, and the role of interactivity in natural and artificial systems through the implementation, organisation and use of computer hardware, software and other resources.

More Information

Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award                              31 Jan 07

The UK's premier award for innovation in engineering. The Award, first presented in 1969, honours the winning 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

European Science Awards                                                                         21 Feb 07

These prestigious awards, bestowed by the Royal Society and Académie des Sciences, and 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 2007 award is open to any research scientist who has made a significant contribution at the intersection of computing and the physical sciences, including mathematics and engineering.

More Information

ERCIM Cor Baayen Award                                                                         15 April 07

The Cor Baayen Award is awarded each year to a most promising young researcher in computer science and applied mathematics. The award was created in 1995 to honour the first ERCIM President.  Nominations should be made by a staff member of the university or research institute where the nominee is undertaking research. Self nominations are not accepted.

More Information

 

Research Awards                                                               top

None this week

 

Staff News                                                                           top

Awards and Promotions

None this week

Academic Arrivals

None this week

Technical Arrivals

None this week

Academic Retirements

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

Alasdair Rawsthorne: 80% secondment to Transitive Technologies
Oct 06 – Sep 07.

Alvaro Fernandes: IBM Almaden Research Centre US
Jul 06 – Dec 06.

Milan Mihajlovic: University of Maryland, College Park

Jul 06 – Dec 06

 

Vacancies                                                                            top

Academic Staff

None

Research & Technical Staff

None

Management & Professional Staff

None

Administrative Staff

None