School of CS newsletter

This will be the last Newsletter until the start of the new academic year. I hope that the summer allows for some kind of break and that it is most enjoyable and all that you'd wish.

We had our summer graduation on Thursday 19 July. Despite the heat, suits, gowns and hats, it was a joyful occaision and we had some nice feedback from students, families and friends. Again, the marquee arrangement seemed to work very well. Many thanks to the staff that gave a good presence on the platform and to Kath Hopkins, Gavin Donald, Jean Davidson, Alyson Owens and all the others that made it run so well.

The gallery of photos is here

Do have a good summer and thank you for all the effort that makes the School work so well.
 

We have two new appointments that I want to introduce to the School. I want to start doing so with a short biography and photograph in this Newsletter and will continue this as we make new appointments.

Professor Angelo Cangelosi

Angelo Cangelosi is our new Professor of Machine Learning and Robotics. This follows on from his professorship of Artificial Intelligence and Cognition, and his founding director role, at the Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems at Plymouth University. Cangelosi studied psychology and cognitive science at the Universities of Rome La Sapienza and at the University of Genoa, and was visiting scholar at the University of California San Diego and the University of Southampton. Cangelosi's main research expertise is on language grounding and embodiment in humanoid robots, developmental robotics, human-robot interaction, and on the application of neuromorphic systems for robot learning. He currently is the coordinator of the EU H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Industrial Doctorate “APRIL: Applications of Personal Robotics through Interaction and Learning” (2016-2019). He also is Principal investigator for the ongoing projects “THRIVE” (US Air Force Office of Science and Research, 2014-1018), the H2020 project MoveCare, and the Marie Curie projects SECURE and DCOMM. He has been coordinator of the FP7 projects ITALK and RobotDoc ITN, as well as UK projects BABEL and VALUE. Overall, he has secured over £30m of research grants as coordinator/PI. Cangelosi has produced more than 250 scientific publications, and has been general/bridging chair of numerous workshops and conferences including the IEEE ICDL-EpiRob Conferences (Frankfurt 2011, Osaka 2013, Lisbon 2017, Tokyo 2018). In 2012-13 he was Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Autonomous Mental Development. He has been Visiting Professor at Waseda University (Japan) and at Sassari and Messina Universities (Italy). Cangelosi is Editor (with K. Dautenhahn) of the journal Interaction Studies, and in 2015 was Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Development. His latest book “Developmental Robotics: From Babies to Robots” (MIT Press; co-authored with Matt Schlesinger) was published in January 2015, and was recently translated into Chinese and Japanese.

The paper "Classification of intangible social innovation concepts" by Nikola Milosevic, Abdullah Gok and Goran Nenadic has won a best paper award at the 23rd International Conference on Natural Language & Information Systems (NLDB 2018).

It presents a method that catalogues mentions of social innovation concepts by applying text mining and machine learning techniques. The work is a part of Horizon 2020 KNOWMAK project that looks into how the knowledge is made in the European society.The paperis available at:

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-91947-8_42

The Bluedot Festival is one of the major music festivals of the summer. It takes place in the grounds of the Jodrell Bank radio telescope and combines science, comedy, talks and a vast range of music. The School of Computer Science had a marquee with activities for children and adults, run by our staff, students, schoolteachers and other volunteers. It was all superb fun and there was a great demand from families to take part in the activities with a range of robot programming, from Ozobots and Spheros for young children, through Lego machines to dancing Edbots. Thanks to Sarah Zaman for arranging the team and activities and thanks to all the staff, students, teachers and volunteers who made this possible.

If you would like to be involved in our Public Engagement activities, contact Lucas Cordeiro.

David Rydeheard

 

The JSPS London Symposium and Seminar Scheme are sponsoring the UK-Japan Symposium: SHITSUKAN approach to digital colour sensing: human colour vision for material quality.

Date: 8th to 9th August 2018

Venue: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester

This event is free to attend. For more details and to register, please go to the following link:

http://www.jsps.org/events/files/poster_v3_040618_AMANO.pdf

The Schmidt Science Fellows Program has just launched the nomination and application process for the next round of Fellows for commencement in 2019-2020.  The quality of nominations and applications was outstanding and they were thrilled to be able to announce the first Fellows in April at a ceremony in New York.

We have now opened the nominations process for the second class of Schmidt Science Fellows, for commencement in 2019-2020 and we are aiming to increase the number of fellowships we award. The selection of initial applicants will continue to take place through nomination from the world’s leading science institutions and the Schmidt Science Fellows Program would value nominations from the University of Manchester.

The aim is to provide the world’s best emerging scientists with new perspectives, skills and networks so they can develop novel solutions to society’s challenges. Global problems do not follow discipline boundaries and, therefore, require interdisciplinary science approaches to find solutions. The Schmidt Science Fellows Program has a unique interdisciplinary emphasis and aims to expand the horizons of the next generation of leaders and innovators in the natural sciences, engineering, mathematics, and computing. They want to enhance the ability of the world’s most promising new scientists to develop cutting-edge research, and equip them with the skills to serve as leaders in their fields and in society.

Nominations are welcome for our most outstanding, intellectually first-rate PhD students in the natural sciences and computing due who will complete their PhDs by July 2019. Successful Fellows are expected to combine scientific curiosity with extraordinary academic achievement. They should have demonstrated a collaborative spirit and have the ambition to make a lasting impact in science and in society, conducting research and pursuing knowledge that will benefit the world.

Fellows receive a stipend of $100,000 and are supported by the Program to undertake a full-time, 11-month or longer postdoctoral study in a world-leading laboratory in a field different from their existing area of expertise. Fellows also spend five weeks during their fellowship year at four residential meetings around the globe. In these meetings the fellows are introduced to new research ideas, techniques and questions and are exposed to a wide-range of leading thinkers and institutions. The meetings also begin to foster a lifelong Schmidt Science Fellows community.

The Program is supported by the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation, in partnership with the Rhodes Trust.

The selection process is being run fia Faculty and so you need to nominate by Monday 6 August 2018 – I just need information on the student and their suitability (the eligibility/criteria for selection is below) back to simon.harper@manchester.ac.uk . 

Eligibility

In order to be eligible for nomination and potential selection as a Schmidt Science Fellow, candidates must meet the following requirements:

• Have conducted their graduate degree in the natural sciences (life, physical, and earth sciences), engineering, mathematics, or computing.
• Have completed or expect to complete all of the requirements for the conferral of their PhD in one of these fields between 1 May 2018 and 30 June 2019.
• Be available for the entire period of the 2019-2020 program, from July 2019 to July 2020.

Selection criteria

Applications for the Schmidt Science Fellows program will be judged against the following selection criteria:

• Scientific curiosity - Desire to achieve a broad level of exposure to and knowledge in cutting-edge innovations and research across the sciences.
• Extraordinary achievement - Clear record of academic achievement in the sciences at leading institutions of higher learning.
• Intellectual spark - High degree of intelligence, energy, and intellectual curiosity that will drive future scientific discoveries.
• Global ambitions - The will to make a lasting impact in the sciences and society, pursuing knowledge that will benefit the world by engaging in ambitious research and displaying great perseverance throughout the scientific process.
• Character - A genuine and demonstrable interest in society and global challenges combined with a desire to use personal talents and expertise to make a positive difference in the world .
• Collaborative spirit - Demonstrated history of effective collaboration with diverse team members.
• Use of innovative tools - General interest and comfort in using innovative technological tools, such as modern computing and data science techniques.
• Alignment with the Program - Interest in pursuing a year or more of postdoctoral study in a field different from the topic of study for which the applicant received their doctorate. 

The Faculty of Science and Engineering are pleased to announce financial support for projects that aim to deliver non-academic impact from excellent research. Based on the UK Research and Innovation definition, impact concerns “an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia”.

The Faculty will provide support under two schemes: an EPSRC Impact Support Fund (specifically for work with previous or current EPSRC funding); and a more general FSE Support Scheme to support work funded from non-EPSRC sources.

All research-active staff (that is those with research listed in their employment contract as an expectation) are eligible to apply.

Timelines

Applications will be considered at any time in the year, however, awards will be made on a first come first served basis. Early applications are encouraged.

Form of application

Applicants should complete the attached form, which can also be found on staffnet. For any costings, such as staff time or travel costs, please ask your local Research Support Services team for guidance. Applicants will receive acknowledgement of their application and be informed of a decision.

Should you have any questions or queries, please contact Dr Natalie Theodoulou, FSE Impact Officer.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) give academics opportunities to observe and influence the practical application of their research. This supports the increasing demand to provide evidence of the impact of research investment, while informing the pathway of ongoing and future research.

Benefits to academics are wide-ranging, but you can expect to:

• apply knowledge and expertise to important commercial challenges;
• develop industry-relevant teaching material;
• identify new research themes, and undergraduate and postgraduate projects;
• publish high-quality journal and conference papers;
• contribute to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise;
• develop strategic relationships with regional and national organisations.

If you have a project that you think may be suitable for KTP, contact us for more information.

The paper "Classification of intangible social innovation concepts" by Nikola Milosevic, Abdullah Gok and Goran Nenadic has won a best paper award at the 23rd International Conference on Natural Language & Information Systems (NLDB 2018). It present a method that catalogues mentions of social innovation concepts by applying text mining and machine learning techniques. The work is a part of Horizon 2020 KNOWMAK project that looks into how the knowledge is made in the European society.The paper is available at:

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-91947-8_42

We reported a small information breach to the IGO following a report from one of our academics. This involved the likely lifting of all email contacts from a smart phone that was Bluetooth-paired with a hire car. The IGO response is No Action, other than to advise staff not to do such pairings with vehicles they don't own (especially if the phone is used for work email).