Department of CS newsletter

We are experiencing interesting times and I thank all in the Department for their efforts in dealing with the situation. We've had to move teaching on-line with little notice, deal with numerous enquiries from students and there are many uncertainties associated with the closure of the physical University to our research and other activities. It is good to see how people have rallied to the cause and coped so well. 

I know that there are difficulties and understandable frustrations due to the closure, but do bear with us and I expect that things will get better.   

I don't need to remind you, but I will anyway: do take care. I know many people have child care and other caring responsibilities and these must take priority. It is important to keep in touch with friends, students, and colleagues at work, and if you are concerned about your well-being or that of a student or colleague, please check out the University's counselling services at www.counsellingservice.manchester.ac.uk/

Finally, do try and take some time away from work if you can.

Robert.

Answers to many of the questions  asked  can be found on the UoM's Staffnet FAQ at:  

https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/coronavirus/faqs/staff/?gator_td=keZ%2bqbI3m72c1Vr5Jx7kf3TH5carvyjJ9Ij04kUPQJ1y21ti8AJLBSFjOINwXpH4R8mAk%2fCpuCOwNgjRkoZad%2b6sQh92HAve9Adxug1QoxelkJVbIWbLxD1zhVQbYLs0MWp2rLrbW5W8ArPWEle3oJ4w6428QxNADwJCEPvjT40%3d 

Various people are also gathering information and pointers on the Department's wiki at: 

https://wiki.cs.manchester.ac.uk/staff/index.php/Main_Page  Both are updated frequently, 

Do look at these pages frequently.
Robert.

Sorry for the delay but the UCU Strike has taken it's toll on my reporting; and I imagine the COVID-19 remote working has captured your attention; but...

The last Senate meeting was at the end of January and the main focus of that meeting was the Deans response to the Staff letter complaining at the handling of the MECD space planning and proposing that each member of staff have their own office as opposed to the current plan for 4 academics to share an office.

As the space planning decision seems to already be made there was little chance of change and indeed no change was presented. The presentation and response letter (from the Dean) detailed how the decision was made, how long consultations had occurred, and how the academics would be happy with this kind of work in the end.

There where many questions and much discussion, but no plan to address the concerns of staff was presented, even though suggestions as to reassessment of space planning should be implemented after a year; apparently consultants have been contracted to train staff how to work in shared office space.

List of items suggested by CompSci that is under consideration

On a brighter note I've been formulating proposals based on CompSci Staff requests and I'll keep the list here:

Ongoing:

1. Augment travel subsistence with a fixed per diem allowance to save staff time in claiming.

2. Make it possible for PGR external examiners to donate their fee to the Student Hardship Fund.

3. Remove the complexity of PGR Split-Site contracts.

4. Enable Teaching Focused staff to supervise PGR students without the complexity of getting the AD to sign off on it - to harmonize the procedures between staff on all contracts.

5. Enable Teaching Focused staff to have the same sabbatical arrangements as T&R staff.

Resolved:

1. None Yet - but all where listed and directed to the appropriate people for comment.

All these are still under consideration, they are listed on the Senate agenda - or redirected before the meeting to the appropriate people; and I will update when we have further news. If you have additional items you wish me raise please do contact me at simon.harper@manchester.ac.uk

Operationally, it seems to me the University is changed by 1000 small course corrections as opposed to one massive change.

With increasing numbers of calls relating to research into Covid-19 the JeS system needs to be able to quickly identify these research proposals.

For data analysis purposes, we ask applicants not include the words ‘Cov-19’, ‘Covid-19’ or ‘Coronavirus’ in the Summary or Title sections unless the application relates to proposed research in this area.

e.g. do not write ‘recruitment delays are expected due to Covid-19’

Deadline: April 30, 2020
 
Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) is soliciting white papers in the area of Hardware Security (HWS). Please note that white papers addressing the needs in the Research Needs document may be uploaded until April 30, 2020 @ 3:00 PM EDT /12:00 PM PDT. Each researcher may be involved in no more than two submissions. A selected white paper will result in an invitation to submit a full proposal for further consideration for a research contract.
 
The white paper solicitation, needs documents, and instructions for submission can be found at:
 
·        Call for Research in Hardware Security (HWS) - https://www.src.org/compete/s202007/

Deadline: 04 June 2020

https://epsrc.ukri.org/funding/calls/epsrc-new-horizons-call/

Please let me know asap (sarah.chatwin@manchester.ac.uk AND researchsupportcsm@manchester.ac.uk) if you are interested in this call

We need to ensure that projects will be deliverable within the £200K limit. Therefore, though a budget isn’t required by the EPSRC at this stage, projects will need to be costed as normal by your RS team and should be peer reviewed/approved at dept. level.

EPSRC have also clarified the following points:
i)    Applying to the New Horizons call as a PI is on the list of exceptions for New Investigator Award eligibility, so applying for New Horizon would not make an applicant ineligible for the New Investigator Award.

ii)    The EPSRC have advised that in the 'ability to deliver' document, applicants should give an account of the type of resource that is needed to deliver the project, without giving the detail of the costing.

If you can, please bring items of food (in date) such as tins and dried goods, biscuits, cereals, tea, coffee, uht milk for us to donate to Emmeline's pantry. Due to the current concerns of the Corona virus:

• They are going to give families 4 weeks food next week due to concerns over closures for already vulnerable families.
• They will not close. They will be able to remain open if even with a skeleton service to ensure nobody goes without.
• They can’t accept any clothing donations in the short term as the foodbank is using every bit of space for food. Emmeline’s were able to accept the clothing donations we took last week. The staff at Emmeline's want to pass on thanks all for all the donations that come via the University and supporters on campus.

Please bring any donations to Karon and Mel in ACSO. Room 2.03.

Many thanks, Karon & Mel