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  • Department of CS newsletter

    Published: Tuesday, 16 June 2020

    Weekly newsletter for the Department of CS

    [ top ]News from Head of Department

    Working hard in Difficult Times

    I want again to thank staff for all the extra work they are doing since we went into lock down and will continue to do for the foreseeable future. We have been getting some very positive feedback from students about the efforts that you have made in continuing to deliver teaching and supporting our students. We are, as it is said, living in interesting and challenging times. 

    A lot is being asked of us - a move to blended learning in fairly short order, having to work in a different way etc, while the pandemic and its effects continue. To all of this is added the prospect of severe financial difficulties for the University and, as a result, the recent call for voluntary cost saving measures. 

    I realise that this puts a lot of pressure on us and I want to thank you all once again for your forebearance and continuing hard work. 

    Robert. 

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    Academic Promotions

     This year congratulations to the following for their promotion:

    - Sean Bechhofer promoted to Reader 
    - Dirk Koch promoted to Reader 
    - Christos Kotselidis promoted to Senior Lecturer 
    - Bijan Parsia promoted to Professor 
    - Giles Reger promoted to Senior Lecturer 
    - Andrea Schalk promoted to Senior Lecturer 
    - Markel Vigo promoted to Senior Lecturer  

    These promotions are effective from 1 August 2020. Congratulations to them one and all. 

    Robert.  

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    Staff Wiki Page on Blended Learning

    The staff wiki (here) now contains a new page on Blended Learning for the Year 2020/2021 (here).  It contains pointers to relevant resources and training as well as a FAQ - it will continue to grow and be a resource for us all. 

    Robert. 

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    Rankings of Departments and Researchers

    Many of us view rankings with some scepticism, but when they say some nice things I'm able to let a bit of selection and confirmation bias slip in. Both the rankings below make us look good and this is pleasing. 

    The guide2research (link) says some good things about the place of people at Manchester in the rankings of UK Computer Science and Electronics. The ranking is compiled from Google Scholar profiles and DBLP archives. Five people from Manchester are in the top 100 for UK  Computer Science and Electronics. I note that one Alan Turing is ranked 268 in the UK and from that I'll let you draw your own conclusions.  By number of people in the top 100 at a university this makes us look quite good - fourth in the UK. 

    The other ranking is from the Complete University Guide  (link) and  is compiled from a variety of measures. This year the department of Computer Science is ranked sixth in the UK, up six places from last year. The University of Manchester as a whole is ranked 17th in the UK.  This reflects well on the Department and you: the people that make it a splendid place.  

    Robert.

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    [ top ]News and announcements

    New ‘Information Security & Data Protection’ online training

    A new ‘Information Security & Data Protection’ online training will be in place from 1 July 2020. This replaces Data Protection course (TBF26) on Blackboard which closes on 30th June 2020, whereupon a report will be generated highlighting those individuals who have not completed the training.

    This new course is mandatory for all staff and from 1 July 2020 the IGO (Information Governance Office) will prioritise contacting the staff that the final report shows last completed the course more than two years ago, asking them to complete the new training.

    Staff will receive an email from the InfoGov-Training mailbox explaining that new training needs to be completed and providing a link to the IGO StaffNet pages with details of how to log in: https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/igo/training-and-support/

    The new course is hosted by a company called Metacompliance and is made up of a series of short animated videos. The training introduces some new information security content, refreshes people’s understanding of data protection law and provides a reminder about Freedom of Information legislation. The course takes approximately 40 minutes to complete including questions. All staff, regardless of when they last did data protection training, will need to complete the new broader course by 31 December 2020.

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    [ top ]Events

    School of Engineering 'Summer Series'

    Dear colleagues,

    As the summer season fast approaches the School of Engineering would like to introduce its Summer Series. The Summer Series will feature informative seminars on a wide variety of topics throughout the months of June and July.

    All Departments within the School have contributed to the content and, as well as an opportunity to learn something new, there are plenty of opportunities to hear about the amazing work that goes on across the School.

    The Summer Series aims to cater for all staff and we hope there is something for everyone. There will be sessions on blended learning, communicating our capabilities and facilities to industry, the technical apprenticeship scheme, export control as well as research seminars and managing your wellbeing, photography and Pilates.  

    Please do attend as many of the sessions as you would like – all of them will be recorded and uploaded afterwards. Please note that there is a capacity limit of 300 per session.  In the event of a session being full please do watch the recordings afterwards.

    Visit the Summer Series StaffNet page for the full schedule of events, Zoom links and session recordings.

    We look forward to seeing you there!

    School of Engineering

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    Export Controls Drop-In Sessions for FSE

    The ECC team are happy to conduct our Drop-In sessions on Zoom.

    Here are the list of our proposed dates/times:

     

    -  Tuesday, 23rd June 2020, 2-3pm, focus on CEAS but still open to all of FSE, any questions about export controls welcomed.

    - Thursday, 30th July 2020, 2-3pm, focus on Chemistry but still open to all of FSE, any questions about export controls welcomed.

    - Tuesday, 25th August 2020, 10-11am, focus on Earth and Environmental Sciences but still open to all of FSE, focus on questions around travel and conferences.

       Thursday, 24th September 2020, 10-11am, focus on Computer Science but still open to all of FSE, any questions about export controls welcomed.

    - Tuesday, 20th October 2020, 2-3pm, focus on Physics & Astronomy but still open to all of FSE, any questions about export controls welcomed.

    Further information & book a place here

     

     

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    Faculty open meetings and recordings of past meetings

    This page gives a list of all up coming faculty open meetings and recordings of past meetings:

    https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/fse/faculty-leadership/flt/open-meetings/

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    [ top ]Tech Support News

    Course Unit Software Survey for AY20/21

    For academics who will be teaching courses in the 2020/21 academic year, this is a call for course unit leaders to provide us with information about the software to be used for teaching in the next academic year. Ahead of the 2020/21 academic year (AY20) we need to know all software requirements for all courses that will run in Semesters 1 and 2.

    Full details of the call and the completion form can be found here:

    https://forms.gle/43Fcuyfkck6VXQWY7

    Please use the form to tell us the list of software packages your course will require by 18:00 on Friday June 19.

    gravatar Chris

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks
Generated: Friday, 29 March 2024 06:17:30
Last change: Tuesday, 16 June 2020 17:02:59