Department of CS newsletter

Christmas Party 2021, in our virtual Kilburn Building! Please come and join us:

Thursday, December 10th, 4-6pm, in https://gather.town/app/kX1ewNFqmzicKSk8/kilburn_test

A nice social gathering with a difference to mark the end of 2020, and for bumping into and chatting with the lovely Kilburn people. This will NOT be yet another Zoom meeting, but an opportunity to catch up and be merry…bring your own favourite tipple and mince pies - and feel free to wear something Christmassy, glittery or silly!

In Gather.town we have the First Floor area of the Kilburn Building including the Foyer and the Common room. You can move around and meet people; you'll see an avatar, so you can gather  in groups and move between groups for  conversations. We have 244 "places" so, if you can't get in, try at some point over the two hours of our Festive bash.  Note: ‘user experience on your phone will be poor - do use a browser on your laptop ideally with camera and microphone’

Dear All

Many of you will have recieved requests to do the Information Security and Data Protection training. it is mandatory that all employees of the UoM do this, irrespective of whether or not they've done the previous training in the last two years. The link whence you can start the training is

https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/igo/training-and-support/

it is not too painful. It has to be completed by 31 december 2020. if it's like previous rounds of such training, failure to do so  wil result in lots of emails chasing for it to be completed and eventually discontinuation of access to IT Services facilities (email, services in the Dept and beyond in the UoM, etc etc).

Robert.

Do you need help or advice with something – maybe a finance query, a casual employee issue, a conference registration enquiry – or any general enquiry.  We thought a chance to speak to someone face to face may help resolve queries quickly and avoid extra email traffic.  If this proves beneficial then we will run it as a regular thing

Time: Jan 7, 2021 02:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting:  https://zoom.us/j/91317300563

Meeting ID: 913 1730 0563

Please see the January DoFO Open meeting dates below

(No meeting first week of Jan)

Wednesday 13^th January 12.30pm – 1.30pm https://zoom.us/j/92918434171

Wednesday 20^th January 10.30am – 11.30am https://zoom.us/j/97080972780

Wednesday 27^th January 1pm – 2pm https://zoom.us/j/97527684429

The School of Engineering has set up a ‘Step Away Day’, with activities running that are open to all staff to drop into if they can. These include exercise classes, craft sessions and ideas for holiday downtime.

Michelle Fox - our DSOM will be providing a couple of fabulous Pilate classes

Karon Mee - will be providing an hour of yoga and relaxation

Full schedule and links will be sent out soon.

11th Dec 12:30-1:30pm

Enjoy a break, with a cuppa (or a festive mulled wine) to the next meeting of the book club.

To begin with a recap on the previous book which was Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (it's ok if you are just joining now)

Our next book is a series of short stories The Book of Shanghai: A City in Short Fiction (Reading the City) by Chen Qiufan (Author), Cai Jun (Author), Wang Anyi (Author), Xiao Bai (Author), & 6 more

If you would like to join please contact Fiona.lynch@manchester.ac.uk for the zoom link

Dear all,

A few updates for you:

• January – some new events coming up! Webinars will be supporting those members of staff that have made some wellbeing new year resolutions. Schedule is attached for your info. They will be on StaffNet shortly.
• Compassionate Colleague – this will continue into January and new dates have been scheduled. Please continue to promote this training in your areas – very happy to work with Champs on sessions for their teams if you’d prefer this to suggesting an open session. Help me get 1000 UoM employees through this course!
• Please promote the Christmas 2020 Yammer Group – connecting is one of our ways to wellbeing!
• The walking challenge for January is happening! We will be using an online platform that teams can use with: https://www.bigteamchallenge.com/ Look out for more information soon on how you can get involved.
• This is a handy share: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/christmas-and-mental-health/christmas-and-coronavirus/#DifficultFeelingsAboutChristmasDuringCoronavirus – information from Mind on mental health over Christmas during the Coronavirus.

Royal Society conference on Digital Technologies and the Planet 

10-11 December 2020. Please find the programme here, where you can register through Eventbrite. 

Funders: EPSRAC IAA and APHA
Amount: £25k

Goran Nenadic and Mercedes Arguello Casteleiro will be working with The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) on an IAA project to develop a methodology for scanning surveillance of livestock diseases in England and Wales by automatically processing animal post-mortem examination (PME) reports. Currently, this process is manual and this project will aim to pilot advanced text analytics methods to transform livestock PME reports into structured clinical information using established standards (such as FHIR HL7, SNOMED CT and LOINC). The aim of the project is to enhance the national disease surveillance capability and improve detection of new and re-emerging livestock disease risks, including zoonotic infections potentially transmissible to humans, and vice versa. Given that approximately 70% of new infectious diseases in humans originate in animals, this project not only addresses animal welfare and the safety of food supplies, but could also have a direct impact on public health.

Learn about what's happening in our BAME Community, including classes, history, food, social interest.

After two years working in the Department, Colin Morris will be leaving at the end of the month. Due to the way he has arranged to take his leave, his last work day was Monday 7.

Colin has been an important part of the team, and during his time in the Department he has helped to support, maintain, and develop many important systems and projects. I'd like to thank him for his hard work, dedication, and for his enthusiastic outlook while getting to grips with the myriad complex systems we run. He will be missed, and we wish him the best of luck for the future!

Deadline: rolling

https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/epsrc-open-fellowship/

Fellowships for up to 5 years are available on any topic in the EPSRC portfolio. You’ll have the support, flexibility and freedom to:

• develop high-quality research
• gain experience to enhance your career
• create a modern and inclusive research environment
• raise the profile of EPSRC’s remit.

You must have either a PhD OR at least 4 years’ experience in a relevant field by the start of your fellowship. You must be hosted and supported by an eligible UK research organisation during your fellowship.

Your project can use one or a combination of:

• discovery science
• innovation
• instrumentation and technique development
• software engineering.

Every 3 years the Leverhulme Trust issues a call for applications to fund one Research Centre (details of current Centres here and here) and the University is allowed to submit one outline application.
Leverhulme will provide funding of up to £1 million per year; £10 million maximum for a duration of between 5 and 10 years.
 
A Leverhulme Research Centre may be single-site (one HEI) or multi-site (‘hub and spoke/s’). The Leverhulme Trust is inviting applications that will aspire to achieve a significant step-change in scholarship and encourage new approaches that may establish or reshape a field of study and so transform our understanding of a significant contemporary topic. Applicants are therefore invited to be bold in compiling their bids. The expectation is that Centres will draw upon a range of disciplinary perspectives and expertise, and the hope is for bids that fold the social sciences and humanities authentically into the mix, rather than being framed primarily in physical and life science terms. Please note, Leverhulme do not fund studies of disease, illness and disabilities in humans and animals, or research that is intended to inform clinical practice or the development of medical applications.
 
To identify the University bid, potential applicants are required to submit an expression of interest (maximum 4 pages) to james.evans@manchester.ac.uk (cc-ing in sarah.chatwin@manchester.ac.uk) no later than 15 January 2021. The expression of interest should include:
 

• A description of the area of research:     
  • the reasons why this is important and interesting
  • the key research questions to be addressed
  • how the Centre will contribute to this general subject area
• The structure of the Centre:
  • whether single centre, multi-centre, hub and spoke
  • details of the institutions involved and rationale for their participation in the work of the Centre
  • brief details of any key staff who will be involved and their planned contribution
• The justification for the choice of the Principal Applicant to take both intellectual and organisational leadership

 
Potential applicants are encouraged to work with their Faculty Strategic Funding Teams in formulating their expressions of interest. Please contact Rachel.woolley@manchester.ac.uk (FSE), chloe.jeffries@manchester.ac.uk (Humanities) and  ania.jolly@manchester.ac.uk (FBMH).

Deadline: 26-Jan-2021

http://www.jsps.org/latest_calls/2020/11/fy2021-jsps-london-call-for-the-short-term-prepostdoctoral-fellowship-for-research-in-japan-first-call-for-fy2021.html

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) is the leading research funding agency in Japan. Our Pre/Postdoctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers (Short Term) provides the opportunity for short-term visits (1-12 months) for UK, European, North American and Canadian researchers ordinarily based in the UK or Ireland to do cooperative research with leading research groups at Japanese Universities and Institutions. The programme is designed to provide researchers with first-hand experience of the research and living environment in Japan, whilst expanding academic exchange between Japan and the UK or Ireland.  Researchers from any field including computer science, are eligible to apply. 

Eligible applicants also need to be either within 2 years of finishing their PhD at the time of applying to start their fellowship in Japan or have obtained their PhD at a university outside of Japan within the last 6 years (on or after 2nd April 2015).

Reports from former JSPS Fellows who have taken part in this programme can be found on the JSPS London website at the following link:
http://www.jsps.org/funding_case_studies/fellowpostdoctoral_shortterm/