Department of CS newsletter

Congratulations to the following people in the Department who are being promoted:

Lucas Cordeiro, promoted to Reader

Andre Freitas, Promoted to Senior Lecturer

Caroline Jay, promoted to Professor

Christoforos Moutafis, Promoted to Senior Lecturer

Tingting Mu, Promoted to Senior Lecturer

Paul Nutter, promoted to Reader

We're looking for volunteers for a range of 'groups' to support the team that writes the submission, for some work between now and end of July, for the following groups:

Culture and policy (family, flexible working etc); Recruitment policy and process; Promotions; Academic/researcher development and progression, including training, fellowships and grants; PGR experience, support, completion and pipeline; Student recruitment, marketing and admissions; UG/PGT student experience, support, attainment and progression into PG.

If you're interested, please email Fran Guratsky francesca.guratsky@manchester.ac.uk .

Wellbeing event of the week: 

FREE Diabetes at Work Webinar: 16 June 2021

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5709784089467264016?mkt_tok=NjM4LVhFSC00ODcAAAF9S_xQbYIf_tH2mAD0skIWIBWRQYuTWychNd_TWNbsWIo9H9J22SFaker9Kdcug12LSa3s5kzp12I_PwKQ46YLb66trpFsDH-IDZYYhx2NNQ

The Prosper portal
The Prosper portal hosts a suite of resources for both postdocs and PIs, including former postdoc case studies, self-reflection tools and actionable employer insights, plus information for PIs on postdoc career development best practice.

University of Manchester postdocs have special access to two Prosper sessions as part of the University of Liverpool’s annual Making an Impact researcher development programme.

- Prosper portal showcase – Monday 7 June, 12.30 – 1.30pm. Book online
- ‘Where can your postdoc take you?’ panel discussion – Tues 8 June, 11:30 – 12:30pm. Book online

Postdoc career development pilot
In September this year, recruitment will open for 80 postdocs from across the three Prosper partner institutions to apply to join our career development pilot. Building on stage 1 of the pilot now underway at the University of Liverpool (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/prosper/postdoc-career-development-pilot/), this second stage is a unique opportunity. Co-created with 80 employer partners, it has been designed specifically to enable postdocs to explore multiple career pathways, benefit from dedicated career coaching and direct access to employers. Postdocs’ time to engage with the pilot will be facilitated by a 10% contract extension funded by Prosper.

Applications will be open between Wednesday, 1 and Friday 17 September, with details of how to apply coming in mid-August.
We’re looking forward to officially launching Prosper this summer.

Event: 24-Jun-21, 10-11am

The University would like feedback from research staff (including PDRAs) and fellows.
As a signatory to the Researcher Development Concordat our University is committed to creating a supportive working environment in which all researchers can thrive and develop.

Over the next few months, our University is developing a Concordat Action Plan which will outline the actions we will take to meet the Concordat’s obligations. It is vital that these reflect researchers' voices and experiences, so we encourage all research staff and fellows to contribute to the development of the plan by attending an online meeting with Professor Melissa Westwood, Associate Vice President Research, and members of the Research Staff Strategy Group.

The meeting will be an opportunity to discuss and share views and ideas on the actions needed to create a supportive working environment for all researchers. 

Register to attend.

For Japanese researchersT

The JSPS London network for Japanese researchers based in the UK and Ireland. Visiting Japanese scholars as well as tenured Japanese academics based at a UK and Irish institution are welcome to join. It is free to join and we offer events and funding schemes exclusive to members.
The web link to register is: https://ssl.jsps.org/members/?page=regist

The Horizon Europe Regulation was published on 12th May and we were expecting to see the first Work Programme published by the European Commission in the same week, however, the publication has been delayed several times and while some calls have already opened and closed (for example, ERC, emergency COVID-19, EIC) in the meantime, the main calls have not been published. 

The reason for this delay are the on-going discussions on eligibility criteria for certain topics in specific Work Programme parts, related to whether topics in selected areas of for example quantum technologies and Space will be open to the participation of Associated Countries. 

Member States are yet to agree on a solution, with some currently advocating that the overall Horizon Europe Work Programme is agreed with placeholders for the topics in question.  A decision on the eligibility would then be made at a later date, with calls for the specific topics opening only in the autumn of 2021 – there is information to suggest that this idea is gaining support.  This would allow a positive vote on the Horizon Europe Work Programme and its publication in the coming week or two. 

It is likely that the later than foreseen publication of the first Horizon Europe Work Programme will mean that deadlines for some calls will have to be postponed, for example, from early September to late September/October but this is yet to be confirmed. 

The Commission plans to have at least three months between the call publication date and its deadline.

In the meantime draft work programmes can be accessed via the UKRO website (login required) from the Draft Work Programme library .

Call for proposals opens: 24 May 2021

Deadline for submission: 5pm BST, 23 June 2021

Applicants notified: July 2021

Project start date: Anytime from 1 August 2021 but must be complete by 31 July 2022.

Deadline for intent to submit:22-Jun-21
Full deadline: 06-Jul-21

https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/protecting-citizens-online-complementary-projects-outline-stage/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

EPSRC, ESRC and AHRC are looking to fund research (4 projects at £2.75M, starting April 2022) in the needs of citizens online, help them control how their data is used and protect them from online harms.

Projects should align with the National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence Online (REPHRAIN) funded through the first phase of the programme.

Projects must have a team of investigators from a mix of disciplines balanced across the technical and social sciences and humanities, with at least two co-investigators from disciplines within different research councils’ remits. Areas of interest include:

• computer and data science
• cybersecurity
• human computer interaction
• psychology
• other relevant disciplines

The proposed project must involve collaborations with at least one of the following:

• industry
• government
• policy
• third sector project partners.

Any single investigator is only permitted to appear on one proposal, either as investigator or co-investigator.

Inclusion of early career researchers including postdoctoral research associates (PDRAs) within teams is encouraged. All PDRAs should have the opportunity to develop transferable technical and soft skills to enable them to progress their careers. The contribution of all PDRAs must be clearly defined and justified. PDRAs from all funded projects will join a cohort, including PDRAs within REPHRAIN, and projects must provide support for this engagement to further their development.

Deadline: 06-Jul-2021

https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/using-data-to-improve-public-health-covid-19-secondment/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Apply for Fellowship funding (8-10 available) to work for a year with experts in the analysis and interpretation of:

• national anonymised linked electronic health records
• multiple population longitudinal studies.

You can apply if you have an analytical background. We will fund early to mid-career researchers and professionals from eligible organisations.

You will work with a team on one of these coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic-related public health themes:

• long COVID
• mental health
• health and society
• healthcare disruption
• vaccination

Funding will last one year, starting on 1 October 2021. Candidates must have a current contract of employment extending beyond 1 November 2022.

Researchers and professionals currently working within population health research in analytical disciplines are encouraged to apply. So are individuals with strong expertise in quantitative or data science (or both) that wish to apply their skills to the themes supported by the Longitudinal Health and Wellbeing National Core Study for COVID-19.

Over the next few weeks, electrical inspections will be taking place in the Kilburn building and parts of the building will lose power throughout the process. You can see the schedule of areas that will be affected on

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CigXBVxEl8alg1JzTlhTIKx1EhnQyZHXEyHUy7TJehs/edit?usp=sharing

• I have had it confirmed that IT Building will not lose power during this testing process.
• The contractors have stated that no comms or server equipment will be isolated during the weekday testing - this means that the systems in the Kilburn Server Room, SpiNNaker, and the various networking racks throughout the building should not be powered off during the dates shown on the above sheet.
• Work may start as early as 7am, and any power outages for computers will occur during the morning on any given day. Outages should not occur during the afternoon in any area. If affected, you may want to turn your machine off remotely the night before work starts in your area.
• Some rooms appear on multiple days in the sheet because we can not guarantee exactly which day the room (or part of the room) will lose power due to uncertainties from the contractor.