Department of CS newsletter

The Research Executive Agency has published the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Network (DN) 2021 call template for Part B of the proposal, on the call page under 'topic conditions and documents'. 
 
The overall structure and information requested to be addressed in the proposal has not changed very much from Horizon 2020.  However some of the text has been revised and a few additional subheadings have been included.  Crucially, there have been no changes to any of the tables in Part B1 of the proposal.  The guidance on how to complete Part B of the proposal is no longer included in the Guide for Applicants but is included in the template itself. 
 
Those preparing an application are strongly encouraged to read the MSCA part of the Work Programme, General Annexes to the Work Programme, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, and the MSCA Evaluation Form. The MSCA National Contact Points (NCPs) recently held a series of webinars for prospective applicants. The webinars provided a comprehensive overview of the schemes, including how to apply and tips for developing a successful proposal. The slides and recordings from the webinars are available on the NCP events page. 
 
Changes in the instructions for drafting Part B of the proposal 
 
•         The maximum size for each document, Part B1 and Part B2, is 10 MB and any documents above this size limit will fail in the submission system.
•         Font sizes and formatting requirements remain the same as for H2020, the reference font for the body text of proposals is Times New Roman (Windows platforms), Times/Times New Roman (Apple platforms) or Nimbus Roman No. 9 L (Linux distributions).
•         Literature references should be listed in footnotes, font size 8 and all footnotes will count towards the page limit.
•         The documents must be submitted as a PDF, compatible with Adobe version 3 or higher, with embedded fonts.
 
Changes to the Part B1 of the proposal template
 
Section 1 Excellence 
 
•         Subheadings related to the gender and intersectionality of research, open science practices and research data management have been added.
•         Requirement for a data management plan (DMP) as a deliverable has been added. 
•         Explicit reference to the Guidelines for MSCA supervision.
 
Section 2 Impact
 
•         Addition of a new heading ‘2.4 The magnitude and importance of the project’s contribution to the expected scientific, societal and economic impacts (project’s pathways towards impact)’.
•         There is now a requirement for a detailed dissemination, exploitation and communication plan deliverable.
 
Section 3 Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation
•          
•         A deliverable marking the establishment of a supervisory board of the network, the progress report and the career development plans will be added during the grant agreement preparation phase.
•         Subsection ‘3.2 Appropriateness of the management structures and procedures’, has been removed, however applicants are expected to address the same subheadings.
•         Additional subheading ‘Environmental aspects in light of the MSCA Green Charter’.
•         The subheadings related to intellectual property and data management have been removed.
•         Subsections ‘3.3 Appropriateness of the infrastructure of the participating organisations’ and ‘3.4. Competences, experience and complementarity of the participating organisations and their commitment to the programme’ are now subheadings under subsection ‘3.2 Quality, capacity and role of each participant, including hosting arrangements and extent to which the consortium as a whole brings together the necessary expertise’. 
 
Changes to the Part B2 of the proposal template  
 
•         Section ‘4 EID specific requirements’ has been removed.
•         Minimum font size has been increased from 8 to 9.
•         New table for associated partners linked to a beneficiary has been added.
•         Section ‘6 Ethics’ has been removed.
•         Joint Doctorates (DN-JD) will need to include letters of pre-agreement from those beneficiaries/associated partners that will award the doctoral degrees.
•         A template for the letter of pre-agreement is included.
 
Letter of commitment and letter of pre-agreement
 
•         If the letters of commitment, or the letters of pre-agreement do not follow the template or fail to give enough information the experts may penalise the proposal under the implementation evaluation criteria.
•         The letters of commitment, and the letters of pre-agreement letter must be submitted as part of Part B2 and should not be attached in a separate PDF file or as an embedded file since this makes them invisible.
•         The expert evaluators will disregard the contribution of any associated partners who do not provide a letter of commitment.
•         Entities that do not provide a letter of pre-agreement will be excluded, which may affect the eligibility of the proposal.

The Departments PASS scheme has been successful at the recent university-wide Peer Support Awards. Our scheme for first year students won the Outstanding Innovation Award for the ingenious way in which they coped with moving activities online, with a particular highlight being the discord server that allowed our first year students to talk to each other informally. Congratulations are due to the schemes Student Coordinators Javier Pacheco Rodriguez and Simeon Tsvetanko, who were also presented with Outstanding Contribution Awards. Simeon and Javier further received special recognition under the Students' Union's Contribution to the Academic Community Award.

Our second year scheme was in the final two of the Outstanding Legacy Award, but very narrowly lost out to Chemistry. There were further nominations of individuals, indicating that our PASS schemes have a number of students whose willingness to support others is worthy of recognition.

If you are looking to recruit staff as part of a funded research project please contact the Research Support Team.
 

Advertising posts:
We can help you complete PCM forms to advertise posts and we will check funding is available with our Research Finance Colleagues, then liaise with HR Services on your behalf.

Recruiting staff:
We can help you complete the NAF forms and liaise with HR Services on your behalf so that contracts are sent out to your successful candidate/s.
Research Support Manager: sarah.chatwin@manchester.ac.uk
 

Be Active Zoom summer group exercise sessions 

Lots of online group exercise classes here: https://estore.manchester.ac.uk/short-courses/be-active

Webinars: 19 and 20-Oct-21 (Zoom)
Call due to open 19-Oct-21
Deadline 17-Mar-22

The UK Research Office (UKRO), in its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the European Research Council (ERC NCP), is holding two information webinars on 19 and 20 October for Principal Investigators and organisations interested in applying.
 
ERC 2022 Consolidator Grant: Call Information Webinar 1 of 2 (19 October) focuses on:
•        An initial overview of the European Research Council and the nature of an ERC Consolidator Grant.
•        UK participation in the ERC.
•        Eligibility criteria and proposal development
 
ERC 2022 Consolidator Grant: Call Information Webinar 2 of 2 (20 October) focuses on:
•         Information on the submission process.
•         How proposals are evaluated.
•         Other elements to consider when designing a project for your big research idea.
 
Please note that the webinars form a two-part series, please attend both sessions to get full coverage of information we will provide and remember you will need to register for both webinars separately.
       
The webinar series will be recorded and made available for streaming alongside a copy of the presentation slides after the end of the webinar series.

Horizon Europe calls will be issued via the Participant Portal as for Horizon 2020, you will need to register as an individual PI to set up your proposal but the University’s Participant Identification Code (PIC) remains the same as for Horizon 2020 - you do not need to apply for a separate/new PIC when setting up a new proposal session - the University’s PIC is – 999903840.

The Deadline is July 23rd, 13.00 Rome time.

Foreign students can apply, provided they have a degree equivalent to the Italian Master in Computer Science/Computer Engineering/other CS-related topics.

Candidates can find the instructions in this page:

https://www.uniroma1.it/it/pagina/dottorati-di-ricerca.

The application form, https://www.studenti.uniroma1.it/phoenix/#/login, has an English version too.

Ever wanted a chance to influence EPSRC funding areas? Now's your chance:

Strategic Advisory Teams (SAT) Membership Vacancies - EPSRC website (ukri.org)

EPSRC is welcoming applicants for vacancies in Capital Infrastructure, e-Infrastructure, Engineering (including Robotics Engineering/ Robotic systems), Information Communication Technologies, Manufacturing the Future and Mathematical Sciences Strategic Advisory Teams (SATs), the cross-council Digital Economy Programme Advisory Board (PAB), and the cross-council Energy Programme’s Scientific Advisory Committee.

Deadline: 03-Sep-2021

www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-inv/index.html
JSPS Invitation Fellowship Types: Short Term (first of two calls for FY2022) and Long Term

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) is the leading research funding agency in Japan, established by the Japanese Government for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science. Our Invitation Fellowships provide the opportunity for researchers based outside of Japan to conduct collaborative research activities with leading research groups at Japanese universities and research institutions for single visits of between 14 days to 10 months. Eligible applicants need to be established researchers with an excellent record of research achievements. Eligible research fields are not limited. Fellowships must start between 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023.

*Please send applications to JSPS Tokyo via a host institution in Japan by 3 September 2021. Please be aware the internal deadline set by the host institution to collect an application and forward this to JSPS Tokyo will be earlier.*

** Japanese nationals who have lived outside of Japan for at least 10 years and have been actively engaged in research throughout this period are also eligible to apply **

Internal deadline: 30-Jul-21
Funder deadline: 02-Sep-21

www.raeng.org.uk/grants-prizes/grants/support-for-research/research-chairs
 
The Royal Academy Engineering call for Research Chairs and Senior Research Fellowships is now open. We have agreed a light touch internal review process for submissions to this call.
 
Applicants are asked to provide an outline (2 sides A4 max) detailing the following:
 
1.       Goals and objectives
2.       Methodology and key deliverables
3.       Details of proposed industry support (please note it is not necessary to submit a finalised support letter from your industrial partner at this stage)
4.       Beneficiaries and impact of research
5.       Fit with University research and investment strategy
6.       Plans for self-sustainability once RAEng funding has ended
 
The 2 page outlines should be sent to daniel.twiddy@manchester.ac.uk via the RSM (sarahchatwin@manchester.ac.uk) by noon on Friday 30th July 2021. Please let Sarah know asap if you plan to apply.
Outlines will be reviewed by a Faculty panel.
 
Any queries regarding applications to this scheme should be referred to your Research Support Manager in the first instance.
 
To note:
o   Research Chair applicants should be a professor or equivalent, Senior Research Fellowships applicants should be a Reader or Lecturer level or equivalent.
o   Research Chairs/Senior Fellowships scheme requires at least £250k industry contribution over 5 years.
o   All awards made in this round must start 1 March 2022.

The next submission for the EPSRC Strategic Equipment Process draft Business Cases will be Tuesday 7th September 2021.    
 
The submission process for this call consists of two stages, with an initial submission of a two page “draft Business Case” followed by a full application, if invited. This scheme is intended to fund individual or combined assets with a value over £400k; the request should fit with the host university strategy and enable research that predominantly falls within EPSRC's remit. The Faculty is, therefore, arranging several internal deadlines so as to review the draft Business Cases prior to Je-S submission.   
 
The deadlines are as follows:
 
29th July (Thursday):                                  Notify departmental RSM (sarah.chatwin@manchester.ac.uk) of impending submission*
9th August (Monday) , 12:00 noon:            Submission of potential draft Business Cases to daniel.twiddy@manchester.ac.uk (RSM cc-ed)
17th August (Tuesday):                              Notification of faculty review (candidates to be informed if they can go forward)
7th September (Tuesday), 16:00:              EPSRC deadline for Je-S submission of faculty approved draft Business Cases
 
*EoIs must now be fully costed for the internal submission – contact Sarah asap for this.
 
For full information contact sarah.chatwin@manchester.ac.uk
 
It will not be necessary to submit a formal business plan to Research Finance at this stage; it will only be required for full applications.  Also note that if you have an instrument that has both EPSRC and Royce remit, you should discuss this with us.

Deadline: 08-Sep-21

Ingenious is a Royal Academy of Engineering awards scheme (£3-30k) for projects that engage the public with engineers and engineering while providing engineers with skills and opportunities in public engagement. We prioritise projects that reach diverse and underrepresented audiences including communities in the most deprived neighbourhoods in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and that engage with engineers and people of different genders, ages and ethnic backgrounds.

As part of work taking place on the new teaching lab in Kilburn, four new windows will be installed in the wall adjacent to the Kilburn courtyard corridor. Adding these windows will involve some demolition work to remove existing brickwork and square up the apertures.

Demolition work is expected to start on Monday, 26 July and should be complete by the end of Tuesday, 3 August. Temporary hoardings will be in place in the corridor while work is in progress, and access will be maintained as much as possible. However, the corridor may not be usable for periods while the work is in progress. If you are in the building during this period, expect a significant amount of noise while the demolition is in progress, and you may need to use alternative routes around the area.