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Department of CS newsletter
Published: Wednesday, 10 November 2021Weekly newsletter for the Department of CS
Department Newsletter - Contents
[ top ]News from Head of Department
Christmas Party with an added bonus!
Christmas party in the Kilburn building on Friday 10th December 2021 from 3pm to 7pm
A little extra celebration!
Many of our wonderful colleagues left us last year and we were unable to say goodbye and thank you to them. So, at 3pm we will formally say goodbye and celebrate with them as they have all been invited to come!
*Eventbrite link is here: Computer Science Christmas Party 2021
Please register your place. Registration closes by 5pm on 20th November
*Note: in line with covid restrictions in terms of room occupancy, we must confirm numbers in order that the event can go ahead in a safe manner.
Karon Mee
Welcome to Andrew Stewart
Andrew writes of himself as follows:
I originally studied Computer Science and Psychology at the University of Glasgow before focusing on Cognitive Science during the final two years of my degree. My PhD (also from Glasgow) examined the processing of ambiguity in human language comprehension. This was followed by post docs (one at Glasgow, one at University of Wales Bangor) on syntactic priming in language production and comprehension. After several years in industry, in 2003 I took up a lectureship in language and communication in the Department of Psychology at Manchester. Over the last few years, my research has focused on human reasoning, the processing of data visualisations, and on open and transparent research practices. I am a Fellow of the Software Sustainability Institute, topic editor for the Journal of Open Source Software, and a member of Carole Goble's eScience Lab. The majority of my teaching involves teaching reproducible data science to students on Masters programmes in Biological Sciences and Psychology. I am the Institutional Lead for Open and Reproducible Research at the University of Manchester and co-lead the £4.5M UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN) project "Growing and embedding open research in institutional practice and culture” where my focus is on computational skills training. Both Caroline Jay and Carole Goble play key roles in the activity funded by this grant . My personal website can be viewed here and my GitHub profile here.
Reporting COVID-19 Cases
I trust that no one gets infected with COVID-19, but if it happens do report it via:
https://www.qualtrics.manchester.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_ero5ZwsafR9UW90
However, do also tell your line manager/supervisor, as information from this form takes a while to filter through. Also, if teaching, be it on a course unit, tutorials, projects, etc are affected, then do also tell Sean as there is stuff that has to be done due to not being here for teaching.
Robert.
[ top ]News and announcements
Wood Street Mission Christmas Appeal 2021
Wood Street Mission Christmas Appeal 2021
https://www.woodstreetmission.org.uk/our-projects/christmas/
We are collecting for Wood Street Mission this Christmas. Please see details of the types of donations to make (in the attached file). Melanie Price is collecting in Kilburn. Please take to her office (2.125) before 1st December.
Or, if you prefer you can use the Amazon Wish list page or make a monetary donation to our Just Giving page
Melanie Price is fundraising for Wood Street Mission (justgiving.com)
Files:
- Xmas2021_gift-ideas_A4_web.pdf (223.06 KB)
December VMG dates and payroll deadlines
As we approach the end of the year please note the following dates if you are recruiting or extending staff on research projects.
December payroll deadline – all posts- Wednesday 1st December – deadline for all paperwork to be received by HR Services for December payroll on Monday 20th December 2021
VMG meetings – for any PS/technical posts
- Last VMG of 2021:
- Monday 20th December – PCMS/NAFs due in by Friday 10th December to be included in this round.
First VMG of 2022:
- Monday 10th January – PCMs/NAFs due in by Friday 17th December to be included in this round.
Sarah Chatwin
Update: OA Institutional Fund
This year’s University OA Fund, which supports unfunded researchers publishing in OA journals, is now no longer open to requests.
The Research Services team in the library have been approving APC requests for unfunded papers from this fund since August and following the active promotion of the fund via various channels in October, there has been unprecedented demand. The demand-driven nature of this budget makes it difficult to predict when funds are likely to be exhausted, but the portion of the budget allocated to paying APCs is now fully committed. This means that the Library is no longer able to cover the cost of publishing unfunded outputs Gold Open Access.
In addition to covering APC costs for unfunded papers, the University Open Access Fund provides a significant contribution to a number of publisher agreements that enable University of Manchester authors to make their publications open access at no further cost.
Unless your chosen journal is included in one of our existing publisher agreements, please do not submit papers to a fully Open Access journal without first requesting a fee waiver from the journal and/or securing alternative funding. Many fully OA journals offer fee waivers where funding is not available to pay an APC. Waivers should typically be requested during submission.
Open access funding is still available for papers acknowledging support from UKRI, the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK and British Heart Foundation.
If researchers are unsure of how to proceed with your OA request, please contact the team: uml.openaccess@manchester.ac.uk or fill out the OA Enquiry Form.
Cold in Kilburn?
We have spoken with Estates about the temperature in some areas of the Kilburn Building.
If you are cold you it is important to email Estates to advise them. Please include the building and room you are in.
Estates: estates@manchester.ac.uk
[ top ]Events
EPSRC Healthcare Technologies Strategy refresh – open invitation to contribute
We would like to inform you of our forthcoming healthcare technologies strategy refresh that will shortly be underway. Our current strategy dates from 2015 and has three elements: Grand Challenges (updated here and are very extensive) /Cross-cutting research capabilities/ Impact & Translation Toolkit. These are great opportunities to influence our core strategy and where we focus funding in the future. Many of the healthtec grants we make are highly collaborative and deliver real world impact so I would encourage your engagement if possible.
There will be two main phases to the project all delivered virtually: three webinars and an online survey to identify themes to be explored in more detail before Christmas followed by a number of workshops influenced by the previous phase in the new year. The project is due to complete by the end of this financial year.
We are now looking to engage a diverse set of stakeholders to take a more focused look about the challenges and opportunities for engineering and physical sciences researchers and:
Discuss and update the Vision for the Theme as appropriate to ensure it is clear and understood. One of the longstanding issues we hope to address is achieving an appropriate balance between highlighting important unmet health needs and ensuring that the role of engineering and physical sciences research is clear and hence the role of EPSRC
Expand the descriptions of the Grand Challenges to set a forward looking direction for the Theme and offer more specificity to help shape our future portfolio and highlight opportunities for partnership working
Depending on the outcome of the above, review the cross-cutting capabilities and update the Impact & Translation Toolkit.
To register for one of the webinars, please follow the links below (all include the same information but are being repeated so that as many people as possible can attend):
N8 CIR Ethics in Computational Research Webinar Series
Ethics in Computational Research - AI and Machine Learning
Event: Thursday 11 November, 10am - 12 noon
The final workshop in the series will be led by Michael Castelle of the University of Warwick and will consider two key themes; responsible design and interaction with ethics, for example engaging participants.
https://n8cir.org.uk/events/ethics-3
This event is only open to those working or studying at one of the N8 Research Partnership universities (including UoM). Please register using your academic (.ac.uk) e-mail address to help confirm your eligibility.
[ top ]Research News
Survey for circulation
Five-minute survey on research practices
The University of Manchester is part of a UKRN study to investigate awareness of open research amongst all academic staff, researchers and doctoral researchers at the institution. Whether or not you know about or practice open research, we’d like to hear from you.
The results will help us to understand how we can better support staff in open research.
The survey is available here: https://brunellifesc.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3eLDWrN8iH2nB42
The deadline for completion is Friday 26th November 2021.
Marion Morris
Semantic Web journal 10-year award 2021
Congratulations to Matthew Horridge, Stanford University (previously UoM) and Sean Bechhofer, University of Manchester, who have received the Semantic Web journal 10-year award 2021 for their paper:
The paper was selected in a vote by all Editorial Board members from the pool of papers published in 2011 by the journal.
The authors will receive as a prize, sponsored by publisher IOS Press, a book of their choice from the Studies on the Semantic Web book series.
more information: https://twitter.com/IOSPress_STM/status/1453316018068148227
[ top ]Research Funding Opportunities
Advise on the commissioning of NERC’s environmental data service
www.ukri.org/opportunity/advise-on-the-commissioning-of-nercs-environmental-data-service/
Deadline: 22-Dec-2021Apply for a £75k Fellowship (funded at 100% of the full economic cost), to provide independent expertise for the commissioning of the NERC Environmental Data Service (EDS).
Applicants may apply as individuals or as a team. They must be willing to commit a combined 0.4 to 0.6 FTE to the activity from 2 February 2022 to
2 August 2022. Applicants must demonstrate:- professional expertise and knowledge of data and digital research infrastructure, preferably in relation to environmental science
- skills in stakeholder engagement.
Experience in federated data repositories and cloud computing is beneficial but not mandatory.
Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellowships (10 posts available)
Deadline: 15-Dec-2021
The latest round of Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellowships advert is now live: The University of Manchester | Jobs | Search here for your perfect career
In 2021/22 we plan to appoint DKOs aligned to the following research areas to the School of Natural Science (SNS) and to the School of Engineering (SOE):
- Net zero and sustainable systems, including carbon storage and hydrogen
- Engineering for health
- Engineering biology
- Environmental Bio Tech, interface with medicine and healthcare
- Data science, AI, machine learning, autonomous systems, robotics
- Engineering materials, Quantum 2.0 and nano- and meta-materials
- Digital engineering and manufacturing
- Metallurgy, composites and sustainable materials
- Energy, including fusion
These areas should be regarded as a guide to where we anticipate making appointments, and reflect the current research priorities of the Faculty. However, outstanding candidates in science and engineering who are outside of these areas will also be considered and are encouraged strongly to apply.
Dr Mustafa Mustafa is a current Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow in Computer Science and happy to share his experiences.
HDR UK Turing PhD Programme (8 places available) - Applications now open
Deadline: 01-Dec-2021 12.00 GMT midday.
https://www.hdruk.ac.uk/careers-in-health-data-science/phd-programme/
Applications are now open for the HDR UK Turing Wellcome PhD in Health Data Science.
This four-year funded doctoral programme, starting Sept 22, provides an in-depth training for graduates interested in bringing their numerical and computational skills to health data science. They are looking for students who want to develop their skills as health data scientists and make a real difference to health and care.
The PhD programme is a platform to launch the careers of future leaders in health data science. The programme is a collaboration between Health Data Research UK, The Alan Turing Institute and seven partner universities.
ERC 2022 Starting Grant - call open
Deadline: 13-Jan-2022
Template documents and guidance documents can be downloaded from this portal when a draft proposal is set up.
The UK National Contact Point (NCP) webinars and presentation slides can be found on the UK Research Office (UKRO) website – ERC Starting Grants Webinars.
Horizon Europe calls will be issued via the Participant Portal you will need to register to set up or view a proposal. The University’s Participant Identification Code (PIC) remains the same as for Horizon 2020 - 999903840. (You do not need to apply for a separate/new PIC when setting up a new proposal session).
Contact your research support contact asap to talk through the scheme.
[ top ]Social Responsibility
Gender Diversity Day Dept of Physics and Astronomy’s - 10th November 2021
GENDER DIVERSITY DAY NOVEMBER 10th 2021 1PM – 4PM HYBRID EVENT https://zoom.us/j/93717016378
Files:
- Agenda_-_Gender_Diversity_Day_2021.docx (13.41 KB)
