Department of CS newsletter

On Thursday  17th March we're going to have a nice get together with hot beverages and cake in the Common Room from 1100 hrs. We've not had face to face socials for a long while and there are a lot of new colleagues in the Department; do come along, look at people, say hello, eat, drink and be merry. 

It's also Red Nose day on Friday 18 March; give a donation for your cakes or a donation even if you don't eat any cake.
Bring your own mugs (and Red Nose Day donations) - we'll bring tea, coffee, and cake (as well as cups etc, but do help save on the washing up). 

(Red Nose Day)

An Inaugural workshop is taking place on Monday 4 April, to promote the activities of the new interdisciplinary Manchester Centre for Robotics and AI. Academics interested in being affiliated to the Centre and/or in participating in the workshop are welcome to submit their application via the online registration form. Deadline for applications is 10 March 2022. Read more.

AI initiatives: get involved
The President and Vice-Chancellor, Nancy Rothwell, has convened a pan-University working group, under the Institute of Data Science and AI, to prepare to submit a competitive bid for a UKRI AI Centre of Excellence – to establish a Centre for AI Fundamentals, and to develop a business case for a Turing Innovation Hub. The working group would welcome your input to any of these initiatives. Read more.

Date: Tuesday 5th April
Time: 14:00 – 16:00
Venue: Virtual
Register here

Summary:

We are hosting an exciting cross-platform event between the Digital Futures Cities & Environment theme and the Sustainable Futures research platform. This internal networking and ideas generation e
vent will bring together researchers from across the University of Manchester to explore how digital technology can be used to develop innovative responses to climate change. It will provide an opportunity to spotlight important interdisciplinary research in this area, and discuss future research collaborations.

If you have any questions, related to the event please contact Peter Kane.

Agenda (timings TBC):
2-3pm: Spotlight talks
3-4pm: Networking and ideas generation session

Confirmed speakers:

• Claire Hoolohan, Presidential Research Fellow, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
  Everyday practices and organisational practices linked to water use (title TBC)
• Muir Freer, PhD Student, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
  Carbon Efficient Digital Twin Modelling of a Critical Climate Change Mitigation Technology for the UK
• Raphael Tarpani, Research Assistant, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
  Environmental impacts of digital services for health and wellbeing in the home

All women in Computer Science are invited to an informal “Women in Kilburn Social" on Wednesday, March 23rd, at 1pm in the Turing Lounge. Come along and join for a chat!

We have now received confirmation that the UKVI covid concession on studying away has been extended meaning you must now return to the UK to continue your studies in person by 30^th June 2022. 

Any students entering the UK with a student visa are required to attend in person on campus, with a minimum attendance requirement of two face-to-face interactions in any rolling 4-week period.  Therefore, PGRs with a Tier 4/student visa are required to attend their programme in-person, unless they are quarantining, self-isolating, or are unwell, with a minimum of two documented in-person academic contact points (e.g. labs, meetings, seminars).  The UKVI remote study Covid concession has been extended to 30^th June 2022.  From this point, all PGRs are required to be in the UK and remote study outside of the UK will no longer be permitted, unless for authorised fieldwork.

If you have any concerns or issues regarding this, please get in touch immediately. 

. The Visa Team have updated this page to reflect this change although it doesn’t look like that change has pulled through yet: Student Support | Immigration and Visas | Visa advice for current students during Covid-19 | The University of Manchester

Greener operations: Sustainable Perioperative Care & Towards Sustainability and Net Zero with Digitalised Surface Manufacturing:

Date and time | 14:00 - 15:15
Book Today - Final Tickets Remaining
Dr David Jones, Medical Examiner and retired Consultant Surgeon at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust will discuss Sustainable Perioperative Care, and Professor Allan Matthews, Professor of Surface Engineering and Tribology, Faculty of Science and Engineering will cover Digitalised Surface Manufacturing