Skip to navigation | Skip to main content | Skip to footer
Menu
Menu
  • Department of CS newsletter

    Published: Monday, 07 November 2022

    Weekly newsletter for the Department of CS

    [ top ]News from Head of Department

    New Colleagues and other news.....

    First off I'd like to extend a warm welcome to three new colleagues. Jiaoyan Chen (IMG) and Mingfei Sun (MLR) have just joined us as lecturers, and Marie Farrell (Autonomy and Verification) has joined as RAEng Fellow working on "Strong Software Reliability for Autonomous Space Robotics". Jiaoyan was previously a researcher at the University of Oxford and prior to that a post-doc in the GIScience Research Group, Heidelberg University. Jiaoyan's PhD is from the College of Computer Science, Zhejiang University in China. Mingfei was previously a researcher at Microsoft Research Cambridge, and prior to that a post-doc at the University of Oxford after having completed a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Marie is joining us following a post-doc position in the Department of Computer Science at Maynooth University, which followed an EPSRC funded position and her PhD (also at Maynooth).

    In other news, we've had the go ahead (and more importantly the funds) for AV upgrade of the teaching rooms KB2.15, KB2.19, and IT407. Hopefully this will happen sooner rather than later.

    Many thanks to Simon for organising the guide dog visit last month - scroll down for some great pictures!

    Finally, I've been able to free up some funds so we can have *both* a departmental End of Year bash *and* separate research group Christmas events. For the research group events this will be at 20 pounds per person funded by FSE.  Research groups can contact CSOps to arrange payment of the contribution.   The departmental event will be on December 15th - more info. will follow soon...

     

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    Cyber security influencers – who to follow - Danny Dresner!

    Also, congratulations to Danny Dresner who appeared in the Evening Standard list of "Cyber security influencers – who to follow" published to coincide with UK Cyber Week 2022.

    (Article)

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    [ top ]News and announcements

    Current Recruitment

    We are recruiting for two academic posts in the Department:

    Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Machine Learning

    The University of Manchester is making a strategic investment in fundamentals of AI, to complement its existing strengths in AI applications across several prominent research fields in the University, which give high-profile application and collaboration opportunities for the outcomes of fundamental AI research. The university is one of the most active partners of the national Alan Turing Institute, hosts 27 Turing Fellows and Fellows of the European Laboratory of Learning and Intelligent Systems ELLIS, in the new ELLIS Unit Manchester. The university’s ambition is to establish a leading AI centre at the cross section of these opportunities. The university has recently launched a Centre for AI Fundamentals and has already recruited four new academics to it. This lectureship continues this series of positions in establishing the new Centre.

    Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Machine Learning- ADVERT

    Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Natural Language Processing (NLP)

    The appointment will further strengthen the research profile of the AI/NLP and text mining research groupings at the University of Manchester and the growing activities in AI. We are looking for an outstanding candidate that has a vision for making a significant impact on NLP research and its applications.

    Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Natural Language Processing - ADVERT

    Please push these vacancies out through any relevant networks.

     

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    Professional Memberships - reminder of process

    In recent years there have been a number of changes to the processes for professional membership. With the renewal for many professional memberships due early in the new year this email is to outline the current process for memberships purchases and reimbursement.

    Professional Memberships - Qualifying Criteria:

    - Funding for professional body membership will be provided where this is a specific requirement for an accredited programme.

    - In addition if there is a specific justification to enable research activities that are not possible without membership then approval may be sought from the School Heads of Research for an additional professional membership. This will be limited to staff who are defined as independent researchers in the context of REF.

    - A limited budget for the professional memberships will be held in the School. Therefore, professional memberships should not be funded via Group codes.

    - Note that paying for memberships out of other codes (e.g. R, BA etc.) will be restricted to the terms of those codes. In the past, such spend on codes may have gone through, but then when audited has been found to be ineligible, and then led to the School paying. If professional memberships have been included on the grant application where the funder terms and conditions state that this is an eligible cost for a particular call then these codes can be used to purchase memberships (in addition to ones which meet the criteria above). However, you will need to demonstrate eligibility.

    The above criteria applies to academics, PDRAs and technical colleagues.

    Process

    For those seeking membership payment on R codes (if eligible) the usual staff expenses approval should be sought through the on-line system and proof that the membership is an eligible cost on the R code should be attached.

    For those seeking membership payment on the School AA code, prior approval must be sought through CSOps team.  We already have a list of pre-approved memberships from last year.  New requests will require new approval to be sought.

    • Please send details to CSOps and state if the request is for Accreditation or Research
    • Please state if you already have another professional membership paid for by the university
    • For new requests CSOps will request the relevant approval from Tim Jones (accreditation related memberships) or Caroline Jay (research-related justification).
    • Outcomes of approval requests will be emailed to individuals, with the relevant School AA code to use.
    • Individuals *MUST* attach/upload email approval to the staff expenses claim.

    Once approval has been provided purchases should be made by individuals and claimed back through staff expenses.

    Please contact CSOps with any queries

     

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    [ top ]Wellbeing

    Guide Dog Visit for PGR Wellbeing

    We welcomed 2 very special guests to Kilburn in October - Krystal and Whitney from Guide Dogs.org.  We invited them for a PGR wellbeing session, which was very well received by PGR students and many staff too!  Alison and Roley the helpers were fantastic and answered lots of questions which people had about the dogs, their work and the training.  Overall it was a fantastic session and we will invite them back again next year!

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    Do you want to join the CS football team?

    5-a-side football for PDRAs/PGRs/staff

    Hi all, we're gathering interest for starting some casual 5-a-side football between CS people (PhD students and staff).

    The first game is planned for 16th November at 6pm (to be confirmed). Please send an email to Edoardo Manino to express your interest.

     

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    [ top ]Events

    Applying for UKRI grants including New Investigator Awards

    Date: Wednesday 30th November 14-16:00
    Location: Kilburn Lecture Theatre 1.3

    New to applying for UKRI grants or need to brush up about grant writing, application and processes? If so this staff development session is for you. 

    This  session focuses on all aspects of applying for UKRI grants, in particular focusing on EPSRC and will cover writing the relevant documents, the process locally and at UKRI, costings and New Investigator Awards. There will be a chance to ask questions and advice will provided about how to succeed. It will not explicitly target fellowships. 

    • Michael Fisher: The case for support, other documentation, the UKRI process after submission
    • Sarah Chatwin: Research Support, costings de-mystified, the process locally 
    • Pierre Olivier: New Investigator Awards
    • All: Advice and tips for success, Q&A

    This is aimed at Computer Science early career academics new to applying for UKRI grants, or academic staff who would like a refresher about applying for UKRI grants. It may also be of interest to PDRAs or PhD students who would like to find out more about UKRI proposal development and application.
    We intend it to be an in person event but aim also to run a zoom session for those who cannot attend in person (contact sarah.chatwin@manchester.ac.uk for details) and will try and record the session. 

    gravatar Sarah Chatwin

    STEM for Britain - call for posters

    Deadline: 28-Nov-2022    

    https://stemforbritain.org.uk/
    The Parliamentary & Scientific Committee’s STEM for BRITAIN 2023 will take place in the Houses of Parliament on Monday 6th March, during British Science Week. Applications are now open. It's a fantastic opportunity to meet lots of influential partners and Parliamentarians, as well as the chance to win prize money for subject area winners:

    Gold – £1000
    Silver – £750
    Bronze -£500

    Applications are invited from early-career research scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians for the opportunity to exhibit.

    gravatar Sarah Chatwin

    [ top ]Research News

    Catering and venue claims for EC projects

    If you are organising catering or venue hire for EC-funded projects then please use external caterers and venue hire.

    Internal UoM catering and conference costs are deemed ineligible, as advised by Research Finance. CSOps are also aware of this.

    gravatar Sarah Chatwin

    Congratulations!

     

    Congratulations to Dr Juan Fumero who was successful in the Research Staff Excellence Awards 2022, with Best Outstanding Output.
    Dr Fumero has published several high profile publications in programming languages, which has led to several invitations to industry-focussed conferences. 


    FSE Professors Elected as Fellows of Royal Academy of Engineering 
    Congratulations to Alex van Someren, Honoury Professor of Computer Science, who was recently elected as part of 72 new Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, along with Prof. Nick Higham from Maths. The new Fellows will be formally admitted to the Academy at a special ceremony in London on 8 November.

    gravatar Sarah Chatwin

    Update to UKRI start date policy and EPSRC implementation

    UKRI are making a permanent change to maintain flexible start dates for responsive mode grants, to maintain flexible start dates introduced as response to COVID-19.

    From 01 December 2022, all grant letters for responsive mode grants will include a nominal start date that is at least three months after the issue date of the grant offer. Research organisations will then have a further three months to start their grants. 
    EPSRC has taken the decision to implement this start date policy change to both their responsive and non-responsive opportunities. This approach will continue to support the additional start date flexibility that EPSRC introduced across it schemes and funding opportunities in 2019, maintain consistency in starting procedures for grants across their funding opportunities and align with the standard UKRI terms and conditions. 
    Certain opportunities where a fixed start date is required will be exempt from the new policy. Where an opportunity is exempt from the policy it will be indicated in funding opportunity documentation and in the terms and conditions of any resulting grant.

    gravatar Sarah Chatwin

    BBSRC Responsive Mode Changes

    BBSRC are conducting a pilot scheme within their Responsive Mode calls. Standing priority areas and one-off research highlights will be replaced by a series of rolling 'spotlights', which will generally be active for three consecutive rounds (one year), with new spotlights introduced each round.

    The first three spotlights are:

    • building stronger biological understanding of the role of nutrition on human health across the life course
    • bioelectricity as a holistic approach to understand diverse (microbial) cell behaviours
    • fundamental research to improve animal welfare outcomes

    More information: https://www.ukri.org/news/bbsrc-launches-new-responsive-mode-spotlight-pilot/

    gravatar Sarah Chatwin

    [ top ]Prize and award Opportunities

    2023 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science UK & Ireland Rising Talent Programme

    Deadline: 02-Dec-22

    https://www.forwomeninscience.com/challenge/show/58
    We will be awarding five outstanding early-career women scientists a grant of £15k to support their research in the fields of Physical Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Life Sciences and Sustainable Development.

    The awards have been designed to provide flexible and practical financial support to enable these women scientists to further their research and careers. With the grant, winners may choose to spend their fellowship on buying scientific equipment, paying for childcare, travel costs or indeed whatever they need to continue their research.

    In addition to financial support, each year past and present fellows receive training and networking opportunities supported by L’Oréal.

    The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on 24 April 2023, further details will be shared on the website in due course.

    We will be hosting two webinars during the call for applications with some of the previous fellows speaking about their experience of the programme and an opportunity for potential candidates to ask questions. Webinars can be registered for here.

    Weninar dates either:

    • Friday 11 November at 11am - 12pm OR
    • Thursday 24 November at 5pm - 6pm

    Candidates must identify as female postdoctoral level researchers who have already been awarded their research doctorate in the fields of life science, physical sciences, mathematics and computing, engineering or sustainable development.

    ·       Candidates must have no more than 10 years’ active full-time equivalent postdoctoral experience (discounting career breaks, but including teaching experience and/or time spent in industry).

    ·       Candidates must not currently hold a permanent academic post, or have ever held a permanent academic post in the past, or have received, before the start date of the award, the promise of a permanent academic post.

    ·       Candidates must be undertaking research in the fields of life science, physical sciences, mathematics and computing, engineering or sustainable development.

    ·       Psychology, science education and social sciences are not eligible for this Award.

    ·       Candidates must be conducting their research at a UK or Irish university or research institute.

    ·       Candidates can be a citizen of any country, but must already have a confirmed position at a university or institute within the UK or Ireland. This contract must cover the 12-month period of the award.

    ·       Candidates must be residing within the UK or Ireland at the time of application. Applications are welcome from candidates who wish to establish/re-establish themselves after a career break or other period of absence from active research or where the candidate is establishing a research career as a mature entrant or after experience in other fields.

    gravatar Sarah Chatwin

    [ top ]Research Funding Opportunities

    EPSRC Strategic Equipment call - Internal timeline and process

    Deadlines:

    • 4th November 2022                      Notify departmental RSM (sarah.chatwin@manchester.ac.uk) of impending submission
    • 14th November 2022 (noon)          Submission of potential draft Business Cases to Daniel Twiddy (via sarah.chatwin@manchester.ac.uk)
    • 24th November 2022                     Notification of faculty review (candidates to be informed if they can go forward)
    • 15th December 2022                     Recommended EPSRC deadline for Je-S submission of faculty approved draft Business Cases

     www.ukri.org/councils/epsrc/guidance-for-applicants/types-of-funding-we-offer/strategic-equipment/

    EPSRC are continuing to run the panels for their Strategic Equipment call three times a year, and we have been given suggested dates to submit the EoIs in order to meet these panels.

    The decision has been made to retain our internal review process, so the next submission for the EPSRC Strategic Equipment Process draft Business Cases will be 15th December 2022.    

    The submission process for this call consists of two stages, with an initial submission of a two page “Expression of Interest” 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 2 page outlines prior to Je-S submission.   

    If you are interested in submitting an EoI for this call, we would request that you please contact your RSM as soon as possible so they are aware of it and can budget time accordingly.

     

    Please note that EoIs must now be fully costed for the internal submission.

    An intention to submit should be submitted to RSM by Friday 4th November and full EoIs on Monday 14th November to daniel.twiddy@manchester.ac.uk.

    You can find information on the bid at the bid at the EPSRC Strategic Equipment Process page .

    Applicants will need to make clear whether the proposed purchase is for new capability or an increase in capacity.

    • For new capability, a Labcup search needs to be done to ensure this equipment is not already available within the university.
    • For increased capacity, please provide evidence that the equipment is required, (preferably by PPMS usage stats)

    Applicants are encouraged to speak with the facility leads where appropriate.

    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.

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks

    gravatar Ruth Maddocks
Generated: Friday, 29 March 2024 14:02:30
Last change: Monday, 07 November 2022 13:07:11