Department of CS newsletter

On January 24th we are having a departmental research event to give us the chance to meet with each other in person, and to discuss possible new research collaborations, our research directions, our research values, how we can position ourselves to improve our REF performance etc. More details will follow soon, but please pencil in January 24th in your calendars.

Departmental Email lists

If you are a member of staff in CS then we have the following email lists:

For academic staff: Compsci-acstaff@listserv.manchester.ac.uk

For PDRA staff: Compsci-rastaff@listserv.manchester.ac.uk

For PS Staff: Compsci-pssstaff@listserv.manchester.ac.uk

If you find you are not on a list and would like to be added then please email HoDPA CS with your request. This will go to Melanie Price who will action your request. 

If you send something to the Listserv please email HoDPA CS to let Melanie know, so that she can ensure moderation takes place. 

Colleagues will know that the Faculty has purchased a site licence for Mentimeter, a web-based tool designed to support engagement and inclusivity within online and class room teaching activities. Since September the number of UoM Licence holders has doubled and currently UoM staff and students have created over six thousand Mentimeter presentations eliciting over sixty thousand comments and reactions from participants. To celebrate this achievement we’ve shared a UoM Template with all FSE Mentimeter licence holders; find out how to add it to your Mentimeter space on this page.

If you haven’t already claimed your Mentimeter licence find out how to do so on this page.

Laura Vasquez Rodriguez (PhD candidate), Nhung Nguyen and Sophia Ananiadou (NaCTeM) together with the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) participated on the Text Simplification, Accessibility, and Readability (TSAR-2022) Shared Task on "Lexical Simplification for English, Portuguese and Spanish”.

NaCTeM/UoM &MMU team was placed 2nd among the 8 participating teams in Spanish and 3rd among the 15 participating teams for English.

Research paper: as part of our collaboration with the National Covid study, Tialin Zhang (PhD candidate), together with our alumnus Hassan Alhuzali (currently Umm Al-Qura University, SA) and S. Ananiadou co-authored this paper

https://www.jmir.org/2022/10/e40323/

We are now able to purchase refreshments from food on campus outlets at the University using account codes.

If you are catering for a small meeting, and would like to purchase a few drinks from a food on campus outlet, rather than ordering refreshments from Hospitality, then email the ops team a few days in advance with information on the meeting, which budget you would like to use, and an email from the budget holder approving this use The Ops team will arrange this budget code to be added to your card.

Once added, you will be able order drinks and ask for this to be charged to the budget code when asked to pay. The food on campus outlet will take your ID card to process the transaction, and the budget holder will be asked to verify the purchases at the end of the month.

If you would like more information, please contact the Ops Team.

The Computer Science Outreach team participated in the University's ScienceX event.  ScienceX is an annual science festival provided by staff and student scientists, mathematicians and engineers from the Faculty of Science and Engineering.  This year it took place in Manchester's Central Library on Friday 28 October and Saturday 29 October.  There were stands and activities representing many aspects of science and engineering including the opportunity to make graphene and to explore ways of reducing the carbon cost of transport.  Louise Dennis and Yifan Xu (pictured) from the Autonomy and Verification Group ran a "Lego Rover" activity, which used Lego Robots to introduce concepts from programming, robotics and space science via a discussion of inter-planetary communications delays.  The Cognitive Robotics lab also loaned several of their robots to the event, including a Nao and Pepper, in order to demonstrate ideas from social robotics.

 

If you are interested in being involved in future outreach events please contact Louise Dennis, louise.dennis@manchester.ac.uk or Zahra Montazeri, zahra.montazeri@manchester.ac.uk

Conference Overview

Designed for both professional services and academic researchers, the Research Communications Conference can help you improve the communication of research through an interactive programme of talks, networking sessions and how-to advice.

How can communications and marketing professionals work alongside researchers to create opportunities for promotion, secure funding and collaborate with external partners?

If you're an academic who's ever been mystified by the communications and marketing landscape then this conference is for you.

Our programme is designed to help provide:

• Support navigating the communications process;
• Advice about using the media to promote your research or raise the profile of your research group;
• Understanding how your research can be developed into marketing campaigns;
• Information to grow your key audience; and
• Expert advice to optimise your use of social media.

If you work in communications or marketing professional services, our programme is designed to allow you to:

• Network with your peers to unlock great content;
• Identify opportunities or individuals who can help you achieve your objectives;
• Learn how you can work to cut down the jargon; and
• Have your expertise valued in the context of world-leading research projects.

This conference will introduce academic and PS specialists from the University, Faculties, Schools and Institutes who you can consult when the time is right to promote research at critical milestones.

Join the plenary with Professor Colette Fagan, Vice-President for Research and Claire Brown, Director of Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment and special guests to learn about our developing community of practice. Professor Gary Younge will be part of a special ‘In Conversation’ session in the afternoon.

Conference Programme

08.30-08.55 Registration and coffee on arrival.

08.55 – 15.00 Conference featuring keynote talks, panel discussions, networking sessions and quick-fire talks.

15.00 - 16.15 Surgeries and networking

16.15 – 16.30 Conference ends

Sessions will include:

• Using social media and digital platforms to gain new audiences (Digital and social media team + academic speaker)
• How to build a media profile and take your research to your target audience (Media team and editor of The Conversation)
• Research communications campaigns and how to feed into them (Corporate Campaigns team)
• Keeping funders happy (Manchester Cancer Research Centre)
• Embedding communications in grant applications (Global Development Institute and Faculty of Humanities Strategic Funding team)
• Open research and communications (Office for Open Research)
• Plus sessions with Policy@Manchester and the Researcher Development Team.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Register today to hold your place.

Questions? Contact the Conference organising team at: research.comms@manchester.ac.uk or lynda.mcintosh@manchester.ac.uk

NEW speaker line up revealed!

Join us to celebrate one year of Sustainable Futures at The University of Manchester. This is your chance to network, meet our team and learn more about advances in sustainability related research straight from University of Manchester academics on 28^th November 2022.

During the showcase we'll hear from Professor Mike Shaver, Director of Sustainable Futures, followed by updates from each of the Sustainable Futures Challenge Leads. We'll also hear from University of Manchester researchers, who will discuss their area of research, including recent updates and calls for collaboration/support.

Topics and speakers include:

• Joe Cahill - Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Project with Artesia Consulting
• Professor Ricardo Climent - Video Games & Sustainability
• Dr Maggy Fostier - LEAF (Making lab work more sustainable)
• Dr Stephanie Sodero - Climate Resilience of Supply Chains
• Dr Torik Holmes - One Bin to Rule Them All
• Dr Joe Blakey - Slow travel policy
• Dr Gareth Clay - Wildfire risks and warning systems
• Dr Claudia Henninger – Sustainability in fashion
• Professor Sherilyn MacGregor - TBC
• Professor Susanne Shultz – TBC
• Dr Gina Galli - TBC

Places are limited, so reserve a ticket as soon as possible to avoid disappointment: https://bit.ly/3g0MpsR

Join Research IT on the 29th Nov to hear from members of our Research Platforms and Research Software Engineering teams. There will be an overview of the support and services that we offer and we will discuss how you can include them in your research grant proposals. With many of our services now incurring a charge, it's important that you include the correct amount of resource from the start of your project!

We understand that the services required, and therefore costs, are highly dependent on the nature of your research so it’s important that you get them right. That’s why there will be plenty of time in the session for attendees to discuss their research, to ask questions about how Research IT can be involved and how our skills can be incorporated into proposals.

It is important that you talk to us before you include any of our services on your grant application otherwise we may not be able to help! This session is also a great way for new researchers to find out what services we offer.

Please note that we are asking people to register as we need a minimum of 8 people for the event to go ahead. If we do not reach minimum numbers we will get in touch directly with those that have registered. To register please visit https://research-it.manchester.ac.uk/events/research-it-costing-clinic-nov2022/

Survey deadline extended to: 30-Nov-22

Government Office for Science will be at Manchester for 6 months. They are looking to interact with academics, initially through a survey (deadline extended). Full information available here

This week, part 2 of Ars Technica 'A history of ARM', is out! Learn more about Steve Furber's early work. Part one is also available, with part 3 to come!

This event celebrates one year since Sustainable Futures at The University of Manchester externally launched, and will bring together researchers from across the University and key external stakeholders to discuss current innovative and impactful sustainability activity.

What to expect:

• Updates from our 6 Challenge Areas by our Challenge Leads
• Lightening style presentations by UoM researchers
• Networking session in virtual break out rooms

Register for free here: https://bit.ly/3g0MpsR

If you have any questions regarding the event or if you are interested in showcasing your research at a Sustainable Futures event in 2023 then please contact lauren.mullan@manchester.ac.uk.