Department of CS newsletter

Many congratulations to Mauricio, Wei, Mingfei, Sami, and Anirbit for the award of their AI Centre for Doctoral Training. The bid was led by Mauricio and also involves partners in AMBS and at the University of Cambridge. The CDT will run for 8 years and bring 56 new PGRs to Manchester, and 16 to Cambridge. This is fantastic news all round. You can read the press release about the new CDTs here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/britain-to-be-made-ai-match-fit-with-118-million-skills-package

University news article here: University to train next generation of AI researchers in new UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training (manchester.ac.uk)

EPSRC visit

 

I would like to reiterate Clare’s recent message thanking everyone for their engagement with the recent visit of the EPSRC - it was great seeing such a turnout at the open meeting, the lunch, and the various break-out sessions later in the day. I would particularly like to thank Clare, Sarah, and Ruth for all their help with the organisation of the day.

SIRF submission

 

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our draft SIRF bid over the last few months. The proposal has now been submitted. I will talk a little more about the details at our next departmental meeting and will provide updates as it progresses through the various approval stages.

Overseas working reminder

 

Can I remind everyone (incl. PDRAs) that the University’s default position is that all employed staff are UK based, and agreeing for staff members to work overseas is done only on an exceptional basis due to role requirements for the University’s benefit.

More information can be found here: https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/people-and-od/managers-essentials/recruiting-the-right-people/global-mobility/staff-working-abroad/

Please do ensure that you (and your line managers) are complying with this policy. Agreement for staff to work abroad requires Dean-level (not just line manager) approval.

Farewell to Ahmed

 

Finally, and as most of you know, Ahmed will be leaving us at the end of January. I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank you, Ahmed, for all your contributions to the department during your time with us, and wish you all the best for your future endeavours.

 

Academic Tutor Online are looking for enthusiastic tutors who are interested in one-to-one online teaching to students from varying ages and backgrounds. We are looking for inspiring educators who want to share their subject knowledge and experience using new innovative ways of teaching via a virtual platform.

 

We offer flexible, fully remote work where tutoring sessions can be arranged between tutee and student. Tutoring availability will be dependent on student demand and upon application we will match you with students according to your profile.

 

If you would like to apply to become an a tutor please complete application below: https://forms.gle/SFjBk6etmXz7MrvE7 [forms.gle]

 

If you require any more information, please visit our website www.academictutoronline.co.uk [academictutoronline.co.uk] or email anna.kurlova@academiccamp.co.uk.

 

Best wishes,

Anna

 

Work Teaching Science & Technology Activities

Would you be interested in doing some teaching work with secondary school students?

MCS projects are looking for students that could help to lead Electric Car, Robotics and E-FIT Forensics activities in secondary schools across Greater Manchester.  They will be running events in the Computer Science department in January and June so it would be particularly good to have some of our students present at those events.

Successful applicants would be added to a mailing list so they can sign up to any events that they’re available for. Events last for the duration of a school day.

Applicants should have an enthusiasm for Science & Technology and ideally also have some experience of working with young people.

Staff are paid £80 plus travel expenses per event.

If you are interested, please email your C.V to john.waterworth@mcsprojectsltd.co.uk by Friday 24th November. The website is www.mcsprojectsltd.co.uk

Dear Colleagues

SAVE THE DATE : Festschrift, Friday 12th January 2024

Prof Steve Furber has just retired, after 3 decades of leadership and academic excellence. To honour his contributions, the University is holding a “Festschrift” (direct translation from German is “writing celebration”) where we will host several of Steve’s distinguished colleagues from around the world, delivering talks on how his work influenced the course of the field.  https://computerhistory.org/profile/steve-furber/

This will be an all-day event, 12th January 2024, in Engineering Building A.

Eventbrite link to register: FurbyFest: A Festschrift for Professor Steve Furber Tickets, Fri 12 Jan 2024 at 09:00 | Eventbrite

Date & Time: Tuesday 21st November 2023 | 14.15-16.00 (UK)

Venue: Christabel Pankhurst Building, Dover Street, Manchester, M13 9PS

Summary: Join the discussion led by Chair of the Competition and Markets Authority Marcus Bokkerink, alongside key influencers in the region, to have your say on how regulators can support regulation of AI and research in the North West.
Sign up for the event for free here.

Event dates: 

• Tuesday 31st October -10am - 12noon - Engineering A_3A.029 M&T
• Thursday 2nd November - 10am - 12noon - ONLINE (Link to be shared prior to the event)
• Wednesday 8th November - 10am - 12noon - Uni Place_5.209

Speed up Research Approval
Join us to learn about two tools available for University of Manchester staff & students to assist their research projects.

Research Risk Profiler -  Originally launched in February 2022 as part of the Research Lifecycle’s Project A, the Research Risk Profiler (RRP) is a simple tool that helps researchers to navigate a large range of potentially complex risk and compliance topics when planning a new project to ensure that it can proceed safely and securely.
The RRP is a questionnaire that takes about 15 minutes to complete. Profiled risk areas include Trusted Research themes such as partner assessment, Export Controls, and Intellectual Property (IP). Completing the questionnaire will help to connect researchers with specialist Professional Services (PS) colleagues and teams who can support them in navigating risk and compliance processes.
The RRP connects researchers with specialist Professional Services (PS) colleagues ensures that researchers are offered solutions that are appropriate to their project, rather than a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.

Ethical Review Manager (ERM): Online system for University ethical approval - The University uses an online ethics review software system (ERM) to manage the ethical review of research projects that involve human participants and their data. ERM is available to both members of staff and students at the University of Manchester and helps users to submit and track their applications submitted to the University Research Ethics Committee (UREC) and local Division/School ethics panels.
Following an extensive University wide consultation with users, the ERM system has now been re-designed to improve readability, functionality and access to help and guidance information. Modified versions of the application form are now available for bespoke types of projects, including collaborations with other organisations/institutions and projects limited to the use of social media data. Overall appearance, wording and other formatting details have also been modified to improve the experience for a wide range of users.

Why Attend?
- Discover how the RRP can proactively identify risks in your research journey.
- Learn about the updates and new features to the ERM system.
- Demonstrations of both tools with a Q&A session.

Join Us
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/speed-up-research-approval-tickets-704390520007 

 

UKRI is introducing a new Open Access Policy for long-form outputs (monographs, chapters, and edited collections) which will take effect from 1 January 2024. 

We are expecting further updates from UKRI over the coming months and the Library will be updating Schools as and when new information becomes available.  

For details of the information released so far concerning the new policy and available funding, please visit the Library website: UKRI’s new Open Access policy: Long-form outputs 

If you have any questions about the policy, please contact the Library’s Open Access team via libraryresearch@manchester.ac.uk 

Lucas Cordeiro, Youcheng Sun and colleagues officially started their research project, "Bounded Model Checking for Verifying and Testing Ethereum Consensus Specifications' in October:

Our primary focus involves extending the cutting-edge ESBMC verifier (https://lnkd.in/eFFeu4MW) to seamlessly interface with the Python reference implementation of Ethereum consensus specifications. We will harness abstract interpretation and symbolic model-checking techniques to generate tests tailored to these specifications systematically.

Our contributions are twofold. First, we intend to harness traditional code coverage criteria to direct the test generation process for Ethereum specifications. Second, we will explore novel coverage criteria, emphasizing metrics that consider execution depth. We will also create a user-friendly interface for ESBMC, ensuring that developers working on Ethereum proof-of-stake specifications can effortlessly employ our tool in their tasks.

This project is a team effort with Youcheng Sun and Bruno Farias, and together, we aim to improve Ethereum program testing and verification.

EPSRC are calling for more reviewers

In trying to maintain expert peer review as a key element of our prioritisation process please can I encourage you and your colleagues to take some simple actions:
•    If you are a member of EPSRCs Peer Review College, please can you:

(i) ensure your Je-S expertise is accurate and appropriately detailed, as this will help improve reviewer selection;
(ii) wherever possible, meet the commitment you agreed when joining the Peer Review College (a maximum of 8 reviews relevant to your expertise per year). 
 
•    If you or colleagues are not members of EPSRCs Peer Review College, we welcome self-nominations to extend participation in the review process. We also offer training to support participation in the peer review process.
 
•    Please encourage colleagues who are developing proposals to participate in the peer review process. This participation helps understand how UKRIs funding processes operate and can provide valuable insight into writing even better proposals. 
 
•    Please do respond to reviewer requests as soon as possible, even if it is to decline. With our new Funding Service, you may need to add noresponse@funding-service.ukri.org to your contacts to avoid emails being sent to your junk/spam folder.
 
•    For support on the new Funding Service, please see UKRIs new Reviewer Guidance. We also have a help desk should you encounter any issues support@funding-service.ukri.org
 
I thank you for your support in overcoming these challenges, including the demand on reviewers from the current CDT exercise alongside other activities and system changes. Building on UKRIs recent Review of Peer Review, and recommendations of the Review of Research Bureaucracy, UKRI are considering options for evolution of the peer review process to promote greater sustainability of the system. EPSRC would welcome your suggestions to this process.