Department of CS newsletter

The next fortnight sees several in-person events in Kilburn. The first is on Wednesday 31st at 1400 in LT1.3. Davide Bertozzi will be delivering a research seminar on “Systems Innovation By Leveraging the Enabling Properties of Communication Architectures and Technologies”. We will have a social gathering afterwards in the common room. Our seminar series provides an opportunity to meet with colleagues who you may not have had a chance to speak with previously (and other colleagues who you may not have seen in a while). The following Wednesday (Feb 7th) at 1300 we will have two 30-minute research seminars, the first delivered by Jiaoyan Chen and the second by Ramon Fraga Pereira. After these, we will have our first departmental forum of the new year. I do hope to see many of you at these events.

Recruitment and Kilburn Project Committee update

Recruitment of new colleagues as part of our managed growth plan continues apace, with interviews for our permanent T&S Lectureship taking place this week, and shortlisting for our permanent T&R posts in Hardware and NLP scheduled over the coming weeks. In addition, I am expecting a number of applications for DKO Fellowships in our department. I have also submitted requests for several additional strategically important posts to the upcoming budget round.

The first meeting of the Kilburn Project Committee met on January 26th to work on the space requirements around our planned growth. This group consists of colleagues across FSE, ITS, Estates, and an external planning agency (Avison Young) - with myself, Uli, and Ruth formally representing CS (with several other colleagues informally involved).

Advanced Research And Invention Agency (ARIA)

Last week I was contacted by ARIA (https://www.aria.org.uk/) who are recruiting several Technical Specialists into their research programme teams. ARIA are seeking exceptional PGRs and postdocs for the roles. One of these roles is hoping to recruit an individual with experience developing deep neural networks and an understanding of the computer architecture they run on. A second role focuses on ‘Mathematics for Safe AI’. If you know of any PGRs or postdocs looking for their next challenge, these would be worth exploring. For further information, please email: luke.simpson@aria.org.uk. Additionally, if you would like to find out more about ARIA, please drop Luke an email.

Drone Flights on Campus

Finally, a reminder that the University policy on drones describes the responsibilities of all those involved in done flights: (https://livemanchesterac.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/UOM-CR-UAVTAC/EVO0XimJHvRIpv4xiRNx5-cBte60jruSJ_j9cTJcPZSBSw?e=9TfGiz). If you are planning on flying drones on campus, please make sure you follow the processes detailed in the UAV risk (https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/compliance-and-risk/compliance/uav/) and guidance documents (https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/compliance-and-risk/compliance/uav/before-you-fly/).

Andrew

Hi everyone

I’m currently fundraising for Little Princess Trust after growing my hair out for the past 4 years!

My hair will be used to create wigs for children and young individuals who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment or conditions like Alopecia.

If you wanted to make a donation towards the costs of transforming it into wigs feel free to visit https://www.justgiving.com/page/ben-possible-haircut

No pressure, and no worries if you don't want to, plus any amount and £2 will do.

I’m in the process of getting it match funded up to £500 too.

Thanks

Ben Possible

Online drug markets: How is the digitalisation of social interaction changing illegal markets?

29 February | 13:45 - 15:40 | http://tinyurl.com/yc7vt22t

Register for free to uncover illegal drug markets on social media and ways these new forms of interacting changes illegal markets, and learn about the intersection of digital and physical contexts in drug dealing and discover the new skills reshaping illegal markets.

Abstract deadline: 05-Feb-24
Event: 04-Apr-24 in-person,University of Liverpool.

https://bcswomenlovelace.bcs.org/?page_id=617

All women and non-binary students of computing and related subjects are invited to enter one of the poster contests at the BCSWomen Lovelace Colloquium.

Poster Contest

To enter the poster contest, you will have to write a 250 word abstract on the topic of your poster. The abstract deadline is Monday February 5th, 2024.

Your abstract can be on any computing topic you like. We’ve had submissions on everything from social networking to quantum computing; from medical image processing to wearable computing (complete with an Arduino powered skirt). If it involves computers, we’re interested. If you aren’t sure what a 250 word abstract looks like, we have some samples of abstracts from previous years.

The poster contests are as follows:

•     Best first year poster for students who are in their first year of study at a UK university. This category is also open to students in a Foundation year.
•     Best second year poster for students in their second year of study at a UK university (also those on an industrial year or 3rd year of a 4 year degree – basically this is for students between their first and final years).
•     Best final year undergraduate poster for students in their final year of study for a BA, BSc, BEng, or in the penultimate year of an MEng (this will often be the 3rd year, but may be the fourth or fifth year, if the student has taken a year abroad, year in industry, or is studying for a 4 year Scottish degree).
•     Best master’s student poster for students doing a taught master’s degree, or who are in the final year of an MEng or similar integrated 4-5 year course resulting in a masters.

We hope to be able to offer people’s choice prizes as well as first and second place in each category.

The best 125 or so abstracts received will get to present at the event, and we will organise travel reimbursement, and accommodation for those students who live too far from the venue. Some Universities have agreed to fund their student travel directly.

Please submit your abstract via: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=9oiGHHRq7Umec4Yl2FW9HPWjMkG1RadHk_QbEPx1KJZUQVY4VURMVkcxTjNGNFg2S005V0FXTElJVy4u

[From the Library]

Introducing OSF and Protocols.io 

Open Science Framework (OSF) and Protocols.io are open research management tools designed to enhance the rigour and reproducibility of research projects, foster collaboration, and support open research practices (such as pre-registration and open sharing of protocols) across the broader research community. 

The University of Manchester Library now offers institutional memberships for these tools, granting staff and students access to premium features and dedicated technical support. 

For further information about how to sign up, please see the Office for Open Research website. 

Get in Touch 

For further support, please contact the Library's Research Services team : libraryresearch@manchester.ac.uk.

Deadline: extended to 11-Feb-24

World 100 Reputation Network and THE are trying to find out your opinions about global universities, and as a member of staff at a top global university, we are keen to hear your views. The survey that should take no more than 5-10 minutes to complete: https://survey.alchemer.eu/s3/90608741/ManchesterStaff23

[as per email on Fri from Klaudia Januszewska]

• Internal EoI deadline: 02-Feb-24
• dstl deadline: 06-Mar-24

Dstl is looking for proposals that will build on the published MOD AI ethics principles with a suggested approach for increasing awareness and understanding of the principles, and specifically the practical consideration of these principles, by those involved in the development and deployment of AI.

If you would like the email resent with full information, please contact klaudia.januszewska@manchester.ac.uk or sarah.chatwin@manchester.ac.uk

As the University can only submit one application for this call, could you please let klaudia.januszewska@manchester.ac.uk or sarah.chatwin@manchester.ac.uk know as soon as you can if you’re thinking of applying?

There are two changes to Royal Society International Grants programmes in 2024.

Royal Society Newton International Fellowship 2024 Call
Deadline: 13-Mar-2024

https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/newton-international/

In the 2024 round of Newton International Fellowships, the duration of the fellowships on offer will be two years. Last year we trialled a three-year fellowship for the 2023 round, however we are unable to offer a longer length of fellowship in this year’s call due to funding constraints.

The maximum funding cap for the 2024 round will be £280,000 over two years.

The Royal Society Funding Guidance (Costing Policy [royalsociety.org]) will continue to apply to the Royal Society Newton International Fellowships.

If you have any questions about this change, please contact info@newtonfellowships.org

Royal Society International Exchanges Grants 2024

From 2024, the International Exchanges [royalsociety.org] Cost Share Round with the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) will be part of Round 2 (opening on 10 April 2024) instead of Round 3. Other International Exchanges rounds (Global and Cost Share) will remain at the same times of year as previously scheduled.

If you have any questions about this change, please contact international.exchanges@royalsociety.org

With our new hybrid ways of working we are currently short on trained Fire Evacuation Marshalls (FEMs) in both the Kilburn and IT Buildings.  Please consider volunteering to take on this role - there is just an online training session to complete here.  Once you have completed the course please email James Fields - and then the Safety & Compliance team can allocate roles around the building in the event of a fire alarm & evacuation.

Any queries then drop me a line.

Ruth