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