School of CS newsletter

CSSoc, along with the School of Languages invite staff and TAs who have been involved in the UG programme to the swankiest night of the year – The Spring Ball 2016 – on Friday 29 April. This year the Ball will be in a new venue, The Place (see pic below).  Tickets are £27 to include drinks on arrival, 3-course meal with wine (vegetarian options available), live band, photobooth and photographers, DJ and dancefloor and the opportunity to brush down your formal attire, tickets available now from the Students Union.

From the newsletter of 1st October 2012:

"Ahmed Bagi, who was a research student in Informatics between 1998 and 2001, has donated a painting to the School. The painting is approximately 5’x3’. Suggestions for a location of the painting within the School are welcome."

Thanks to Tony McDonald years of inaction have come to an end and the painting has been installed above the main stairs to the 2nd floor.

We would like to confirm who the current staff in the Academic Support Office are as there have been several changes lately.

Congratulations to Karen Corless who has just been appointed to take over Bryony's Academic Support Secretary role.  She has been temping in ACSO for several months and has now joined our office as a permanent member of staff.

Farewell to Bryony (me!) who has worked in ACSO for 10 years and has now joined the School of Mathematics.

This is the list of staff in ACSO in no particular order:

Karon Mee - part time, permanent.  Specific roles include petty cash and arranging the School Seminar Series.

Karon Corless - full time, permanent.  Specific roles include SLT and School Board secretary and postgraduate timetabling.

Stacey Kendall - full time, seconded to ACSO till the end of May.  Specific duties include Duties Allocation committee and staff loads, and undergraduate timetabling.

Hannah James - full time, temp, for the foreseeable future.  Hannah has undertaken general duties within the office.

Ruth Maddocks is still seconded to the Student Support Office but will be back in ACSO in June.

You can contact ACSO on compsci-acso@listserv.manchester.ac.uk.

The next PGR Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday 23 March at 10:00 in room 2.33.  Please send any apologies to Susie Hymas.  The Committee will be discussing “What is the purpose of the research student symposium, and how can we best achieve that?” along with the usual standing items.

Agenda

Committee website

Deadline for applications: Monday 25 April, 5pm

The Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) has recently been successful in securing UMRI (University of Manchester Research Institute) funding to enhance networking across a range of key research areas for MIB. The overall aim of this project is to strengthen collaborative links with colleagues across the new University structure.

One of the key areas they have received funding to support is Systems Medicine. This funding will be used to pump-prime interdisciplinary multi-PI projects to generate pilot data for subsequent external application.

Applications for pump-priming awards in the area of Systems Medicine are requested from across the University; however, to be eligible applications must include an MIB Principal Investigator / Group Leader (see: http://www.mib.manchester.ac.uk/people/).  

Requests can be made for up to £5k (which can include consumables, equipment or salary), 2 awards are expected to be made.

Please contact FLS Research Development Manager Louise Barnes for details on how to apply: louise.barnes@manchester.ac.uk

Deadline: 10th May 2016 16:00

EPSRC's Peer Review College is a vital part of its assessment process, ensuring that it supports the highest-quality research across the range of our portfolio. As part of its College refresh programme taking place in summer 2016, EPSRC invites expressions of interest from candidates who wish to join their Associate Peer Review College.

This call is open to anyone who fulfils the initial selection criteria. Final selection of candidates from the pool of expressions of interest will be on the basis of individual knowledge, need for expertise in particular research areas and the structure of the new EPSRC Delivery Plan (published in spring 2016).

Membership of the College would provide an excellent opportunity for anyone wishing to develop their understanding of what makes a good research proposal. 

https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/associatepeerreviewcollege/