The Research Review Exercise (RRE) is the annual process to get us ready for the national REF exercise, likely to occur in 2021, that will in turn determine our status and funding for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, with the new "Pure" system, this is going to be easy this year.

In the next REF all research active staff will be returned. So it is important to both put your papers into Pure and to tell us which papers you think will be graded as either 4* or 3*. Papers must be put into Pure within three months of acceptance to be eligible for REF.  

To complete your  RRE nominations log into Pure: https://pure.manchester.ac.uk and start the process of nominating your outputs. You can nominate any paper published from 1st January 2014.  You will need to write a paragraph of text explaining why the paper is good, so please don't leave this til the last minute. The RRE process closes for nominations on 30th January, strictly, no extensions.

Gavin has written an FAQ explaining the reasoning behind the REF/RRE actions that we are asking of all staff: http://staffnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/reso/grantapplicationexamples/documentreader.php?document=REF-RRE-explanation.pdf

The School of Computer Science has been nominated for four university “Better World” awards: (a) for the long-running UK Schools Animation Competition, (b) for the Manchester Deaf Centre Hackathon, helping deaf people to be heard in the legal world, (c) for #BritainBreathing, tracking seasonal allergies, and (d) for Computing At School, supporting computing in Primary and Secondary Schools across the region. We ask you to support us by voting for all our entries.

Here are details of the award: http://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/fse/social-responsibility/better-world-showcase/

Here are the entries: http://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/fse/social-responsibility/better-world-showcase/vote/

Here is how you vote: https://sahir4.typeform.com/to/L5mCjW

Please support us by voting. It is good to get university recognition for these outreach activities by the School.

Dear all,

I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Gemma Smith, I am your new Academic Engagement Librarian for your School and my role involves:

• Being your first point of contact with regard to any library-related issues
• Facilitating access to, and keeping you informed about, our new and existing services
• Working with you in order to gain a wider understanding of your teaching and research requirements for future service development and provision

More specifically, I can provide you with information relating to:

Teaching support:

• Recommending resources
• Help managing resource/reading lists
• Digitisation advice
• My Learning Essentials, the Library's skills programme  http://tinyurl.com/otpfkkb

Research support:

• Research Analytics/Bibliometrics/Altmetrics
• Research Data Management
• Publication Processes/Open Access

In addition, if I might assist with any other enquiry related to our library services or resources please to do not hesitate to contact me.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Best wishes

Gemma Smith l Academic Engagement Librarian l Blue 1.6 l The University of Manchester Library l Tel +44 (0)161 275 6502 gemma.smith-3@manchester.ac.uk

Invitation to the Bakerian Lecture 2017 by Professor Andy Hopper CBE FREng FRS at the Royal Society in London.

Digital technology is an indispensable and crucial component of our lives, society, and the physical environment. 

A challenge is how to use the power of computing to deal with the problems facing the world. In his talk, Professor Andy Hopper will present a framework for the role of computing in dealing with sustainability of the planet. The framework has a number of goals: an optimal digital infrastructure; sensing and optimising the use of resources in the physical world; guaranteeing the performance of indispensable systems; and digital alternatives to physical activities. 

Join us to hear Professor Hopper discuss practical industrial examples alongside research goals and societal challenges and dilemmas.

Free to attend, no registration required. Venue is 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AG, Further details at https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2017/03/bakerian-lecture/

From the Students' Union:

Dear UoM students & staff,

Are you one of the brave? Do you dare take on the Bogle: the monumental, annual 55 mile sponsored walk?

The Bogle Stroll is the longest running sponsored event in the whole of the North-West, beginning in 1961 when a group of lecturers from the University missed their last train home and took on the challenge to walk all the way from Lancaster back to Manchester.

Tackle the Bogle head on for the full 55-mile stroll, a daring, once in a lifetime experience.

Or challenge yourself to our 28-miles ramble. You can even grab some friends and face the Bogle together by splitting the stroll into a relay for teams.  This is by far the biggest event RAG runs each year and we hope you can join in and take on the challenge!

Now in its 56^th year, Bogle 2017 is taking place on the 10^th –11^th of March.  Take a sponsored scenic stroll for our partner charity MASH (working to support Manchester’s street workers: http://www.mash.org.uk/). Or, walk for a charity of your choice!

For more information, check out the Facebook page, or to sign up click here.

For any queries, get in touch on bogle@manchesterrag.com.

We look forward to seeing you at the start line!

Best wishes,

Manchester RAG

Under the Newton Fund, the Academy is running the Industry Academia Partnership Programme (IAPP) which aims to improve engineering teaching, research and innovation in Partner Countries through supporting bilateral links between industry and academic organisations. Two calls are currently open through the IAPP to support collaboration with the following Newton Fund Partner Countries:

•          China -  £100k Awards for research- and innovation- focused collaboration between Chinese universities, Chinese SMEs and UK counterparts from academia and industry. Applications from regional Chinese universities and additional partners from Chinese State Owned Enterprise sector are encouraged. 100% match resourcing (financial and in-kind) required from the applying consortia.
•          India - £50k Awards to build capability for enhanced teaching, research and innovation outcomes in Tier 2 and Tier 3 Indian engineering universities through partnership with industry and academic organisations in India and the UK. 50% match resourcing (financial and in-kind) required from the applying consortia.

Grant awards will support salary, travel and subsistence costs towards collaborative activities and match resourcing from the applicants is required. The application must be led by an individual from a university in the Partner Country and the collaboration must focus on a topic which is beneficial to the economic and social development of the Partner Country.

More details are available in the links but please do not hesitate to get in touch should you have any queries.

Shaarad Sharma Programme Manager, International – Newton Fund, The Royal Academy of Engineering

The ZendTo large file transfer facility is being withdrawn by IT Services from the end of January 2017. Please use the UoM Dropbox Business service instead.

The Sustainability Seminar series will open up to staff and students this month as an opportunity to explore environmental sustainability at the University.

As part of the staff learning and engagement programme, 10,000 Actions, the Environmental Sustainability team is launching a series of Sustainability Seminars, with the aim to outline the effects of sustainability at the University.

Each seminar will focus on different topics of sustainability that concerns the University with short presentations from academics, researchers, professional support staff and colleagues from across the city. There will also be an opportunity for attendees to showcase any work they are doing relevant to the topic area of the seminar, this may be highlighted during discussions or displayed in a poster.

The Sustainability Seminar Series will be open to all University staff and students who wish to attend and will be held every two weeks from January 2017 until May 2017. Every seminar will be held over lunch between the hours of 12-1pm and will last one hour with time afterwards for informal discussion and engagement.

To find out more and to register for one of the seminars of the Sustainability Series, click here. 

For a full list of events, please visit the FSE Staff Events Guide.

http://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/fse/news-events/events/index.htm