School of CS newsletter

The window replacement programme for the Kilburn Building is expected to begin very soon. New double glazed and opening windows will be fitted to all offices on the outer edge of the building to improve ventilation. This should help to alleviate some of the high office temperatures, such as those many people experienced last week.

For health and safety reasons it will be necessary to move out of your office while the windows are being replaced. How long you need to move out for will depend on the size of the office. Tony McDonald has circulated a schedule for the first phase, which was sent to all staff by email on 30th May. If you have not received this please contact environs@cs.man.ac.uk

Efforts will be made to try and minimise disruption, but as with any significant estates project some disruption and noise will be inevitable. However the project is being undertaken for our benefit. These changes will be disruptive, but together we should be able to make it as painless as possible.

The University recently updated its Acceptable Use Policy and the associated Standard Operating Procedures, please see: http://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/news/display/?id=18423 

One of the main changes is the prohibition of third party webmail services (eg Gmail) to send or receive emails related to University work. Specifically you should not automatically forward email to a third party as:

• Exporting personal data outside of the EU without a formal data processing agreement is in breach of the EU directive on the transfer of personal data 
• There are issues surrounding access to work-related emails in relation to freedom of information requests and University records management policies on the retention of documents.

Further information: http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/our-services/security/policy/

As part of the University's Cyber Security Programme, a number of events are taking place with local experts including the School's Dr Daniel Dresner, sharing their insights into the underworld of cybercrime, its victims and first hand advice on staying safe.

You will also hear about the University’s Cyber Security Programme and the changes being made to how we log in to some services, using two-factor authentication.

All events are being held across lunchtimes at various venues around the campus. See more details and book your place.

More about the event speakers

Daniel Dresner – The University of Manchester

Dr Daniel Dresner is the University’s academic coordinator for cyber security. Daniel works to improve the interaction between people and technology and mend the often broken threads that bind information together. Danny will share his view of cybercrime in the higher education sector.

Paul J Taylor – Greater Manchester Police

Paul Taylor is an investigator working in the Greater Manchester Police Cyber Crime Team. Paul has investigated a number of denial of service attacks, website hacking and ransomware reports and will share real life experiences of cyber crime victims and the tales told by those arrested.

Helen Williams – TITAN North West Regional Organised Crime Unit

Helen Williams is a cyber-protect officer at TITAN working with businesses, education and the general public to raise awareness of potential online dangers. Helen will talk about how criminals are tracked down and the forensic investigation along with simple steps to avoid becoming the next victim.

Deadline to register interest: 01 Jun 17
Event: 03 July 17, London (approximately 10:30-17:00)

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

The EPSRC DE Theme would like to support up to five ‘NetworkPlus’ grants to stimulate development of DE research and communities within key emerging areas of national importance for DE research. These networks will bring together relevant parts of the interdisciplinary DE communities and a variety of stakeholders, to identify the key research opportunities, build collaborations and grow the area of research for the benefit of the UK. The NetworkPluses will undertake a variety of activities including workshops, events, feasibility studies, secondments or horizon scanning. Applicants are encouraged to tailor their activities to the needs of the area and to be innovative in their approach.

The areas of focus for these NetworkPlus grants should be proposed and justified by the applicants.

The aim of the NetworkPlus event is to enable those interested in running or participating in a NetworkPlus to meet and discuss ideas, and to provide an opportunity for potential applicants to better understand the scope and requirements of the call. If you are not able to attend the event but would like to input to potential topics for future DE NetworkPlus grants, please also fill in the same form on the EPSRC Events page, indicating that you will not be attending, but explaining the area in which you feel there should be a DE NetworkPlus, and why. The deadline for this is also 1st June.

Remember that the School has funds to cover visit costs to funder events if you feedback information to the School. Contact Gavin Brown for more information.

'sudo', is the occasional newsletter for University Staff Supervising Computer Science PGR Students. It's new, and it will hopefully allow the PGR crew to better tell you about anything coming up so that you're prepared and it doesn't come as a terrible shock! It's going to be abbreviated, informal, infrequent, and high in information.

If you're not already receiving it but would like to email Me!

Deadline: rolling

wellcome.ac.uk/funding/innovator-awards

Up to £500k (for up to 2 yrs) is available to researchers who are developing healthcare innovations that could make a major impact on human health. Examples include therapeutics, vaccines, diagnostics, medical devices, digital technology and regenerative medicine. We support projects ranging from the earliest stages of translational research up to clinical development.

The project you propose must enable your innovation to move on to the next stage of development.

We’re particularly looking for proposals to solve problems in mental health, neurological disorders or neglected tropical diseases. We may consider proposals outside these areas, but you will need to contact us first. We especially encourage partnerships between different kinds of organisations and across disciplines.

EoI deadline: 15 June 2017

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

This funding call is part of the Government's Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). This is not a standard EPSRC funding call and the remit is unique to this call. Dates may be subject to change. EPSRC may mandate a specific spend profile across the duration of the programme and prior to EPSRC awarding the grants, all Hubs must undertake to start spend on 2 October 2017.

The ambition of the programme is to develop robotic solutions to make a safer working environment in industries such as off-shore energy, nuclear energy, space and deep mining, which will increase productivity and open up new cross disciplinary opportunities which are not currently available.

The programme is split into three separate elements, which will be delivered in parallel to provide connectivity across both research and innovation strands. The full programme will be strategically managed to meet the overall RAI challenge.

The four year RAI investment will address challenges in off-shore energy, nuclear energy, space and deep mining, and will include:

• Use-inspired research Hubs with specific partnership resource, to drive and accelerate translation of fundamental science in Robotics and AI systems (This call led by EPSRC);
• Innovation programme to support collaborative research and development with co-investment from industry (This call will be led by Innovate UK) and;
• Demonstrator programme to allow companies to test these systems in world-class facilities across the UK (This call will be led by Innovate UK).

Please let Sarah Chatwin know asap if you are interested in this call as others in the faculty may also be interested.

Deadline: 16 June 2017

https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/human-like-computing/

This is a Call for feasibility studies for research that could lead to the development of human-like computing systems: machines with human-like perceptual, reasoning and learning abilities, which support collaboration and communication with human beings.

Human-like Computing goes beyond designing improved AI or machine learning systems, and it is not about incorporating findings in neuroscience.

However a key component of the projects we are looking to encourage and support is multidisciplinary research involving cutting edge and state-of-the-art research in both computer and cognitive science. Approximately £2M is available to support feasibility studies of up to £300k (for 18 months). ESRC are supporting this initiative and additional funding may be made available if suitable proposals are forthcoming.

The application process is in two stages. First, an initial audition to select promising ideas. This will take place in Birmingham and applicants who are unable to travel can deliver their pitch via Skype. The proposers of these will then be invited to submit full proposals which will be assessed by an interview panel in the autumn. This will be held in Polaris House in Swindon.

Dr Danny Dresner talks about cyber safety and people power:

https://flipflashpages.uniflip.com/3/84078/1082371/pub/html5.html#page/31

Danny also appeared in the Daily Mail on 18th May on cyber bullying.