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School of CS newsletter
Published: Wednesday, 12 July 2017Weekly newsletter for the School of CS
[ top ]News from Head of School
An Extra Open Forum for the FSE School Review
There is an additional open forum to discuss the Review of the FSE School Structure.
Friday 14th July, 10.00 – 11.00, Theatre A Simon Building
More information about the report can be found on staffnet. You can also submit your questions or feedback to fsereview@manchester.ac.uk.
The review will be discussed at this week’s School Board on Wednesday 12 July at 3 p.m. in IT 407.
Robert.
Karen Corless
This year’s graduation celebrations
Our graduation ceremony is at 12:15 p.m. in the Whitworth Hall. After the ceremony, there will be a do in the marquee, which is directly behind the Alan Gilbert Learning Commons (no 63 on the campus map); there is signage to the venue. This year, with the courtyard in the Kilburn building out of action, we’re holding the event in the Marquee.
The celebration starts at 1:30 p.m. There wil be food and drink; prize givings (2 p.m.) and so on. Do come along to celebrate and acknowledge the successes of our students; having lots of academics present makes the event go with a bit of verve.
Robert.
[ top ]News and announcements
Archive footage of the Manchester Mk1
The BBC Archive have recently digitised a short film from 1949 showing the Manchester Mk1 in action. It's not very long but as well as showing some footage of the Mk1 in action it gives a nice impression of the era: https://www.facebook.com/BBCArchive/videos/428677094171993/
If you are interested the longer Computer Heritage video describing the Baby made by Google is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cozcXiSSkwE
Jim Miles
EPSRC New Investigator Awards Switch Over Date
EPSRC First Grants will no longer exist as of the 24 July this year. New Investigator Awards will replace them https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/applicationprocess/routes/newac/new-investigator-award/. All applicants who are part way through filling in a first grant application are advised to save their data outside of the Je-S system. At 4pm on that day all applications for first grant not already submitted will be lost and the new system will go live. All applications for first grants which have been submitted will continue through the review process as usual.
Sarah Chatwin
Business Engagement marketing materials
An opportunity to have glossy handouts showing off your work with business.
Business Engagement (BE) have some budget to create A4 handouts to feature successful business engagement case studies from FSE.
Please let Sarah Chatwin know if you are interested. Example should be reasonably recent (within the last 2 yrs) and permission of the company would be required. BE are interested in any other type of business engagement, such as research collaborations, consultancy, student projects, social responsibility activities, guest lectures etc).
Please note that this is not for Knowledge Exchange projects e.g. IAAs, KTPs
BBSRC Advisory Panel Membership EoIs
Deadline: 27 July 2017
BBSRC are seeking expressions of interest to join their:
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Agriculture and Food Security Strategy Advisory Panel
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Bioscience for Health Strategy Advisory Panel
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Exploiting New Ways of Working Strategy Advisory Panel
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Follow-on-Fund Committee
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Pool of Experts - Animal welfare and Bioinformatics
This call is open to anyone who fulfils the role profiles and expertise requirements.
[ top ]Events
ADVANCED DATA ANALYTICS SEMINAR
Date: Tuesday 18 July 2017
Where: Kanaris Lecture Theatre, Manchester Museum
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
The University of Manchester Data Science Institute invites you to the next Advanced Data Analytics seminar led by Dr Ed Pyzer-Knapp from IBM Research UK who will present 'Machine Learning at IBM Research UK'.
From landing the first astronauts on the moon to the discovery of fractals, from the technology behind laser surgery to building the first cognitive system to win the Jeopardy! competition, IBM has been the spark of the technology revolutions that have shaped our world today.
They believe that we are now entering an exciting new era of computing – the cognitive era. It is no longer possible to solve the most challenging research problems with machines which are bigger or faster than ever before – they must also be smarter too. Cognitive machines are capable of ingesting vast quantities of data – be it structured or unstructured – and find trends and patterns which have eluded human inspection; driving both innovation and understanding. One of the keys to building smarter machines is to imbue them with an algorithmic memory; so that they can learn from what they have done before to improve how they tackle problems in the future. Bayesian optimization offers an exciting avenue to achieve this, and Ed will share details on their developments and applications of this area.
IBM have some opportunities for you to join them in this work, through short term internships, to post-doctoral positions, to permanent research positions, and after the talk Ed will be available to talk to any of you who are interested one to one.
Light refreshments will be provided. To register your place please click the link below: http://business.manchester.ac.uk/universityofmanchesterlz//EventMgr_BookEvent1.aspx?eID=1107EPSRC RISE Making Connections
Deadline: 31 Jul 2017
Event: 3-4 Oct 2017 (Swindon) - 10-15 places availablehttps://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/risemakingconnections/
This new campaign has been developed to provide EPSRC-supported researchers with public affairs and media training to help them in the development of their own networks, particularly with policy makers and parliamentarians as well the potential to increase their involvement in evidence-based decision making. The meeting will provide the opportunity to make good connections (policy makers, parliamentarians, industry, academics etc.).
Nanomedicine lecture series: Nanotechnology in neurology and neurosciences
Event: 9 November 2017 (Core Technology Facility Dalton Room)
The second lecture in the nanomedicine lecture series, to be held on Thursday, 9 November 2017 in the , will focus on nanotechnology in neurology and neurosciences, exploring the bridge between technology and neuroscience.
Keynote speakers:
• Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester
• Professor Ed Boyden, Associate Professor, Media Lab and McGovern Institute, Departments of Biological Engineering and Brain and Cognitive Sciences Co-Director, MIT Centre for Neurobiological Engineering
• Professor John Hardy, University College London
Registration required.
Please contact Sarah Barton (sarah.barton@manchester.ac.uk) in the FBMH Strategic Funding Team with any queries.
About the NanoMed Network:
The University of Manchester NanoMed Network is a cross-faculty interdisciplinary network that aims to facilitate the exploitation of novel nanomaterials and nanotechnologies, such as graphene and other 2D materials, in order to provide solutions for unmet clinical challenges.
ERC Starting Grant Information Session
Event: 27 July 2017 (12:30 – 2pm), Simon Building Lecture Theatre D
The 2018 ERC Starting Grants call is expected to open on 18th July.
The call is open to researchers of any nationality with 2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD with a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal. We have an ERC panel member speaking at the session who will be providing hints and tips for writing successful ERC proposals.
Please note, there will be an internal central review deadline for all ERC Starting Grant proposals and this date will be circulated as soon as we know it.
To register please contact claire.faichnie@manchester.ac.uk
[ top ]Funding Opportunities
MRC Confidence in Global Nutrition and Health Research; Global Mental Health Research
Deadline: 14 Sept 2017
As part of the suite of activities under the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) this call will contribute to the UKs commitment to research for the benefit of Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). These are institutional pump-priming awards, with the funds providing an opportunity to define research questions and develop strategies in global nutrition research, and to establish and consolidate UK-LMIC partnerships.
As a University we are allowed to apply for up to £200k under each call (with a deadline of 14 September) and further details of the institutional process will be available in the next couple of weeks.
Looking for Newton Fund collaborators?
Universities UK provide assistance If you are looking to find a collaborator in a Newton partner country via a Current Opportunities for Collaboration grid which is updated regularly with partner requests received from Newton Fund countries.
UMRI pump-priming funds
Deadline: 29 Sept 2017
The University of Manchester Research Institute (UMRI) has been created to take forward the Manchester Strategic Vision 2020 goal of establishing the University as a major centre for interdisciplinary research. UMRI has two principal aims:
- To foster interdisciplinary research by ensuring that the necessary structures, resources (including funding) and incentives are in place; and
- To provide a governance framework for research institutes and other interdisciplinary structures in the University to assist in maximising their performance.
This call is for pump-priming proposals to provide support for activities that lead to an increase in successful interdisciplinary research (for up to 6 months). Examples include:
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Support for workshops designed to explore opportunities for collaborative working
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Funding for feasibility projects in new interdisciplinary areas that have the potential to lead to external funding
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Support for the preparation of key proposals where the work is clearly interdisciplinary (e.g. Horizon 2020, GCRF)
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Support for potential new Networks
A proportion of the funding under each of the modes may be used to build partnerships with appropriate stakeholders, including overseas research institutions in developing countries.
Applications should be between £10-50k, applications at or near the maximum amount will only be funded exceptionally, and funds should be expended by 31 July 2018. Applications for equipment and/or self-contained project support will not be funded.
For full details contact Sarah Chatwin
Global Challenges Research Networking Grants
Deadline: 6 Sep 2017
http://www.britac.ac.uk/gcrf-networking-grants
This scheme allows researchers from developing countries and the UK to forge links and hold networking events to generate innovative and interdisciplinary research ideas to address global challenges. This scheme is targeted at researchers who are looking to form new international collaborations (max £25k).
Applications from the humanities and social sciences are welcome.
Applications should focus on building a collaborative network and therefore have to be submitted jointly by a lead overseas researcher from a developing country and a lead researcher based in the UK.To be eligible to apply, both applicants must:
- Have completed a PhD or have experience at an equivalent level
- Have proven research experience in their field
- Hold a permanent position at an eligible institution (in the UK or a DAC-listed country), or a fixed-term contract for the duration of the award (up to 1 yr).
Projects must start between 1st Jan 2018 and 31st Mar 2018.
Next cut-off date for H2020 FET-Open RIA and Innovation Launchpad calls
Deadline: 27 Sep 2017
The next cut-off date for FET-Open calls for Research and Innovation actions (RIA)(FETOPEN-01-2016-2017) and the Innovation Launchpad (FETOPEN-04-2016-2017). This includes Transition to Exascale Computing and Exascale HPC ecosystem development
REMINDER: Faculty Funding Scheme Planner
For more funding opportunities see the FSE Funding Scheme Planner through their Research Support web pages.
ERC Synergy Grant - call update
Expected deadline: 14 Nov 2017
The ERC Synergy Grant scheme, which ran under two pilot calls in FP7 in 2012 and 2013, will be re-launched in the ERC Work Programme 2018.
The aim of Synergy Grants is to address ambitious research questions that can only be answered by the coordinated work of a small group of two to four principal Investigators and their teams, bringing together their complementary skills, knowledge and resources in unprecedented ways. The ultimate goal of the scheme is to give support to a close collaborative interaction that will enable transformative research at the forefront of science, capable of yielding ground-breaking or even unpredictable scientific results and/or cross-fertilizing disciplines. The ambition is to open the way to results that are more than just the sum of the Principal Investigators' individual contributions.
These are not regular collaborative projects, the nature of the collaboration within an ERC Synergy Group is expected to be fundamentally different from that of a network or consortium of undertakings, universities, research centres or other legal entities.
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The scheme is open to all researchers from anywhere in the world, based in Europe or in an Associated Country.
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Each Principal Investigator must be hosted by and spend 50% of their total working time in an institution established in an EU Member State or Associated Country.
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They shall spend a minimum of 30% of their total working time on the ERC project.
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There are no other specific requirements other than high scientific quality and ambition enhanced by the synergetic collaborative aspect of the project.
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Only exceptionally competitive proposals are likely to be funded.
All participating PIs must be ‘ERC material’, namely, that they are all able to demonstrate an outstanding track record of scientific excellence and international acknowledgment (all ERC career stages eligible).
Please note: Depending on the evaluation result, reapplication rules will apply to all Principal Investigators participating in a proposal, which may affect their application possibilities to all ERC calls under the 2019 ERC Work Programme.
Please let Sarah Chatwin know if you are interested in applying as there may be an internal review process.
[ top ]Featured Research Outcomes
Notable article for Nikos Nikolau
An article published by former MLO student Dr Nikos Nikolaou, currently an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow in the School, has been selected by the ACM as a "Best of Computing, Notable Article of 2016". The articles are chosen by through a nomination process involving the editors-in-chief of ACM journals and senior academic / industry professionals, to identify papers that are "the most interesting and influential that were published in 2016". The article "Cost-sensitive boosting algorithms: Do we really need them?" was published in Machine Learning Journal in September 2016 and has been downloaded over 2700 times so far.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10994-016-5572-x/fulltext.html
[ top ]Sustainability and Green Impact News
FSE Pool Bike Scheme and Mo Bikes
If you are thinking of commuting to work by bike but want to try it out before buying a bike, or just need a bike for a short period of time, the Faculty has a new Pool Bike which is available to staff. Contact ACSO for Guidance Notes and Sign-up Form. For something more flexible, details of the new Manchester Mo Bike scheme can be found here.
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