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School of CS newsletter
Published: Wednesday, 16 May 2018Weekly newsletter for the School of CS
[ top ]News from Head of School
Interim Head of School Administration
Kim Graakjaer, our newly appointed Interim Head of School Administration will be starting with us on Monday 18 June 2018. Until then, Diane Masterson-Kerr, the HoSA in Maths, will be helping us out. Diane will be in Liz's old office most afternoons of the week until Kim joins us. Again, I'd like to welcome Kim to the school and thank Diane for helping us out until Kim arrives.
Ruth Maddocks
University of Manchester Supervisor of the Year and other prize nominations
Congratulations to David Rydeheard who was named as the University of Manchester Supervisor of the Year after being nominated by his students. David thanks his students, who nominated him with the following testimony:
"David Rydeheard is a phenomenal supervisor who spent his entire time aiding us in our projects and well being and pushing us to strive for better without making us feel bad if we ever lagged behind. He helps us push ourselves to be the best we can be and is by far the cheeriest person I've ever met and that light and cheerfulness radiates to the people around him. David without a doubt should win this award for his substantial effort in making our year educational, entertaining, and wonderful! He spent enough of his personal time to teach me about how to deal with my project (Brain-Computer-Iteraction & Teaching Middle and High Schoolers) which doesn't involve my own field of study by involving me with experts of the fields, giving me resources I can return to and referring me to a past student who has done a similar project before.”
Gavin Donald was also short-listed for the Best Support Staff at the Student Union awards. the text from the nominating students contained the following:
“Every student in the School knows the Undergraduate Assistant Gavin from SSO (Student Support Office) - he is always there to give help and advice to any problems one might have. Students often call him the 'soul of Kilburn' (Kilburn building is the School's building). Gavin is friendly, very helpful, and always approachable.”
Caroline Jay was also short-listed for the 21st Century Curriculum Creator award for her teaching on COMP23412. Caroline, Rob Haines Markel Vigo and Duncan Hull have revised the second semester second year software engineering course, all as part of the major revision of our second year SE course review led by Suzanne Embury. Caroline's nomination contained the following text:
“Caroline Jay is the Unit coordinator for a very innovative module - Software Engineering II (COMP23412). The whole unit is very different from all other 'traditional' units: there are no lectures, instead the material is thought through group work, team studies, and workshops; the material concentrates on topical matters of Software Engineering like: (a) User Experience, (b) User Interface, (c) Security, (d) Testing, (e) External APIs and Services and many more.”
Short-listing for these awards from the students is all rather splendid. it's really very good to see so many staff being nominated for and receiveing awards for teaching and student support. along with Paul Nutter's University teacher of the Year award, this is a splendid haul for the school.
Well done all
[ top ]News and announcements
University of Manchester Supervisor of the Year
Our very own David Rydeheard has won University of Manchester Supervisor of the Year! Congratulations David!
Students said:
"David Rydeheard is a phenomenal supervisor who spent his entire time aiding us in our projects and well being and pushing us to strive for better without making us feel bad if we ever lagged behind. He helps us push ourselves to be the best we can be and is by far the cheeriest person I've ever met and that light and cheerfulness radiates to the people around him. David without a doubt should win this award for his substantial effort in making our year educational, entertaining, and wonderful! He spent enough of his personal time to teach me about how to deal with my project (Brain-Computer-Iteraction & Teaching Middle and High Schoolers) which doesn't involve my own field of study by involving me with experts of the fields, giving me resources I can return to and referring me to a past student who has done a similar project before.”
Ian Cottam
School Graduation 19th July 2018 - Procession joining details
If you are able to join the School’s Graduation Procession in the Whitworth Hall on Thursday 19th July 2018, please ensure you complete registration and order your gown by the deadline of Friday 22nd June 2018. Instructions here.
[ top ]Events
FSE Outputs Workshop: How to create a World Leading Paper - 23/05/18 MIB 10:30
This is an internal FSE outputs workshop aimed at academics who wish to increase the quality of their outputs and learn how to create and publicise a world leading paper.
Date: Wednesday 23 May
Time: 10:30 - 17:30
Venue: MIB Lecture Theatre, Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN
External experts, including REF2014 panel members, will be on hand to pass on their experience and offer advice, while interactive workshops will create focus on both pre and post-publication tactics.
Please book to attend the session via Eventbrite.
Su Smith
Advances in On-device Machine Learning on Android
Advances in On-device Machine Learning on Android
Speaker: Dr Hrishi Aradhye (Google)
Host: Jonathan Shapiro
17th May 2018 at 14:00 in Kilburn L.T 1.1
Abstract: Deep Machine Learning has changed the computing paradigm. Products of today are built with machine intelligence as a central attribute, and consumers are beginning to expect near-human interaction with the appliances they use. Widespread increase in availability of connected ?smart? appliances means that there is an ever-expanding surface area for intelligence in ambient consumer devices. However, much of the Deep Learning revolution has been limited to the cloud because of a number of technical challenges. This presentation aims to provide a short-yet-comprehensive overview of technical challenges involved and Google?s responses to address them.
Biography: Dr. Hrishikesh (Hrishi) Aradhye leads AI and Data Science for Google's platforms and ecosystems products, which includes Android, Chrome, Play Store, Auto, WearOS, TV, and IoT. Some of these products have billions of monthly active users, and some are on track to get there. Prior to this role, he led engineering for Google Play Apps and Games for four years, and before then he led computer vision applications for YouTube as a part of Google Research. In ten years at Google, he has been on both research and product development sides of engineering at Google. His current responsibilities include improving Google's own products via machine learning but also evangelize on-device ML in developer and academic communities.)
Karon Mee
[ top ]PGR News
[ top ]Research Funding Opportunities
Healtex: Second Call for Feasibility Studies - deadline 01/06/18
Applications are invited for pilot/feasibility studies in the areas of interest to Healtex. The purpose is to provide short term support to allow initial investigation of new ideas.
Proposals should aim to provide better understanding of research challenges and issues involved in healthcare text analytics, and/or to kick-start work that will lead to further collaborations and wider impact. We particularly encourage proposals that address the grand challenges identified by the EPSRC Healthcare Technologies theme.
Submissions are invited by no later than Friday 1st June 2018. Details as how to submit proposals are available at:
http://healtex.org/event/2nd-call-feasibility-studies-pilot-projects/
In the first call, we have awarded two pilot projects:
- A citizens’ jury study to understand whether, and under what conditions, the public would accept medical free text being used for research (E. Ford, M. Oswald, L. Hassan, J. Cassell, J. Stockdale)
- Feasibility of text-mining to support nudging of real-time side effect reporting to drug regulators within the online health social network ‘HealthUnlocked’ (W. Dixon, G. Nenadic, A. Bulcock, M. Evans, A. Anand)
Previous applications that have not been funded are eligible for resubmission, but are expected to have addressed the concerns from the reviewers.
If you have any questions, please email contact@healtex.org
Royal Society Research Grant - deadline 06/06/18 15:00
The Royal Society Research Grants Scheme provides up to £20k ‘seed corn’ funding for new projects of timeliness and promise. The objective of the scheme is to increase the availability of specialised equipment and essential consumable materials, and to support essential field research for early career scientists.
Please ensure that you meet all the eligibility requirements which are explained in the scheme notes.
If you have any initial queries, or intend to apply, please inform the Su Smith and the Research Office.
SPRINT FAPESP/UoM Joint Funding Scheme (Fifth Call) - deadline 30/07/18
In September 2013, the Sao Paulo Research Foundation known as “FAPESP” and the University of Manchester, signed a Cooperation Agreement for Research with the objective of implementing scientific and technological co-operation between researchers from the University of Manchester, and from the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, through the funding of joint research projects.
The Fifth Call for proposals is open to all permanent academic staff or fixed term academic or research staff whose contract exceeds the duration of the project. FAPESP will provide funding of up to the equivalent of £10,000 per proposal per year to the Sao Paulo partner, and the University of Manchester will provide funding of up to £10,000 per proposal per year, for the duration of the grant to cover research-related mobility expenses.
IMPORTANT: please ensure that the Sao Paulo Principal Investigator is eligible under FAPESP rules to apply for SPRINT funding.
Deadline for applications is Monday 30th July 2018.
Full details, including eligibility, guidance and application forms are available at the following link: Funding opportunities | Faculty of Science and Engineering | StaffNet | The University of Manchester
If you have any queries regarding eligibility or the scheme please contact Vicky Holt.
The Alan Turing Institute: Data Centric Engineering (DCE) Programme
The DCE programme is currently supported by the Lloyds Register Foundation to establish, develop and sustain an ongoing programme of research, translation and education in Data Centric Engineering.
Please visit the DCE programmme website to read about some of the various grand challenges, projects, collaborations, and the team we have developed in the last 18 months.
With Data Science and AI currently having huge impact we are particularly interested in developing joint projects, project proposals for funding to e.g. EPSRC, UKRI, and industrial strategy funds, industrial and commercial partners.
In addition we are seeking to recruit a small number of Group Leaders who will be seconded and based 100% at Turing London hub, and also establish centres at the spoke satellite centres currently evolving. We are also keen to ensure that Engineering faculty are aware of the opportunities to join as Turing Fellows.
I look forward to exploring how together we can take this programme forward and ensure a sustainable legacy form the initial funding from the Lloyds Register Foundation. Please ask colleagues to contact myself and the programme manager directly with any queries.
Prof. Mark Girolami, DCE Strategic Programme Director (Lloyd’s Register Foundation / Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Data Centric Engineering)
Darren Grey, Programme Manager
MRC National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) 2018 Studentships
MRC National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) 2018 Studentships
The deadline for submission is 10am, Tuesday 29 May 2018.
I am pleased to announce that we have been awarded 3 additional PhD studentships as part MRC’s allocation from the National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF).
MRC have stipulated that we must recruit to projects in the areas of Data Science or Artificial Intelligence. The process will be overseen by the MRC DTP Management Board and will follow our standard project review and interview procedures.
For further information please contact Tasleem (see details below)
Tasleem Hanif | PGR Recruitment & Admissions Manager l Doctoral Academy l Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health Tel +44 (0)161 275 5537 |
Email: tasleem.hanif@manchester.ac.uk
[ top ]Research News
EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships Third Call - proposed deadline 23 August 2018
A third call for Prosperity Partnerships is planned for late Summer 2018.
There will be up to £20 million available from EPSRC to support existing, strategic, research-based partnerships between businesses and universities.
Further information will be communicated as it becomes available.
[ top ]Tech Support News
Want to buy-in to UoM Computational Shared Facility (CSF)?
The annual end-of-financial-year Computational Shared Facility (CSF) procurement is imminent! If your research group has funds and wishes to make a contribution, this University financial year, to the CSF, please get in touch as soon as possible. Simon Hood plans to push out the procurement PO on 31 May 2018. Owing to lead times and the requirement to receipt goods before 31 July 2018, this will be a hard deadline.
The current standard compute node is:
- two * 16-core Intel Skylake CPUs (i.e., 32 cores total)
- 192 GB RAM
- 2 TB internal disk
- Infiniband interconnect
Cost, including installation, maintenance and VAT is approx £7k.
I am of course happy to answer your questions about the above (simon.hood@manchester.ac.uk).
Simon Harper