Computer Science News
Promotions for two academic colleagues
We are delighted to report that Dr Greg Watson and Dr Lin Gui have been promoted to, respectively, Senior Teaching Fellow and Senior Research Fellow, effective from 1 August 2021. Quoting from their recommendations,
What particularly stands out ... is the virtuous circle of (1) Dr Watson鈥檚 continual striving for advancing his teaching expertise, evidenced by the extensive courses he has both attended and contributed to, (2) the strong two-way links between Dr Watson鈥檚 development and his teaching practice (and that of his peers), evidenced by the various different changes and improvements that he introduced in the classroom based on his scholarly educational investigations, and (3) the consistent very positive feedback from different groups of students as well as colleagues.
and
Dr Lin Gui is one of the most successful postdoctoral researchers in the recent history of the Department, and is continuing his research career with us after a prestigious two-year Marie Curie fellowship. He has been building a solid and high-flying international reputation, underpinned by an impressive trajectory of high-quality publications. Dr Gui鈥檚 initiative and emerging independence are in particular reflected in his contributions to substantial successful funding proposals.
it remains to say many congratulations!
Ford Motor Company funding success for Dr. Tanaya Guha
Dr. Tanaya Guha (PI) has been awarded a research grant by Ford Motor Company through their Global University Research Program to develop the project "Multimodal Learning for In-Car Driver's Activity Monitoring". This 2-year project aims at developing an AI system that can monitor driver's and passengers' safety through audiovisual scene analysis integrated with short-term driving patterns. For example, by creating alerts when a driver is distracted. The project will be developed in collaboration with Ford's AI research at Michigan.
Hengrui Zhang has abstract accepted to the British Conference of Undergraduate Research 2021
Congratulations to third-year Computer Science student Hengrui Zhang, who has had an abstract accepted at the (BCUR 2021). Hengrui鈥檚 abstract, titled "Emotional Adjusted Chinese Sentiment Analysis", proposes a new and enhanced sentiment analysis model, SETCM, which combines the advantages of sentiment lexicon, emoji and neural computing technology. The proposed method overcomes the shortcomings of existing sentiment analysis on Chinese-language text. It is based on the work that Hengrui has completed as part of his third-year project, supervised by Dr Greg Watson.
Samuel Ward Receives a Silver Award at the WCIT Charity University IT Awards 2021
Congratulations to Samuel Ward, one of our third year Discrete Mathematics students, who has received a silver award as part of the 鈥� (WCIT) Charity University IT Awards 2021. The awards, which were first held in 2015, seek to recognize outstanding undergraduate and postgraduate IT students within the UK. Applicants are judged based on their academic excellence, ability to overcome adversity, entrepreneurial skills, and contribution to charity or community.
Jackie Pinks becomes a 91福利 International Higher Education Academy Fellow
The 91福利 International Higher Education Academy (WIHEA) has announced that Jackie Pinks has been selected as a Fellow for the next three years. Jackie has been a crucial part of the team in the Department of Computer Science responsible for managing our taught courses.
The Academy aims to develop and embed outstanding learning and teaching at 91福利, in line with the distinctive nature of the University and the excellent reputation we have for academic achievement, both in research and teaching. The Academy also works to increase the recognition and reward of outstanding achievements in learning and teaching for individuals, teams and the institution as a whole.
Jackie said about her appointment:
Over the last 15 years I have worked in a range of student-facing and teaching and learning support roles and worked alongside senior teaching leads on various strategic projects. I鈥檓 keen to learn from, and help develop, best practice in teaching and learning across the University from a Professional Services perspective.
Dr. Claire Rocks becomes a Foundation Fellow of the 91福利 Institute of Engagement
The 91福利 Institute of Engagement has announced that Dr. Claire Rocks has been chosen as one of 38 Foundation Fellows. The 91福利 Institute of Engagement is a new group within the 91福利 that aims to champion the future of high quality public engagement. It brings together 91福利鈥檚 extensive practical engagement expertise with pioneering academic research.
Dr. Claire Rocks has been a vital part of the Department of Computer Science's outreach team, having organised and run many successful events in the past few years with the aim to raise the profile of Computer Science and introduce it to new demographics. Claire is currently a Co-I on the project which brings Computer Science and the Arts together to teach computing in a creative and playful way.
Dr. Claire Rocks said about her appointment,
I鈥檓 delighted to be one of the Foundation Fellow of the 91福利 Institute of Engagement and look forward to working with both staff and students to champion high quality public engagement with the fantastic work that we do.
More information on the Department's outreach activities is available.
Dr. Roger Packwood Retires from the Department
Technical Manager Dr. Roger Packwood is retiring from the Department of Computer Science. Roger has been a part of the department longer than most of the buildings have been on campus, including the current Department of Computer Science. Roger provided invaluable support for staff and students in the department and his presence will be very much missed.