Thank you to Professor Gordon Blair for delivering this year’s distinguished lecture on Computer Science and the environment.
The series of talks explained the role of computer science in addressing the massive challenges associated with a changing climate.
Feedback was positive and the series was enjoyed by all!
From Left to Right: Jonathan Lewis, Blesson Varghese, Simon Dobson, Gordon Blair, Ian Miguel & Al Dearle (Back)
On 11th April, the School of Computer Science at St Andrews will host for our first ever Doors Open event. We will be thrilled to welcome any and all visitors from outwith the School, whether you are locally based, from elsewhere in the UK or from overseas.
As a rapidly growing school, we are looking to build relationships with new partners and are keen to find out how we can help you, your companies and/or organisations to solve problems and improve processes.
Our Doors Open day will have over 60 individual exhibits and activities. Our presenters will be our staff and students, with representation from 1st year undergrad through to PhD students, academic and technical members of staff.
Please register here if you would like to attend to enable us to order sufficient pizza!
The School of Computer Science will hold its Offer Holder days for September 2023 entry on Saturdays 18th and 25th March 2023. These events are open only to undergraduate applicants who have received an offer to study Computer Science at St Andrews. Along with your offer to study an undergraduate programme involving Computer Science, you will receive an email with details of how to sign up for one of the offer holder days.
Our Computer Science Offer Holder events allow you to see more of St Andrews and the School while also learning more about the great experience we offer. We have a full programme of exciting and stimulating events, including talks from lecturers and some of our current students, and the chance to try out our state-of-the-art teaching labs by participating in a coding activity. No prior CS or programming experience is required for the activity. We will provide you with lunch and refreshments during the day. Parents, guardians, carers or companions are welcome to attend the day with you. Please provide the necessary information when you register for the event.
At the end of the Offer Holder day, prospective students also have the option to attend a dinner with some of the other applicants, and current undergraduate and postgraduate students. This gives offer-holders the opportunity to ask any remaining questions in an informal setting.
The events will run from 10am until 8pm (including the evening meal), so we do recommend that you plan to spend the majority of your day in St Andrews.
Please email admissions.events@st-andrews.ac.uk with any queries.
A fully-funded PhD scholarship in Computer Science is available for a strong and motivated student wishing to work at the intersection of vision, large-language models, and robotic planning. This prestigious PhD scholarship is awarded by St Leonard’s Postgraduate College at the University of St Andrews and will be supervised by Dr Juan Ye, Dr Alice Toniolo, and Dr Kasim Terzic.
For more information, including how to apply, please see the advert: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/study/fees-and-funding/scholarships/scholarships-catalogue/postgraduate-scholarships/world-leading-scholarship-01-computer-science/?
Professor Gordon Blair
Prof. Gordon Blair is Head of Environmental Digital Strategy at UKCEH. He is also a Distinguished Professor of Distributed Systems at Lancaster University where he holds a part-time post (20%). He is also Co-Director of the Centre of Excellence in Environmental Data Science (CEEDS), a joint initiative between UKCEH and Lancaster University. His current research interests focus on the role of digital technology in supporting environmental science. This includes new forms of environmental monitoring and data acquisition, including the role of Internet of Things technology, new forms of computational infrastructure to support the storage and processing of such data, specifically using cloud computing, and new forms of analysing and making sense of this data using data science and AI. This all builds on a strong legacy of research in distributed systems, having been involved since the inception of the field in the early 1980s, including research in the area of middleware architectures that underpin complex distributed systems applications and services.
Abstract:
Computer Science innovation has revolutionised many areas of society including the way we work, play, shop and indeed study. Computer science also has enormous potential in environmental science, including supporting scientists in understanding the impacts of climate change and developing mitigation and adaptation policies and approaches. Examples include new forms of environmental monitoring and data acquisition, including the role of Internet of Things technology, new forms of computational infrastructure to support the storage and processing of such data, specifically using cloud computing, and new forms of analysing and making sense of this data using data science and AI. This series of talks will examine the role of computer science in addressing the massive challenges associated with a changing climate. The first talk will examine the opportunities in this area in some depth, also considering for balance the negative impacts of computing technology on the environment, highlighting the need for responsible innovation in this area. The second talk will zoom in on the nature of environmental data and the unique challenges in terms analysing and making sense of these unique data sets. The final talk will then look at one grand challenge in the environmental space – what does it mean to build digital twins of aspects of the environment.
Time: 12:00 – 17:00
Date: Tuesday 14th March
Place: Medical Booth Lecture Theatre
The School of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews has a fully-funded scholarship available working with Dr Areti Manataki. The PhD topic is “Shedding light on patient flow through advanced data visualisation”. Applications must be received by 1 March 2023.
In modern healthcare systems, millions of patients are admitted to hospital every day. Managing patient flow through hospital, to ensure that patients are at the right place at the right time, can improve quality of care and health outcomes, while saving money and time. However, managing patient flow in a way that is safe for patients and cost-efficient is a challenging task, and requires a deep understanding of the complexities associated with patient flow.
This project involves employing advanced data visualisation techniques to shed light on patient flow and its many important dimensions: temporal and spatial patterns, patient characteristics, clinical expertise, hospital capacity and associated cost. Drawing inspiration from visualisation approaches to astronomy and transportation, and working closely with healthcare professionals, we will develop interactive visualisations that allow for the exploration of large and rich patient flow data. Our aim is to build visualisations that are powerful enough to capture the complexity of patient flow, and, at the same time, simple enough for clinicians to easily use to draw conclusions towards improving care.
We are looking for highly motivated research students willing to be part of a diverse and supportive research community. Applicants must hold a BSc or MSc in Computer Science or a related area (e.g., Data Science, Engineering, Mathematics, etc.). Experience in data visualisation, enthusiasm for research at the intersection of data science and health, an ability to think and work independently, excellent programming and analytical skills, and strong verbal and written communication skills are essential.
International applications are welcome. We especially encourage female applicants and underrepresented minorities to apply.
Informal inquiries can be directed to Dr Areti Manataki at A.Manataki@st-andrews.ac.uk. Formal applications can be made through the School’s postgraduate research portal.
The deadline for applications is 1 March 2023.
We have one fully-funded scholarship available, which will be awarded competitively to the best applicant. This scholarship covers all tuition fees irrespective of country of origin and comes with a stipend (currently £17,668 per annum full-time equivalent). Additional scholarships may be available from other sources.
The School welcomes applications from under-represented groups, and is willing to consider part-time and flexible registrations. The successful applicant will however be expected to conduct their research in St Andrews and not fully remotely.
We celebrated International Day for Women and Girls in Science (Saturday 11th Feb) in the Jack Cole coffee area today, giving staff and students the chance to get to know one another
Congratulations to Nnamdi Ekwe-Ekwe, who has passed his PhD examination with minor corrections.
Special thanks to the external examiner, Peter Garraghan (Lancaster) and also to Nnamdi’s supervisors Adam Barker and Kasim Terzic.
The Schools of Computer Science and Mathematics & Statistics are now an Institutional Member of the European Women in Mathematics (EWM). The EWM is an association dedicated to encouraging women to study mathematics and related sciences (such as computer science), supporting them in their careers and promoting scientific communication.
Being an Institutional Member supports the EWM in their mission and promotes the role of women in mathematics and related fields while strengthening connections across the European community of mathematicians (which is the primary goal of the EWM). “With the help of our institutional members we are able to empower more female mathematicians by offering travel grants, organize panel discussions and providing a platform to communicate.”
If you would like to find out more about the EWM or how the Schools support Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity, please get in touch with the ED&I officers or Ruth Hoffmann who is a EWM country coordinator for the UK.
Closing Date: 10th February 2023
The School of Computer Science is looking to recruit new academics as part of a large on-going expansion of our academic staff and to support our evolving approach to digital teaching. We wish to appoint two new Lecturers (either Education track, or Education and Research track) to join our vibrant teaching and research community, which is ranked among the top venues for Computer Science education and research worldwide.
The School develops deep science and technology across the discipline of computer science, which informs and underpins our teaching at undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels.
We are expanding our teaching programmes to include digital modes of delivery to allow us to teach a broader range of students than would ever be able to physically move to St Andrews for the duration of a traditional programme. The is an exciting departure that lets us take the School’s reputation for teaching excellence to an extended audience, including individuals seeking to upskill within employment, those seeking a career change, and those with other constraints on their time and location. In the first instance this will involve the development of an entirely new digital-only MSc programme in data science.
We are seeking collegial individuals who value teaching and research excellence to support the expansion and development of our strengths in data and computational science centred around our Artificial Intelligence and Systems research groups. The right candidate will be able to contribute to research and teaching in an appropriate area – including, but not limited to, computational science, data analytics, machine learning for data interpretation, scientific visualisation – as well as being involved in the development and delivery of “born-digital” teaching resources and assessment methods sitting alongside more traditional approaches and materials.
You should hold a PhD in a cognate discipline. Excellent teaching skills and an interest in promoting knowledge exchange are essential. You should also have some familiarity with grant seeking processes in relation to research councils and other sources.
Informal enquiries can be directed to Professor Ian Miguel (hos-cs@st-andrews.ac.uk)
The role may be offered on either a full-time or part-time basis, and flexible working may be available to suit the right candidate.
Applications are particularly welcome from females who would be joining our multicultural School which includes staff and students from across the world. Female students comprise over 25% of the BSc and 35% of the MSc cohorts, while 25% of our academic staff are women. Applications are particularly welcome from people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented in academic posts at the University.
Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of the St Andrews experience. We strive to create a fair and inclusive culture demonstrated through our commitment to diversity awards (Athena Swan, Carer Positive, LGBT Charter, Race Charters and Stonewall). We celebrate diversity by promoting profiles of BAME, LGBTIQ+ staff and supporting networks including the Staff BAME Network; Staff with Disabilities Network; Staff LGBTIQ+ Network; and the Staff Parents & Carers Network. Full details available online: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/hr/edi/.
Interviews will be held on 6 March 2023
Please quote ref: AC2345RMR
Closing Date: 10 February 2023
Further Particulars: AC2345RMR FPs.docx
Start: June 2023 or as soon as possible thereafter
