DSI Wednesday Lunch Time Talks – Dr Stephen Remde, CTO – Gaist
Online Microsoft Teams
Wednesday 10 November 2021
12:30pm to 1:30pm
Dr Stephen Remde, CTO – Gaist
Julia CARRADUS
Quenching star formation in the distant Universe
MS Teams event
Monday 15 November 2021
3:00pm to 4:00pm
Astrophysics webinar
Speaker: Prof. Omar Almaini, University of Nottingham
Izzy Garland
Research Software Skills Workshops
We are delighted to announce the start of a new programme of workshops aimed at skills development for Computationally Intensive research, courtesy of our new N8CIR Research Software Engineer Robin Long. All the workshops are designed to help researchers (PhD students and staff) with skills, they need for using and developing software as part of their research.
This terms schedule (starting in week 6) is
Week 6: Introduction to Linux and the command line.
Want to know how to navigate the Linux command line, and use it to automate your research? Then this course is for you.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/introduction-to-the-linux-command-line-tickets-199725974767
Week 7: Plotting in Python
This course introduces python with learning to load in and plot data as the motivation. If you have never used Python before and want to learn, or even if you want to improve your skills, this is the course for you.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/plotting-and-programming-in-python-tickets-204450435757
Week 8: Version Control with Git
This course introduces the concept of version control and teaches it using Git. If file names such as mycode_version5 and mycode_fixed look familiar to you then you need this course!
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/version-control-with-git-tickets-205538008717
Week 9: Plotting in Python part 2
This is the second part of the introduction to Python course. Here you will learn about how to run the same tasks multiple times with loops; getting your code to run depending on the data with if statements; re-using code with functions and more.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/plotting-and-programming-in-python-part-2-tickets-205548811027
Week 10: Git 2: Sharing your development with others using Github
This course will show you how to take your usage of Git and Github to the next level by harnessing the power of GitHub for collaboration.
Have you ever been confused about how to start a Pull Request or how to fork a repository and merge your changes back. Perhaps you know and want to gain confidence in doing so? This course will teach you how to collaborate using git, and give you an environment in which to practise.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/intermediate-git-sharing-and-collaborating-with-github-tickets-205600756397
Manus Hayne / Robin Long
Bike Pump Aviliable For All Cyclists
My mum recently replaced her old bike pump and asked me if I wanted her old one. I don’t have a bike myself but remembered we used to have one in Physics, Dima said it wondered off during the refurb. So I’ve brought the pump up and left it in A524 for anyone to use. It does trolly and car tyres as well as bikes so hopefully it’s useful. It’s called the Great Inflato (I thought giving it a name might make it less likely to wonder off). Feel free to use it.
Rob Lewsey
Water Hygiene Testing next week
We have been informed by Facilities that water hygiene testing will be taking place in Physics next week. These will be temperature checks taking place on the 8th November 2021 from 9am daily.
Two AEC engineers will require access to kitchens and shared bathrooms to test hot water temperatures.
The engineers will not test every kitchen/bathroom just a sample from different locations within the building. This brief survey will take approximately five minutes, and is to ensure that the hot water is maintained at the correct temperature to prevent any instances of legionella. There will be no shutdown of service.
Shonah Ion
Shonah Ion
External Caterers’ Policy
An External Caterers Policy is in place and has been approved by the university until 31st July 2022. Pls find details below.
The University has taken the decision to restrict the use of catering on campus to only booked and delivered via University Hospitality. Whilst the majority of catering on campus is already undertaken by the Hospitality team, they will be very happy to discuss a range of options and personalisation to enable dietary, cultural, and budgetary needs are met.
The procurement team are working with the Internal Catering team on this and will not authorise payments for any external use without the approval of the Hospitality Department.
Grainne Wilkinson
Chemical Inventory
One of the long standing recommendations from past safety audits was the production of a chemical inventory for the Department. Thanks to efforts by Dr Zhuang & Rupert Prudom we now have an online system for Supervisors to log the chemicals they have in their labs. It is on the Physics SharePoint site Departmental safety section. There are some FAQ’s which hopefully will answer any queries.
Please can all supervisors who have chemicals within their labs log them on this inventory. We would like this to be completed by the end of November. If you do have any questions please get in touch.
Shonah Ion
Dept Safety handbook 2021 edition
It’s that time again to read, mark, learn & inwardly digest the latest edition of the Dept. safety handbook. As always, it’s full of useful links and guidance to keep us all safe.
It can be found on the Dept. SharePoint site in the Departmental safety area under “General”.
https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/physics/information/staff/#safety-472462-3
Once read please confirm you have read and understood the contents by either signing the cover sheet and putting it in Grainne Wilkinson’s pigeon hole or by sending an electronic signed version to her. If you spot any typos or errors please let me know (and claim your prize!).
Shonah Ion
Physics Sustainability Group – join us!
We are forming a Physics Sustainability Group, a diverse team of academics, researchers, non-academic staff and postgraduate students. If you are interested in working together to enhance the environmental sustainability of the department and its community of staff, students and partners, please join us by contacting Laura Kormos at l.kormos@lancaster.ac.uk. This is not meant to be an onerous task and even small amounts of commitment will be highly valued. It is very important that the voice of Physics is heard in the broader discussions.
This group will develop ideas that, once approved by the members of the Department, will feed into the FST Sustainability Advisory Committee (SustAC), which liaises with departments and the University to develop and support procedures, changes and ideas that will help the University to meet its climate-emergency targets:
https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/sci-tech/about-us/sustainability-strategy/#
Each FST department has input into this process via their own Sustainability group. In Physics, at present this is led by Laura Kormos.
As part of growing our group, we are calling for volunteers to brainstorm and discuss ideas with us, including a department "sustainability action plan" (some existing pledges from other departments are on the above website), ideas regarding sustainable travel, etc. Any input to FST SustAC from Physics will first be made available for discussion by all members of the Department, and the membership of the Physics Sustainability group may also be engineered, in addition to accepting volunteers, in order to ensure a diverse group.
Laura Kormos
Research support drop ins
Systematic review Q&A’s.
Systematic review conversations, 1st Thursday in the month including a guest speaker
Evidence based research support.
Every Thursday during term time, 12.30pm to 3.00pm, supported learning area and online via Teams.
We also have the SR Teams Channel Systematic Review Forum which is accessible to students 24/7.
Louise Speakman