Slides from Deans visit
Thank you very much for everyone who attended and engaged with this years’ Deans group visit to the Physics department that took place on the 9th May. The slides that were used in the all staff part of the visit have been made available on sharepoint here for anyone who would like to view them.
You can also find the slides that were used in the REF results presentation on the 12th May – here
Philip Simpson
PLASTICS WASTE AND MICROPLASTIC RESEARCH EVENT
12th – 14th July 2022
The Storey, Lancaster
Invitation to register for the first plastic waste and microplastic research conference at Lancaster University.
To register please email Rachel Lyon (msi@lancaster.ac.uk). If your registration is successful, you will be required
to attend the event on all 3 days.
Plastic waste and microplastics are potentially the biggest global environmental challenge after climate change. (And the
two are not unlinked, with plastics in soil displacing carbon.) Beyond plastic waste, microplastics have infiltrated all parts of
the food chain and are now being found in (nearly) all human organs. Their potential to act as vectors for disease
transmission and the development of antimicrobial resistance is only now being recognised.
This workshop will bring together all the multi-facetted threads of plastic waste and micro-plastic research conducted at
Lancaster University in one workshop. International speakers will highlight global challenges and internal speakers will
highlight the quality and quantity of research conducted at Lancaster. The workshop provides a platform for Lancaster
researchers to connect with each other and to build further plastics activities.
Finally, the event provides a forum for our PhDs and early career researchers to present their research, providing for some
their first experience of the intellectual life, following two years of lockdown.
Tuesday 12th July
A presentation from keynote speaker Professor Meththika Vithanage followed by a ‘Question Time’ style Q&A about the future of plastics with a
panel of experts. This session will be facilitated by materials scientist and story teller, Dr. Anna Ploszajski.
Wednesday 13th July
A presentation from keynote speaker Professor Gay Hawkins. After this, the students will be invited to give group presentations about their
research. The presentations will be separated by questions and discussion. This session will be facilitated by Dr. Neil McLatchie. In the evening,
the attendees will participate in a litter pick on Morecambe Bay followed by a dinner at the Midland Hotel.
Thursday 14th July
A session focussed on creating a plastics community at LU and a discussion leading to a list of actions for the community. This session will also be
facilitated by Dr. Neil McLatchie.
Grainne Wilkinson
DSI Wednesdays Lunch Time Talk: Aidan Pippen of the Ada Lovelace Institute 25th May @ 12:30
Online Microsoft Teams
Wednesday 25 May 2022
12:30pm to 1:30pm
Title: Who cares what the public think? Public participation in data & AI policy & practice
Julia CARRADUS
Title TBC
joining info tbc
Friday 27 May 2022
3:00pm to 4:00pm
Condensed Matter seminar
Speaker: Hala Saddiq (Lancaster University)
Michael Thompson
Emergency Lighting Testing in Physics will take place week commencing 23rd May 2022 from 9am daily
Emergency Lighting Testing in Physics will take place week commencing 23rd May 2022 from 9am daily.
Every month there is a quick test to ensure all Emergency Lighting fittings are operational. This involves a quick visual test. In residences, this applies to corridors and kitchens. There are longer, more involved tests at 6 month and 12 month intervals. I will notify you should any of these be occurring.
If you have any queries regarding the timing of the work please contact Facilities Helpdesk as soon as possible, facilities.helpdesk@lancaster.ac.uk or 01524 593333
Philip Simpson
Possible Lancaster Testing & Reliability Centre
We are working on a possible demand study to help inform potential investment for the new engineering facilities on campus. We’re still scoping this out, but the initial plan is that it would be aimed at the ‘Electech’ sector (building on the recent UKRI Roadmap Report) to support testing, reliability assessment and validation of electrical based technology in devices such as instruments that need at least some degree of automation or inbuilt intelligence.
Some examples of embedded technologies we’re considering are listed below:
- Embedded Self-Test and On-line test within heterogeneous systems and products
- Self-Healing Technologies (Electronic, Materials, Mechanics, Biochemical & Mixed)
- Embedded Health & Usage Monitoring Systems
- Embedded technologies able to detect cyber-attack and unauthorised control
- Embedded low power prognostics
- Embedded Technologies able to optimise energy use, emissions and adapt to environmental conditions
- Fault Tolerant Systems that can adapt to degradation and failure
- Retrofittable technologies for legacy systems able to monitor extended life
- Tools and Methodologies to support the integration of test functions and through life support across the design cycle
We plan to host a workshop with academics across the University and external organisations in May or June to understand the likely demand for such a centre and to finalise the brief for the fuller demand study.
If this is of interest to you and you think it may benefit your research, please get in touch with myself outlining the potential fit with your work. I’m also happy to answer questions or provide clarification.
Best wishes,
Dr Nilla Karlsen-Davies
Philip Simpson
Title tbc
joining info tbc
Friday 20 May 2022
3:00pm to 4:00pm
Condensed Matter seminar
Speaker: Anasua Chatterjee (Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen)
Michael Thompson
POE UPDATES – APRIL 2022
Development opportunities for staff:
Recruiting the best training.
All panel chairs and all members of the recruiting panel are required to participate in this training prior to engaging in any recruitment activity at the University. Please note that places on these events are limited and in high demand. We ask that you only book a place if you have recruitment activity coming up, and if this is the case book the session closest to the recruitment activity. Scheduled dates for 2021/22 are below:
Committee servicing
The session will cover the role of the secretary in supporting committees, preparation of minutes, managing confidential material and adopting a paperless approach.
Tuesday 28th June, 9.30am till 12pm. Book here.
Manager@Lancaster Programme
Manager@Lancaster is a development programme with a difference. Tailored to the needs of Lancaster University managers the programme supports and challenges managers to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to build and develop high performing teams.
The programme incorporates a range of activities that are practical and highly relevant to the managers role. This is the ninth cohort of this programme which has consistently received strong reviews and has supported managers in enhancing their practice and finding solutions to common management challenges.
The next cohort is running from May 2022. To make an application please fill in this form. For more information please visit the OD webpage.
Managing Difficult Conversation
This workshop is appropriate for anyone that may need to have one-to-one conversations such as about poor performance, student conduct, or negative attitudes.
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- Tuesday 14th June, 10am till 12pm. Book here.
Updated COVID-19 reporting process
As the University has a public responsibility to report its staff and student COVID-19 cases to external agencies including Public Health England, it remains important that all staff report COVID-19 test results, in particular positive results, to their Line Manager. Line managers should then record these on People XD as soon as possible upon receipt of either a negative or positive, lateral flow or PCR test result. Please continue to familiarise yourself of the process and remind colleagues of their responsibility to report such cases. If a staff member tests positive, as a line manager you should:
- Submit a Managers Request in PeopleXD to record the positive case
If the member of staff has been on campus within 48 hours before receiving their positive test result, or you/employee believes this to be a workplace transmission, a short preliminary investigation should be carried out by you as line manager. This will help you and the University’s management understand where the suspected infection could have occurred. Please note, if the member of staff has not been on campus 48 hours before or there is no concern of workplace transmission, the short preliminary investigation (step 2) does not need to be completed.
Review of Redundancy, Restructuring and Redeployment
The HR Partnering team are carrying out an ongoing review of current redundancy, restructuring and redeployment processes across the University. Commencing in time for June Redundancy Committee and with the agreement of the Dean, FST will be trailing the new paperwork and template documents which were approved for use by th1qae University’s Redundancy Committee in January. Briefing sessions with the Designated Officers and further communication will follow after Easter. Work is also ongoing to review the University Redundancy, Restructuring, Redeployment Policies, Procedures and Guidelines and is in the early stages. We are working to bring the documents up to date and in line with best practice, to streamline and to combine in to one policy document. This is a significant piece of work and no timescales set for at the moment however further information will follow in due course in relation to focus groups and consultation both across Faculties and Departments and with the trade unions.”
Redundancy Committee Reminder of key dates:
| Redundancy Paper Deadline | Redundancy Committee Meeting Date |
| 01 June 2022 | 17 June 2022 |
| 08 July 2022 | 25 July 2022 |
- Equality Section
The following documents are now live on the EDI Web page:
Philip Simpson
Research Software Skills Workshops
After the success of these courses in the Michaelmas term, we are delighted to announce another 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 the skills, they need for using and developing software as part of their research. If you have any questions about these workshops, or if you are unsure whether they are the correct ones for your needs, please email Robin Long at rse@lancaster.ac.uk.
This terms schedule (starting in week 21)
Week 25 (26/05/22): Plotting in Python, part 1
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://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/calendar/dsi/python-1
Week 27 (9/06/22): 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://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/calendar/dsi/python-2
Week 29 (23/06/22): 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://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/calendar/dsi/rse-git-intermediate
Robin Long
Manus Hayne