The SICSA PhD Conference will take place in June 2022 at Glasgow Caledonian University and remotely online. As we have in previous years, we are calling for PhD students who wish to join the PhD student organising committee. Being a part of this committee can be immensely rewarding and you will have the opportunity to work with ICT PhD students and academic members of staff throughout Scotland. You will gain experience in all aspects for organising a high-profile academic event and make a significant contribution to the success of a conference that is becoming more popular year on year.

Please note that as a conference committee member you will be required to attend videocall meetings every 4-6 weeks and dedicate considerable time and effort towards the organisation of the 2022 conference.  You will be reimbursed for any travel expenses incurred.

If you wish to be considered as a member of the organisation committee, please complete the short application form attached to this email.  If you are a PhD student in Informatics/Computer Science, working in a SICSA institution you are eligible.

If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with Dr Jamie Ferguson.

SICSA Conference 2022 – Organising Committee Application Form.

We invite once again participation to the Coffee Break @ RIS, an on- going opportunity to participate in short, informal online conversations with researchers from across disciplines and geographical locations within Scotland. We are joined this month by the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science, the UK’s largest facilitator of funding, training and support for doctoral students in social science. By combining the expertise of sixteen universities across Scotland, the school facilitates world-class PhD research. The school is funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Scottish Funding Council.

Who can participate:

Any researcher (academic, postdoc, PhD student) from any of the RIS research pools, Innovation Centres and the SGSSS.

Working across disciplines is notoriously difficult in ordinary circumstances. Currently, we don’t have those opportunities for fortuitous encounters that happen in the coffee break – the kind of conversations that can, just sometimes, lead to something really interesting. Join this initiative to make connections with other researchers across Scotland, gain insights and broaden your mind.

How to participate:

You can complete the short form stating your discipline and the discipline you wish to engage with.  The RIS team will coordinate the matching of participants, schedule and set up the 15-minute zoom call.

We don’t place any expectations on these conversations … it is simply an introduction that might lead to something really interesting.

If you need more information:

Get in touch with Tim Storer (SICSA KE Director on behalf of RIS).

 

 

 

Visit our Conference web-site: https://sicsaconf.org/

16.00 – 16.30, Plenary Session: Keeping Mentally Healthy

Doing a PhD can be lonely at times, but COVID has intensified the isolation and uncertainty experienced by PhD students.  The SICSA Universities provide support through counselling, mentoring and other mental health services.  But, at the moment these services are in heavy demand and access and provision are disrupted by COVID.  The SICSA PhD Peer Support Network provides additional support from within our PhD community.  In this plenary session the network will outline what it does, how to access it and how we can all contribute to our mental health.

 

16.30 – 17.30 – A choice of streams:

__________________________________________

Coping with Covid: adapting your project to work during COVID

Based on a survey of attendees (please complete the survey), this session looks at how covid has affected PhD project plans and explore how people tackled the disruption caused by COVID.  The session will look at concrete examples of problems with PhD projects caused by covid, what people did about them and how the changed project plans have worked out.

Panel members:

• Sarra Graja, Abertay University
• Arturas Straizys, University of Edinburgh
• Miruna Clinciu, Heriot-Watt University
• Kyle Simpson, University of Glasgow
• Amel Attatfa, Abertay University
• Matteo Capucci, University of Strathclyde

                                    OR

 

Working across disciplines as a research student

Research programmes and funding schemes are increasingly challenge led and interdisciplinary. Research students play a critical role at the frontline of these projects. This panel explores research student experience of working across disciplines, including both the benefits and challenges.

                               OR

 

The Endgame: Writing Up and the Viva

PhD students are familiar with the end goal: typically, a thesis examined by viva. This session will consist on two presentations which will outline expectations and best practices within this end stage: 1) how to write a coherent thesis, and 2) how to take control of the viva process. Each presentation will last about 25 minutes, with up to 10 minutes for questions and facilitated discussion.

Session Speakers:

• Prof Tom Kelsey, University of St Andrews
• Dr Graham Kirby, University of St Andrews

The event is free to attend and you can register via eventbrite. 

We are running a New Lecturers Event as part of SICSA Conference 2021. The Event itself (13^th September, 4pm, online) will consist of a panel aiming to answer FAQs from new staff, as well as a session inviting all new lecturers introduce themselves to the wider community (3-5 minutes), and then end in an informal breakout session with more experienced colleagues.

Whilst everyone attending SICSA Conference is welcome to attend the session, we would like to ask new lecturers who wish to take part in the quick-fire introduction to let us know by signing up here: https://forms.office.com/r/EfCrgyfS6Y by the 6^th September, to allow us to finalise our schedule for the Event.

Due to the pandemic, people will have many different understandings of what a ‘new lecturer’ is. It could be someone starting in October 2021, or someone who started in March 2020 but had no chance to experience on-campus teaching. To that end, the quick-fire presentation slots are open to all new members of staff who started teaching in a Scottish institution from 2020 onwards.

New Lecturers Event organisers:

Dr Mark Zarb, SICSA Education Director

Dr Debbie Meharg, SICSA Education Champion, Edinburgh Napier University

Dr Bedour Alshaigy, SICSA Education Champion, University of Aberdeen

Registration is now open for the SICSA Conference 2021!  The event will be taking place virtually on 13th & 14th September (notionally based at the University of Dundee) using the online platform Ohyay.

The Scottish Informatics & Computer Science Alliance (SICSA) Conference has been an annual event since SICSA began in 2008. This year the focus will be on Sustainability & Resilience. We have a full schedule of Keynote Talks, Skills & Education Sessions, Panel Sessions, a showcase of cutting edge research from Scotland’s Centres for Doctoral Training. Our colleagues from the Research Innovation Scotland (RIS) will be joining us for an interesting interdisciplinary panel discussion between the Scottish Research Pools and Innovation Centres.

Following the success of last year’s SICSA Best Dissertation Award we are delighted to confirm that Amazon Development Centre Scotland will be supporting us again this year for the 2021 Award

 The event is free to attend and you can register now via Eventbrite. 

SICSA is proud to be sponsoring this year Poster Prizes for the students participating in the Nuffield Research Placements (NRPs).

Nuffield Research Placements (NRPs) are engaging, real-life research or development projects, where talented year 12 (or equivalent) students are placed at the heart of a UK host organisation. They are a fantastic opportunity for students to apply skills and knowledge learned at school while providing a meaningful contribution to the work of researchers and industry professionals, in order to:

• Develop subject understanding alongside research and quantitative skills to expand career prospects.
• Learn more about higher education and different career paths.
• Enhance UCAS personal statements and applications to university. An independent evaluation has shown Nuffield Research Placements increase access to university courses in STEM subjects.

At the end of the placement students are expected to submit a research report and conference poster.