As part of its work on the Learning Analytics Community Exchange project, Cetis is organising a one day summit event to broker collaboration around the idea of an Open Learning Analytics platform – based on principles of modularity, open architectures, and open standards – in Amsterdam on December 1st 2014, collaborating with colleagues from the […]
The post Open Learning Analytics Network – Summit meeting appeared first on Cetis - expert advice on educational technology and standards.
In recent months the UK has seen several landmark reports launched on the ‘digital state of the nation’ – notably the TechUK Manifesto, the Number One in Digital report from Labour Digital and the government’s own Digital Inclusion Strategy.
There are three common themes that keep coming up time and again, and I think are particularly relevant to education and research:Connectivity: from superfast to ultrafastWe might once have chuckled at talk of the 'information superhighway' but it’s no exaggeration to say that network connectivity, bandwidth and latency is the 21st century’s road, river and rail.While all of the reports voiced aspirations for the UK to become one of the world’s moved technologically advanced nations, the reality is that we still sometimes struggle with even basic connectivity. This is particularly apparent if you live outside an urban area, where the economics of broadband and mobile delivery weigh heavily against you.the reality is that we still sometimes struggle with even basic connectivityThe basic connectivity gap is currently being addressed by the government through Broadband Delivery UK, which aims to reach 95% coverage at superfast speeds (tens of megabits per second) by 2017. It’s an effective leveller – but what comes next? How do we then go from ‘super’ to ‘ultra’ fast and give the UK a competitive edge?One way that further and higher education institutions are finding they can extend the speeds in which they receive internet is by teaming up with tech-intensive firms, science parks and incubators.From my own experiences with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s (EPSRC) HPC Midlands, a supercomputing centre designed to drive innovation in research and industry, I know that connectivity speeds can make a huge difference.More partnerships between institutions and public and private organisations – like those we’re facilitating through our business and community engagement programme – will further help this cause and strengthen the UK’s economic prospects.One big idea: Gigabit connectivity is a must for the next generation of data intensive spinouts and startups. Extending the government’s Connection Vouchers as part of its super-connected cities programme to include ultrafast gigabit broadband is the next logical step.Capability: building the skills baseThere are now a whole host of initiatives to help the estimated 6.5m UK citizens who lack basic digital skills or have trouble getting online. These include DigitalSkills.com, which provides resources for teaching digital skills, a national network of over 5,000 UK online centres and Get Online @ Home, an initiative supported by Microsoft to provide affordable, internet-ready computers to eligible people.However, there is still a huge amount of work to be done if we want to make the UK a nation of digital experts, and hold on to our leading position. As Google's Eric Schmidt said in his well-received MacTaggart lecture, the UK “invented computing both in principle and in practice” but our “track record isn’t great".there is still a huge amount of work to be done if we want to make the UK a nation of digital expertsInstitutions often have the knowledge, expertise and clout to lead positive change at a local level. For example, Times Higher Awards nominee IT4Free saw De Montfort University work with local employers, Leicestershire County Council and information technology company HP.They used redundant buildings, donated hardware and student volunteers to create community IT suites in areas where less than 40% of the population had access to a computer. It is a great example of how ‘town and gown’ can come together to support the digitally disenfranchised.One big idea: A skills ‘booster jab’ that helps people build their knowledge. It could expand on the current City & Guilds Online Basics assessment, which offers a basic introduction for the digitally excluded, and be delivered through the kinds of partnerships that we have seen with IT4Free.Catalysts: supporting innovationMany of the great technologies we take for granted today actually originated in the UK or are British inventions - such as packet switched networking by Donald Davies, the world wide web by Tim Berners-Lee, and of course the role of Brits like Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers in the invention of the computer itself.If the UK wants to remain at the forefront of new technologies – including the Internet of Things, 3D printing and bioelectronics – we need to understand how we can best support new digital businesses as they start up or spin out.we need to understand how we can best support new digital businesses as they start up or spin outWe’ve been working with the Connected Digital Economy Catapult and Innovate UK to try and answer this question and figure out the role institutions can play.As well as enhanced connectivity, universities and colleges often have access to expensive specialised equipment and expertise that some businesses might find difficult to purchase or operate themselves. This ranges from wind tunnels and anechoic chambers to mass spectrometers and supercomputers. Opening up collaboration between business and education and research institutions can help support these sorts of innovations.One big idea: Institutions and industry should routinely share information with each other about their high value equipment, and devise ways of brokering access.This last one is something that we at Jisc think we can play a catalytic role. This autumn we are kicking off an equipment sharing pilot with ten universities for Kit-Catalogue, an online system allowing organisations to catalogue, record and locate their equipment.We are also working with leading high performance computing (HPC) centres to make the research community’s supercomputing facilities available to industry and other institutions through a common contractual framework. You can find out more about both of these initiatives at the Innovate UK conference from 5-6 November.I’d love to hear your thoughts about these ideas and initiatives, and whether there are any others you think we at Jisc should be looking at. Please do leave a comment or contact me on m.hamilton@jisc.ac.uk and let me know what you think.Working as part of a team this role will oversee Jisc’s activities in the research data area including planning new projects and services to help universities improve how research data is managed, maintained, discovered and-used.
Research data is the effective management and re-use of research data, which is key to increasing the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of research undertaken within UK universities.
This roles requires the successful candidate to specify, analyse, deliver and drive innovation for further and higher education in close collaboration with our customers, relevant experts and representative bodies.
Additionally, this role will provide specialist advice on how developments and trends in technology in their particular area or sector can be translated into new products and services that Jisc will deliver to support our customers. The ability to plan and monitor project budgets, as well as delivering projects on time are key.
We are looking for someone with:
Download full job description (pdf)
Download application form (Word docx) and guidance notes for applicants (pdf)
Download diversity monitoring questionnaire (Word docx)
Benefits include:
Jisc has offices in Bristol, London, Harwell and Manchester - this role can be located in Bristol or London. Jisc is a geographically distributed organisation and travel to other locations may be required.
The closing date for applications is Wednesday 5 November at 12:00 noon.
Interviews will held in the week commencing Monday 10 November.
If you are interested in applying please complete the application form and return it to our HR team applications@jisc.ac.uk. CVs will not be accepted.
Please note that any appointment made is subject to receipt of satisfactory references.
No agencies please.
If you have any questions about the application process please email applications@jisc.ac.uk or call the HR team directly on 0203 697 5854.
The International Centre for Research on the Environment and the Economy (www.icre8.eu) is a not-for-profit research centre, established in 2014, that does interdisciplinary research on the Environment, Energy, Economy, Eco-innovations and their electronic versions (hence E8).
Mindy Grewar from the University of St Andrews describes CREATe’s recent IP for Theatre Event, Digital Dialogues.
A recent IP workshop with the Federation of Scottish Theatres (FST) revealed the complexity of IP issues to be managed when digital technologies are incorporated into an established, multi-faceted industry such as theatre. Handled effectively however digital media offer enormous potential for theatre companies, regardless of size, to reach new audiences worldwide and to enhance demand for live performances.
Stellar Quines Theatre Company filming of The List
Digital Dialogues was hosted 9 September 2014 by the University of St Andrews Institute for Capitalising on Creativity (ICC) in collaboration with FST, with additional funding from CREATe. The event focussed on the implications for IP brought about by theatres’ increasing adoption of digital activities such as downloading, streaming and marketing, and their impact on specific industry participants including producers, writers, performers, composers, marketers, and audiences. 45 theatre and dance company representatives attended at the Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh.
Continue readingNFTS Games MA students have had a fantastic public response to their Games at the 9th GameCity event, in Nottingham, where one of our student Games has also hit the headlines.
NFTS Games projects have been on display during the week-long GameCity Festival October 25th-31st which has been visited by up to 70,000 people, many of them families enjoying this inclusive celebration of videogames culture deliberately programmed during the half term break..
The NFTS Games area had a diverse array of work on display, including first year projects such as ‘Hello World’ and ‘Moments of Consequence’, plus sneak previews of second year graduation projects from Paul Dillon (‘Vocal’), Jonathan Hatton (‘Hindsight’), and Ana Ribeiro (‘Pixel Rift’). These three students also contributed to the festival with public talks about their projects to appreciative and enthusiastic audiences.
Ana Ribeiro and her virtual reality based Pixel Rift project also hit the headlines in the Games media and local press - the Nottingham Post – which splashed an article over two pages, reporting both on Ana’s game and her involvement in GameCity’s LadyCade event for women Games developers and players. Iain Simons, director of GameCity, said LadyCade was a key fixture for the festival’s ninth year and added: “For us it is about getting more interesting and different people to have their voices in gaming.”
Also showing at GameCity is Criminel the latest Game created by 2014 NFTS graduate Bojan Brbora (see below). Criminel ‘where CSI begins’ is a forensics photography-based game. You can watch a teaser trailer for Criminel and his previous award-winning 4PM game HERE.
This is the second time that NFTS Games students have displayed their work at GameCity - one of the biggest public facing Games expos in the UK, which we hope to attended annually. The NFTS Games department has also voiced is support for Iain Simons and his team’s plans to launch the National Video Game Arcade next March 2015 – a gallery for the National Video Games Archive and a venue for a multitude of additional cultural initiatives around videogames.
Jon Weinbren, Head of the NFTS’ innovative Games Design and Development MA course said he’d been really pleased to be involved in GameCity this year and was delighted by the amazingly positive response to the games we’ve shown – particularly as many of them were actually first year exercises never intended for close public scrutiny. He wishes the GameCity team every success with their initiatives and looks forward NFTS Games continued involvement in the future.
The NFTS Games success at GamesCity follows hot on the heels of rave reviews recently received at Eurogamer Expo (EGX). NFTS students who graduated in February this year are already making an impression in the Games industry. Albert Bentall, who designed and developed the ethereal riverboat exploration Game Sandman for the Oculus Rift, was snapped up by Sony Computer Entertainment’s London Studios to research and develop new games which utilise Sony’s own brand new Morpheus Virtual Reality technology; Bojan Brbora attracted investment funding to develop his game 4PM after it was Greenlit on Steam’s Greenlight site. Bojan is also developing the game Criminel in collaboration with NFTS Screenwriting graduate Stefan Kaday and NFTS visiting tutor and director of Trash Games, Duncan Walker. The subject is the history of forensic photography, and the setting is 19th century Paris. It is funded by the Wellcome Trust and will be released in conjunction with a special exhibition on the history of forensic science at the Wellcome Collection at the beginning of 2015.
www.criminelgame.com
We are still interviewing for the last highly sought after place on this hugely successful two-year Games MA course.
Click here for more details and to apply. [insert link to course page]
(Pictured are NFTS games MA students Jonathan Hatton, Leon Delgado, Ana Ribiero and Paul Dillon)
(Pictured at top of page: Left to right l-r Charlene Putney,Hannah Nicklin,Xian Chua, Alex Roberts and NFTS Student Ana Ribeiro with Pixel Rift game).
As part of its work on the Learning Analytics Community Exchange project, Cetis is organising a one day summit event to broker collaboration around the idea of an Open Learning Analytics platform – based on principles of modularity, open architectures, and open standards – in Amsterdam on December 1st 2014, collaborating with colleagues from the […]
The post Open Learning Analytics Network – Summit meeting appeared first on Cetis - expert advice on educational technology and standards.
In recent months the UK has seen several landmark reports launched on the ‘digital state of the nation’ – notably the TechUK Manifesto, the Number One in Digital report from Labour Digital and the government’s own Digital Inclusion Strategy.
There are three common themes that keep coming up time and again, and I think are particularly relevant to education and research:Connectivity: from superfast to ultrafastWe might once have chuckled at talk of the 'information superhighway' but it’s no exaggeration to say that network connectivity, bandwidth and latency is the 21st century’s road, river and rail.While all of the reports voiced aspirations for the UK to become one of the world’s moved technologically advanced nations, the reality is that we still sometimes struggle with even basic connectivity. This is particularly apparent if you live outside an urban area, where the economics of broadband and mobile delivery weigh heavily against you.the reality is that we still sometimes struggle with even basic connectivityThe basic connectivity gap is currently being addressed by the government through Broadband Delivery UK, which aims to reach 95% coverage at superfast speeds (tens of megabits per second) by 2017. It’s an effective leveller – but what comes next? How do we then go from ‘super’ to ‘ultra’ fast and give the UK a competitive edge?One way that further and higher education institutions are finding they can extend the speeds in which they receive internet is by teaming up with tech-intensive firms, science parks and incubators.From my own experiences with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s (EPSRC) HPC Midlands, a supercomputing centre designed to drive innovation in research and industry, I know that connectivity speeds can make a huge difference.More partnerships between institutions and public and private organisations – like those we’re facilitating through our business and community engagement programme – will further help this cause and strengthen the UK’s economic prospects.One big idea: Gigabit connectivity is a must for the next generation of data intensive spinouts and startups. Extending the government’s Connection Vouchers as part of its super-connected cities programme to include ultrafast gigabit broadband is the next logical step.Capability: building the skills baseThere are now a whole host of initiatives to help the estimated 6.5m UK citizens who lack basic digital skills or have trouble getting online. These include DigitalSkills.com, which provides resources for teaching digital skills, a national network of over 5,000 UK online centres and Get Online @ Home, an initiative supported by Microsoft to provide affordable, internet-ready computers to eligible people.However, there is still a huge amount of work to be done if we want to make the UK a nation of digital experts, and hold on to our leading position. As Google's Eric Schmidt said in his well-received MacTaggart lecture, the UK “invented computing both in principle and in practice” but our “track record isn’t great".there is still a huge amount of work to be done if we want to make the UK a nation of digital expertsInstitutions often have the knowledge, expertise and clout to lead positive change at a local level. For example, Times Higher Awards nominee IT4Free saw De Montfort University work with local employers, Leicestershire County Council and information technology company HP.They used redundant buildings, donated hardware and student volunteers to create community IT suites in areas where less than 40% of the population had access to a computer. It is a great example of how ‘town and gown’ can come together to support the digitally disenfranchised.One big idea: A skills ‘booster jab’ that helps people build their knowledge. It could expand on the current City & Guilds Online Basics assessment, which offers a basic introduction for the digitally excluded, and be delivered through the kinds of partnerships that we have seen with IT4Free.Catalysts: supporting innovationMany of the great technologies we take for granted today actually originated in the UK or are British inventions - such as packet switched networking by Donald Davies, the world wide web by Tim Berners-Lee, and of course the role of Brits like Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers in the invention of the computer itself.If the UK wants to remain at the forefront of new technologies – including the Internet of Things, 3D printing and bioelectronics – we need to understand how we can best support new digital businesses as they start up or spin out.we need to understand how we can best support new digital businesses as they start up or spin outWe’ve been working with the Connected Digital Economy Catapult and Innovate UK to try and answer this question and figure out the role institutions can play.As well as enhanced connectivity, universities and colleges often have access to expensive specialised equipment and expertise that some businesses might find difficult to purchase or operate themselves. This ranges from wind tunnels and anechoic chambers to mass spectrometers and supercomputers. Opening up collaboration between business and education and research institutions can help support these sorts of innovations.One big idea: Institutions and industry should routinely share information with each other about their high value equipment, and devise ways of brokering access.This last one is something that we at Jisc think we can play a catalytic role. This autumn we are kicking off an equipment sharing pilot with ten universities for Kit-Catalogue, an online system allowing organisations to catalogue, record and locate their equipment.We are also working with leading high performance computing (HPC) centres to make the research community’s supercomputing facilities available to industry and other institutions through a common contractual framework. You can find out more about both of these initiatives at the Innovate UK conference from 5-6 November.I’d love to hear your thoughts about these ideas and initiatives, and whether there are any others you think we at Jisc should be looking at. Please do leave a comment or contact me on m.hamilton@jisc.ac.uk and let me know what you think.Working as part of a team this role will oversee Jisc’s activities in the research data area including planning new projects and services to help universities improve how research data is managed, maintained, discovered and-used.
Research data is the effective management and re-use of research data, which is key to increasing the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of research undertaken within UK universities.
This roles requires the successful candidate to specify, analyse, deliver and drive innovation for further and higher education in close collaboration with our customers, relevant experts and representative bodies.
Additionally, this role will provide specialist advice on how developments and trends in technology in their particular area or sector can be translated into new products and services that Jisc will deliver to support our customers. The ability to plan and monitor project budgets, as well as delivering projects on time are key.
We are looking for someone with:
Download full job description (pdf)
Download application form (Word docx) and guidance notes for applicants (pdf)
Download diversity monitoring questionnaire (Word docx)
Benefits include:
Jisc has offices in Bristol, London, Harwell and Manchester - this role can be located in Bristol or London. Jisc is a geographically distributed organisation and travel to other locations may be required.
The closing date for applications is Wednesday 5 November at 12:00 noon.
Interviews will held in the week commencing Monday 10 November.
If you are interested in applying please complete the application form and return it to our HR team applications@jisc.ac.uk. CVs will not be accepted.
Please note that any appointment made is subject to receipt of satisfactory references.
No agencies please.
If you have any questions about the application process please email applications@jisc.ac.uk or call the HR team directly on 0203 697 5854.
The International Centre for Research on the Environment and the Economy (www.icre8.eu) is a not-for-profit research centre, established in 2014, that does interdisciplinary research on the Environment, Energy, Economy, Eco-innovations and their electronic versions (hence E8).
Mindy Grewar from the University of St Andrews describes CREATe’s recent IP for Theatre Event, Digital Dialogues.
A recent IP workshop with the Federation of Scottish Theatres (FST) revealed the complexity of IP issues to be managed when digital technologies are incorporated into an established, multi-faceted industry such as theatre. Handled effectively however digital media offer enormous potential for theatre companies, regardless of size, to reach new audiences worldwide and to enhance demand for live performances.
Stellar Quines Theatre Company filming of The List
Digital Dialogues was hosted 9 September 2014 by the University of St Andrews Institute for Capitalising on Creativity (ICC) in collaboration with FST, with additional funding from CREATe. The event focussed on the implications for IP brought about by theatres’ increasing adoption of digital activities such as downloading, streaming and marketing, and their impact on specific industry participants including producers, writers, performers, composers, marketers, and audiences. 45 theatre and dance company representatives attended at the Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh.
Continue readingNFTS Games MA students have had a fantastic public response to their Games at the 9th GameCity event, in Nottingham, where one of our student Games has also hit the headlines.
NFTS Games projects have been on display during the week-long GameCity Festival October 25th-31st which has been visited by up to 70,000 people, many of them families enjoying this inclusive celebration of videogames culture deliberately programmed during the half term break..
The NFTS Games area had a diverse array of work on display, including first year projects such as ‘Hello World’ and ‘Moments of Consequence’, plus sneak previews of second year graduation projects from Paul Dillon (‘Vocal’), Jonathan Hatton (‘Hindsight’), and Ana Ribeiro (‘Pixel Rift’). These three students also contributed to the festival with public talks about their projects to appreciative and enthusiastic audiences.
Ana Ribeiro and her virtual reality based Pixel Rift project also hit the headlines in the Games media and local press - the Nottingham Post – which splashed an article over two pages, reporting both on Ana’s game and her involvement in GameCity’s LadyCade event for women Games developers and players. Iain Simons, director of GameCity, said LadyCade was a key fixture for the festival’s ninth year and added: “For us it is about getting more interesting and different people to have their voices in gaming.”
Also showing at GameCity is Criminel the latest Game created by 2014 NFTS graduate Bojan Brbora (see below). Criminel ‘where CSI begins’ is a forensics photography-based game. You can watch a teaser trailer for Criminel and his previous award-winning 4PM game HERE.
This is the second time that NFTS Games students have displayed their work at GameCity - one of the biggest public facing Games expos in the UK, which we hope to attended annually. The NFTS Games department has also voiced is support for Iain Simons and his team’s plans to launch the National Video Game Arcade next March 2015 – a gallery for the National Video Games Archive and a venue for a multitude of additional cultural initiatives around videogames.
Jon Weinbren, Head of the NFTS’ innovative Games Design and Development MA course said he’d been really pleased to be involved in GameCity this year and was delighted by the amazingly positive response to the games we’ve shown – particularly as many of them were actually first year exercises never intended for close public scrutiny. He wishes the GameCity team every success with their initiatives and looks forward NFTS Games continued involvement in the future.
The NFTS Games success at GamesCity follows hot on the heels of rave reviews recently received at Eurogamer Expo (EGX). NFTS students who graduated in February this year are already making an impression in the Games industry. Albert Bentall, who designed and developed the ethereal riverboat exploration Game Sandman for the Oculus Rift, was snapped up by Sony Computer Entertainment’s London Studios to research and develop new games which utilise Sony’s own brand new Morpheus Virtual Reality technology; Bojan Brbora attracted investment funding to develop his game 4PM after it was Greenlit on Steam’s Greenlight site. Bojan is also developing the game Criminel in collaboration with NFTS Screenwriting graduate Stefan Kaday and NFTS visiting tutor and director of Trash Games, Duncan Walker. The subject is the history of forensic photography, and the setting is 19th century Paris. It is funded by the Wellcome Trust and will be released in conjunction with a special exhibition on the history of forensic science at the Wellcome Collection at the beginning of 2015.
www.criminelgame.com
We are still interviewing for the last highly sought after place on this hugely successful two-year Games MA course.
Click here for more details and to apply. [insert link to course page]
(Pictured are NFTS games MA students Jonathan Hatton, Leon Delgado, Ana Ribiero and Paul Dillon)
(Pictured at top of page: Left to right l-r Charlene Putney,Hannah Nicklin,Xian Chua, Alex Roberts and NFTS Student Ana Ribeiro with Pixel Rift game).
The Scottish Food Security Alliance is a new collaboration between the James Hutton Institute, the University of Dundee and the University of Aberdeen that recognises the important role Scotland has to play in ensuring crop-based food security. The The Scottish Food Security Alliance – Crops (SFSA-C) brings together the breadth of expertise in the partner organisations to deliver basic, strategic and applied science, with the aim of offering relevant and practical solutions to complex issues surrounding food security.
The SFSA-C provides a vibrant interactive hub for collaboration and training opportunities, with the resources and state-of-the-art facilities required to stimulate excellence and support career development in challenging areas of research and development with global significance.
To strengthen research collaboration and interaction among the partner organisations, each PhD Project has been designed and will be supervised by academic staff from at least two organisations under activity of three pillars: Plant Crop Science, Plant-Soil Interface and Food Systems.
The studentships include funding for stipend and fees at the Research Council UK rate. Applicants for studentships must have obtained, or be about to obtain, a minimum of an upper second class UK Honours degree, or the equivalent qualifications gained outside the UK, in an appropriate area of science or technology.
These studentships are available to UK and other EU nationals (due to funding criteria, EU nationals MUST have resided in the UK for three years prior to commencing the studentship) and provides funding for tuition fees and stipend.
International students are welcome to apply. However, funding is available at the UK tuition fee level only and international applicants would be responsible for paying the difference between UK and international fees. Tuition fees will be paid for the host institution.
For more information and to view details about the application procedure, please refer to the Alliance’s website.
Applications should be sent to Mrs Karen Slesser, College of Life Sciences and Medicine Graduate School (k.e.slesser@abdn.ac.uk).
A ground-breaking, multimillion pound collaboration between industry and academia, set up by the Medical Research Council, will hold its inaugural conference on 28th October 2014.
The Wellcome Trust have funded a £1m Strategic Award, entitled, "Multidimensional Proteomic Analysis of Metabolic Stress & Cellular Phenotypes", to support a collaborative project led by Professors Angus
Lamond and Doreen Cantrell in the College of Life Sciences.
The main aim of this new project is develop innovative proteomics technology, focusing on the system-wide characterisation of multi-protein complexes and their dynamics in cells of the immune system.
The many thousands of proteins encoded by the genome regulate most physiological processes within cells and organisms. Almost all drug targets are proteins and many forms of human disease and inherited genetic disorders result from alterations in protein expression and/or activity. To understand fundamental cellular response and disease mechanisms, it is therefore essential to have efficient methods for systematically detecting and analysing most cell proteins. Computational tools are also needed to share the resulting large-scale information effectively with the biomedical research community.
The current project will develop new proteomics technology to study the biology of key cells of the immune system. It will help to define the differences between different classes of immune cells and shed light onthe mechanisms of action of immunosuppresive drugs.
This strategic award will help to build the Dundee Laboratory for Quantitative Proteomics into a major centre of proteomics expertise in the UK. This laboratory is based in the newly opened Life Sciences Discovery Centre at the University of Dundee. The strategic award will also promote growing collaborations between the University of Dundee and other leading centres of research excellence in the UK and abroad, including the European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton.
Dean of the College of Life Sciences, Professor Julian Blow said, “I am delighted that the Wellcome Trust have awarded this money to Angus and Doreen’s project; this is exactly the kind of research which the new Discovery Centre was set up to propagate. Collaboration between these two groups in scientific research and technological expertise increases the potential for translational impact exponentially – in both the fields of immunology and quantitative proteomics.”
As part of its work on the Learning Analytics Community Exchange project, Cetis is organising a one day summit event to broker collaboration around the idea of an Open Learning Analytics platform – based on principles of modularity, open architectures, and open standards – in Amsterdam on December 1st 2014, collaborating with colleagues from the […]
The post Open Learning Analytics Network – Summit meeting appeared first on Cetis - expert advice on educational technology and standards.
In recent months the UK has seen several landmark reports launched on the ‘digital state of the nation’ – notably the TechUK Manifesto, the Number One in Digital report from Labour Digital and the government’s own Digital Inclusion Strategy.
There are three common themes that keep coming up time and again, and I think are particularly relevant to education and research:Connectivity: from superfast to ultrafastWe might once have chuckled at talk of the 'information superhighway' but it’s no exaggeration to say that network connectivity, bandwidth and latency is the 21st century’s road, river and rail.While all of the reports voiced aspirations for the UK to become one of the world’s moved technologically advanced nations, the reality is that we still sometimes struggle with even basic connectivity. This is particularly apparent if you live outside an urban area, where the economics of broadband and mobile delivery weigh heavily against you.the reality is that we still sometimes struggle with even basic connectivityThe basic connectivity gap is currently being addressed by the government through Broadband Delivery UK, which aims to reach 95% coverage at superfast speeds (tens of megabits per second) by 2017. It’s an effective leveller – but what comes next? How do we then go from ‘super’ to ‘ultra’ fast and give the UK a competitive edge?One way that further and higher education institutions are finding they can extend the speeds in which they receive internet is by teaming up with tech-intensive firms, science parks and incubators.From my own experiences with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s (EPSRC) HPC Midlands, a supercomputing centre designed to drive innovation in research and industry, I know that connectivity speeds can make a huge difference.More partnerships between institutions and public and private organisations – like those we’re facilitating through our business and community engagement programme – will further help this cause and strengthen the UK’s economic prospects.One big idea: Gigabit connectivity is a must for the next generation of data intensive spinouts and startups. Extending the government’s Connection Vouchers as part of its super-connected cities programme to include ultrafast gigabit broadband is the next logical step.Capability: building the skills baseThere are now a whole host of initiatives to help the estimated 6.5m UK citizens who lack basic digital skills or have trouble getting online. These include DigitalSkills.com, which provides resources for teaching digital skills, a national network of over 5,000 UK online centres and Get Online @ Home, an initiative supported by Microsoft to provide affordable, internet-ready computers to eligible people.However, there is still a huge amount of work to be done if we want to make the UK a nation of digital experts, and hold on to our leading position. As Google's Eric Schmidt said in his well-received MacTaggart lecture, the UK “invented computing both in principle and in practice” but our “track record isn’t great".there is still a huge amount of work to be done if we want to make the UK a nation of digital expertsInstitutions often have the knowledge, expertise and clout to lead positive change at a local level. For example, Times Higher Awards nominee IT4Free saw De Montfort University work with local employers, Leicestershire County Council and information technology company HP.They used redundant buildings, donated hardware and student volunteers to create community IT suites in areas where less than 40% of the population had access to a computer. It is a great example of how ‘town and gown’ can come together to support the digitally disenfranchised.One big idea: A skills ‘booster jab’ that helps people build their knowledge. It could expand on the current City & Guilds Online Basics assessment, which offers a basic introduction for the digitally excluded, and be delivered through the kinds of partnerships that we have seen with IT4Free.Catalysts: supporting innovationMany of the great technologies we take for granted today actually originated in the UK or are British inventions - such as packet switched networking by Donald Davies, the world wide web by Tim Berners-Lee, and of course the role of Brits like Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers in the invention of the computer itself.If the UK wants to remain at the forefront of new technologies – including the Internet of Things, 3D printing and bioelectronics – we need to understand how we can best support new digital businesses as they start up or spin out.we need to understand how we can best support new digital businesses as they start up or spin outWe’ve been working with the Connected Digital Economy Catapult and Innovate UK to try and answer this question and figure out the role institutions can play.As well as enhanced connectivity, universities and colleges often have access to expensive specialised equipment and expertise that some businesses might find difficult to purchase or operate themselves. This ranges from wind tunnels and anechoic chambers to mass spectrometers and supercomputers. Opening up collaboration between business and education and research institutions can help support these sorts of innovations.One big idea: Institutions and industry should routinely share information with each other about their high value equipment, and devise ways of brokering access.This last one is something that we at Jisc think we can play a catalytic role. This autumn we are kicking off an equipment sharing pilot with ten universities for Kit-Catalogue, an online system allowing organisations to catalogue, record and locate their equipment.We are also working with leading high performance computing (HPC) centres to make the research community’s supercomputing facilities available to industry and other institutions through a common contractual framework. You can find out more about both of these initiatives at the Innovate UK conference from 5-6 November.I’d love to hear your thoughts about these ideas and initiatives, and whether there are any others you think we at Jisc should be looking at. Please do leave a comment or contact me on m.hamilton@jisc.ac.uk and let me know what you think.