Your weekly round-up of undergraduate life in The University of Manchester Department of Computer Science from Paul Nutter, Director of Undergraduate Studies.

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Week 9 • Monday 18 November 2024 • #24.10

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Good morning, it’s Monday 18th November 2024 and it’s week 9 of teaching. I hope everything is going well and that you are managing to keep up with deadlines and are submitting your work on time.

If you are a second year student, then you have until 6pm on Friday to submit your application for the Kneebone Acorn bursary (see below), so please consider applying.

Have a good week. On with today’s news …

Paul
Undergraduate Programme Director

* PASS1. The PASS1 team (Danyaal Ahmed (Y3, CS), David Sendula (OnIE, CS), Daniel Farr (Y3, CSwIE), Afnan Ediab (Y3, CS), and Merve Turan (Y3, CS)) write: Hello Year1s and PASS1 leaders! We are hoping to see you in our PASS session this Wednesday 1-2pm in your allocated room. We have some fun activities for you again followed by a chat about any upcoming courseworks or concerns you may have. Remember that these sessions are for you, so lead the session, tell your leaders what you want to talk about as the session plan is not set in stone, and enjoy! For any problems/queries please feel free to contact us!

PASS2.

The PASS2 team (Kavin Gunasekara (Y3, CSwIE) and Vishal Kandasamy Sekar (Y3, CSwIE)) write: Hi Everyone! We hope you enjoyed last week's session. This week, we'll be talking about placements, same place - IT407, same time - Thursday 12-1pm. We want to organise a pizza party for you in week 11. Please fill in this form by Wednesday the 20th to confirm you'll be there. Hope to see you there!

CS STUDENT MEETING WITH PROF DUNCAN IVISON.

Exciting news! Professor Duncan Ivison, the University’s new President & Vice-Chancellor, is coming to the Kilburn Building to meet with a small group of Computer Science students. We’re looking to assemble a small panel of students to attend this meeting and bring their ideas for reimagining the University, in line with the Manchester 2035 strategy. The meeting will be held on Friday 22nd November 2024 between 15:00 and 16:00, with a venue to be confirmed nearer the time. If you are available and have some ideas to share, please complete this short form. To ensure that there is enough time to discuss everyone’s ideas in detail, there will be a limit on the number of students on the panel. Unfortunately, that means that we will not be able to bring along everyone who wants to pitch their ideas. However, we will do our best to select a diverse panel that sufficiently reflects everyone’s backgrounds, experiences and ideas.

SUPPORT SERVICE SPOTLIGHT:

The Student Union Advice Centre. The Student Union offers advice and support with life at the University. They offer a wide range of services and support.

Academic Advice: Help you through any academic problems you might face during your time at Manchester, including appeals, complaints, mitigating circumstances, disciplinary issues and course/university transfers. Academic guidance and support is free, confidential, and completely independent from the University.
Financial Advice: Offer advice and support on a range of money matters, including Student Finance, access to funding, financial worries and hardship, banking issues and government benefits. If you’re struggling with debt, we can also support you to access specialist advice.
Student Life Advice: Help you take care of your health and wellbeing and support you when things may be difficult. Our advisors are here to help you with anything personal that is going on for you. We’ll provide a confidential space where you can talk to us about anything that’s on your mind. We can help you to access additional support through the University and relevant external support organisations.
Housing Advice: Offer help with any worries you might have whether you're living at home, in halls or a private house. We offer advice and guidance on a range of housing issues including signing a contract, deposits, council tax, issues with your landlord, disrepair, tenant disputes and ending your tenancy early.

You can find more information on their website, including a contact form if you want to make an inquiry.

STUDENT SUPPORT HUB.

The Student Support Hubs provide you with help and guidance; whether you need visa support, career advice, wellbeing support or help with course information, the Student Hub team will be able to point you in the right direction. For CS students the Student Support Hub can be found on the 1st floor of the Nancy Rothwell Building (building 24 on the University interactive map). You can also contact a member of the Student Support Team via the email addresses below depending on the nature of your enquiry:

soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk: general queries; advice on University policies and services.
soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk: student record queries; registration advice and guidance; timetable queries/clashes; ATAS/Visa advice; extension to study period; project topics, allocation and supervisors; change of programme; return to study; professional accreditation
soe.studentexperience@manchester.ac.uk: student societies support; SSLC/student rep support; employability; graduation; PASS; academic advising; communications; summer internship programme; surveys (course unit and NSS).
soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk: mitigating circumstances; interruptions; disability coordinator support; general wellbeing support (appointments and helping you access the support you need).
soe.attendance@manchester.ac.uk: attendance and engagement monitoring.
soe.courseunits@manchester.ac.uk: course unit selection.
soe.placements@manchester.ac.uk: placement support and coordination.
soe.assessment@manchester.ac.uk: publication of results, exam queries, assessment queries (including DASS), progression and award queries.
soe.appealsandconduct@manchester.ac.uk: academic appeals; malpractice and student complaints.

If you are unsure which email to use then use soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk for general queries.

WELFARE WEEKLY WITH BEN - BOOST YOUR STUDY SKILLS.

This from Ben Herbert, Student Support and Wellbeing: University is a big step-up from school and college, and (spoiler alert!) things only get harder year on year. Your old techniques for taking notes, managing your time, and revising for exams may just no longer cut it. I didn't learn a revision technique that worked for me until the second year, and I don't think I ever really developed an effective note taking strategy (oh the nightmare of multiple lever-arch files).

My personal approach to revision was to read through a section of notes and then present them out loud to someone (ideally someone also doing the course). Though just saying them out loud to myself was effective. This technique helped me memorise the information and practice my wording for exam answers. Having someone doing my course doing the same back to me, helped be pick up on areas of knowledge and understanding I might have missed.

Those students that do have the best study skills will do best when it comes to high grades and low stress levels. Luckily for you I have a great resource for you to use. My Learning Essentials is the University's one stop shop for helping you gain the skills you need to make your studies go more smoothly and hopefully up your grades. There are workshops and online resources on topics such as Referencing, Academic writing, effective learning, avoiding plagiarism, and presentation skills.

Good study skills can easily make the difference between and 2.2 and a 2.1 degree. The My Leaning Essentials page also has resources to help you develop skills around mindfulness, resilience, and other ways to generally improve your mental health and wellbeing. Alongside that there is a bunch of useful podcasts for you to listen to including podcasts on Time Management, essay writing, successful revision, and group work.

Do yourself a favour this week and book on to just one workshop or work through just one online resource. See how it goes. Block out some time for personal development on My Learning Essentials once every week or two. I promise it will be worth your time!

TUITION FEE RISES:

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW. On 4th November, the government announced that tuition fees for undergraduate home students will increase by £285, from £9,250 to £9,535 per year. This is the first rise in over eight years, and it brings some important changes. The University’s tuition fees will rise in line with the cap increase from the next academic year. This will apply to both new and current home undergraduate students who will pay the increased fees from September 2025. To find out more information as to what this means, please see this University Student News item.

YEAR TUTOR OPEN HOURS.

In the Department we have year tutors who are responsible for looking after the different cohorts in each year group. The Year Tutors are here to provide you with help and support if you need it, so feel free to contact your Year Tutor by email. Year Tutors also run a weekly open hour where you can pop along for a chat:

Year 1 (not CM): Terry Morley. Open hour: Monday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.7.
Year 2 (not CM): Aphrodite Galata. Open hour: Tuesday 14:00 - 15:00, Kilburn 2.101.
Industrial Experience Year: Duncan Hull., Open hour: Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00, Kilburn LF.
Year 3 (not CM): Gareth Henshall. Open hour: Tuesday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.82.
Year 4: Tim Morris. Open hour: Tuesday 11:00 - 12:00, Kilburn 2.107.
CM (all years): Joe Razavi. Open hour: Monday 13:30 - 14:30, Kilburn 2.75.
UG Director: Paul Nutter. Open hour: Thursday 09:00 - 10:00, IT119.

EXTENDED OPENING HOURS.

Normal working hours for the Kilburn building are 8am - 6pm, Monday to Friday. However, extended opening hours are available from 6pm - 9pm, Monday to Friday. Please note that access to the Kilburn Building is still not available outside these times or at weekends. If you would like to use the Kilburn building during the extended opening hours (6pm - 9pm) then you will need to complete the following modules in Blackboard:

COMP1RDMC: Respect & Dignity at Manchester
COMP1HS: Health and Safety
COMP1AMP: Academic Malpractice

Once you have completed these modules and taken the Extended Working Hours test, you can apply for a pass. If you do not have access to the modules listed above, then please contact soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk. Once access has been granted then you can use your University swipe card to enter the Kilburn building. Please note that currently access is through the main entrance opposite Crawford House. However, once the building works are completed, then access will be via the entrance opposite University place. During extended hours access is restricted to the lower first area of the Kilburn building. You will not be able to use labs or meeting spaces in any other locations in Kilburn. You may be required to show proof that you have extended hours when requested by a building attendant or security. You can find more information and full instructions in the Extended Working Hours folder in the CS UG Community Space in Blackboard.

COURSEWORK DEADLINES CHART.

The Department has put together a coursework deadlines chart, which can be accessed here, The chart is populated with the deadlines for all COMP course units, for each year groupo, in semester 1. It aims to give you an overview of your deadlines and to help you plan your time, which will depend upon the course units you are taking. Please note that deadlines may still change and that only SPOT indicates up-to-date information on deadlines, so please use SPOT to confirm deadlines.

THE UNDERGRADUATE HANDBOOK.

The Undergraduate Handbook is your one-stop resource for all information related to your studies. It contains information about your degree programmes, details on progression, how to change degree programmes or interrupt your studies, information on student support etc. The handbook also has information related to how to apply for mitigating circumstances if your learning has been affected by issues out of your control, such as an illness. You can always find the link to the handbook (as well as other useful links) at the top of each Monday Mail in the 'Essential Links' banner.

LEARNING TIPS - WHAT’S MARKING FOR?

You’ve devoted a lot of time and effort to completing an assignment and you submit it by the deadline. You are confident you’ve done well and you are waiting in anticipation to see what mark you will get for the work. What’s the purpose of marking? Well, marking serves two key purposes. First, it gives a measure of how the work you submitted meets the criteria used to evaluate it - this is summarised in the “mark” awarded. The second purpose, and the one you could argue is the most important, is the feedback we provide on your work. Why is feedback so important? Well, it explains how your work met the marking criteria and how your work can be improved.

Students often believe that marking is performed by taking a “perfect” mark, i.e. 100%, and then looking for reasons to knock marks off. However, this isn’t necessarily the case. When marking, the marker will be looking at how your work satisfies a defined set of marking criteria. Each of these criteria will have descriptions of levels of achievement against them. So, the process of marking involves comparing your work against each of the criteria and judging how well it fits the levels of achievements, with marks awarded accordingly. Often, marking is performed against a rubric to help maintain consistency and fairness, in this case the rubric acts as a source of feedback and helps you to understand to what level your work has met the marking criteria. In some cases, automated approaches will be used to evaluate assessments, in which case the marking is consistent across all students, minimising any risk of bias in the marking process, or variation across markers.

Whilst work can be marked out of 100%, it’s important to recognise that it can be very difficult to achieve high marks. What we won’t do is provide a tick list of things you need to do/achieve to achieve full marks - this will stifle your ability to think independently when it comes to evaluating your own work. Indeed, marking schemes are often designed in such a way to measure your ability to think out of the box, and think beyond the bounds of the course material and apply your knowledge in a higher way. Hence, only awarding the top marks to those students who have performed exceptionally well. If an assessment results in everyone achieving 100% then it’s poorly designed, as it is unable to distinguish between different levels of ability. However, whilst you may not have achieved 100% in a piece of work, this doesn’t mean you should be disappointed.

Our aim is to help you move towards fitting into a professional environment, and criteria for evaluating a piece of work in that context. Our marking criteria will therefore not merely look at whether you have carried out each task, or whether you have implemented each feature asked for, but how good your solution is. You can code a functional solution, but do you consider the “quality” of your code? By providing you with feedback, we help you to better understand how a piece of work may be evaluated. We encourage you to look at the teaching materials provided that give you ideas of what qualities are desirable in a solution. Personally, I don’t like using the term “marking” when it comes to assessing coursework, instead I think it’s much better to refer to it as a process of evaluation of your work, as the process is not just about creating a mark.

EXTENSIONS IN SPOT.

Stewart Blakeway, Discipline Assessment Lead, writes: If you have applied for, and been granted an extension for a piece of summative work it is important that this is reflected on your SPOT page. If an extension is granted you will see an ‘i’ symbol next to the submission information. If you hover the mouse pointer over the ‘i’ symbol, it will show the date of the extended deadline (see figure). If you have been granted an extension and it does not appear on your SPOT page within 3 days of receiving notification that an extension was granted it is important that you contact stewart.blakeway@manchester.ac.uk (otherwise normal late penalties will apply). Also note that work submitted after the extension deadline will be subject to normal late penalties of 10% each day (or part of) from the extended deadline.

HOW DO I CHECK IF I’VE SUBMITTED MY WORK?

We often get asked by students how to check that they have submitted work successfully, and it’s quite easy to do.

Blackboard: if the submission method is using Blackboard, then you can check under the “My Grades” link on the left on each course unit Blackboard page (under “Submitted” or “Marked”). You can also check via SPOT, although SPOT is only updated at 12pm and 6pm daily, so any submission between those times will not be shown until the update takes place. SPOT includes the date and time when the last data was received from Blackboard on each page.
Git: if the submission method is using git, then you can check via SPOT. Submissions via git will show in SPOT immediately (but you do need to refresh the SPOT web page). You know if you have submitted correctly because the date and time will appear under the Submission column in the coursework table for that course.
Gradescope: Submission to Gadescope may not show in SPOT until the work has been marked. You should check Benchmark to ensure your submission was correct.
Whilst SPOT shows you something has been submitted, it does not know what, so cannot be used to verify you've submitted the correct required files. To check the files you have submitted use Blackboard or GitLab.
Some course units have additional requirements, which are not documented in SPOT. Always make sure you carefully read the submission instructions for each piece of work.

GOOGLE DEVELOPER GROUP ON CAMPUS.

You've attended many workshops about getting an internship/ placement or applying to one, but what happens once you actually get the role? Join GDG at our Insight Into Industry Event to find out what working in technology is actually like, from a former Microsoft Technical Officer. We will cover our speaker's real-world experiences, lessons learned, practical advice he wished he had at the start of his career and more! Timing and location will be confirmed, so make sure to follow all our socials to stay tuned!

CHARITY GAMES NIGHT.

Maria Niculae (Y4, CS4wIE) writes: Join us for a night of board games and giving back! We are hosting a charitable games night, with all proceeds going to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. Entry is just £ 3 at the door. Come play, connect, and make a difference!

Date and time: Monday, 18th November, 18:30 (TODAY)
Location: Kro Bar, 325 Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PG

MUDS WORKSHOP.

Join MUDS for our Next Workshop: Intro to Deep Learning - Sign Language Recognition with Neural Networks! Hello Everyone, The Data Science Society (MUDS) is excited to invite you to our next workshop of the academic year! Following the success of our Introduction to Machine Learning workshop, we’re diving deeper with Intro to Deep Learning with a focus on Sign Language Recognition with Neural Networks.

Event Details:

Date: Wednesday, 20th of November
Time: 3:00 - 4:30pm
Location: Kilburn Building, Theatre 1.1

What to Expect:

Build a Neural Network in PyTorch: Whether you're a complete beginner or have some experience, you’ll get hands-on guidance in building neural networks using PyTorch.
Real-World Applications: Explore how artificial neural networks (ANNs) can be applied in practical, impactful areas.
Deep Learning for Sign Language Recognition: Learn how deep learning technology is being leveraged for sign language recognition and gain insight into the power of AI in accessible communication.

This session is ideal for anyone eager to enhance their understanding of deep learning and its applications, and no prior experience is necessary! Also, this time around we will be having a book giveaway. The book Why Machines Learn By Anil Ananthaswamy is up for grabs! Register now by clicking here or scanning the QR code below. For questions, reach out to us on Instagram: @uomdss. We look forward to seeing you there!

START-UP WEEKEND.

This November, the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre are hosting a hackathon-style weekend, turning ideas into viable businesses! Participants will have the opportunity to share ideas, build teams, develop their products/services, and pitch for a portion of our £3000 funding pot!

Ready to transform your idea into a business?
Looking to network with other students, entrepreneurs & investors?
Pitch your idea to a panel of judges, for a chance to win funding from our £3000 funding pot!

Whether you’ve got the business know-how, creative design skills, project management skills or much more, join the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre’s very first Startup Weekend on Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th November. Interested? Register Now. This event is free for all University of Manchester students & recent graduates.

SEED CORN SHOWCASE 2023-24.

The Centre for Digital Trust and Security will be holding a Seed Corn Showcase on the 11th December 2024, 14:00 - 16:00, Christabel Pankhurst Building. What to expect at the Showcase:

Dive into the learnings and successes of the five CDTS funded projects.
Discover the exciting advancements made by these innovative researchers.
Learn how you can get involved in shaping the future of digital trust research.
Connect and network over a drinks reception.

Join us for an afternoon of inspiration and exploration as we celebrate the future of digital trust! Act fast, tickets are selling quickly - Register today to secure your seat and avoid disappointment.

HACKAFUTURE EVENT.

AtkinsRéalis are organising a hackathon event over the 8th - 9th February 2025. Our #HackaFuture event fuses a dynamic and exciting hackathon with recruiting the next generation of changemakers. The best part - the winning team of five will be offered full-time jobs with AtkinsRéalis including a competitive salary and benefits package, plus a £3,000 joining bonus. If you are a forward-thinking technological enthusiast, hacker, maker, coder, engineer or problem solver who is bold, inventive, creative, and deeply passionate about the role technology and digitalization has to play in creating a better world – read on.

Over one weekend and in a central Manchester hotel, you’ll collaborate with your team (we’ll help you build one if necessary) to develop a digital solution to a challenge based on real issues facing our planet and its people. You’ll have access to cutting-edge technologies and experts in the field.

What do I need? Proven interest or skill in: Software engineering; Data science; AI/ML; UX / UI design; Business analysis; Agile, SCRUM, lean delivery; Cloud platforms, particularly Microsoft Azure; Game development using Unreal Engine, Unity; Robotic technology.
Why #HackaFuture? Immediate job offers with AtkinsRéalis for the winning team of five. No formal interviews – showcase your skills in action. Short application form focusing on your passions, experiences and achievements. Mentorship from digital leaders and support from our Global Technology Centre and technology partners.

Application deadline: 30th November 2024. Shortlisted candidates will be notified 20th December 2024. To find out more, scan the QR code or follow this link.

DIGITAL TRUST AND SECURITY SEMINAR SERIES.

On 29th January 2025, 13:00 - 18:00, Dr Ben Collier will present the Digital Trust and Security Seminar on “Revolutionizing Crime Prevention: Influence Policing in the UK”. In a world full of crises and after more than a decade of austerity, UK police forces are stepping up their game with a new strategy called influence policing. Using digital campaigns, it “nudges” behaviour and shapes the culture of particular groups, targeting people based on their internet activities. Due to its success, this method has now been incorporated into various areas of policing, including online child abuse, domestic violence, knife crime, and cybercrime. Find out more, including the ethical and theoretical implications of this innovative strategy, with Dr. Ben Collier, Lecturer in Digital Methods, the University of Edinburgh. Register here.

KATE KNEEBONE ACORN BURSARY.

The Kate Kneebone Acorn Bursary is an annual award of £500 funded by the Kneebone family and arm, which has been awarded since 2013 to commemorate the life of Kate Kneebone, a former student of the department. In addition to the £500 award, the Bursary offers the successful applicant the possibility of discussing an internship placement (which must have an Engineering bias) with ARM in Cambridge. All current Year 2 UG students in the Department are eligible to apply. See further details here. To apply, please complete this form by the deadline of 6pm (UK time) Friday 22nd November 2024.

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK.

The Masood Entrepreneurship Centre (MEC) has an exciting line-up of events, whether you are new to entrepreneurship, looking to elevate your skills or fat-track your idea. There are events running from Monday 18th to Sunday 24th November where you can learn from entrepreneurs, industry experts and MEC alumni, or simply just network with other students from across the University. If you are interested then scan the QR code below.

PARTICIPANTS NEEDED - PACTMAN.

This from Sarah Clinch: I’m currently looking for participants for an experiment about how current understanding of memory in Psychology applies to contemporary content such as that seen on the World Wide Web. In this experiment, we focus on the kinds of content seen on video sharing and video playback websites such as YouTube and Vimeo.

This research is conducted by the Department of Computer Science of the University of Manchester and will take place in the Kilburn Building of the Oxford Road Campus. The experiment takes approximately 50 minutes to complete and participants will be compensated for their time. If you’re interested or have any further questions, please contact me via email: sarah.clinch@manchester.ac.uk.

CYBER-SECURITY TALK.

This from Danny Dresner: Raj Samani will present a talk titled “How to Have A Career in Cyber-Security” on Thursday 28th November, 1pm - 2pm, Simon Lecture Theatre C. Raj Samani is a renowned cyber security expert. He's visiting Manchester and will be here to advise you on cyber security careers. He has an extensive background in cybersecurity, having previously worked with and assisted law enforcement on criminal cases, and served as a special advisor to the European Cybercrime Centre in The Hague. Drawing on his experience in cybersecurity strategy, risk management, and the impact of emerging technologies, Raj is an advocate for improving education on the subject while helping organisations enhance their security and protect themselves from threats. He is also an author and a much sought after keynote speaker on topics within cybersecurity. Please register via career connect. If anyone has any issues signing up to this event, please email careers.events@manchester.ac.uk.

VENTURE FURTHER AWARDS.

Interested in applying for the Venture Further Awards 2025? Come along to the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre for a brief presentation about the competition with some top tips from the organisers and plenty of time for Q&A.

Date: Tuesday 19th November
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Location: The Enterprise Zone, 2nd Floor of AMBS (Also available online)

UK CYBER LEADERS CHALLENGE.

Danny Dresner writes: Make your mark in intelligence by applying to join the University of Manchester Team for the UK UK Cyber Leaders Challenge. Critical thinking and communications skills essential; technical knowledge unnecessary and the selected team gets access to careers advice, cool prize opportunities, and the chance of an expenses-paid, 2-day trip to London, two days in the iconic BT Tower.

The successful 4 (or 8 if we get enough qualified for 2 teams) will make a play for a place at the finals to be held in person at the BT Tower in London (19 - 20 March 2025) and the deadline for teams to register will run out sooner than you think (see the team selection deadline below). Our objective is to build a team as diverse as possible in terms of EDI, background and academic discipline (you must not be experienced working in cyber, politics or warfare or have held positions that would give you an advantage).

The competition is an ideal experience in decision making during the time of a cyber crisis. You'll meet cyber security experts and representatives from across government and industry. Networking opportunities are unsurpassed for future career opportunities. Current and previous partners have included BT, UK Civil Service, Sage, NATO, Beazley, Standard Chartered bank and the Global Cyber Alliance.

You'll pit your wits against other teams as you all respond to a complex and escalating cyber-attack with national and international ramifications. Over two days, comprising three rounds, competing teams receive intelligence packs consisting of reports gathered from multiple sources. You'll work together to analyse the report, analyse the national and international implications of the content and they present your analysis and recommendations to a panel of judges from government and industry. Apply now by e-mailing Prof Danny Dresner no later than midnight 29 November '24 with answers to the following questions:

Introduce yourself and why you will be an asset to our University's team for the Cyber Leaders Challenge. (500 words)
How would you describe the relationship between Cyber and Politics in the UK? How do you feel this relationship has changed in recent years? (500 words)
In your opinion, how does the sharing of threat intelligence and knowledge between nation states both help and hinder the UK in reaching its goals laid out in the Cyber Security Strategy 2022? (500 words)

Let's make the world a safer place to live and work online! Looking forward to hearing from you....

THE BABY ON BBC SOUNDS.

The BBC World Service Witness History series has produced a short podcast covering “The invention of the ‘Baby’ computer”. You can find the podcast on BBC Sounds. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past, looking at events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. The podcast discusses the birth of the ‘Baby’ hearing from some of the people involved in developing and building the Baby who made it are now recognised as the pioneers of modern computing. The groundbreaking work at Manchester at that time paved the way for the Department of Computer Science as we know it today.

DEPARTMENT SEMINAR.

Dr Mara Strungaru, will present a seminar titled “Advanced atomistic models of magnetic materials”, on Wednesday, 20th November, 14:00 – 15:00, in Kilburn LT 1.3. Abstract: Magnetic materials maintained huge interests for technological applications such as magnetic recording media (initially on magnetic tapes, now on nm-sized granular media). With the increased necessity to store more and more data, it is important to constantly improve/renew the current technologies or seek for other magnetic entities (such as domain walls, skyrmions) to act as a bit of information. Novel research fields in magnetism such as spin-electronics (spintronics), opto-magnetism, magnetism in 2D, neuromorphic and reservoir computing promise to bring more advanced technologies in our daily life, and the usage of magnetic nano-particles in bio-medicine to even cure some types of cancer. The laser-induced manipulation of spins also promises to revolutionise the magnetic storage technologies by using ultrafast processes with low dissipation. In this work we explore state-of-the art atomistic models of magnetic materials able to simulate billion atoms systems for technological applications and fundamental studies. We also explore some typical examples of 2D magnetic materials, such as CrI3 and CrCl3, our findings indicating that ultrafast laser pulses can be used to manipulate spin textures efficiently in atomically thin van der Waals layers, similarly to other conventional ferromagnets.

Mara obtained her PhD in computational magnetism in 2021 at University of York, then moved to a postdoctoral position at University of Edinburgh, working on 2D magnetism. Afterwards she returned to York as a research software engineer funded by the national supercomputer ARCHER2 via eCSE. She joined University of Manchester in July 2024 as a Lecturer in Novel Concepts/Technologies in Low Energy Computing. Besides 2D magnetism, her current research interests are in developing advanced models of magnetic materials for both fundamental studies and technological applications.

INAUGURAL SEMINAR.

There will be an inaugural seminar from Alex van Someran titled “National Security challenges in Emerging Technology” on Wednesday, 27th November, 14:00 to 15:00, in Kilburn LT 1.3. Abstract: Computer Science continues to deliver ever-advancing capabilities in data analysis, and our adversaries can adopt these developments without reference to the ethics, governance, and legislation which we hold dear. Artificial Intelligence has moved forward significantly and captured much public attention in the past year, but continuing challenges around explainability bring in to question the suitability of this technology for many kinds of high-reliability application. Quantum Computing seems to be coming closer to a reality at scale, and this could radically alter the capacity of machines to solve previously intractable problems, including some critical problems in cryptography, which would have a significant impact on how data is protected at rest and in transit. This talk will explore some of these topical issues in the evolution of Computer Science in National Security.

Alex van Someren is currently Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security. He was previously a venture capital investor and entrepreneur, focusing on investing in early stage ‘deep technology’ startups. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, an Honorary Professor of Computer Science at the University of Manchester, and a current member of the Royal Society’s Science, Industry and Translation Committee. Alex participated in the development of the BBC Microcomputer & Acorn Electron at Acorn Computer in the 1980s. He subsequently co-founded several technology companies, including ANT Software plc and nCipher plc which achieved listings on AIM and the London Stock Exchange, respectively.

LIBRARY NEWS.

This from Gemma Smith: Have your say about the Library for a chance to win £100 in Amazon vouchers! The Library’s online Student Sentiment Survey is live until Monday, 25 November 2024. Your feedback is important as it helps us improve our facilities and services.

STREAM THEATRE FOR FREE.

All university members can stream acclaimed performances from major UK theatre companies online at no cost! Explore all titles via Library search, including additional productions offered through the Royal Shakespeare Company’s RSC Live Collection and Shakespeare’s Globe On Screen. More details can be found on the Drama subject guide. No expensive tickets, travel costs, or audience distractions – just enjoy the show!

SCHUSTER COLLOQUIUM.

We are thrilled to invite you to a very special Schuster Colloquium marking a triple anniversary celebration: 20 Years of Graphene Research, 150 Years of Physics at Manchester, and 200 Years of The University of Manchester! This event, held in collaboration with the Henry Royce Institute 2D Research Area, promises to be a memorable occasion in honour of these milestones.

Tuesday, November 19th, 3 PM
Rutherford Lecture Theatre, Schuster Building
Also available on Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/93377905959

Talk Title: “Materials for the future”. Speaker: Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov, Langworthy Professor, The University of Manchester, Director of the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials, National University of Singapore. Abstract: Graphene and 2D materials, despite being relatively fresh materials, have already taken a firm place in research, development and applications. A number of exciting phenomena have been discovered in these crystals and they continue bringing exciting results on a regular basis. However, probably the most important characteristic about 2D materials is that they offer a possibility to form on-demand van der Waals heterostructures, where individual 2D crystals are stacked together, forming a novel, 3D structure, which composition (and thus, their properties) can be controlled with atomic precision. This have opened a new directions of research: materials on demand. The properties of the resulting heterostructure can be designed with very high precision. The space of parameters is so large that the use of machine learning methods becomes essential. So, what is next for materials science after the dream of “materials on demand” has been realised? One of the dreams are materials which have some characteristics of biological systems: those with self-healing capabilities, with memory functions, those which can evolve differently depending on external conditions. I will be discussing the methodologies to design such artificial living systems and the areas of their applications.

Join us to celebrate this unique occasion and explore the future of materials with the Nobel laureate and visionary in the field of materials physics. We look forward to seeing you there! Refreshments will be served in the Schuster Foyer from 4pm.

SOMETHING TO SHARE?

The deadline for sending in Monday Mail items: 12:00 (noon) every Friday. Just contact Paul.

Welcome to Puzzle Corner, a range of puzzles, challenges and brain teasers set by our resident puzzle master Gareth Henshall. Every week Gareth will set you the challenge of solving a range of puzzles

Get ready to challenge your mind and explore the world with this week’s trio of brain teasers! Whether you’re a sudoku whiz, a chess strategist, or a globe-trotting explorer, Puzzle Corner has something for everyone. Clear your schedule, grab a cup of coffee, and let the fun begin!

Sudoku Challenge - Wessel Strijkstra by Aron Lidé (Aspartagcus)

Fill each row, column and region with the digits 1-6. Each letter corresponds to a unique digit. A cell with one letter in contains the appropriate digit. Digits in a cage sum up to the double digit number represented by two letters inside that cage. Digits may repeat in cages. The digit in the grey square is even.

Chess Puzzle - Melaa Vs. Rosenthal, 2024

It’s time to sharpen your chess skills! Can you find the winning moves and secure victory on the board? Analyse the position carefully and claim checkmate!

GeoGuessr Round

This week, we’ve dropped you somewhere on Earth! Analyse the scenery, take in the landmarks, and piece together clues to figure out your exact location. Will you discover the hidden destination?

We are playing the 'Flags of the World' map. Every spot has a recognisable national flag of the place where you are standing (without moving). Some of them are tricksy. Each country or nation is featured only once. Some are technically territories or protectorates of other countries (or semi-autonomous regions within a country), but they all have their own flag and unique national identity.

Click here to play this week’s challenge!

How to Submit

Send your completed Sudoku and Chess answers to gareth.henshall@manchester.ac.uk with the subject title 'Puzzle Corner' by Friday. Don’t forget to check the GeoGuessr leaderboard to see where you stack up and see how close you got to the real location!

Winners’ Circle

Congratulations to last week’s Puzzle Masters:

Sudoku Champion: Weiming Xu
Chess Guru: Matthew Kirk
GeoGuessr World Traveler: Jenson Cain, 16,097pts

Good luck and happy puzzling!

Week 8 • Monday 11 November 2024 • #24.09

Paul pic

Good morning, it’s Monday 11th November 2024 and it’s week 8 of teaching. It’s that time of the semester when pressures start to set in and you may find yourself struggling to keep up with everything and meeting deadlines for coursework. If any issues prevent you from submitting your work by a deadline (illness etc) then you should ask for an extension (if available) and complete the work and submit late, within the extension period. You may also want to consider submitting a mitigating circumstances application if you are still struggling to meet the extended deadline. If you are impacted then it’s important that you seek help and advice by speaking to either your Academic Advisor, your Year Tutor, or contact a member of the Department Wellbeing Team (see below). Students often leave it until the last minute, usually after the exams, to let us know they've been affected during the year, by which point it is too late to do anything to help. Contacting us immediately when something happens, offers you the best chance of receiving help and support when you need it.

If you are a 2nd year student, then please consider applying for the Kate Kneebone Acorn Bursary, an annual award in memory of a former student of the Department, Kate Kneebone (more details below).

Finally, don’t forget that the Department is hosting a Women in Kilburn event this Wednesday (see below).

Have a good week. On with today’s news …

Paul
Undergraduate Programme Director

PASS1.

The PASS1 team (Danyaal Ahmed (Y3, CS), David Sendula (OnIE, CS), Daniel Farr (Y3, CSwIE), Afnan Ediab (Y3, CS), and Merve Turan (Y3, CS)) write: Hello Year1s and PASS1 leaders! We are hoping to see you in our PASS session this Wednesday 1-2pm in your allocated room. We have some fun activities for you again followed by a chat about any upcoming courseworks or concerns you may have. Remember that these sessions are for you, so lead the session, tell your leaders what you want to talk about as the session plan is not set in stone, and enjoy! For any problems/queries please feel free to contact us!

PASS2.

The PASS2 team (Kavin Gunasekara (Y3, CSwIE) and Vishal Kandasamy Sekar (Y3, CSwIE)) write: Hi Everyone! We hope you enjoyed last week's session. This week, we've got even more fun and excitement planned for you, but no spoilers yet. As always, PASS2 will be in IT407 on Thursday, from 12 to 1pm. We can't wait to see you there!

PASS3.

The PASS3 team (Max Beck-Jones (Y4, CS4), Sarah Saad (Y4, AI4), Luke Sanderson (Y4, AI4) and Rosie Halsall (Y3, CS)) write: Hello all! This week we have a social planned- tomorrow (Tuesday 12th) at 12pm, in Collab 1. Each table will be given an unsolved cold case file, and we're hoping you can solve it. Plenty of snacks will be provided! We hope to see you there. We think this will be an excellent way to use a different part of your brain, and practice your soft skills before grad-job interviews. If you are planning on coming, please quickly fill this form here (so we know how many snacks to buy!).

STUDENT VOICE COMMITTEE.

This from Tom Carroll, chair of SVC: The Student Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC) is now called the Student Voice Committee (SVC). This makes the purpose of the committee much clearer, which is to affect positive change from student views on their experience at University - to empower Student Voice.

On 7th November, we held the first SVC of this academic year. In this meeting, your representatives gave praise for good teaching practice in the Department. Also discussed were ways in which your representatives can help to close the feedback loop, that is, to make it clearer to you what is being done by the SVC, what positive changes have been made, and how your views and opinions have been taken on board. Many ideas were proposed, and these will now be worked on - so stay tuned for things to come. Minutes of this meeting will be made available on the Student Voice space of the UG BB Community.

Your opinion matters! There are several ways in which you can give your opinions or suggestions to the SVC:

Contact a rep directly (you can find a list of reps on the SVC page of the UG BB Community)
Leave an anonymous submission on the SVC Suggestions Box.

Please note: if you have an issue with a particular course unit, then in the first instance you should always contact the lecturer or course unit leader, who will endeavour to resolve you issue.

CS STUDENT MEETING WITH PROF DUNCAN IVISON.

GOOGLE DEVELOPER GROUPS.

Google Developer Student Clubs Manchester has disappeared… But Google Developer Groups (GDG) on Campus has appeared! Do not worry, this is a rebranding from the Google Developer Student Clubs and we still hope to give you the same service we always have in the years we have been on campus. Make sure to follow us on Instagram and join the Discord from the Linktree!

UNICS MERCH POLL.

Please fill in this form to let us know of your preferences of this year’s UniCS Merch!

UNICS SEMESTER FEEDBACK FORM.

Share your thoughts on this semester's events, workshops, and resources so we can keep improving and tailoring what we offer to best meet your needs.

UNICS SOCIAL MEDIA AND MEMBERSHIP LINK.

To stay connected with us and get regular updates on our events and opportunities, visit our social media channels and get our membership. Our Discord also acts like a community hub where we have channels for you to chat and ask questions relating to courses, career advice, tech, events and more. We regularly add new channels based on your feedback, so be sure to join and get involved!

STUDENT WELLBEING SUPPORT IN CS.

Just a reminder that we have a dedicated Student Support and Wellbeing team in the Department, Maria Sloan and Ben Herbert, who are available to support you throughout your studies. If you are affected by any issues impacting your learning, struggling with your work, considering interruption, DASS registered and feel that your condition is starting to affect you more than usual, or you just need somebody to speak to, then you should speak to a member of the Student Support and Wellbeing team. You can contact Maria and Ben by email soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk, or you can drop into the student hub in the Nancy Rothwell Building and ask to speak to someone, in confidence.

SUPPORT SERVICE SPOTLIGHT - REPORT AND SUPPORT.

The University’s Report and Support Service is available to students. If you or someone you know has experienced or witnessed any form of bullying, harassment, discrimination, gender-based violence, hate or micro-aggressions, or have a safeguarding concern, you can report it anonymously or get support from a trained advisor through Report and Support. To report an incident and speak to a caseworker, you can either fill out the online form or someone can do it on your behalf. You, or the person reporting can make special requests for a certain type of advisor. The last page of the form will ask for details of who they should speak to about this report. The team will seek to understand your situation and aim to give you information, advice and support tailored to your individual circumstances. You can access this service here. Please be mindful that whilst you can send anonymous reports, the team are unable to contact you to offer support unless you provide your name and contact details.

ON-CAMPUS STUDENT-LED HEALTH SCREENING CLINICS.

As part of the pharmacy UG curriculum, Year 3 pharmacy students will be running health screening clinics on campus. These clinics are free and open to all staff and students. The health screening check will involve measuring your blood pressure, height and weight. These measurements are then used to find out your heart age using an NHS evidence-based tool and your diabetes risk using the Diabetes UK ' Know Your Risk' tool (students will assess suitability for entering your data into these tools). The students will then go through these outcomes with you. Please read the participant information sheet before you attend for further information to understand what is involved. The health screening clinics will run 1:30pm-3:30pm on the dates specified below. There is no need to book – just pop over to G.66 Wellbeing Rooms, Simon Building on Wednesday, 13 November 1.30-3.30pm. Please contact Harsha or Sarah (Co-leads for MPharm Prescribing Skills) via email if you have any questions.

STUDENT SUPPORT HUB.

soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk: general queries; advice on University policies and services.
soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk: student record queries; registration advice and guidance; timetable queries/clashes; ATAS/Visa advice; extension to study period; project topics, allocation and supervisors; change of programme; return to study; professional accreditation
soe.studentexperience@manchester.ac.uk: student societies support; SSLC/student rep support; employability; graduation; PASS; academic advising; communications; summer internship programme; surveys (course unit and NSS).
soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk: mitigating circumstances; interruptions; disability coordinator support; general wellbeing support (appointments and helping you access the support you need).
soe.attendance@manchester.ac.uk: attendance and engagement monitoring.
soe.courseunits@manchester.ac.uk: course unit selection.
soe.placements@manchester.ac.uk: placement support and coordination.
soe.assessment@manchester.ac.uk: publication of results, exam queries, assessment queries (including DASS), progression and award queries.
soe.appealsandconduct@manchester.ac.uk: academic appeals; malpractice and student complaints.

If you are unsure which email to use then use soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk for general queries.

KEEPING SAFE ON CAMPUS.

Just like any large city, Manchester can have problems with crime. The University student support webpage offers a variety of resources that you can utilise to help keep safe. SafeZone is a mobile app that can also be used to quickly connect with the University Campus Support and Security team if you have an immediate concern, or require first aid or wellbeing assistance. The app is free to download, easy to use, and operates not just across our campus and accommodation areas, but also MMU and Salford campuses. Find out more about SafeZone here, along with additional Safety Apps that are available. There is also a Safe Taxi scheme, which is an exclusive partnership with Street Cars, to help get you home safely even if you can’t pay at that moment.

WHO IS YOUR ACADEMIC ADVISOR?

An academic advisor is a member of academic staff you are assigned to who provides not only academic support, but pastoral support during your time in Manchester. Who is your academic advisor? Well, this depends what year you are in. If you are a 1st or 2nd year student, your academic advisor is your personal tutor - you can find out who your tutor is here. In the 3rd year, your academic advisor is your project supervisor, and in the 4th year it is Tim Morris. Don’t get your academic advisor confused with your Year Tutor (see below), who generally have more experience in supporting students and signposting them to support services in the university. If your academic advisor has concerns about your academic progression, or wellbeing, they may let the corresponding Year Tutor aware of their concerns.

DASS SUPPORT DEADLINE.

The deadline for exam support through DASS (Disability Advice Support Service) has been extended and is now 4pm this Friday (15th November). DASS offers support to all students who have a condition which has an adverse and long-term effect on their ability to carry-out normal day-to-day activities. This includes Cognitive Developmental Delay, Physical Health and Mental Health issues. A DASS advisor is always happy to talk with you if you are unsure if you can register with them. You can find out more information about DASS and how to contact them here: who-do-we-support. The University has a deadline for putting exam support in place for each of the main exam periods. You’ll need to register and have met with an adviser to agree your exam support by the deadline. For more details, see the exam support page.

YEAR TUTOR OPEN HOURS.

Year 1 (not CM): Terry Morley. Open hour: Monday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.7.
Year 2 (not CM): Aphrodite Galata. Open hour: Tuesday 14:00 - 15:00, Kilburn 2.101.
Industrial Experience Year: Duncan Hull., Open hour: Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00, Kilburn LF.
Year 3 (not CM): Gareth Henshall. Open hour: Tuesday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.82.
Year 4: Tim Morris. Open hour: Tuesday 11:00 - 12:00, Kilburn 2.107.
CM (all years): Joe Razavi. Open hour: Monday 13:30 - 14:30, Kilburn 2.75.
UG Director: Paul Nutter. Open hour: Tuesday 12:30 - 13:30, Kilburn LF.

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING MID-SEMESTER SURVEY.

Andrea Schalk writes: Thanks to all students who provided feedback via this survey. This has now been shared with the relevant unit lead, and the unit leads have been asked to respond to students taking the unit. It was good to see so much positive feedback.

EXTENDED OPENING HOURS.

COMP1RDMC: Respect & Dignity at Manchester
COMP1HS: Health and Safety
COMP1AMP: Academic Malpractice

Once you have completed these modules and taken the Extended Working Hours test, you can apply for a pass. If you do not have access to the modules listed above, then please contact t soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk. Once access has been granted then you can use your University swipe card to enter the Kilburn building. Please note that currently access is through the main entrance opposite Crawford House. However, once the building works are completed, then access will be via the entrance opposite University place. During extended hours access is restricted to the lower first area of the Kilburn building. You will not be able to use labs or meeting spaces in any other locations in Kilburn. You may be required to show proof that you have extended hours when requested by a building attendant or security. You can find more information and full instructions in the Extended Working Hours folder in the CS UG Community Space in Blackboard.

COURSEWORK DEADLINES CHART.

THE UNDERGRADUATE HANDBOOK.

LEARNING TIPS - EVALUATING YOUR WORK.

On the road towards becoming a professional, you will want to pick up skills that help you evaluate your work. Neither your future clients, nor your team members and managers will be happy if you treat the requested features for your project as a tick list. Users don't just want software that can do a job somehow, they want software that's intuitive to use, does the job smoothly and quickly without exhausting available resources, and interfaces well with other systems.

When you work on coursework you have the opportunity to think about what would make a submission a good one. You will usually be told which criteria are going to be used to mark your work, but you may not necessarily receive details of how various judgements are made and how marks are determined under each marking criteria. You should consider for yourself how those criteria may be measured, and you should also be aware of teaching material that covers some of those criteria, so that you can use them to help you with this task. You may even want to think about how to judge a `good solution' before looking at anything supplied by the course unit team - it'll give you some useful insights, and improve your ability to evaluate desirable features of a solution. Feedback from previous assessments, or past papers, should also help you judge what is required under each criteria. By the time you work on your third year project you'll be asked to perform an evaluation of what you have achieved, and acquiring this skill will also help you in the future, whether you pursue postgraduate work or join the profession.

UNICS GAMEDEV WORKSHOP.

Next week we’ll cover shader graph, unitys very own non-code shader writing system for creating visuals:

Wednesday 13/11/24
3pm - 4pm
Kilburn Theatre 1.1

UNICS CAREERS WORKSHOP.

Join us for an overview of the various types of interviews that you may be invited to and a more detailed discussion of the most common interviews. Finally, we will provide tips and preparation resources. This session also makes for great preparation for UniCS’ mock interview sessions in the coming weeks.

Friday 15/11/24
12pm - 1pm

UNICS INTRO TO PROGRAMMING WORKSHOP 2.

This week we will cover the following topics:

Operations on Strings and Booleans
Selection (if, elif, else)
Logical operators (and, or, not)
Comparison operators (=, ==)
Type casting
Reading documentation

Details of the workshop will be released soon so please keep an eye out on our socials. Inform your friends from non-CS backgrounds to join if they're interested in learning programming. If you are a first year CS student, these workshops will be highly beneficial for you too to get some extra coding practice with some hands-on help and to clear concepts taught in your course earlier better.

WOMEN IN KILBURN EVENT.

Hi there! Join us at our first-of-the-year networking event dedicated to empowering and raising the visibility of women, non-binary individuals, and underrepresented groups within Computer Science. Come grab a bite and network with academics, senior students,and fellow classmates within Computer Science.

When: Wednesday, 13th Nov (this Wednesday!), 2024
Time: 11AM- 12PM
Where: Turing Lounge, Kilburn Building, 1st floor, directly opposite the first-floor entrance, close to the disabled access lift.

Drinks and snacks will be provided! We really look forward to seeing you there.

START-UP WEEKEND.

Ready to transform your idea into a business?
Looking to network with other students, entrepreneurs & investors?
Pitch your idea to a panel of judges, for a chance to win funding from our £3000 funding pot!

UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE CLUB.

This week, the OSS Club is meeting on Tuesday, 12th November, 5.00pm-6.00pm, in Kilburn Collab 1 and the Byte Cafe area. We'll be working on the Polus system, a Python tool for filtering and selecting representative subsets of data for machine learning. The code base is owned by Bienfait Isamura, a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry. Polus is a key component of an ML pipeline for working with chemical and molecular structures that is currently being used in research. New members are welcome to join at any time, and with any level of coding experience. Come along and help find and fix bugs, improve documentation, spruce up the code base and build a public record of contributions. Software engineers from the University's research software engineering team will provide support.

UK CYBER TEAM COMPETITION.

The UK Cyber Team competition launches on Wednesday 9 October 2024 and is open to 18–25-year-olds with an interest in cyber security. This brand-new national competition is free to enter and has been launched by DSIT in partnership with SANS. Participants will undertake three rounds of cyber security Capture the Flag challenges, with the top 200 going through to a live, in-person final. The top 30 will then win the chance to be part of the UK Cyber Team, receive training from industry, and represent the UK in international cyber competitions. Sign up here and try out the teaser challenges. Timeline:

Round 1: Saturday 30 November 2024 and Sunday 1 December 2024
Round 2: Friday 13 December 2024 to Friday 17 January 2025
Round 3 (Final): Friday 17 January and Saturday 18 January 2025

NOT JUST FOR BOYS!

We are excited to invite you to an inspiring and important event titled "Not Just for the Boys: Why We Need More Women in Science," featuring the pioneering physicist Professor Dame Athene Donald, who is just retiring as the Master of Churchill College, Cambridge. This event will take place on 14 November 2024 (this Thursday) at 7:00 p.m. at the Friends’ Meeting House, located just behind the Central Library in the middle of Manchester (Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NS).

Professor Dame Athene Donald will discuss the critical need for more women in science and share insights from her book, "Not Just for the Boys: Why We Need More Women in Science." Despite the removal of formal barriers to women pursuing STEM subjects, there are still fewer women working in these areas as they move up the career ladder. This talk will explore the subtle and not-so-subtle reasons behind this dearth and highlight the importance of welcoming women into the scientific world for a stronger and more diverse society. Don't miss this opportunity to hear from a multi-award-winning female scientist who has made significant contributions to the field of physics and gender equality in science. For more details and to book your place, please visit the event page.

DIGITAL TRUST AND SECURITY SEMINAR SERIES.

Prof Rob Black will present a seminar titled “Weaponising Digital Trust to Better Defend Our Networks”, 18th November 2024, 14:00 - 16:00, Christabel Pankhurst Building. Register today to explore the concepts of a proactive cyber defence strategy, through weaponising a cyber attacker’s trust and utilising deception techniques and taking tactics from other domains to create more challenging defences for our attackers to face so as to keep our networks safe. This lecture aims to be thought provoking, amusing and, most importantly it aims to be enlightening as to how best we can bring social sciences to the front line of our cyber fight! Register here.

SEED CORN SHOWCASE 2023-24.

The Centre for Digital Trust and Security will be holding a Seed Corn Showcase on the 11th December 2024, 14:00 - 16:00, Christabel Pankhurst Building. What to expect at the Showcase:

Dive into the learnings and successes of the five CDTS funded projects.
Discover the exciting advancements made by these innovative researchers.
Learn how you can get involved in shaping the future of digital trust research.
Connect and network over a drinks reception.

HACKAFUTURE EVENT.

If you are a forward-thinking technological enthusiast, hacker, maker, coder, engineer or problem solver who is bold, inventive, creative, and deeply passionate about the role technology and digitalization has to play in creating a better world – read on.

What do I need? Proven interest or skill in: Software engineering; Data science; AI/ML; UX / UI design; Business analysis; Agile, SCRUM, lean delivery; Cloud platforms, particularly Microsoft Azure; Game development using Unreal Engine, Unity; Robotic technology.
Why #HackaFuture? Immediate job offers with AtkinsRéalis for the winning team of five. No formal interviews – showcase your skills in action. Short application form focusing on your passions, experiences and achievements. Mentorship from digital leaders and support from our Global Technology Centre and technology partners.

Application deadline: 30th November 2024. Shortlisted candidates will be notified 20th December 2024. To find out more, scan the QR code or follow this link.

DIGITAL TRUST AND SECURITY SEMINAR SERIES.

STUDENTS’ UNION OPEN MEETING WITH DUNCAN IVISON.

SIGN UP: Open Meeting with Duncan Ivison on 14 November. What does your VC think about student activism? Book your place at the next Ask Me Anything session on Thursday, 14 November to find out. Do you have a question about student activism at Manchester? Want to know what the University is doing to support your voice on campus? Now’s your chance to get answers by booking on to the next “Ask Me Anything” Open Meeting. Vice-Chancellor and President, Duncan Ivison, is back in the hot seat ready to answer your questions, and this time he will be joined by Ben Ward, Chief Executive Officer of University of Manchester Students’ Union, as well as an in-person audience – which you can be part of. Book your seat at the live Open Meeting. Hosted by your SU Exec Officers, Elliot Briffa (City and Community Officer), and Charlie Roberts (Activities and Culture Officer), the session will feature questions from the live in-person audience, as well as the most up-voted questions which have been submitted online via the Menti Meter. Submit your questions here. So make sure to book your seat at the session to ensure your voice is heard, and don’t miss out on this opportunity to have your questions answers.

KATE KNEEBONE ACORN BURSARY.

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK.

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH OPEN DAY.

The Faculty of Science and Engineering is hosting its postgraduate research Open Day on Wednesday, 13th November (this Wednesday) from 12pm to 4:30pm in the Nancy Rothwell Building. If you are thinking of undertaking research after you graduate then here’s five reasons you should attend the upcoming Open Day:

Discover research projects – Explore a variety of research opportunities available to you and find a project that matches your passion.
Learn about funding – The Open Day will provide detailed information on scholarships, grants, and other funding options, ensuring you’re equipped to fund your research journey.
Meet current researchers – Get the inside scoop from current postgraduate researchers about life in the research community at Manchester and how to make the most of your postgraduate experience.
Receive application advice – From application processes to entry requirements, expert advice will help you confidently navigate the admissions process.
Explore your research area – Speak to academics and researchers in your specific area of interest to get a glimpse of what your future as a researcher at Manchester could look like.

Say hello to your tomorrow as a postgraduate researcher and join our Open Day on Wednesday 13th November 2024. Register your place now.

PARTICIPANTS NEEDED - PACTMAN.

DEPARTMENT SEMINAR.

Dr Natraj Raman, JPMorgan AI Research, London, will present a seminar titled “Multimodal Tabular Transactions” on Wednesday, 13th November from 14:00 – 15:00, in Kilburn LT 1.3. Abstract: Large Language Models (LLMs) have achieved remarkable success in understanding and reasoning over unstructured text data. Does this success suggest that structured formats, like tabular data, should also be converted into text for LLM application? This talk will delve into the advantages of adapting transformer-based models to the unique characteristics of tabular data, with a focus on financial transactions. It will also discuss scalable solutions to the practical challenges encountered in industrial settings for learning and interfacing with transaction data representations.

Natraj Raman is a research director at JPMorgan AI Research, London. With over 20 years of experience in the financial industry, he has worked as a research scientist at Thomson Reuters and S&P Global. He holds a PhD in Computer Vision, and his research interests include Document AI, Explainable AI and Representation Learning.

DEPARTMENT SEMINAR.

In this work we explore state-of-the art atomistic models of magnetic materials able to simulate billion atoms systems for technological applications and fundamental studies. We also explore some typical examples of 2D magnetic materials, such as CrI3 and CrCl3, our findings indicating that ultrafast laser pulses can be used to manipulate spin textures efficiently in atomically thin van der Waals layers, similarly to other conventional ferromagnets.

SCHUSTER COLLOQUIUM.

Tuesday, November 19th, 3 PM
Rutherford Lecture Theatre, Schuster Building
Also available on Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/93377905959

Talk Title: “Materials for the future”. Speaker: Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov, Langworthy Professor, The University of Manchester, Director of the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials, National University of Singapore

Abstract: Graphene and 2D materials, despite being relatively fresh materials, have already taken a firm place in research, development and applications. A number of exciting phenomena have been discovered in these crystals and they continue bringing exciting results on a regular basis. However, probably the most important characteristic about 2D materials is that they offer a possibility to form on-demand van der Waals heterostructures, where individual 2D crystals are stacked together, forming a novel, 3D structure, which composition (and thus, their properties) can be controlled with atomic precision. This have opened a new directions of research: materials on demand. The properties of the resulting heterostructure can be designed with very high precision. The space of parameters is so large that the use of machine learning methods becomes essential. So, what is next for materials science after the dream of “materials on demand” has been realised? One of the dreams are materials which have some characteristics of biological systems: those with self-healing capabilities, with memory functions, those which can evolve differently depending on external conditions. I will be discussing the methodologies to design such artificial living systems and the areas of their applications.

SOMETHING TO SHARE?

The deadline for sending in Monday Mail items: 12:00 (noon) every Friday. Just contact Paul.

Sudoku Challenge - Out of Order by Blackjackfitz

Normal sudoku rules apply. Digits separated by a black dot are in a 1:2 ratio. Digits along a pink line form a consecutive set that MUST appear out of order. i.e. 4321 is not valid while 4312 is.

Chess Puzzle - Kafantaris Vs. Viachos, 2018

It’s time to sharpen your chess skills! Can you find the winning moves and secure victory on the board? Analyse the position carefully and claim checkmate!

GeoGuessr Round

This week, we’ve dropped you somewhere on Earth! Analyse the scenery, take in the landmarks, and piece together clues to figure out your exact location. Will you discover the hidden destination?

Click here to play this week’s challenge!

How to Submit

Winners’ Circle

Congratulations to last week’s Puzzle Masters:

Sudoku Champion: Weiming Xu
Chess Guru: Luke Shepard
GeoGuessr World Traveler: Finn Leonard, 16,269pts

Good luck and happy puzzling!

Week 7 • Monday 4 November 2024 • #24.08

Paul pic

Good morning, it’s Monday 4th November 2024, welcome to week 7 of teaching. It’s hard to believe we are in November already! I hope you took some time off over reading week, enjoyed the spooky goings on, and that you are now ready for the remainder of the semester - it'll get busy from now on! Tuesday (5th November) is Guy Fawkes night (or Bonfire Night) in the UK; you may have heard lots of fireworks going off over the weekend! What’s it all about? You can find out more here.

Teaching activities resume as normal this week, so please make sure you check your personal timetable as some activities may take place at different times/locations. We are hitting that point in the semester where you may find deadlines start to bunch up. As such, it’s important to manage your time and do not leave coursework to the last minute. Don’t forget we have the deadlines chart (see below) so you can visualise the deadlines across the semester.

In this week’s learning tips item I focus on how to recognise feedback when you receive it, as it’s important to understand that feedback comes in many ways! Ben also provides some advice on applying for extensions and submitting mitigating circumstances in his welfare weekly item.

Have a good week and enjoy the fireworks. Lots of items in Monday Mail this week …

Paul
Undergraduate Programme Director

PASS2.

The PASS2 team (Kavin Gunasekara (Y3, CSwIE) and Vishal Kandasamy Sekar (Y3, CSwIE)) write: Hi everyone! We hope you enjoyed a great reading week and had some time to relax and have fun. PASS2 is back this week, with a session on how to tackle those pesky technical interviews, plus some fun and games! There will also be mock interviews. As always, it'll be on Thursday the 7th of November from 12-1pm in IT407. We can't wait to see you there!

STUDENT-STAFF LIAISON COMMITTEE.

This from Tom Carroll, chair of SSLC: Thank you to all the academic reps who have now completed their training. You can see a list of your academic reps on the UG Community on Blackboard. Our first SSLC meeting of the academic year is on Wednesday 7th November (this Wednesday). In this meeting, we will be discussing issues and positives that you have raised to your reps, on matters such as teaching, feedback, and student life. It is very important to us that the changes brought through the SSLC are visible and understood, therefore we will also be giving a special focus to student voice and closing the feedback loop.

Your ideas and views on these matters are very important, and will play an important part in how we move forwards. You can give your views in a number of ways:

Your reps will reach out to you, either in person or by other means.
You can approach a rep directly (their email is on the reps list).
You can add your views to our online suggestions box (all responses are anonymous)

FEEDBACK FOR ACADEMIC REPS.

Peyman Ramezanpour (Y1, CM) writes on behalf of the academic reps: Dear all, I hope you are well and that you are enjoying semester 1! As academic reps, we will soon be participating in our first SSLC meeting and we would love to hear from you. Please take 2 minutes to fill out this survey so that we can share your thoughts and feedback in our meeting. Remember that only with your support, we can make a change in our environment! Thank you all! If you have any questions then please email. (P.S. Responses are anonymous)

HACKCHESTER.

Hello everyone! We are happy to announce that we are rebooting Hackchester, the one and only cybersecurity society at the University of Manchester! We aim to raise awareness of today's security issues and focus on providing knowledge that is unavailable through any course modules. We have weekly sessions in Kilburn on Wednesdays on miscellaneous topics, from workshops based on jeopardy categories to “Capture the Flag” style competitions as well as live hacking exercises and engaging talks from industry specialists. To learn more and join us, check out our Link Tree. We are looking forward to seeing you!

UNICS MERCH POLL.

Please fill in this form to let us know of your preferences for this year’s UniCS Merch!

MANCHESTER AI CLUB.

If you're interested in getting hands on with AI and learning to build AI models, come join the Manchester AI Club! We are a technical society open to people of all ability levels. To help build your skills we will be holding regular workshops to help develop proficiency in working with and coding AI. Each term, our members will work on building projects that cover a variety of technologies including feedforward, recurrent and convolutional neural networks as well as deep learning. We will also be hosting reading groups and a podcast to discuss and learn about AI technology and developments in AI research. We hope to see you soon, here are our social links.

SUPPORT SERVICE SPOTLIGHT - QWELL.

Qwell offers a range of anonymous support options for students, including an online messaging service with qualified mental health professionals, providing safe and anonymous online mental health support whenever you need it. There are no waiting lists for support and no referral needed and access is available instantly 24/7. You can find out more here, and you can access the service at quell.io.

SUPPORT SERVICE SPOTLIGHT - HEALTH ASSURED.

Health Assured is a 24 hour mental health helpline and wellbeing app which offers access to mental health support from trained counsellors and advisors who are ready to listen and provide help whenever you need it. It is anonymous, non-judgmental and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can call the helpline for advice and support on a whole range of issues you might be facing, big or small. Things you could call for include mental and emotional health, managing relationships, feeling worried about yourself or someone else, dealing with stress and anxiety, money advice, and everything in between. You can find out more here.

ON-CAMPUS STUDENT-LED HEALTH SCREENING CLINICS.

Week 7 – Wednesday, 6 November 1.30-3.30pm
Week 8 – Wednesday, 13 November 1.30-3.30pm

Please contact Harsha or Sarah (Co-leads for MPharm Prescribing Skills) via email if you have any questions.

COST OF LIVING SUPPORT FUND.

The University is committed to supporting students facing unexpected financial difficulties through the Cost of Living Support Fund. Funded by generous donations from alumni and friends, this non-repayable support is designed to ensure that no student is left struggling. The Cost of Living Support Fund offers financial assistance to students who find themselves unexpectedly struggling with essential living expenses such as food, utility bills, or other financial challenges. Importantly, the fund is available year-round and aims to provide timely support to those in need. For new students starting in September 2024, please note that the fund cannot be used as a means to finance your studies. Be sure to explore other potential funding options via the University’s resources before applying.

What Can We Support? We can assist with essential living costs like rent, utility bills, food, and travel expenses related to your studies. However, we cannot provide funding for laptops, desktops, or tablets. The fund is meant to help those experiencing unforeseen circumstances, so it’s important that you start your studies with adequate funding for your tuition fees and living costs.
How to Apply? The application process typically takes around 30 minutes. You’ll need to submit supporting documents to help us assess your situation. Be sure to review the document checklist and have everything ready before starting the application.
You can download the application form here, and we recommend using your student ID to password-protect any documents you submit. Please note that the current assessment time is around three weeks after receiving all necessary documents.

If you’re facing financial hardship, don’t hesitate to apply and get the support you need to focus on your studies. You can find more information about who can apply and how applications are assessed in this news item.

STUDENT SUPPORT HUB.

soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk: general queries; advice on University policies and services.
soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk: student record queries; registration advice and guidance; timetable queries/clashes; ATAS/Visa advice; extension to study period; project topics, allocation and supervisors; change of programme; return to study; professional accreditation
soe.studentexperience@manchester.ac.uk: student societies support; SSLC/student rep support; employability; graduation; PASS; academic advising; communications; summer internship programme; surveys (course unit and NSS).
soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk: mitigating circumstances; interruptions; disability coordinator support; general wellbeing support (appointments and helping you access the support you need).
soe.attendance@manchester.ac.uk: attendance and engagement monitoring.
soe.courseunits@manchester.ac.uk: course unit selection.
soe.placements@manchester.ac.uk: placement support and coordination.
soe.assessment@manchester.ac.uk: publication of results, exam queries, assessment queries (including DASS), progression and award queries.
soe.appealsandconduct@manchester.ac.uk: academic appeals; malpractice and student complaints.

If you are unsure which email to use then use soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk for general queries.

WELFARE WEEKLY WITH BEN - APPLYING FOR MITIGATION AND EXTENSIONS.

This from Ben Herbert, Student Support and Wellbeing: I've noticed a number of applications for mitigation and extensions being filled in incorrectly or with unclear information, so I wanted to take this opportunity to give you some tips on using the form should you need to. When you visit the form you will need to start a new claim. Then right at the top you will need to select whether you want a one week extension, or to apply for mitigating circumstances. The form does not allow you to do both, so if you need that then you will need to fill in two applications.

1-week extensions - To request a one week extension you must apply prior to your deadline date. If the deadline date has passed then an extension is not possible. You should instead submit as soon as you can and apply for mitigating circumstances. Be aware of which of your assessments can have extensions as some cannot.

Mitigating circumstances - When applying for mitigation, the submission status of the assessment and the evidence you have to provide will have a big impact on the mitigation we can offer you, and if we can accept your application. The decision making process is complex and needs to consider assessment regulations, but here is a simplified idea to help you:

If you submit late and late submissions are allowed for the item, then we will most likely recommend the late penalty is waived.
If you submit on time but you feel the quality of your work was affected, we will ask the exam board to omit the mark from your unit grade if the mark is out of line.
If you do not submit at all we will ask for the exam board to omit the missing mark from your unit grade. Alternatively you may need to do a reassessment such as a resit exam.

If your application for mitigation is accepted then the outcome will likely be one of the above.

Extensions of longer than one week are rare, they need to be specifically requested and are usually only given on large assessments such as the final year project. If they are given it will be clear in your outcome e-mail. At busy times, extensions can take up to five days to process so if you apply too near the deadline you may not get a response until after the deadline has passed. Mitigation applications are processed differently and will often take longer to get you an outcome. If you have any questions about extensions or mitigation then please contact us on soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk or pop into the Student Support Hub.

WHO IS YOUR ACADEMIC ADVISOR?

DASS SUPPORT DEADLINE.

The deadline for exam support through DASS (Disability Advice Support Service) is 4pm Tuesday (5th November). DASS offers support to all students who have a condition which has an adverse and long-term effect on their ability to carry-out normal day-to-day activities. This includes Cognitive Developmental Delay, Physical Health and Mental Health issues. A DASS advisor is always happy to talk with you if you are unsure if you can register with them. You can find out more information about DASS and how to contact them here: who-do-we-support. The University has a deadline for putting exam support in place for each of the main exam periods. You’ll need to register and have met with an adviser to agree your exam support by the deadline. For more details, see the exam support page.

YEAR TUTOR OPEN HOURS.

Year 1 (not CM): Terry Morley. Open hour: Monday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.7.
Year 2 (not CM): Aphrodite Galata. Open hour: Tuesday 14:00 - 15:00, Kilburn 2.101.
Industrial Experience Year: Duncan Hull., Open hour: Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00, Kilburn LF.
Year 3 (not CM): Gareth Henshall. Open hour: Tuesday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.82.
Year 4: Tim Morris. Open hour: Tuesday 11:00 - 12:00, Kilburn 2.107.
CM (all years): Joe Razavi. Open hour: Monday 13:30 - 14:30, Kilburn 2.75.
UG Director: Paul Nutter. Open hour: Tuesday 12:00 - 13:00, Kilburn LF.

COURSEWORK DEADLINES CHART.

Don't forget we have a coursework deadlines chart, which can be accessed here, to help you with planning your time around deadlines, The chart is populated with the deadlines for all COMP course units, for each year group, in semester 1. Please note that deadlines may still change and that only SPOT indicates up-to-date information on deadlines, so please use SPOT to confirm deadlines.

LEARNING TIPS - MAKING THE MOST OF FEEDBACK.

We all appreciate feedback on what we do, whether this is for the encouragement that we are doing something right, or because we want to perform better in the future. However, productive feedback becomes increasingly hard to come by, as you'll discover, as you progress further in your careers. Recognising when you are receiving feedback is really important, particularly if you want to make optimum use of it to improve what you do. Completing assessments is not just about the mark awarded, it’s also about the feedback you receive and understanding where your work fell short and how it can be improved. Whether an assessment counts towards the course unit mark (we call this summative) or not (formative), the feedback you receive is vitally important.

Given their prior experience in education, it's natural that students concentrate solely on any individual written feedback that is supplied on their work, but is this really the only feedback worth your attention? There are many occasions where you will receive feedback on your work where you might realise you are receiving feedback; it’s important you appreciate that this is happening.

Formative quizzes in Blackboard provide individual feedback on your understanding of the material. Do you take the time to understand which answers you got wrong, and why?
When asking for help from a GTA in a lab, do you realise they are providing you with feedback on your work simply by talking to you about your work? Do you take this advice on board? Does it help you to understand where you went wrong, what you may have misunderstood and how to improve things?
When seeking help by posting a question on a discussion forum, the reply you receive is feedback being provided by the member of staff who answered.
In some cases, general feedback is provided to a cohort highlighting where students did well, and where they didn't. Do you take the time to critically evaluate your work against the descriptions given?
When you solve past papers, do you look at the feedback in the answers provided to see whether you made common mistakes described there? Or maybe you were marked against a rubric which describes levels of achievements - do you just look at the score you got, or do you think about what you could have done to meet a descriptor with a higher score? After all, the rubric itself offers feedback on your work, and how it can be improved.
You may receive model answers for problems, do you work out where your own answers don't match those solutions, and whether that means your work has some shortcomings?

There are many ways in which you will receive feedback, and it’s not always written down for you on paper. It’s important you recognise this and make the most of the feedback you receive as this will help you develop the skills that will help you throughout your degree and in your future career.

COURSEWORK DEADLINE EXTENSION REQUESTS.

All pieces of coursework in the Department will have a deadline by which it must be submitted. You can find out the deadline from the course unit material in Blackboard, or via SPOT or the coursework deadlines chart. In some cases, you can request a short extension to allow you to complete your work if you find you are falling behind due to circumstances beyond your control. However, in some cases an extension is not possible. SPOT and the coursework deadlines chart indicate which assessments you can apply for an extension for. You must apply for an extension BEFORE the deadline - requests will not be accepted after the deadline. Further advice and a link to the form to request an extension can be found in the Illness and Absence folder in the CS UG Community space in Blackboard. If you wish to have an extension after the deadline then you must apply through the mitigating circumstances process.

WOMEN IN KILBURN EVENT.

When: Wednesday, 13th November, 2024
Time: 11AM- 12PM
Where: Turing Lounge, Kilburn Building, 1st floor, directly opposite the first-floor entrance, close to the disabled access lift.

Drinks and snacks will be provided! We really look forward to seeing you there.

UNICS GAMEDEV WORKSHOP.

We will be covering Projectiles. They are an excellent way to learn about object oriented programming concepts such as inheritance, polymorphism and encapsulation. We'll also look at the limitations of inheritance and introduce composition and interfaces as a solution to these issues.

Wednesday 06/11/24
3pm - 4pm
Simon Theatre E

UNICS INTRO TO PROGRAMMING WORKSHOP.

We will be starting our Intro to Programming workshop series from this week! It will be taught using Python and will focus on teaching you everything you need to know to start programming from scratch. Everyone who knows about programming will agree that you can’t really learn it unless you get hands-on experience and that is what we aim to do through our workshops. Hence, instead of just a boring session of lecture, we will complement each workshop with a selected set of practice questions related to the topic of the workshop and from time-to-time, work on small projects together which will help you sharpen your skills and become more confident of the concepts being taught. So, all in all, whether you are just looking to get started with programming or looking to clear up concepts from your CS courses, these workshops are for you! The first one will be held on Thursday 07/11/24. Details of time and venue will be shared on our socials soon so keep an eye out:)

UNICS CAREERS WORKSHOP.

Friday 08/11/24
12pm - 1pm
Kilburn Theatre 1.5

DATA SCIENCE SOCIETY.

The Data Science Society (MUDS) proudly presents its inaugural AI Spotlight event: "From Human to Machine Perception". This series offers a platform for university researchers, especially postgraduate students, to share their latest ideas and inspire others to explore the cutting edge of AI and related fields. This event will feature two separate presentations from computer vision researchers:

David Petrescu will introduce foundational concepts in computer graphics and perception, setting the stage for their use in computer vision research.
Hamila Mailee will offer insights into advancing face editing for character animation, where traditional techniques in visual computing fall short.

This event is ideal for students and researchers eager to explore computer vision and AI. The research topics will be presented in an accessible manner. If you’re a student seeking project ideas or simply curious about the latest advancements and challenges in computer vision, don’t miss this chance to gain insight and connect with peers - register here! Plus, there is going to be free pizza after the event!

AI AND BUSINESS SOCIETY.

Introducing the AI and Business Society’s first Hackathon of the year! This hackathon is sponsored by GotCHA labs - Fun and secure CAPTCHAs for web. The deadline for this competition is the **17th of November** and teams of any size and ability are welcome! There are two tracks to choose from and the use of AI is welcomed and encouraged! Feel free to incorporate AI tools as much or as little as you’d like. If inspired, please share uploads of your AI conversations to showcase the creative prompts you’ve used!

Track 1: CAPTCHA Game Creation: Prizes for Track 1: £300 for 1st place £150 for 2nd place £50 for 3rd place. Develop a website that features an engaging, short game utilising the GotCHA interface (available here). The game should be entirely mouse-driven to mirror the typical interaction style of a CAPTCHA. For additional documentation, refer to the GotCHA project on GitHub and view a related talk on YouTube.
Track 2: Farcaster Frame with Free Token Faucet on Polygon PoS. Prizes for Track 2: £300 for 1st place £150 for 2nd place £50 for 3rd place. Create a Farcaster frame that integrates a free token faucet on the Polygon PoS (Amoy) testnet, secured by a GotCHA CAPTCHA. This track involves implementing both the CAPTCHA and the interactive Farcaster frame. Frames offer a way to build in-feed web applications directly within the decentralised Farcaster social media feed, enhancing user interaction. Zero-code Farcaster Frames and Frame maker. For further guidance, refer to the Farcaster Frames documentation here.

UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE CLUB.

This week, the OSS Club [tinyurl.com/uom-oss-club] is meeting on Monday, 4th November, 1.00-2.00pm in the Makerspace in the Nancy Rothwell Building. We'll be picking up issues and PRs on the PiRover Simulator code base, a Python base simulator for small robots, owned by Dr Louise Dennis. New members are welcome at any time, and with any level of coding experience, provided you've completed the induction training for the Makerspace. (You need to be enrolled in the School of Engineering org on Blackboard to get access.) Come along and help find and fix bugs, add features and improve documentation and earn yourself some GitHub badges.

DIGITAL TRUST AND SECURITY SEMINAR SERIES.

Prof Rob Black will present a seminar titled “Weaponising Digital Trust to Better Defend Our Networks”, 18th November 2024, 14:00 - 16:00, Christabel Pankhurst Building. Register today to explore the concepts of a proactive cyber defence strategy, through weaponising a cyber attacker’s trust and utilising deception techniques and taking tactics from other domains to create more challenging defences for our attackers to face so as to keep our networks safe. This lecture aims to be thought provoking, amusing and, most importantly it aims to be enlightening as to how best we can bring social sciences to the front line of our cyber fight! Register here.

UK CYBER TEAM COMPETITION.

The UK Cyber Team competition launched on Wednesday 9 October 2024 and is open to 18–25-year-olds with an interest in cyber security. This brand-new national competition is free to enter and has been launched by DSIT in partnership with SANS. Participants will undertake three rounds of cyber security Capture the Flag challenges, with the top 200 going through to a live, in-person final. The top 30 will then win the chance to be part of the UK Cyber Team, receive training from industry, and represent the UK in international cyber competitions. Sign up here and try out the teaser challenges. Timeline:

Round 1: Saturday 30 November 2024 and Sunday 1 December 2024
Round 2: Friday 13 December 2024 to Friday 17 January 2025
Round 3 (Final): Friday 17 January and Saturday 18 January 2025

SEED CORN SHOWCASE 2023-24.

The Centre for Digital Trust and Security will be holding a Seed Corn Showcase on the 11th December 2024, 14:00 - 16:00, Christabel Pankhurst Building. What to expect at the Showcase:

Dive into the learnings and successes of the five CDTS funded projects.
Discover the exciting advancements made by these innovative researchers.
Learn how you can get involved in shaping the future of digital trust research.
Connect and network over a drinks reception.

NOT JUST FOR BOYS!

We are excited to invite you to an inspiring and important event titled "Not Just for the Boys: Why We Need More Women in Science," featuring the pioneering physicist Professor Dame Athene Donald, who is just retiring as the Master of Churchill College, Cambridge. This event will take place on 14 November 2024 at 7:00 p.m. at the Friends’ Meeting House, located just behind the Central Library in the middle of Manchester (Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NS).

MASOOD ENTREPRENEURSHIP CENTRE EVENT.

Ash Rust will present a talk “Your first steps when building a Startup” on Thursday, 7th November 2024, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM, followed by networking at BrewDog. The Enterprise Zone, 2nd floor, AMBS

Ash, an entrepreneur turned investor, is the Managing Partner of Sterling Road, a venture fund that invests in early-stage B2B companies. With experience advising Bullpen Capital and working at Trinity Ventures, Ash has mentored hundreds of startups through renowned accelerator programs like Y-Combinator, Techstars, Oxford, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Alchemist. Ash has been pivotal in the development of https://www.metofico.com and invested in UoM startups. Please review: https://www.sterlingroad.com/apply Ash will share his insights on how to take the first steps in building a successful startup. Please register for the event here.

RESEARCH STUDY - ROBOT’S PERCEPTION OF HUMAN TRUST.

Joseph Bolarinwa writes: Hi, I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate (Robotics) in the department. You are invited to participate in a research study entitled “Robot perception of human trust: Investigating relevant nonverbal behaviours”. The aim of the research study is to investigate the nonverbal behaviours that a human may present to show that they have trust in a robot’s capabilities. In the study, you will be working together with a robot to solve maze tasks at the cognitive robotics laboratory in the Department. To complete the task, you will make decisions on paths to take to get to the exit of mazes. You will also be able to ask a robot for recommendations on paths to take. With your consent, we shall make video and audio recordings of your interaction with the robot as you complete the task. Analysis of the recordings will be carried out after the study to confirm or reject our research hypothesis.

The research does not pose professional or emotional risks and care will be taken to ensure that data captured during the study will be used solely for the purpose of the research. Information gathered from your interaction in the study, as well as your questionnaire responses will be anonymised. This means that you will not be identifiable from the published results. You will have the right to end your participation in the study at any time. This research has been cleared by the University of Manchester Research Ethics Board.

To participate, you need to be aged 18 or above and be of the typical adult population. This means that you would not have been diagnosed with conditions affecting physical, social, emotional, and cognitive functioning or development (i.e. autistic spectrum disorder, deaf and hard of hearing, colour-blindness, speech disorder or impairments). English is either your first language or you learnt it, and you can read, understand, and communicate with the English language.

If you would like to participate in this research study, or have any questions about the research, please contact me at joseph.bolarinwa@manchester.ac.uk.

ELI AND BRITT HARARI AWARD.

The Eli and Britt Harari Award is an annual award for startups using graphene or other 2D materials organised by the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre (MEC). The award is open to all students with a prize of £50,000 for the winning team. The closing date for applications is 12:00, 10th February. You can find out more ny scanning the QR code below or emailing harari@manchester.ac.uk.

MEC is the focal point for enterprise and entrepreneurship teaching, learning and startup support at The University of Manchester. They run several co-curricular activities, events and competitions, aimed at members of the University community including students. These initiatives provide valuable opportunities for all students to enhance their entrepreneurial skills, network with industry experts, and gain hands-on experience that complements their academic studies. Contact entrepreneurship@manchester.ac.uk for more information.

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK.

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH OPEN DAY.

The Faculty of Science and Engineering is hosting its postgraduate research Open Day on Wednesday, 13th November from 12pm to 4:30pm in the Nancy Rothwell Building. If you are thinking of undertaking research after you graduate then here’s five reasons you should attend the upcoming Open Day:

Discover research projects – Explore a variety of research opportunities available to you and find a project that matches your passion.
Learn about funding – The Open Day will provide detailed information on scholarships, grants, and other funding options, ensuring you’re equipped to fund your research journey.
Meet current researchers – Get the inside scoop from current postgraduate researchers about life in the research community at Manchester and how to make the most of your postgraduate experience.
Receive application advice – From application processes to entry requirements, expert advice will help you confidently navigate the admissions process.
Explore your research area – Speak to academics and researchers in your specific area of interest to get a glimpse of what your future as a researcher at Manchester could look like.

Say hello to your tomorrow as a postgraduate researcher and join our Open Day on Wednesday 13th November 2024. Register your place now.

DEPARTMENT SEMINAR.

Prof. Jialie Shen, University of London, will present a seminar titled “Multimodal Learning in Multimedia Recommender Systems: Challenges and Future Directions” on Wednesday 6th November, 14:00 - 15:00, in Kilburn LT1.3. Abstract: With the exponential growth of multimedia big data, multimodal learning, particularly deep learning across diverse data types, has become central to the development of cutting-edge multimedia recommender systems. These systems necessitate the integration of data from various modalities, such as text, images, and audio, to deliver accurate and personalised recommendations. As the complexity and scale of these systems increase, the demand for more sophisticated models, architectures, and data processing algorithms becomes ever more pressing. In this talk, I will explore the critical role of multimodal learning in shaping state-of-the-art recommendation systems. I will discuss the key challenges and opportunities in this rapidly evolving domain.

Jialie Shen is currently a professor in computer vision and machine learning (Chair) with the Department of Computer Science, City, University of London, UK. His research interests spread across subareas in artificial intelligence (AI) and data science, including statistical machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, and information retrieval. His research results have been published in more than 150 publications at prestigious journals and conferences.

DEPARTMENT SEMINAR.

SOMETHING TO SHARE?

The deadline for sending in Monday Mail items: 12:00 (noon) every Friday. Just contact Paul.

Sudoku Challenge - Carved Out by Wypman

Normal sudoku rules apply. The pumpkin (orange line) is an entropic line on which each neighbouring group of three cells include one low (1,2,3), one middle (4,5,6) and one high (7,8,9) digit. The stem (green line) is a German whisper, where neighbouring digits have a difference of at least 5. The face is made up of of thermometers, on which the digits increase from the bulb end. Digits separated by an X sum to 10 and digits separated by a V sum to 5.

Chess Puzzle - Hrabusa Vs. Gregor, 2018

It’s time to sharpen your chess skills! Can you find the winning moves and secure victory on the board? Analyse the position carefully and claim checkmate!

GeoGuessr Round

This week, we’ve dropped you somewhere on Earth! Analyse the scenery, take in the landmarks, and piece together clues to figure out your exact location. Will you discover the hidden destination?

We are playing the 'Community World' map. A world map with 100k+ handpicked locations put together by over a hundred experienced players and map makers from the GeoGuessr community

Click here to play this week’s challenge!

How to Submit

Winners’ Circle

Congratulations to last week’s Puzzle Masters:

Sudoku Champion: Weiming Xu
Chess Guru: No Winner this Week
GeoGuessr World Traveler: Cyrus, 25,000pts

Good luck and happy puzzling!

Week 6 (Reading Week) • Monday 28 October 2024 • #24.07

Paul pic

Good morning! It’s Monday 28th October 2024 and it’s week 6 - halfway through the semester! This week is reading week, which means there are no teaching activities scheduled for COMP course units. However, you may still have activities scheduled for any non-COMP course units you are taking, and may still have some coursework to complete. Please check your personal timetable if you are not sure. The University, and the Kilburn building, remain open as normal over reading week. Please make the most of this week to take a break and relax; the remainder of the semester is going to be busy so best to recharge your batteries now if you can.

It’s been great to see the Kilburn building, particularly the lower first area, so busy so far this semester. We hope you feel that Kilburn is your home!

Thursday is Halloween so have a spooktacular day! On with today’s news …

Paul
Undergraduate Programme Director

PASS1.

The PASS1 team (Danyaal Ahmed (Y3, CS), David Sendula (OnIE, CS), Daniel Farr (Y3, CSwIE), Afnan Ediab (Y3, CS), and Merve Turan (Y3, CS)) write: Dear Year 1s, there is no PASS this week! We hope you enjoy your reading week and to see you on week 7!

COMPUTER SCIENCE FC.

Shivam Ray (Y3, AI) writes: The boys in white put up a fierce and commendable battle against Salford FC. One of the better performances by the team as team chemistry is getting better by the day!! Very gruesome match which saw Salford receive 2 red cards! Keep supporting the boys as you do.

WHAT IS MONDAY MAIL FOR?

Monday Mail is a newsletter for UG students in the Department of Computer Science that not only provides you with announcements and information we think you will find interesting (and hopefully useful), but also showcases the amazing things our students do. So, if you’ve been involved in anything that you think your peers will be interested in, from winning a hackathon to presenting your work at a meeting or conference, then just let me (Paul) know if you’d like to publicise it in Monday Mail. If there’s anything you’d like to see in Monday Mail beyond the usual items, then please just let me know.

STUDENT-STAFF LIAISON COMMITTEE.

This from Tom Carroll, chair of SSLC: Thank you to all the academic reps who have now completed their training. You can see a list of your academic reps on the UG Community on Blackboard.

Our first SSLC meeting of the academic year is on Wednesday 7th November (Week 7). In this meeting, we will be discussing issues and positives that you have raised to your reps, on matters such as teaching, feedback, and student life. It is very important to us that the changes brougt through the SSLC are visible and understood, therefore we will also be giving a special focus to student voice and closing the feedback loop.

Your ideas and views on these matters are very important, and will play an important part in how we move forwards. You can give your views in a number of ways:

Your reps will reach out to you, either in person or by other means.
You can approach a rep directly (their email is on the reps list).
You can add your views to our online suggestions box (all responses are anonymous)

STUDENT WELLBEING SUPPORT IN CS.

Just a reminder that we have a dedicated Student Support and Wellbeing team in the Department, Maria Sloan and Ben Herbert, who are available to support you throughout your studies. If you are affected by any issues impacting your learning, struggling with your work, considering interruption, DASS registered and feel that your condition is starting to affect you more than usual, or you just need somebody to speak to, then you should speak to a member of the Student Support and Wellbeing team. You can contact Maria and Ben by email soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk, or you can drop into the student hub in Engineering Building A and ask to speak to someone, in confidence.

KEEPING SAFE ON CAMPUS.

As the days are getting darker earlier, then it’s important that you keep safe at all times. Manchester, like any other large city, can have issues with crime, hence it’s important you keep safe when on campus and travelling to/from the campus. Keep in mind the following:

Stay alert: Keep your belongings safe and out of view when travelling to or from campus and whilst you’re on it. Avoid wearing noise cancelling headphones so you know what’s going on around you, and stick to well-lit roads and pavements as you travel around the city, avoiding underpasses where possible. Keep your phone out of sight!
Download SafeZone: Our mobile app SafeZone can be used to quickly connect you with Campus Support and Security team if you feel unsafe, need immediate help or require first aid or wellbeing assistance. The app is free to download, easy to use, and operates across the Manchester campuses. You can find out more about SafeZone here.
Report unacceptable behaviour: Manchester has a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, harassment, discrimination, gender-based violence, hate or micro-aggressions. If you have witnessed any forms of this behaviour, or have a safeguarding concern, you can report it anonymously or get support from a trained advisor. Find out more about Report + Support.

STUDENT IMMIGRATION TEAM DROP-INS.

The Student Immigration Team offers face-to-face student drop-in sessions from 11:00 - 13:00 Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Main Library (Ground Floor), Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PP. No Appointment necessary. If you have any questions related to visas then this is a good time to ask for help or advice.

ON-CAMPUS STUDENT-LED HEALTH SCREENING CLINICS.

Semester 1: 2024

Week 7 – Wednesday, 6 November 1.30-3.30pm
Week 8 – Wednesday, 13 November 1.30-3.30pm

Please contact Harsha or Sarah (Co-leads for MPharm Prescribing Skills) via email if you have any questions.

WELLBEING WORKSHOPS.

Feeling stressed or anxious? The Wellbeing Team are running a Mindfulness Meditation session to help you with improving your wellbeing on Friday, 1 November 2024, 13:00 – 13:45, Wellbeing Rooms, 1.63, First Floor, Large Group Room, Simon Building. Mindfulness-based practice helps us to see more clearly the patterns of our mind; and to learn how to recognise when our brain is agitated or mood is beginning to go down. It helps break the link between an overly busy brain ,negative mood and the negative thinking that might normally have escalated into feeling worse. We can develop the capacity to mindfully disengage from distressing mood, and negative thoughts: we can learn to stay in touch with the present moment, without having to ruminate about the past, or worry about the future. You can find information on upcoming workshops here.

PHISHING AWARENESS TRAINING.

Stay safe online: Complete our phishing awareness training. Phishing emails are designed to trick you into sharing personal information or visiting fake websites. While the University has strong email protection, fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their tactics – often posing as trusted contacts or asking you to verify your IT account details. Phishing can affect any email account, so it’s important to stay alert both at university and in your personal life. You can boost your awareness by completing our Phishing Awareness Training, provided by our cyber security partner Khipu. The course includes a short video, practical tips, and a quiz to test your knowledge. Even if you’ve done the training before, it’s worth a quick refresh. Staying informed helps protect you and the University from cyber threats. Key tip: JDLR – Just Doesn’t Look Right? If something feels off, report it! Report phishing emails to IT Services.

COST OF LIVING SUPPORT FUND.

What Can We Support? We can assist with essential living costs like rent, utility bills, food, and travel expenses related to your studies. However, we cannot provide funding for laptops, desktops, or tablets. The fund is meant to help those experiencing unforeseen circumstances, so it’s important that you start your studies with adequate funding for your tuition fees and living costs.
How to Apply? The application process typically takes around 30 minutes. You’ll need to submit supporting documents to help us assess your situation. Be sure to review the document checklist and have everything ready before starting the application.
You can download the application form here, and we recommend using your student ID to password-protect any documents you submit. Please note that the current assessment time is around three weeks after receiving all necessary documents.

STUDENT SUPPORT HUB.

soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk: general queries; advice on University policies and services.
soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk: student record queries; registration advice and guidance; timetable queries/clashes; ATAS/Visa advice; extension to study period; project topics, allocation and supervisors; change of programme; return to study; professional accreditation
soe.studentexperience@manchester.ac.uk: student societies support; SSLC/student rep support; employability; graduation; PASS; academic advising; communications; summer internship programme; surveys (course unit and NSS).
soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk: mitigating circumstances; interruptions; disability coordinator support; general wellbeing support (appointments and helping you access the support you need).
soe.attendance@manchester.ac.uk: attendance and engagement monitoring.
soe.courseunits@manchester.ac.uk: course unit selection.
soe.placements@manchester.ac.uk: placement support and coordination.
soe.assessment@manchester.ac.uk: publication of results, exam queries, assessment queries (including DASS), progression and award queries.
soe.appealsandconduct@manchester.ac.uk: academic appeals; malpractice and student complaints.

If you are unsure which email to use then use soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk for general queries.

WELFARE WEEKLY WITH BEN - MAKE TIME FOR YOU.

This from Ben Herbert, Student Support and Wellbeing: When I'm chatting to a student who is struggling with their studies I always ask them the same kind of questions: "What do you do to have fun?"; "What are your hobbies?"; "What sport do you play?"; "What do you do to make you feel good?" The answer is almost always the same… Nothing.

When you have work to do, the idea of playing football, going to Pilates, or getting lost in the latest cinema release sounds counterproductive. But good work comes from people with a healthy body and a clear mind. Make time for yourself. It will help your physical and mental fitness and allow you to decompress in a way that will complement your studies. I'm not talking about wasting away hours playing computer games or drinking down the pub. I mean blocking out a set time, even if it's only 20 minutes.

Personally I use walking the dog to unwind after work; I use bouldering and jogging to clear my mind and focus only on the here and now; I play board games to socialise while still stimulating my brain; I look after my houseplants to find my zen; and I listen to shouty, punk, ska, and hardcore while doing the washing up to blow off steam while still being productive. What do you do to make time for you? If the answer is nothing, fix that now. It will be harder to fix when the work starts piling up.

This week, if you haven't already, sign up to one of the many societies at the Student's Union. Block out set time to do something for your physical and mental health and stick with it for the semester. It will show benefits in your work!

DASS SUPPORT DEADLINE.

There is a deadline coming up for exam support through DASS (Disability Advice Support Service). DASS offers support to all students who have a condition which has an adverse and long-term effect on their ability to carry-out normal day-to-day activities. This includes Cognitive Developmental Delay, Physical Health and Mental Health issues. A DASS advisor is always happy to talk with you if you are unsure if you can register with them. You can find out more information about DASS and how to contact them here: who-do-we-support. The University has a deadline for putting exam support in place for each of the main exam periods. The next deadline is 4pm Tuesday 5th November 2024, you’ll need to register and have met with an adviser to agree your exam support by then. For more details, see the exam support page.

LIBRARY SUBJECT GUIDES.

Gemma Smith writes: The Library Subject Guides have been redeveloped for the new academic year and are a great place for students to begin exploring relevant resources for your studies, including key books, journals, and databases. Here is the Library Subject Guide for Computer Science

YEAR TUTOR OPEN HOURS.

In the Department we have year tutors who are responsible for looking after the different cohorts in each year group. The Year Tutors are here to provide you with help and support if you need it, so feel free to contact your Year Tutor by email. Please note that Year Tutors will not be running open hours during reading week:

Year 1 (not CM): Terry Morley.
Year 2 (not CM): Aphrodite Galata.
Industrial Experience Year: Duncan Hull.
Year 3 (not CM): Gareth Henshall.
Year 4: Tim Morris.
CM (all years): Joe Razavi.
UG Director: Paul Nutter.

HARDWARE LIBRARY.

Don’t forget that we have a hardware library in the Department that contains a wide range of hardware components that are completely free to borrow? You can use these to support your 3rd year project, generally just to have a play with, or support a Hackathon. There are all sorts of items available, from Raspberry Pi components to drones, a wide range of microcontroller boards to gesture devices, basic electronic components to robots … even VR headsets. We also have computer items, such as keyboards, mice, and tablets - there’s a wide range of items available. To see what is available for you to borrow (for free!) have a look at the library catalogue. If you want to borrow an item then all you have to do is reserve it online. You will then be contacted by Steve Rhodes who will tell you when you can pick the item up from Tootill 0 on the lower first floor of Kilburn. Please note that items should not be taken away from Manchester and it is your responsibility to replace any damaged/lost items you borrow. You can also propose new items for the library, which we will consider. However, please note, we do have a limited budget to purchase new items, so we can’t fund all requests.

3D PRINTERS.

The Department has three 3D printers that are free for you to use. We have a five colour Prusa XL, and two Prusa MK4s you can use. The 3D printers can be found in the right hand corner of Tootill 0 as you walk in the main door. If you’d like to use one of the 3D printers, then please speak to Steve Rhodes (corner off Tootill 0) first.

LEARNING TIPS - SUBMITTING YOUR WORK PROPERLY.

In Computer Science, a variety of systems are used to submit coursework, including Blackboard, Gitlab and Gradescope. In some cases, you may be required to submit your work to multiple locations, such as Blackboard AND Gradescope. Whatever the submission mechanism, it is your responsibility to read the submission instructions carefully, and make sure you follow them to the letter; don’t just assume the submission mechanism is the same across different course units.

It is always worth checking that you have submitted your work properly; if you don’t follow the rules precisely then your work cannot be marked. For example, students often realise at the point of marking that they didn’t submit their work to Blackboard properly, they then claim this is a fault with Blackboard, when this isn’t the case. Problems with Blackboard submissions are invariably due to students failing to ensure that the work had been submitted properly, more often than not, as a result of not waiting until the submission has uploaded successfully before closing the window. Remember, it can take some time for work to be uploaded to Blackboard, so please be patient and wait for it to complete.

For git submissions, we use tags to identify the commit for marking. If your commit is not tagged correctly, it will not be marked, or if you tag the wrong commit you may not receive the mark you expect. When you tag your commit and push with tags, the submission will show in SPOT immediately. If you check SPOT and the submission does not show, check you have got the tag name correct (it is case sensitive and must match the tag name exactly). SPOT provides information about the tag name which is shown by hovering the mouse over the Tag label at the end of the assessment name. If you have made a mistake, remove the tag from GitLab and your local repository, and try again. If you are sure that the tag is correctly set, and it still does not show in SPOT, email support@cs.manchester.ac.uk and include the URL of your project in git and the name of the assignment you are trying to submit work for. Check out the useful Git and GitLab tips page for useful tips.

We will not apply mitigation, or remove any late penalty, for any late submissions due to you failing to follow the instructions for submitting your work. It is your responsibility to ensure that your work has been properly submitted. You can check your submission in a number of ways - see next item. It is important to note that SPOT is updated at 12pm and 6pm everyday, so don’t assume that your submission to Blackboard will show up straight away. It’s also important to remember that SPOT does not show submissions to Gradescope and external course units, who may employ different mechanisms for submitting work. Make it a habit to confirm that your work has been submitted properly every time!

HOW DO I CHECK IF I’VE SUBMITTED MY WORK?

We often get asked by students how to check that they have submitted work successfully, and it’s quite easy to do.

Blackboard: if the submission method is using Blackboard, then you can check under the “My Grades” link on the left on each course unit Blackboard page (under “Submitted” or “Marked”). You can also check via SPOT, although SPOT is only updated at 12pm and 6pm daily, so any submission between those times will not be shown until the update takes place. SPOT includes the date and time when the last data was received from Blackboard on each page.
Git: if the submission method is using git, then you can check via SPOT. Submissions via git will show in SPOT immediately (but you do need to refresh the SPOT web page). You know if you have submitted correctly because the date and time will appear under the Submission column in the coursework table for that course.
Benchmark: Submission to Benchmark may not show in SPOT until the work has been marked. You should check Benchmark to ensure your submission was correct.
Whilst SPOT shows you something has been submitted, it does not know what, so cannot be used to verify you've submitted the correct required files. To check the files you have submitted use Blackboard or GitLab.
Some course units have additional requirements, which are not documented in SPOT. Always make sure you carefully read the submission instructions for each piece of work.

COURSEWORK DEADLINE EXTENSION REQUESTS.

CHANGES TO THE WAY YOU LOG IN TO MICROSOFT 365 AND MY MANCHESTER.

Today IT Services made a change to the way students sign in to Microsoft 365 services such as Outlook email, Word, PowerPoint, OneDrive, Teams and more.

The web addresses and apps that students use to access the services will remain the same, however they may be asked to sign in again.
When signing in, the sign-in page will look different as it will use Microsoft’s own sign-in screen rather than the “Shibboleth” sign-in service.
During the one-hour disruption, students will not be able to sign in to Microsoft 365, however if they are already signed in before the work starts, they will not be impacted.
This does not change the way that members of staff sign in to Microsoft 365.

Anyone experiencing any issues after work has been completed should contact the IT Support Centre.

In addition, when logging into My Manchester login, you will now be prompted to use 2-factor authentication or Duo to gain access. This is an additional layer of security that prompts you to verify your identity using University systems. You will already be familiar with this additional layer of security when using applications including Microsoft 365 (for University email) and Blackboard and you will have set this up as part of the IT account activation process. For more information or support with Duo, please visit Duo for taught students (The University of Manchester) or contact the IT Support Centre.

UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE CLUB.

This week, the OSS Club [tinyurl.com/uom-oss-club] is meeting on Tuesday, 29th October, 5.00-6.00pm in Collab 1, Kilburn Building. We'll be picking up issues and PRs on the Polus code base, a component of a Python-based ML pipeline for working with chemical structures, owned by Bienfait Isamura. Come along and help find and fix bugs, add features and improve documentation while building. a public record of contributions and earning yourself some GitHub badges. We'll be supported by software engineers from the University's research software engineering team.

DIGITAL TRUST AND SECURITY SEMINAR SERIES.

UK CYBER TEAM COMPETITION.

Round 1: Saturday 30 November 2024 and Sunday 1 December 2024
Round 2: Friday 13 December 2024 to Friday 17 January 2025
Round 3 (Final): Friday 17 January and Saturday 18 January 2025

SEED CORN SHOWCASE 2023-24.

The Centre for Digital Trust and Security will be holding a Seed Corn Showcase on the 11th December 2024, 14:00 - 16:00, Christabel Pankhurst Building. What to expect at the Showcase:

Dive into the learnings and successes of the five CDTS funded projects.
Discover the exciting advancements made by these innovative researchers.
Learn how you can get involved in shaping the future of digital trust research.
Connect and network over a drinks reception.

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON FORMAL METHODS FOR AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS.

Marie Farrell writes: The International Workshop on Formal Methods for Autonomous Systems (FMAS) brings together researchers working on a range of techniques for the formal specification and verification of autonomous systems. The workshop enables researchers to present recent work in the area, discuss key difficulties, and stimulate collaboration between the robotics and formal methods communities. FMAS is happening in the University of Manchester from 11th -13th November 2024, co-located with the International Conference on Integrated Formal Methods. There is a fee for in-person attendance but joining virtually is free. Follow this link to find out more.

EDINBURGH UNDERGRADUATE OPERATIONAL RESEARCH CHALLENGE.

The School of Mathematics of the University of Edinburgh and Public Health Scotland invite you to participate in the Edinburgh Undergraduate Operational Research Challenge. The challenge is to design a solution for a practical problem using operational research. If you are interested in using numerate techniques to solve practical problems and enable decision-makers to execute better decisions and make a difference for society, then this challenge is for you! Operational Research (OR) is about using mathematics to help decision makers to find better solutions for complex real-world problems. For example, OR was used during the Covid-19 pandemic to accelerate the development of vaccines. OR is also used to find the best ways to decarbonise our energy supplies and to design optimal radiation therapy treatments for cancer. This challenge is about applying OR to a real-world, data-driven optimisation strategy for Public Health Scotland to determine the optimal allocation of patients to public hospitals. How to participate in the challenge:

Register as a team of one or two students.
Each participating student must be enrolled in the last two years of an undergraduate degree program at a UK university.

Prizes:

Each member of the winning team will receive a £400 prize and a paid follow up consultancy project with Public Health Scotland*.
Each member of the runner-up teams will receive a £300 prize.
Each member of the third place team will receive a £50 prize.

Registration closes at 23:59 on 8 November 2024. Click here for more information about the challenge, important dates and registration instructions.

SWIFT STUDENT CHALLENGE 2025.

Apple have announced the Swift Student Challenge 2025. The Challenge provides the next generation of student developers the opportunity to showcase their creativity and coding skills by building app playgrounds with Swift. They will select 350 Swift Student Challenge winners whose submissions demonstrate excellence in innovation, creativity, social impact, or inclusivity. From this group, 50 Distinguished Winners whose work is truly exceptional will be identified and they will be invited to join them at Apple in Cupertino where they’ll gain invaluable insights from Apple experts and engineers, connect with their peers, and enjoy a host of unforgettable experiences. All Challenge winners will receive one year of membership in the Apple Developer Program, a special gift from Apple, and more. Applications will open in February 2025 for three weeks. Free Swift Coding Club resources have been developed so students can start clubs and work with peers who are passionate about app creation. Swift Coding Clubs use the new Develop in Swift Tutorials so students can learn the foundations of app development with Swift and beyond. You can find out more information here.

DEPARTMENT SEMINAR.

The next departmental seminar will take place on Wednesday 6th November, 14:00 - 15:00. In Kilburn LT1.3. The speaker will be Prof. Jialie Shen, University of London, who will talk about “Multimodal Learning in Multimedia Recommender Systems: Challenges and Future Directions”. Abstract: With the exponential growth of multimedia big data, multimodal learning, particularly deep learning across diverse data types, has become central to the development of cutting-edge multimedia recommender systems. These systems necessitate the integration of data from various modalities, such as text, images, and audio, to deliver accurate and personalised recommendations. As the complexity and scale of these systems increase, the demand for more sophisticated models, architectures, and data processing algorithms becomes ever more pressing. In this talk, I will explore the critical role of multimodal learning in shaping state-of-the-art recommendation systems. I will discuss the key challenges and opportunities in this rapidly evolving domain.

FURNITURE4REUSE SCHEME.

Are you looking to furnish your new place or add some extra pieces without spending too much? The University of Manchester’s Furniture4Reuse scheme has been helping students get quality furniture for free for over 2 years now. With items like desks, chairs, bookshelves, and more, the scheme collects pre-loved furniture from across campus, refurbishes it, and offers it to students for free! The Furniture4Reuse store is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays 12-3pm and is located in the Simon Building basement. Whether you’re moving in for the first time or just looking to add a few items, it’s a great way to furnish your space for less. To check out what’s available, head to the Furniture Store or find more details on the Furniture4Reuse page.

SOMETHING TO SHARE?

The deadline for sending in Monday Mail items: 12:00 (noon) every Friday. Just contact Paul.

Sudoku Challenge - Rainbow Kropki 2 by LJC

Normal sudoku rules apply. Digits in a cage may not repeat and sum to the given total/parity/inequality. No three contiguous cells in a row or a column can be all even or all odd. Digits separated by a coloured dot must have a difference between them indicated by the colour of the dot. All dots of the same colour (and letter) indicate the same difference and two different coloured dots may not represent the same difference.

Chess Puzzle - Kosteniuk Vs. Khademalsharieh, 2024

It’s time to sharpen your chess skills! Can you find the winning moves and secure victory on the board? Analyse the position carefully and claim checkmate!

GeoGuessr Round

This week, we’ve dropped you somewhere on Earth! Analyse the scenery, take in the landmarks, and piece together clues to figure out your exact location. Will you discover the hidden destination?

We are playing the 'Dumb Test' map, it's simpler than you think!

Click here to play this week’s challenge!

How to Submit

Winners’ Circle

Congratulations to last week’s Puzzle Masters:

Sudoku Champion: Weiming Xu
Chess Guru: No Winner this Week
GeoGuessr World Traveler: Finn Leonard, 19,722pts

Good luck and happy puzzling!

Week 5 • Monday 21 October 2024 • #24.06

Paul pic

Good morning! It’s Monday 21st October 2024, and it’s Week 5 of semester 1. Next week (Week 6) is reading week, which means there are no teaching activities scheduled for COMP course units. However, you may still have activities scheduled for some non-COMP course units you are taking, and may still have some coursework to complete. Reading week is a good time to catch up on your work (including your project if you are a 3rd year) as well as time for you to take a bit of a break and relax if you can - I know I’ll be taking a few days off! Well done to everyone who took part in UKIEPC on Saturday (see below) and let me express my thanks to the student volunteers who gave up their time to help make sure the event ran smoothly.

The clocks change on Sunday 27th October (at 02:00 am), going back by one hour (so 02:00 becomes 01:00) moving back to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Make the best of the extra hour in bed on Sunday morning (as if you need an excuse!).

As usual I will be having my open office hour 12:00 - 13:00 somewhere on LF on Tuesday. Please say hello!

On with today’s news, enjoy your week …

Paul
Undergraduate Programme Director

PASS2.

The PASS2 team (Kavin Gunasekara (Y3, CSwIE) and Vishal Kandasamy Sekar (Y3, CSwIE)) write: Hi Everyone! It was great to see you all at last week's session about Coding Assessments, we hope you found it helpful. As always, this week's session will be on Thursday the 24th of October, in IT407 from 12 to 1pm. The session will be about Managing Coursework Deadlines and Mental Health, accompanied by plenty of fun games and activities. We can't wait to see you there!

PASS3.

The PASS3 team (Max Beck-Jones (Y4, CS4), Sarah Saad (Y4, AI4), Luke Sanderson (Y4, AI4) and Rosie Halsall (Y3, CS)) write: Hey everyone, Halloween (and reading week) is almost upon us! To get everyone in the spirit and to provide a nice break, we are running a pumpkin decorating session at the normal time (12pm) tomorrow (Tuesday, October 22nd) in Kilburn Collab 1. If you want to secure your place, please fill out this form before 5pm today (Monday, October 21st). In addition to pumpkin decorating, we will be continuing to grow our list of opportunities and application experiences (good and bad) so please have a think about what you could add before the session! Snacks, as always, will be provided. Finally, we would really appreciate it if you could fill out our survey which will help us develop this new PASS scheme for you.

DATA SCIENCE SOCIETY - MUDS.

Hello Everyone, The Data Science Society (MUDS) has just elected its new committee, and is back for its first event of the academic year! For those who just heard about us, we are the university society that engages with the emerging world of Data Science as we are active in teaching Data Science concepts through workshops, networking events with Data Science companies in Manchester and many more activities. Join us to be part of the fun as we host weekly events, and most importantly - we are open to all!

MUDS First Workshop: Introduction to Machine Learning (ML). MUDS is dedicated to fostering collaboration among students, researchers, and industry in Data Science and Machine Learning. Join us for an engaging workshop where you'll:

Explore key ML concepts like supervised and unsupervised learning
Learn the fundamentals of linear and logistic regression
Get hands-on with Python and NumPy for binary classification

Perfect for beginners, this session will provide a solid introduction to Machine Learning concepts and tools. You'll also have the chance to meet the MUDS committee, connect with fellow students passionate about data science, and enjoy snacks at the end of the workshop! We’re also hosting a giveaway, so don't miss out — register for the event through this link or by scanning the QR code! If you have any questions, you can contact us through our Instagram: @uomdss.

UK IRELAND PROGRAMMING COMPETITION.

Ian Pratt-Hartmann writes: On Saturday, 19th October, the UK Ireland Programming Competition (UKIEPC) took place, in which teams of three attempted a series of programming challenges over a five hour period. Teams from universities across the British Isles competed at a number of sites, one of which was Manchester.

Twenty-two teams from Manchester took part. Of these, the teams 1kg, we <3 algeria, GoodLuck, Byte Brew Crew, Manchester Bees and MVJ all solved three problems each. Based on the time to correct solutions, the top Manchester team was 1kg, coming only 74th in the overall rankings. There was thus rather more enthusiasm than success on display at our site. Nevertheless, it was good to see so many teams taking part, all but two of which solved at least two problems. Well done to all those who participated, and thanks to the student volunteers. The final standings can be found on the UKIEPC website. Huge thanks to the student volunteers who gave up their time to help make the event run smoothly.

STUDENT-STAFF LIAISON COMMITTEE.

This from Tom Carroll, chair of SSLC: If you are an Academic Rep, then you need to have completed your training by 25th October, otherwise it will not be possible to be an Academic Rep. Once the Academic Rep training is complete, the list of Academic Reps will be confirmed on the UG Community space, as well as through a Monday Mail announcement.

SUPPORT SERVICE SPOTLIGHT:

The Student Union Advice Centre. The Student Union offers advice and support with life at the University. They offer a wide range of services and support.

Academic Advice: Help you through any academic problems you might face during your time at Manchester, including appeals, complaints, mitigating circumstances, disciplinary issues and course/university transfers. Academic guidance and support is free, confidential, and completely independent from the University.
Financial Advice: Offer advice and support on a range of money matters, including Student Finance, access to funding, financial worries and hardship, banking issues and government benefits. If you’re struggling with debt, we can also support you to access specialist advice.
Student Life Advice: Help you take care of your health and wellbeing and support you when things may be difficult. Our advisors are here to help you with anything personal that is going on for you. We’ll provide a confidential space where you can talk to us about anything that’s on your mind. We can help you to access additional support through the University and relevant external support organisations.
Housing Advice: Offer help with any worries you might have whether you're living at home, in halls or a private house. We offer advice and guidance on a range of housing issues including signing a contract, deposits, council tax, issues with your landlord, disrepair, tenant disputes and ending your tenancy early.

You can find more information on their website, including a contact form if you want to make an inquiry.

STUDENT IMMIGRATION TEAM DROP-INS.

DASS SUPPORT DEADLINE.

There is a deadline coming up for exam support through DASS (Disability Advice Support Service). DASS offers support to all students who have a condition which has an adverse and long-term effect on their ability to carry-out normal day-to-day activities. This includes Cognitive Developmental Delay, Physical Health and Mental Health issues. A DASS advisor is always happy to talk with you if you are unsure if you can register with them. You can find out more information about DASS and how to contact them here: who-do-we-support. The University has a deadline for putting exam support in place for each of the main exam periods. The next deadline is 4pm, Tuesday 5th November 2024, you’ll need to register and have met with an adviser to agree your exam support by then. For more details, see the exam support page.

STUDENT SUPPORT HUB.

soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk: general queries; advice on University policies and services.
soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk: student record queries; registration advice and guidance; timetable queries/clashes; ATAS/Visa advice; extension to study period; project topics, allocation and supervisors; change of programme; return to study; professional accreditation
soe.studentexperience@manchester.ac.uk: student societies support; SSLC/student rep support; employability; graduation; PASS; academic advising; communications; summer internship programme; surveys (course unit and NSS).
soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk: mitigating circumstances; interruptions; disability coordinator support; general wellbeing support (appointments and helping you access the support you need).
soe.attendance@manchester.ac.uk: attendance and engagement monitoring.
soe.courseunits@manchester.ac.uk: course unit selection.
soe.placements@manchester.ac.uk: placement support and coordination.
soe.assessment@manchester.ac.uk: publication of results, exam queries, assessment queries (including DASS), progression and award queries.
soe.appealsandconduct@manchester.ac.uk: academic appeals; malpractice and student complaints.

If you are unsure which email to use then use soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk for general queries.

LIBRARY NEWS.

Library Support for your Studies. Training and support is available from the library all year round! My Learning Essentials offers support to the whole student community, regardless of your subject and at all stages of undergraduate and postgraduate study. We offer workshops, online resources and drop-in support to help you in your studies and research. You can gain new skills and develop the abilities you already have! Book onto a session and explore our full range of support on our website.

YEAR TUTOR OPEN HOURS.

Year 1 (not CM): Terry Morley. Open hour: Monday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.7.
Year 2 (not CM): Aphrodite Galata. Open hour: Tuesday 14:00 - 15:00, Kilburn 2.101.
Industrial Experience Year: Duncan Hull., Open hour: Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00, Kilburn LF.
Year 3 (not CM): Gareth Henshall. Open hour: Tuesday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.82.
Year 4: Tim Morris. Open hour: Tuesday 11:00 - 12:00, Kilburn 2.107.
CM (all years): Joe Razavi. Open hour: Monday 13:30 - 14:30, Kilburn 2.75.
UG Director: Paul Nutter. Open hour: Tuesday 12:00 - 13:00, Kilburn LF.

EXTENDED OPENING HOURS.

COMP1RDMC: Respect & Dignity at Manchester
COMP1HS: Health and Safety
COMP1AMP: Academic Malpractice

Once access has been granted then you can use your University swipe card to enter the Kilburn building. Please note that currently access is through the main entrance opposite Crawford House. However, once the building works are completed, then access will be via the entrance opposite University place. During extended hours access is restricted to the lower first area of the Kilburn building. You will not be able to use labs or meeting spaces in any other locations in Kilburn. You may be required to show proof that you have extended hours when requested by a building attendant or security. You can find more information and full instructions in the Extended Working Hours folder in the CS UG Community Space in Blackboard.

LEARNING TIPS - ASSESSMENTS & EXPECTATIONS.

Soon you will start to receive marks and feedback on coursework you have completed. This means adjusting to the university scale of marking, which may be very different to what you’re used to previously at school or college. To be able to judge where you stand, you need to bear in mind that any mark above 70% is classed as a 1st class mark. When you graduate, your degree is classified into a limited number of classifications based on your overall degree mark, i.e.

70% or greater 1st class,
60-69% upper second class (2.1),
50-59% lower second class (2.2),
40-49% third class.

Offers for jobs and postgraduate degrees are typically conditional on achieving a particular classification, rather than a particular average.

What we find is that students focus too much on the marks they receive, often questioning why they did not achieve 100% after all the effort they put into completing the piece of work. The issue here is that students are often under the impression that working long hours on a piece of work automatically translates into high marks; this is not the case, as effort doesn’t necessarily translate into higher marks. Assessments are marked against a marking criteria that dictates what learning outcomes you have met by completing the work. For many pieces of work we set for you, they are structured in such a way that achieving a high mark is meant to be hard, as such we only expect a limited number of students to achieve such marks. Ideally, a good assessment should be designed to give an overall average mark across the cohort in the mid-60s. To achieve a higher mark, in particular a mark above 80%, will probably require a deep delve into the subject matter to produce something outstanding; it may require some element of self-learning, i.e. thinking beyond the material provided in the course unit. Ask yourself, do you really need to achieve 100% in everything? Is it worth working very long hours for what ultimately is going to be a small return, say a few percent extra for a piece of work? Considering how degrees are awarded, is 70% enough? What’s really important is the feedback you received … we will come back to that at a later date!

We recommend that you start making conscious decisions about your work: How much time is it worth spending on an individual piece of coursework? How will this affect your ability to keep up with your other course units? How much stress do your expectations put on you? Are you forcing yourself to give up other activities to spend all your energies on individual pieces of work where there’s little reward? Consider what a piece of work is worth overall, not just with respect to the course unit overall mark, but also your overall year mark. You may find that gaining a few extra percent on a single piece of work results in a negligible increase in your overall year mark (and hence degree mark). Is it worth it? Instead, we suggest you learn when to call it quits, and that you focus on making the most of the feedback you receive, so that you can learn how to work smarter. Remember, University is not just about work, it’s about making the most of the experience that comes with attending University - you shouldn't be spending all your time chasing all the marks available. Take a breather, balance your workload and manage your time sensibly.

COURSEWORK DEADLINE EXTENSION REQUESTS.

UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE CLUB.

This week, the OSS Club is meeting on Monday, 21st October, 1.00-2.00pm in the Makerspace in the Nancy Rothwell Building. We'll be picking up issues and PRs on the PiRover Simulator code base, a Python base simulator for small robots, owned by Dr Louise Dennis. New members are welcome at any time, and with any level of coding experience, provided you've completed the induction training for the Makerspace in Blackboard. (You need to be enrolled in the School of Engineering org on Blackboard to get access.) Come along and help find and fix bugs, add features and improve documentation and earn yourself some GitHub badges.

DIGITAL TRUST AND SECURITY SEMINAR SERIES.

UK CYBER TEAM COMPETITION.

Round 1: Saturday 30 November 2024 and Sunday 1 December 2024
Round 2: Friday 13 December 2024 to Friday 17 January 2025
Round 3 (Final): Friday 17 January and Saturday 18 January 2025

SEED CORN SHOWCASE 2023-24.

The Centre for Digital Trust and Security will be holding a Seed Corn Showcase on the 11th December 2024, 14:00 - 16:00, Christabel Pankhurst Building. What to expect at the Showcase:

Dive into the learnings and successes of the five CDTS funded projects.
Discover the exciting advancements made by these innovative researchers.
Learn how you can get involved in shaping the future of digital trust research.
Connect and network over a drinks reception.

PARTICIPANTS NEEDED.

This from Sarah Clinch: I’m currently looking for participants for an experiment about how current understanding of memory in Psychology applies to contemporary content such as that seen on the World Wide Web. In this experiment, we focus on the kinds of content seen on video sharing and video playback websites such as YouTube and Vimeo.

PHD CAFÉ.

PhD Café is an informal networking session where current undergraduate and postgraduate taught students can engage with PhD researchers in the Faculty. The goal is to offer a relaxed, friendly environment where students can ask our PGR ambassadors any questions they have and explore their options in postgraduate research at the University of Manchester. PhD Café is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, 30 October, from 12-2pm in the Nancy Rothwell Building, Room 3A.069 (Core 3, Floor 3). Students will be provided with free tea, coffee, and pizza – this is a café after all! The aim of the event is to:

Raise awareness of the research opportunities available at the University of Manchester.
Demystify the postgraduate research journey and provide peer-to-peer guidance.
Foster a sense of community among students across different academic levels.

If you would like more information and register for the event, then please follow this link.

SOMETHING TO SHARE?

The deadline for sending in Monday Mail items: 12:00 (noon) every Friday. Just contact Paul.

Sudoku Challenge - Mexican Standoff by Mile Lemaić

Normal sudoku rules apply. Cells separated by a (chess) knight’s move cannot contain the same digit. The digits along an arrow sum to the digit in that arrow’s circle. Along a thermometer, digits increase from the bulb end.

Chess Puzzle - Batsiashvili Vs. Sree, 2024

It’s time to sharpen your chess skills! Can you find the winning moves and secure victory on the board? Analyse the position carefully and claim checkmate!

GeoGuessr Round

This week, we’ve dropped you somewhere on Earth! Analyse the scenery, take in the landmarks, and piece together clues to figure out your exact location. Will you discover the hidden destination?

We are playing the 'Flags of the World' map: Every spot has a recognisable national flag of the place where you are standing. Some of them are tricksy. Each country or nation is featured only once. Some are technically territories or protectorates of other countries (or semi-autonomous regions within a country), but they all have their own flag and unique national identity.

Click here to play this week’s challenge!

How to Submit

Winners’ Circle

Congratulations to last week’s Puzzle Masters:

Sudoku Champion: Weiming Xu
Chess Guru: Matthew Kirk
GeoGuessr World Traveler: Jenson Cain, 23,132pts

Good luck and happy puzzling!

Week 4 • Monday 14 October 2024 • #24.05

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Good morning! It’s Monday 14th October 2024, and it’s Week 4 of teaching. I hope everything is going well and that you have now settled into a routine. It’s that time of year when coughs and colds are prevalent among the student and staff population. If you are ill, then you should consider staying away to minimise the spread of infection. If any illness impacts your ability to complete work by the deadline then you should request an extension before the deadline (see below). If you're unfortunate enough to be too ill to meet an extended deadline, then you will have to complete a mitigating circumstances application and tell us about all the assessments that were affected - you will need evidence to support an application.

Congratulations to those who were successful in becoming elected as student representatives in the Department. Student representatives are an important part of the student body, they form the link between students and the department with the ultimate goal of improving the student experience.

If you have anything you would like to share in Monday Mail, such as advertising an event, promoting your success in a hackathon etc, or whatever you think the UG student body will find interesting, then please get in touch.

Remember, I have my open hour on Tuesday, 12:00-13:00 on LF, so please stop by and say hello.

On with today’s news, enjoy your week …

Paul
Undergraduate Programme Director

PASS2.

The PASS2 team (Kavin Gunasekara (Y3, CSwIE) and Vishal Kandasamy Sekar (Y3, CSwIE)) write: Hi Everyone! It was great to see you all at last week's session about Hirevue and the CV review session after, we hope you found it helpful. As always, this week's session will be on Thursday the 17th of October, in IT407 from 12 to 1pm. By popular vote, it'll be All About Interviews - Coding + Face to Face. We can't wait to see you there!

PASS3.

The PASS3 team (Max Beck-Jones (Y4, CS4), Sarah Saad (Y4, AI4), Luke Sanderson (Y4, AI4) and Rosie Halsall (Y3, CS)) write: Hello everyone! Tomorrow (Tuesday, October 15th), we’ll be going through a list of job opportunities and applying to them together! We will also be going through some common interview questions and the best techniques to employ to secure an offer. Finally, you'll get the chance to interview other people and be interviewed so that you can practice your answers in a safe space. As usual, snacks will be available :). Can't wait to see you all! Also, we have created a survey for you guys to fill out so that we can improve the scheme!

HACKCHESTER.

Hello Everyone! Have an interest in hacking or just computers and technology in general? Come along to Hackchester to meet like minded people, learn hacks that will make your life easier and share hacks that you know with others! Hackchester meets every Wednesday at 17:00 to 18:00 at Kilburn in G41.

MAKERSPACE SOCIETY.

The Makerspace Society is excited to announce that applications are now open for several committee positions for the current academic year. This is a fantastic opportunity for you to gain hands-on experience, contribute to the society, and enhance your skills! Open Positions:

CAD Chief Engineer
Mechanical Chief Engineer
Website Manager
General Technician

We welcome applications from all departments and year groups.

Deadline to apply: Friday, 18th October.
Application form: Apply Here.
Role Descriptions: Committee Roles Description.

If you have a passion for engineering, design, web development, or technical work, we encourage you to apply! You can find out more about the Makerspace Society on our website.

STUDENT-STAFF LIAISON COMMITTEE.

This from Tom Carroll, chair of SSLC: After receiving the largest number of applications for Academic Representatives in the University, we have now completed the selection process. Thank you to all who applied, and congratulations to those who have been selected. Your academic reps consist of 26 Year 1 reps, 20 Year 2 reps, and 8 Year 3/4 reps. Reps are being contacted and are now undergoing training, so that they can best represent your views and opinions. The academic reps will now be members of the Student Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC) which will meet twice a semester.

As the training is completed, the list of reps will be updated on the Blackboard UG Community Space (see the Academic Reps folder linked from the left hand menu), and you will also see a weekly feature that introduces you to a different rep each week. The first SSLC meeting will be taking place just after reading week, so if you have any points or issues (be they positive, or negative), or seen examples of good teaching that you wish to share with the SSLC, then please contact one of your reps.

SUPPORT SERVICE SPOTLIGHT - REPORT AND SUPPORT.

The University’s Report and Support Service is available to students. If you or someone you know has experienced or witnessed any form of bullying, harassment, discrimination, gender-based violence, hate or micro-aggressions, or you have a safeguarding concern, you can report it anonymously or get support from a trained advisor through Report and Support. To report an incident and speak to a caseworker, you can either fill out the online form or someone can do it on your behalf. You, or the person reporting can make special requests for a certain type of advisor. The last page of the form will ask for details of who they should speak to about this report. The team will seek to understand your situation and aim to give you information, advice and support tailored to your individual circumstances. You can access this service here. Please be mindful that whilst you can send anonymous reports, the team is unable to contact you to offer support unless you provide your name and contact details.

STUDENT SUPPORT HUB.

soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk: general queries; advice on University policies and services.
soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk: student record queries; registration advice and guidance; timetable queries/clashes; ATAS/Visa advice; extension to study period; project topics, allocation and supervisors; change of programme; return to study; professional accreditation
soe.studentexperience@manchester.ac.uk: student societies support; SSLC/student rep support; employability; graduation; PASS; academic advising; communications; summer internship programme; surveys (course unit and NSS).
soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk: mitigating circumstances; interruptions; disability coordinator support; general wellbeing support (appointments and helping you access the support you need).
soe.attendance@manchester.ac.uk: attendance and engagement monitoring.
soe.courseunits@manchester.ac.uk: course unit selection.
soe.placements@manchester.ac.uk: placement support and coordination.
soe.assessment@manchester.ac.uk: publication of results, exam queries, assessment queries (including DASS), progression and award queries.
soe.appealsandconduct@manchester.ac.uk: academic appeals; malpractice and student complaints.

If you are unsure which email to use then use soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk for general queries.

WELFARE WEEKLY WITH BEN - MAÑANA,

MAÑANA - AVOIDING PROCRASTINATION. This from Ben Herbert, Student Support and Wellbeing: About 8pm last Sunday, along with the haunting sounds of the Antiques Roadshow theme tune (it still gives me "I've not done my homework" anxiety, decades after leaving school), came the realisation I'd done nothing with my day. I'd not done the laundry, or the washing up, or called the guy about booking driving lessons (again!), or done anything productive on my to-do list. This wasn't because I spent all day doing fun stuff I'd much rather do. It's because I'd watched a week's worth of Four in a Bed, listened to all the YouTube reviews on an amplifier I can’t afford anyway, and then spent so long scrolling through reels on Instagram that my eyes started to hurt.

We are all guilty of procrastination. When we start to let it get out of hand to the point it impacts our work, home life, and mental health, we have a problem. Symptoms of procrastination include:

Being distracted from work by non-work activities;
Leaving everything until the last second;
Worrying about work but not getting it done;
Spontaneously performing tasks that you wouldn't normally be enthusiastic about;
A sense of helplessness at feeling you have too much to do.

Procrastination and time management issues in general have a pivotal role to play in many people coming to see me. Students start with not managing their time well; From there they fall behind in their work. This gets them stressed and anxious which makes the situation worse. Feeling in control of your workload and remaining productive is a cornerstone of good marks and better mental health. As the great philosopher Arnold Schwarzenegger once said. "Do it. Do it now."

If your mental health is impacting your day-to-day life and/or your studies, or you think you may have ADHD then contact your GP. The University Counselling Service is also there to help. DASS can also provide support to those with ADHD. Where procrastination is an issue for you, time management strategies such as creating a weekly schedule and setting realistic goals can really help.

This great set of online resources put together by the My Learning Essentials team and the Counselling service are well worth doing instead of doom scrolling. Also, while you're on your way into Uni, listen to this Podcast on beating procrastination from the Skills team at the University of Derby (33 mins). Plus this one on overcoming procrastination from the Exam Study Expert podcast (20 mins) .

LIBRARY NEWS.

The Library has launched a new online resource: Academic Integrity for Students , part of the My Learning Essentials support. This interactive guide helps you understand academic integrity, offering advice on presenting your own ideas, avoiding academic malpractice, and using tools like Generative AI responsibly. Remember if you use Generative AI tools in your work you must cite them. If you are unsure how, click on the link to view this useful Library Generative AI tools referencing guide.

YEAR TUTOR OPEN HOURS.

Year 1 (not CM): Terry Morley. Open hour: Monday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.7.
Year 2 (not CM): Aphrodite Galata. Open hour: Tuesday 14:00 - 15:00, Kilburn 2.101.
Industrial Experience Year: Duncan Hull., Open hour: Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00, Kilburn LF.
Year 3 (not CM): Gareth Henshall. Open hour: Tuesday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.82.
Year 4: Tim Morris. Open hour: Tuesday 11:00 - 12:00, Kilburn 2.107.
CM (all years): Joe Razavi. Open hour: Monday 13:30 - 14:30, Kilburn 2.75.
UG Director: Paul Nutter. Open hour: Tuesday 12:00 - 13:00, Kilburn LF.

GITLAB AND ACADEMIC MALPRACTICE.

It's important to adhere to academic integrity and ethical standards when using platforms like GitLab or any other tools for coursework. Sharing or distributing materials related to your assessments or assignments, such as your answers, can be considered a form of academic malpractice, and it can lead to serious consequences, including disciplinary action. To prevent the risk of inadvertently sharing files stored in git repositories (within the Department or on an external account) make sure you set those repositories immediately to Private. This will restrict access to only authorised individuals and will prevent other students from seeing your solutions and then being able to copy your work. Be assured that when we create git repositories for you that are required for your courses, we automatically set them to private for this very reason. Even if you didn’t mean to share your work, you could still be found guilty of academic malpractice.

COMPUTERS IN KILBURN.

Just a reminder that the computers in the Kilburn clusters/laboratories need to be left switched on after use so that any updates can be applied overnight. Please remember to just log out, and not shut down a computer, when you have used it. Don’t worry, the machines do go into standby mode to save the planet (to some degree!).

EXTENDED OPENING HOURS.

COMP1RDMC: Respect & Dignity at Manchester
COMP1HS: Health and Safety
COMP1AMP: Academic Malpractice

ATTENDANCE MONITORING.

Remember that you are required to record your attendance at timetabled activities using SEAtS. You can find information on how to use SEAtS on the Student Support website. Staff will display a QR code and/or pin during each session, and you must record your attendance via the SEAtS app or webpage during the session. Please note that teaching staff cannot change your attendance record, so please do not contact them to query your attendance.

LEARNING TIPS - GIT AND GITLAB 2.

In the Department we make extensive use of Git and Gitlab for handling of files for coursework as well as for submitting work for marking. Building your skills and familiarity with Git will take stress out of coursework, impress potential employers, and possibly give you superpowers (although we're still waiting for proof of that last one). This series gives you some hints and tips to help master git, you can also find a growing list in GitLab. If you have any specific requests for how to do things, add an issue to the intro lab issue tracker and we'll look at making a tip for it!

Graphical git frontends have a very useful feature. While learning git via the command line is highly recommended, the graphical frontends do make it much easier to do "interactive staging". The Git book does cover this, but it's very fiddly to do. The idea is that if you have a lot of changes across your files, instead of making one big messy commit you can stage parts of individual files (or even individual lines) and commit just the selected changes so the commits are focused and coherent.
Remember that ‘git push’ and ‘git push –tags’ do different things. ‘git push’ pushes the changes on your active branch to GitLab, and updates the branch on GitLab in the process. ‘git push –tags’ will push your tags, and any commits needed for those tags, to GitLab but it will not update the active branch. Generally you will want to do a ‘git push’ to push your commits and update the remote, and then a ‘git push –tags’ to push the tag information.
Force push is disabled for coursework projects. The forks that are automatically made for you as part of coursework in the department are configured in a way that prevents the use of ‘git push –force’. This is a deliberate decision made by the department because a forced push can overwrite the history of your project, and in the process potentially remove commits associated with previously submitted work. If you ever find yourself in a situation where a forced push is really necessary you should contact your course unit leader.
Help, my head has fallen off! git has the concept of ‘HEAD’ - this is where you currently are, the currently checked out commit in the working directory. Normally HEAD will also be the tip of a branch, whether that's main or some other branch you might have created and be working on. However, if you ever checkout a specific commit or a tag, you'll end up in what git will alarmingly tell you is a 'detached HEAD state'. What this means is that HEAD no longer corresponds to the tip of a branch (it's detached from a branch). If all you want to do is look at the files at that tag or commit, you can do that and then put your head back on properly by going back to the tip of the branch you were on: ‘git switch’ - (if you made any changes, but don't want to keep them, you will need to use git switch –discard-changes -). However, if you want to make changes, you can do so, but you'll need to create a new branch for the changes with ‘git switch -c newbranchname’. Later on, you may want to merge the new branch back into ‘main’.
Commit messages are important. It's very easy to develop poor commit message practices, especially when you're the only person working on a project. However, getting into the habit of writing good commit messages will not only help and teammates when you work collaboratively with others, it'll help you future self if you have to look through your commit history. Being able to demonstrate good, well-written commit messages in public projects is also a useful thing when applying for jobs! The department wiki has some recommendations and links to resources, but at the most simple level, when writing your commit message, think to yourself "If applied, this commit will... " and finish that sentence in the commit message. Please don't just use "commit 1", "commit 2", or even "Haaaaaaaaands"
Delete a tag so you can tag something else. If you've tagged a commit in your repository, and you either tagged the wrong commit or want to change the commit a tag is associated with, you need to remove the tag first using ‘git tag -d ’, for example, to remove the tag labwork you would do ‘git tag -d labwork’. Note that, if you have already pushed the tag to GitLab, you will need to log into GitLab, go to the project in GitLab, click on Code > Tags from the left side menu, and delete the tag from the list using the "trash can" icon at the right side of the page for the tag you want to remove. Once you have done this, you can tag another commit, and push that to GitLab.

COURSEWORK DEADLINE EXTENSION REQUESTS.

COURSEWORK DEADLINES CHART.

UOM OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE CLUB.

This from Suzanne Embury: This week, the OSS Club is meeting on Tuesday, 15th October, 5.00pm-6.00pm, in Kilburn Collab 1 and the Byte Cafe area. We'll be working on the Polus system, a Python tool for filtering and selecting data developed within the Department of Chemistry. Polus is a key component of an ML pipeline for working with chemical and molecular structures that is currently being used in research. New members are welcome to join at any time, and with any level of coding experience. Come along and help find and fix bugs, improve documentation, and configure the CI pipeline with some code quality tools.

DIGITAL TRUST AND SECURITY SEMINAR SERIES.

UK CYBER TEAM COMPETITION.

The UK Cyber Team competition launches on Wednesday 9th October 2024 and is open to 18–25-year-olds with an interest in cyber security. This brand-new national competition is free to enter and has been launched by DSIT in partnership with SANS. Participants will undertake three rounds of cyber security Capture the Flag challenges, with the top 200 going through to a live, in-person final. The top 30 will then win the chance to be part of the UK Cyber Team, receive training from industry, and represent the UK in international cyber competitions. Sign up here and try out the teaser challenges. Timeline:

Round 1: Saturday 30 November 2024 and Sunday 1 December 2024
Round 2: Friday 13 December 2024 to Friday 17 January 2025
Round 3 (Final): Friday 17 January and Saturday 18 January 2025

DEPARTMENT SEMINAR.

There will be a Department seminar on 16th October, 14:00 - 15:00 in Kilburn LT1.3, by Prof. Ehud Reite, University of Aberdeen. The title of the seminar is “Using Natural Language Generation (NLG) to Support Patients”. Abstract: It is essential that patients do a better job of looking after themselves, otherwise the healthcare system may collapse. I will describe several past and current projects at Aberdeen related to this topic, including encouraging healthier lifecycles, helping patients manage chronic illness at home, and explaining medical information to support decision making and reduce stress. I will discuss common challenges (such as patient diversity) and also the role of large language models such as GPT, which have huge potential to help patients, but also have many safety-related problems (such as hallucinations and other inappropriate responses) which need to be addressed.

Bio: Ehud Reiter is a Professor of Computing Science at the University of Aberdeen and was formerly Chief Scientist of Arria NLG (a spinout he co-founded). He has been working on Natural Language Generation for 35 years, and in recent years has focused on evaluation of language generation; he also has a longstanding interest in healthcare applications. He is one of the most cited and respected researchers in NLG, and his awards include an INLG Test of Time award for his work on data-to-text. He writes a widely read blog on NLG and evaluation (ehudreiter.com) and has written a book on NLG which will be published in November 2024.

SOMETHING TO SHARE?

The deadline for sending in Monday Mail items: 12:00 (noon) every Friday. Just contact Paul.

Sudoku Challenge - Nobody's Perfect by Lithium-Ion.

Normal sudoku rules apply. Orthogonally adjacent cells do not contain consecutive digits. Digits in a cage do not repeat and sum to a perfect number. A perfect number is a number that equals the sum of its proper divisors, i.e. each divisor excluding the number itself. For example, 20 is not a perfect number since the sum of the proper divisors is 1+2+4+5+10=22, which is not 20.

Chess Puzzle - Yaremko Vs. Guerra, 2006

It’s time to sharpen your chess skills! Can you find the winning moves and secure victory on the board? Analyse the position carefully and claim checkmate!

GeoGuessr Round

This week, we’ve dropped you somewhere on Earth! Analyse the scenery, take in the landmarks, and piece together clues to figure out your exact location. Will you discover the hidden destination?

We are playing the 'Flags of the World' map: Every spot has a recognizable national flag of the place where you are standing. Some of them are tricksy. Each country or nation is featured only once. Some are technically territories or protectorates of other countries (or semi-autonomous regions within a country), but they all have their own flag and unique national identity.

Click here to play this week’s challenge!

How to Submit

Winners’ Circle

Congratulations to last week’s Puzzle Masters:

Sudoku Champion: Weiming Xu
Chess Guru: Luke Shepherd
GeoGuessr World Traveler: Cyrus, 24,262pts

Good luck and happy puzzling!

Week 3 • Monday 7 October 2024 • #24.04

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Good morning! It’s Monday 7th October 2024, and it’s Week 3. You may find that it starts to get busier from now on with labs starting and assessments being due, so planning and managing your time is very important. Make use of our deadline chart (see below) to help you plan your time around deadlines, but also make sure you take time off to relax. When it comes to submitting work, you should always check that you have submitted it properly, especially if you are submitting via Blackboard, which at times can be slow, so wait for the upload to finish! The onus is on you to ensure you have submitted the correct item, in the correct place, and by the deadline - we can’t offer mitigation as a result! We’ve provided some advice (see below) on how you can check whether your work has been submitted.

I’ll be having my open hour on Tuesday 12-1pm, on the lower first floor again, so please say hello and tell me what you think about assessment and feedback in the Department.

If you are a 1st year student we would appreciate your feedback on how the intro boot-up labs went (see below) as we made significant changes to these this academic year.

Finally … just a reminder that you should not switch off the PCs in the Kilburn clusters, these should be left on so updates can be applied overnight. Just log out when you have finished using them.

On with today’s news, enjoy your week …

Paul
Undergraduate Programme Director

PASS1.

PASS2.

The PASS2 team (Kavin Gunasekara (Y3, CSwIE) and Vishal Kandasamy Sekar (Y3, CSwIE)) write: Hi Everyone! We hope you enjoyed our last session on CVs and Cover Letters. It was great to see you all and we can't wait to see you again. Our next session will be on handling pre-recorded interviews plus a bit of CV review at the end. Same place (IT407), same time (12pm to 1pm) on the 10th of October 2024.

PASS3.

The PASS3 team (Max Beck-Jones (Y4, CS4), Sarah Saad (Y4, AI4), Luke Sanderson (Y4, AI4) and Rosie Halsall (Y3, CS)) write: Hello everyone! Tomorrow (Tuesday, October 8th), we’ll be brainstorming and outlining the timelines for our third-year projects—a session you all voted for! We’ll have snacks to keep the creativity flowing, too. Creating a timeline is a crucial part of your project planning, so join us in Collab at 12 PM. We’re sure you’ll find this activity really helpful. See you there!

STUDENT-STAFF LIAISON COMMITTEE.

This from Tom Carroll, chair of SSLC: Many thanks to all who have applied to become an academic rep. We have had a huge amount of interest, and the number of Year 1 applications is the highest in the University. Special thanks go to Max Beck-Jones (Y4, CS4), whose talk during Welcome Week has been given by many applicants as the inspiration for applying. We are now in the process of selecting your academic representatives, and an update will appear in a forthcoming Monday Mail.

STUDENT PUBLICATION SUCCESS.

Bozhidar Klouchek (2024, CSwIE) a graduate of the department has had a paper accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Natural Language and Speech Processing (ICNLSP 2024). The paper is based on work he did as part of his final year project under the supervision of Riza Batista-Navarro, and is titled “Bulgarian Grammar Error Correction with Data Augmentation and Machine Translation Techniques”. Bozhidar will present his work at the conference at The University of Trento, Italy, October 2024.

SUPPORT SERVICE SPOTLIGHT - HEALTH ASSURED.

SUPPORT SERVICE SPOTLIGHT:

My Learning Essentials. My Learning Essentials is the Library’s award winning programme of skills support, including both online resources and face-to-face workshops which will aid you in your personal and professional development. The workshops offer a relaxed group environment where you can try out new strategies for yourself while learning from and with peers whilst the online resources help you develop skills and interests which are relevant to you, at times and using the methods that suit you best. My Learning Essentials is a great way to get the most out of your time at Manchester; helping you to make the best use of all of the specialist resources and support the University has to offer.

REGISTER FOR A GP.

It’s vital that you register with a GP (General Practitioner) - what we call local, or family doctors in the UK. GPs provide a range of non-emergency services by appointment – including examinations, medication prescriptions, vaccinations and referrals to other medical specialists. It is especially important if you want to provide evidence to support a mitigating circumstances application related to illness. The University GP Service is on-campus, located in Crawford House near south campus (shown on the Campus map here as Building 31). You can register as a patient using their online portal by filling in a quick form. If you want to register with a GP closer to where you live then use the NHS Find a GP website to find a list of practices near your address. This will direct you to the GPs’ websites to find out how to register as a patient. You can find further information on accessing healthcare on the University Student Support webpages.

LOST IN KILBURN.

Have you found yourself wandering aimlessly around Kilburn? Do you find that Kilburn is a maze and you get lost when wandering about? Have you struggled to find the office of a member of staff or the location of one of our teaching rooms? Well, help is at hand. We provide floor plans for all the floors in Kilburn and the IT buildings, which you can find here.

STUDENT SUPPORT HUB.

soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk: general queries; advice on University policies and services.
soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk: student record queries; registration advice and guidance; timetable queries/clashes; ATAS/Visa advice; extension to study period; project topics, allocation and supervisors; change of programme; return to study; professional accreditation
soe.studentexperience@manchester.ac.uk: student societies support; SSLC/student rep support; employability; graduation; PASS; academic advising; communications; summer internship programme; surveys (course unit and NSS).
soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk: mitigating circumstances; interruptions; disability coordinator support; general wellbeing support (appointments and helping you access the support you need).
soe.attendance@manchester.ac.uk: attendance and engagement monitoring.
soe.courseunits@manchester.ac.uk: course unit selection.
soe.placements@manchester.ac.uk: placement support and coordination.
soe.assessment@manchester.ac.uk: publication of results, exam queries, assessment queries (including DASS), progression and award queries.
soe.appealsandconduct@manchester.ac.uk: academic appeals; malpractice and student complaints.

If you are unsure which email to use then use soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk for general queries.

WELFARE WEEKLY WITH BEN - MAKE ART.

This from Ben Herbert, Student Support and Wellbeing: Over the past couple of months I've started drawing for the first time since I chose not to select Art for my GCSEs. I grabbed myself a couple of fine liners and a sketch book and started taking time to draw on a semi-regular basis. I draw whatever; my house, some fruit, something from a photograph, something from my memory, anything! And I'm loving it. It's doing wonders for my wellbeing. So much so that I wanted to share it with you. Over the next week why not give it a try? Grab a pencil and sheet of paper, sit somewhere and just draw what is in front of you.

You are thinking, "But I can't draw", well, arguably nor can I and this is the main reason why I want to tell you about it. For years I've avoided making art because I felt I wasn't good enough. But who cares!? I'm not suggesting you make art to put in a gallery or to sell, I'm suggesting you try making art for your own enjoyment and wellbeing. It's about reassessing why you do things. Do what you enjoy for you and nobody else. When you can put what makes you feel good first, and prioritise your own wellbeing over what others may think, or any pressures you may feel from others then you will find yourself in a better place

So here lies the moral of this article. Make sure you are doing things for the right reasons, and this includes your studies. Holding yourself to the standards and expectations of others is a surefire way to do damage to your wellbeing. And I know that for a fact because it's my job to pick up the pieces. Here are some suggestions for creating art for your wellbeing:

Photography - Explore the city or the countryside, find interesting things, animals, or people, and take photos of them.
Art Journaling - If you already journal or want to take it up, introduce little doodles of your day, food, activities and experiences to reflect on later.
Digital art - Most modern tablets are capable of being paired with a stylus to create fantastic art with a whole host of colours, brushes and styles at your fingertips.
Make Music - It's still art! Playing an instrument, no matter how badly, is a great was to unwind. I recommend the Ukulele, they are about £30 and really easy to learn the basics.
Art Classes - Want something more structured? Join an art class. In Manchester there are one off sessions, structured courses, and regular drop-in sessions.
Inktober - October is the famous #Inktober a challenge on Instagram, encouraging people to do regular drawings with pen during October.
Visit a gallery - Doing art yourself is really not your thing, or need inspiration? Visit your local art gallery and see what the pros do.

Have fun, get creative, go with the flow, and take care of yourself.

YEAR TUTOR OPEN HOURS.

Year 1 (not CM): Terry Morley. Open hour: Monday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.7.
Year 2 (not CM): Aphrodite Galata. Open hour: Tuesday 14:00 - 15:00, Kilburn 2.101.
Industrial Experience Year: Duncan Hull., Open hour: Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00, Kilburn LF25.
Year 3 (not CM): Gareth Henshall. Open hour: Tuesday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.82.
Year 4: Tim Morris. Open hour: Tuesday 11:00 - 12:00, Kilburn 2.107.
CM (all years): Joe Razavi. Open hour: Monday 13:30 - 14:30, Kilburn 2.75.
UG Director: Paul Nutter. Open hour: Tuesday 12:00 - 13:00, Kilburn LF.

COMP1INTRO BOOT-UP LABS SURVEY.

We hope you have managed to complete the Boot-Up labs and found them useful and enjoyable. We would like you to fill out this short survey (only 10 questions) about your experience with the Intro Labs. Your feedback is extremely valuable and will help us improve the materials in upcoming years. Good luck with your studies! - The Comp1Intro Team.

COMPUTERS IN KILBURN.

Just a reminder that the computers in the Kilburn clusters/laboratories need to be left switched on after use so that any updates can be applied overnight. Please remember to just log out when you have used it. Don’t worry, the machines do go into standby mode to save the planet (to some degree!). Please do not switch off the computers and, even worse, switch them off without logging out first!

NEED A PLACE TO WORK?

You are free to use any of our teaching rooms/labs when they are not being used for scheduled teaching. If you are interested in knowing when a lab is not booked for a timetabled activity, then follow this link to open the University Timetable pages (on campus only). To look for a room in Kilburn, select “Location”, then in the form that opens select “Kilburn Building” for the building, select the lab/room you would like to use under “Select Location”, the default view is this week, or you can select a particular week. Selecting “View Timetable” will show what activities are taking place in the selected room for the week. Please note that for the labs 1.8 and 1.10 look at the 1.8+1.10 timetable. You must be on campus to access the timetable. If a room is booked for teaching, then you should avoid using it.

HOW DO I CHECK IF I’VE SUBMITTED MY WORK?

We often get asked by students how to check that they have submitted work successfully, and it’s quite easy to do.

Blackboard: if the submission method is using Blackboard, then you can check under the “My Grades” link on the left on each course unit Blackboard page (under “Submitted” or “Marked”). You can also check via SPOT, although SPOT is only updated at 12pm and 6pm daily, so any submission between those times will not be shown until the update takes place. SPOT includes the date and time when the last data was received from Blackboard on each page.
Git: if the submission method is using git, then you can check via SPOT. Submissions via git will show in SPOT immediately (but you do need to refresh the SPOT web page). You know if you have submitted correctly because the date and time will appear under the Submission column in the coursework table for that course.
Benchmark: Submission to Benchmark may not show in SPOT until the work has been marked. You should check Benchmark to ensure your submission was correct.
Whilst SPOT shows you something has been submitted, it does not know what, so cannot be used to verify you've submitted the correct required files. To check the files you have submitted use Blackboard or GitLab.
Some course units have additional requirements, which are not documented in SPOT. Always make sure you carefully read the submission instructions for each piece of work.

EXTENDED OPENING HOURS.

COMP1RDMC: Respect & Dignity at Manchester
COMP1HS: Health and Safety
COMP1AMP: Academic Malpractice

Once you have completed these modules and taken the Extended Working Hours test, you can apply for a pass following the instructions provided in Blackboard. If you do not have access to the modules listed above, then please contact soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk. Once access has been granted then you can use your University swipe card to enter the Kilburn building. Please note that currently access is through the main entrance opposite Crawford House. However, once the building works are completed, then access will be via the entrance opposite University place. During extended hours access is restricted to the lower first area of the Kilburn building. You will not be able to use labs or meeting spaces in any other locations in Kilburn. You may be required to show proof that you have extended hours when requested by a building attendant or security. You can find more information and full instructions in the Extended Working Hours folder in the CS UG Community Space in Blackboard.

ATTENDANCE MONITORING.

Remember that you are required to record your attendance at timetabled activities using the SEAtS application. You can find information on how to use SEAtS on the Student Support website. Staff will display a QR code and/or pin during each session, and you must record your attendance via the SEAtS app or webpage during the session. Please note that teaching staff cannot change your attendance record, so please do not contact them to query your attendance.

LEARNING TIPS - GIT AND GITLAB.

In the Department we make extensive use of Git and Gitlab for handling of files for coursework as well as for submitting work for marking. What is Git? In a nutshell, Git is an industry-standard version control system that allows you to manage code and to allow teams of people to work on the same codebase. What is Gitlab? Well, it's a web-based Git project management and collaboration system. By exposing you to these tools we are embedding skills you will need in the real world when you graduate. Using these tools effectively can be a challenge, and you will often make mistakes; however, this is only natural, and a good way of learning. Students often make common mistakes so we are trying to prepare for this by providing some Git/Gitlab tips, which you can find in Gitlab. If you encounter a problem then check here first. We will populate this page with more hints and tips as we learn more about the common mistakes you make. Here are some of the tips available:

Working on more than one machine. If you're working on a project on a Kilburn lab machine and want to work on the same project on your own computer later, remember that you need to commit your changes and git push to send your changes to GitLab before logging off from the lab machine. Then, when you're working on your computer later, you can git pull to pull down the changes you made earlier. When you're done working on your own computer, remember to commit your changes and push them back to GitLab so you can pull them down elsewhere.
Work in the working directory! When you make a clone of a git project from GitLab, the clone it creates on your computer consists of a "working directory" that has all the files associated with the project in it, and a .git directory containing the git database. You're expected to work inside the working directory - don't copy the files out to somewhere else, edit them, and copy them back, just edit the files in the working directory! If you're worried about messing up your git project, the best thing to do is get familiar with git commands.
Commit often, push regularly. Get into the habit of making commits often. Be sure to commit your changes as you go along, and avoid committing code once just before you stop working for the day (or worse, just before you submit your work!) This helps you to keep a history of the work you've done, and see where (and why) you changed things. Push your work to GitLab regularly - don't leave everything to the last minute and put all your work into one huge commit - you might get away with that for simple exercises, but as your work gets more complicated. Having a proper commit history can really help Future You work out what Past You was doing!
The best way to learn git is through the command line. There are many different graphical frontends for git. However, while graphical frontends definitely have their use, they do add a layer of extra learning and abstraction that means you may not understand what is going on behind the buttons and dialogs. Getting familiar with the basic operation of git through the command line will help to give you a good grounding in what git is doing - once you have that, you'll understand better what the interfaces are doing, and be able to make better decisions about which features to use and when they are appropriate.

We will cover some more tips next week.

COURSEWORK DEADLINE EXTENSION REQUESTS.

COURSEWORK DEADLINES CHART.

GOOGLE DEVELOPER STUDENT CLUBS.

Sambhav Khare (Y4, CS4) writes: GDG Academy is back with it's Kick-off Session for Mentorship program! On 8th October 2024 with a virtual event from 6pm-8pm (most likely to start from 6:30pm). Unfortunately this semester too it will be online on a live stream from London. Link would be shared by GDG Academy Ambassador (@Sambbhav Khare) closer to the date. This program is in collaboration with GDSC chapters from UCL, Imperial, King’s College London, University of Bristol and University of Manchester. This semester we have 27 mentors from companies like: The Times, HSBC, Sky, Skyscanner, Okta, Booking.com, and many more … There is no rsvp for UoM students for the event. Some FAQs:

What is GDG - Academy? Extensive Mentoring through 1-1 weekly sessions, group sessions and workshops and more…
How to enrol for 1-1 Mentoring? Attend the Kickstart session and mark the attendance then the attendees will be shared an application form over email exclusively to apply.
Do we get any internships? Yes, students who get selected for GDG Academy 1-1 mentoring session get the opportunity to apply for exclusive summer internships open for those selected students only. ( Doesn't matter if you are a first year, open for all).
What topics are covered? AI, ML, Computing, Engineering, Entrepreneurship and more....
Has anyone secured an internship from Manchester? Yes, this year only in summer two students were selected to do a summer internship in The Times of News UK in London. One of them was from the University of Manchester.

*!!Applications to join the GDG Academy will open sometime after the kick-off event to the attendees !!*

USER STUDIES.

This from Markel Vigo: Do you want to get involved in user studies or recruit participants? There is a mailing list to send announcements about user studies and experiments run by students and academics of the Department of Computer Science. If you want to recruit participants for studies and experiments you can send your announcements to COMPSCI-USER-STUDIES. If you want to get involved as a participant, opportunities to do so will be published in COMPSCI-USER-STUDIES. Either way you have to register here. This is a moderated list so if you are recruiting participants we will make sure that the studies follow the guidelines for ethical approval as defined here and our department wiki.

UKIEPC PROGRAMMING CONTEST.

This from Ian Pratt-Hartmann: The UK and Ireland Programming Contest (UKIEPC) will take place this year on Saturday, October 19th, 2024, 11:00 - 16:00. UKIEPC is an annual event in which teams of three participants try to crack a series of programming challenges. This year, as usual, Manchester will be one of the participating sites. Note that participation at Manchester is available ONLY to teams consisting entirely of undergraduate or taught postgraduate students in the Department of Computer Science at Manchester (this, however, includes students on joint honours programmes such as Computing and Mathematics). The contest itself will take place in the labs on the Lower First Floor of the Kilburn Building. Refreshments will be provided in the common area on the Lower First Floor for participants. (Obviously, no food and drink will be permitted in the labs.) Details can be found on the UKIEPC website. You will need to register using the Competition website. (There is a "Take Part" button in the top right corner, which is surprisingly easy to miss.) Registration is now open: you may find that Manchester University is not yet listed as an available site: don't worry, it should appear in the list within a few days. Completing the form should be easy, but you are advised to assemble your team first and then sort out all the registrations. We will limit participation to the first twenty completely registered teams of three. The best teams from Manchester will be able to compete in the North West Europe Regional Programming Competition (NWERC), which will be held at the Delft University of Technology from 22nd to 24th November 2024. Realistically, we can expect to be able to enter two or three teams from Manchester. Note that we will enter a team to NWERC only if all of its members have competed in UKIEPC 2024. The detailed rules on eligibility are explained on the ICPC website. However, in practice, any UG or Master's student at Manchester is eligible. Have fun and good luck!

SOMETHING TO SHARE?

The deadline for sending in Monday Mail items: 12:00 (noon) every Friday. Just contact Paul.

Sudoku Challenge - Super Nova by Ahmadoku.

Normal sudoku rules apply. Digits along an arrow sum to the number in the attached circle. Digits joined by an X sum to 10.

Chess Puzzle - Kim Vs. Agmanov, 2024

It’s time to sharpen your chess skills! Can you find the winning moves and secure victory on the board? Analyse the position carefully and claim checkmate!

GeoGuessr Round

This week, we’ve dropped you somewhere on Earth! Analyse the scenery, take in the landmarks, and piece together clues to figure out your exact location. Will you discover the hidden destination?

Click here to play this week’s challenge!

How to Submit

Winners’ Circle

Congratulations to last week’s Puzzle Masters:

Sudoku Champion: Weiming Xu
Chess Guru: Nobody this week
GeoGuessr World Traveler: RC Indochinese, 20,725pts

Good luck and happy puzzling!

Week 2 • Monday 30 September 2024 • #24.03

Paul pic

Good morning UG! It’s Monday 30th September 2024, and it’s Week 2 of the semester 1 teaching period. I hope everything has settled down and you are now familiar with your timetable and where teaching activities are taking place. Don't forget that you have until this Friday to choose any optional course units if you have any. If you are a 1st year student who has yet to complete the intro boot-up labs, then it's essential you do so, as you will need to set up Gitlab to be able to engage with the labs for your course units. To help you with managing your workload, we’ve put together our usual deadlines chart (see below) so you can see how your deadlines fall in relation to one another.

If you are an international student, then there’s a great piece in our Welfare Weekly item that may interest you, it’s written by Nadia Chau, an intern in the Student Support and Wellbeing team. Nadia tells us about her experience of settling into life and studies in Manchester after arriving from Hong Kong.

Once again, I’ll be holding my open hour on the LF floor on Tuesday, 12-1pm. The focus of this will be assessment and feedback, so if you’ve got any feedback you’d like to give me about your experience with assessment and feedback in the department, what we could do to improve it etc (or anything else) then please pop along and say hello.

Finally, there's a free screening of The Thinking Game this Wednesday (see below), so if you fancy seeing it please register to avoid disappointment! (see below)

Enjoy your week, on with today’s news, there’s lots this week …

Paul
Undergraduate Programme Director

PASS1.

The PASS1 team (Danyaal Ahmed (Y3, CS), David Sendula (OnIE, CS), Daniel Farr (Y3, CSwIE), Afnan Ediab (Y3, CS), and Merve Turan (Y3, CS)) write: Hello Year 1s and PASS1 leaders! We hope your first week of studies went well! We are hoping to see you in our first PASS session this Wednesday 1-2pm in your allocated room. Your first session is planned to be relaxed, hopefully with some fun activities to get to know each other followed by a chat to see how things are going. Remember that these sessions are for you, so lead the session, tell your leaders what you want to talk about as the session plan is not set in stone, and enjoy! For any problems/queries please feel free to contact us! PASS1 leaders, please don't forget to join us for the debrief the hour later in Kilburn 2.19!

New PASS1 Coordinators: We have new coordinators in the team: Afnan Ediab (CS Y3) and Daniel Farr (CSwIE Y3)! Become a PASS1 Leader! We are in lack of leaders so please contact us or your leader if interested!

PASS2.

The PASS2 team (Kavin Gunasekara (Y3, CSwIE) and Vishal Kandasamy Sekar (Y3, CSwIE)) write: Hi Everyone! Thank you for the amazing turnout at the PASS2 session last week! It was wonderful to see you all and we hope you found it useful. This week we've got an in-depth session about CVs, Cover Letters and Internship Applications waiting for you. It will be in the same place as last week - IT407 from 12pm to 1pm on Thursday the 3rd October. Hope to see you there!

PASS3.

The PASS3 team (Max Beck-Jones (Y4, CS4), Sarah Saad (Y4, AI4), Luke Sanderson (Y4, AI4) and Rosie Halsall (Y3, CS)) write: Hi everyone! We had a great session last week- thank you everyone who came. It was fantastic to see so many familiar faces. We have made lots of plans for the next semester! Tomorrow (Tuesday 1st October) we will be having another session, focussing on after graduation. We are going to do some CV Peer Reviewing, start compiling a list of grad job applications (including who to avoid!) and look at post-grad degrees. Come join us in Kilburn Collab at 12pm tomorrow!

STUDENT PUBLICATION SUCCESS.

One of our former students Yin Hong Kung (graduated 2024, CS) has had work from his 3rd year project tilted “CantonMT: Cantonese to English Neural Machine Translation with Synthetic Back-translation Data” published in the Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference of the European Association for Machine Translation (AMTA 2024), Sheffield, UK. Y. H. Kung, L. Han, R. Batista-Navarro, and G. Nenadic, “CANTONMT: Cantonese to English NMT Platform with Fine-Tuned Models using Real and Synthetic Back-Translation Data”. In this paper, Yin describes the Cantonese-to-English neural machine translation platform that he developed as part of his final-year project. You can read the paper here.

STUDENT PUBLICATION SUCCESS.

One of our former students Martin Marinov (graduated 2024, SEwIE) has had work he developed as part of an internship with Our Heritage, Our Stories project published in the Proceedings of the Deep Learning and Large Language Models for Knowledge Graphs Workshop (DL4KG) co-located with ACM KDD 2024, Barcelona, Spain. M. Marinov, Y. Benkhedda, E. Hannaford, M. Alexander, G. Nenadic and R. Batista-Navarro: “Relation Extraction for Constructing Knowledge Graphs: Enhancing the Searchability of Community-Generated Digital Content (CGDC) Collections”. This paper presents the zero-shot relation extraction models that Martin developed as part of Martin's internship. You can read the paper here.

STUDENT WELLBEING SUPPORT IN CS.

Just a reminder that if you are affected by any issues that impact your studies, then it’s vitally important that you speak to someone and get the help and support you need. You can speak to your Year Tutor (see below), a member of our Student Support and Wellbeing Team, Maria Sloan and Ben Herbert, or drop into the student hub in the Nancy Rothwell Building (1st floor) and ask to speak to someone, in confidence, about anything that might be affecting you and your studies. Maria and Ben are also the Disability Coordinators for CS, so you can speak to them if you have any ongoing physical or mental health problems, or conditions such as ASD or ADHD, that affect your studies, even if you are not already registered with the DASS Team at the University. If you are registered with DASS and there are problems with your DASS plan you can speak with them about this too. You can contact Maria and Ben at soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk.

SUPPORT SERVICE SPOTLIGHT - QWELL.

REGISTER FOR A GP.

LOST IN KILBURN.

STUDENT SUPPORT HUB.

soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk: general queries; advice on University policies and services.
soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk: student record queries; registration advice and guidance; timetable queries/clashes; ATAS/Visa advice; extension to study period; project topics, allocation and supervisors; change of programme; return to study; professional accreditation
soe.studentexperience@manchester.ac.uk: student societies support; SSLC/student rep support; employability; graduation; PASS; academic advising; communications; summer internship programme; surveys (course unit and NSS).
soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk: mitigating circumstances; interruptions; disability coordinator support; general wellbeing support (appointments and helping you access the support you need).
soe.attendance@manchester.ac.uk: attendance and engagement monitoring.
soe.courseunits@manchester.ac.uk: course unit selection.
soe.placements@manchester.ac.uk: placement support and coordination.
soe.assessment@manchester.ac.uk: publication of results, exam queries, assessment queries (including DASS), progression and award queries.
soe.appealsandconduct@manchester.ac.uk: academic appeals; malpractice and student complaints.

If you are unsure which email to use then use soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk for general queries.

WELFARE WEEKLY.

This Week, Student Support and Wellbeing Intern, and former International student here at the university Nadia Chau tells us of her experience settling into life and studies in a new country after arriving here from Hong Kong.

I remember two years ago, for the first time I stepped foot into The University of Manchester, I was both excited and nervous about starting my new life here. It was the first time for me to leave home and move to a completely new city. I flew for 13 hours, then found myself arriving in a city that looks similar but lonelier when compared to the one I was used to, and I found myself conversing with people in a language that was both familiar and strange to me.

As an international student, throughout the course of studying my master’s degree, I struggled quite a lot with language barrier and loneliness. In class, I was one of the two non-native English speakers in a class of twenty. During my first few months in Manchester, there were many times where I couldn’t catch up with what the lecturers were saying; and I would have to spend extra hours doing the readings just because I simply couldn’t read as fast as my classmates. When the wintertime arrived, I also started to feel quite lonely. I didn’t know many people in the UK, nor did I make a lot of friends in class. As the sky started to turn dark at four and Manchester started to get wet and grim, I started to feel blue as well.

Things got much better when I started to reach out to my instructors for help. I went to their office hours every week, and brought in questions that I had, as well as things I couldn’t understand in class or concepts I couldn’t contemplate when doing my reading. It was so helpful, and thanks to the professors’ help, I was able to finish my essays just fine. I also started to join events, inside and outside university, and met different people. For example, I began the hobby of skateboarding - something I never thought about doing when I was at home, and I met a group of friends there.

If I had to give one piece of advice to new students, as cliche as it sounds, it would be - you will need to step out of your comfort zone. Aside from reaching out to your professors to get academic support, if you want some welfare advice, you might also want to reach out to different school services. Some examples would be - the student union advising services, the student hubs and wellbeing support services, counselling and mental health services etc.

You might also want to consider joining events, so that you might get the chance to meet more people, become friends with some of them, and get emotional support from a couple of them. I would highly recommend joining societies or regular events, because it’s more likely for you to meet close friends there. If you are an international student, I would also recommend joining the events organised by the International Society. They organise weekend trips to different parts of the UK, and aside from that, they also offer language courses and other classes to students.

Also, practise your language skills at the Language Café, on the last Wednesday of each month from 12pm-2pm in the Lime Café in the Samuel Alexander Building.

YEAR TUTOR OPEN HOURS.

In the Department we have Year Tutors who are responsible for looking after the different cohorts in each year group. The Year Tutors are here to provide you with help and support if you need it, so feel free to contact your Year Tutor by email. Year Tutors also run a weekly open hour where you can pop along for a chat:

Year 1 (not CM): Terry Morley. Open hour: Monday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.7.
Year 2 (not CM): Aphrodite Galata. Open hour: Tuesday 14:00 - 15:00, Kilburn 2.101.
Industrial Experience Year: Duncan Hull., Open hour: Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00, Kilburn LF25.
Year 3 (not CM): Gareth Henshall. Open hour: Tuesday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.82.
Year 4: Tim Morris. Open hour: Tuesday 11:00 - 12:00, Kilburn 2.107.
CM (all years): Joe Razavi. Open hour: Monday 13:30 - 14:30, Kilburn 2.75.
UG Director: Paul Nutter. Open hour: Tuesday 12:00 - 13:00, Kilburn LF.

COMP1INTRO BOOT-UP LABS SURVEY.

KILBURN BUILDING LINUX CLUSTER LOGIN.

All PCs in the Kilburn Building computer clusters are "dual-boot" Ubuntu Linux (default) and Microsoft Windows. To switch from one operating system (OS) to the other, reboot the machine and upon restart a Computer Science welcome screen will appear where you can select the OS to load using the arrow keys on the keyboard. It is important to use your university username and NOT your email address to login to Linux. Your username is of the format of one lowercase letter, followed by five digits and ending in two lowercase letters, for example v12345ab.

GITLAB DOWNTIME.

This from Chris Page: Gitlab downtime: On Wednesday 2nd October - THIS WEDNESDAY - at 16:00 the Department of Computer Science GitLab system will be taken offline to perform essential maintenance and upgrades. Work on the system will start at 16:00 and is expected to finish by 18:00. This notice will be removed when the work on the server is completed and tests indicate GitLab is operating normally.

PERSONAL TEACHING TIMETABLES.

Your personal timetable should now be updated. However, please keep an eye on it as activities could change over the next week as the timetable is finalised. You can view your timetable on my.manchester.

EXTENDED OPENING HOURS.

COMP1RDMC: Respect & Dignity at Manchester
COMP1HS: Health and Safety
COMP1AMP: Academic Malpractice

Once access has been granted then you can use your University swipe card to enter the Kilburn building. Please note that currently access is through the main entrance opposite Crawford House. However, once the building works are completed, then access will be via the entrance opposite University place. During extended hours access is restricted to the lower first floor area of the Kilburn building. You will not be able to use labs or meeting spaces in any other locations in Kilburn. You may be required to show proof that you have extended hours when requested by a building attendant or security. You can find more information and full instructions in the Extended Working Hours folder in the CS UG Community Space in Blackboard.

CS UG COMMUNITY BLACKBOARD PAGE.

The CS UG Community Page in Blackboard is your one-stop source for all information related to your studies. Here you will find the Undergraduate Programme Handbook, specific information for each year group (such as who the year tutors are), advice for getting support, information from the student-staff liaison committee etc. There’s lots of information, so please make use of the resource.

UG PROGRAMME HANDBOOK.

The Undergraduate Programme Handbook is your one-stop resource for all information related to your studies. It contains information about your degree programmes, details on progression, how to change programmes or interrupt your studies, information on student support etc. The handbook also has information related to how to apply for mitigating circumstances if your learning has been affected by issues out of your control, such as an illness. The Undergraduate Programme Handbook can be found in the CS UG Community space in Blackboard.

ATTENDANCE MONITORING.

LEARNING TIPS - SUBMITTING YOUR OWN WORK - AVOID AMP.

Computer Science is a very practical subject and, as such, it is natural to work with your friends when trying to solve a problem. In fact, when working in the real world you will invariably be part of a team, whether developing software or hardware. This is why a number of our course units offer you the opportunity to work as a member of a team, to give you some experience of pros and cons that come with working in a team environment. However, when it comes to individual assessments, such as coursework, this changes. What you submit for your assessments will reflect on your learning and are a key part of measuring your academic progress and how well you understand the learning material. To ensure that the work you submit is your own, we often look out for signs of similarities between different submissions from different students. We are looking for academic malpractice (AMP), where someone is looking to gain an unfair advantage by submitting work that is not (entirely) their own.

There are generally two forms of AMP: plagiarism, which is the copying of someone else’s work as your own work, including output from AI tools such as ChatGPR, without acknowledgement; and collusion, which is working too closely with someone else to produce the same, or very similar, piece of work. In Computer Science, we find that collusion is the most common form of AMP due to the way students often work together. To help identify such cases, we use powerful software tools to identify similarities in code, even when changes such as renaming variables, changing comments, or restructuring code have been made in an attempt to make the code look different.

If you are found guilty of AMP then this can have a dramatic impact on your progression/marks. Penalties range from the zeroing of marks for the assessment where AMP has been identified as taking place, zeroing of a course unit (but the credits are passed) through to failing and having to resit a course unit. In the past, we have had students being excluded from their studies as a result of engaging with AMP. It’s natural for you to work with fellow students to understand problems and the taught material. However, make sure the work you submit is your own; it’s just not worth the risk. Everyone when joining the Department is required to complete a short module on AMP in Blackboard, so that you are aware of what it is and what the consequences are if you (even inadvertently) engage in it. For more information on AMP, see the University student guidance on plagiarism and other forms of AMP, you can view the full AMP procedure here.

COURSEWORK DEADLINES CHART.

The Department has put together a coursework deadlines chart, which can be accessed here, The chart is populated with the deadlines for all COMP course units, for each year group, in semester 1. It aims to give you an overview of your deadlines and to help you plan your time, which will depend upon the course units you are taking. Please note that deadlines may still change and that only SPOT indicates up-to-date information on deadlines, so please use SPOT to confirm deadlines.

COURSEWORK DEADLINE EXTENSION REQUESTS.

All pieces of coursework in the Department will have a deadline by which it must be submitted. You can find out the deadline from the course unit material in Blackboard, or via SPOT or the coursework deadlines chart. In some cases, you can request a short extension to allow you to complete your work if you find you are falling behind due to circumstances beyond your control, although in some cases an extension is not allowed. SPOT and the coursework deadlines chart indicate the assessments where an extension is possible. You must apply for an extension BEFORE the deadline - requests will not be accepted after the deadline. Further advice and a link to the form to request an extension can be found in the Illness and Absence folder in the CS UG Community space in Blackboard. If you wish to have an extension after the deadline then you must apply through the mitigating circumstances process.

COURSE UNIT SELECTION.

You have until 15:30 Friday 4th October 2023 (this Friday) to finalise your Semester 1 course unit choices. After that deadline your course selections freeze, and changes for Semester 1 will no longer be possible. Please ensure you are also enrolled on to your Semester 2 choices by this date (120 credits in total). Course unit selection will reopen in February for you to make changes to your Semester 2 course unit choices. Please note: 1st years have no choice in the 1st semester. If you are a 4th Year MEng student then the deadline has passed to select your course units.

STUDENT REGISTRATION.

The deadline for completing registration was 30th September 2024. However, if you still haven't been able to complete it, then the very latest is the 4th October 2024. To register go to My Manchester registration and login with your IT account details, go to the ‘Registration’ tab and follow the on-screen instructions. If you don't see the 'Registration' tab in My Manchester, go to 'Tools' in the top right-hand corner, select 'Student System' from the drop-down menu, click on 'Student Centre' and then 'Register'. You have ten sections to complete. At the end of each step, a green 'completed' tick will appear. To go back to a previous section, simply click on the step you want to return to; do not use the back button on your browser. If there is an element of registration that you haven't completed the deadline, then you will be withdrawn from the programme or forced to take a period of interruption. If you are having problems with registering then please contact soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk.

HARDWARE LIBRARY.

Did you know we have a hardware library in the Department that contains a wide range of hardware components that are completely free to borrow? You can use these to support your 3rd year project, generally just to have a play with, or support a Hackathon. There are all sorts of items available, from Raspberry Pi components to drones, a wide range of microcontroller boards to gesture devices, basic electronic components to robots … even VR headsets. We also have computer items, such as keyboards, mice, and tablets - there’s a wide range of items available. To see what is available for you to borrow (for free!) have a look at the library catalogue. If you want to borrow an item then all you have to do is reserve it online. You will then be contacted by Steve Rhodes who will tell you when you can pick the item up from Tootill 0 on the lower first floor of Kilburn. Please note that items should not be taken away from Manchester and it is your responsibility to replace any damaged/lost items you borrow. You can also propose new items for the library, which we will consider. However, please note, we do have a limited budget to purchase new items, so we can’t fund all requests.

SCREENING OF THE THINKING GAME.

A special free screening of “The Thinking Game” will take place 3-5pm on Wednesday 2nd October (this Wednesday) in Lecture Theatre 1.1 in the Kilburn Building. The screening is open to all staff and students from the Department. If you are interested in attending then please complete this Eventbrite invite. Please use your university email address to register and please be quick as spaces are limited. See the trailer here.

Synopsis: The Thinking Game takes you on a fascinating journey into the heart of DeepMind, one of the world's leading AI labs, as it strives to unravel the mysteries of artificial general intelligence (AGI). Inside DeepMind's London headquarters, founder Demis Hassabis and his team are relentlessly pursuing the creation of AI that matches or surpasses human abilities on a wide range of tasks. Filmed over five years, the documentary puts viewers in the room for the pivotal moments of this quest, including the groundbreaking achievement of AlphaFold, a program that solved a 50-year grand challenge in biology. The Thinking Game captures the exhilaration of historic breakthroughs like AlphaFold, the crushing weight of disappointment during setbacks, and the unwavering pursuit of knowledge that defines Demis' commitment to scientific innovation. This film invites viewers to witness one of the most important scientific adventures of our time, exploring the potential of AGI to reshape our world.

GREATUNIHACK 2024 PARTICIPATION APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN NOW.

UniCS is happy to announce that participant applications are open for GUH '24!! If you don't know what a hackathon is or have never been to one, don't worry! It's all about working together over the course of 24 hours to turn awesome ideas into reality. Along the way, you get to participate in fun challenges, take home free goodies, and network with the best! Join our discord and follow our Instagram to keep up with important updates about the hackathon. Applications close on 8th October so make sure to apply before then. Volunteer applications will be released soon too. Best of luck!"

UNICS CAREER WORKSHOP SERIES - INDUSTRY SERIES.

This series is designed to guide you through every step of your career path, from exploring opportunities to preparing your CV, cover letters, and interview techniques with mock sessions. Here is a brief overview of the topics that will be covered:

Get application ready
CV and cover letter build-up and review
Mastering LinkedIn
Mock interview sessions
LeetCode sessions
Insights from previous interns
Drop-in sessions

Our first workshop, Get Application Ready, was successfully held last week. Our second workshop is a CV and Cover Letter Review Session which will be held this week (details to be shared soon). Make sure to attend these sessions if you are planning to apply for jobs this academic year or the next one. Keep an eye on our social media channels for regular updates on our events and opportunities.

UNICS GAME DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP SERIES.

This workshop series focuses on game development using Unity. You will learn how to build a game from scratch, with the only prerequisite being some experience with a programming language (Python, Java, C#, C, or C++). The workshops will be held every Wednesday from 2nd October to 11th December 2024, from 2pm - 3pm. Here is a schedule of the workshops:

Week 1: Getting started with Unity
Week 2: Materials and Collisions
Week 3: Inter-Script Communication & Variable Security
Week 4: UI and Game Loop
Week 5: Projectiles
Week 6: Shader Graph
Week 7: Shader Coding
Week 8: Enemies
Week 9: Enemy AI
Week 10: Polish

Certificates will be awarded upon completion! The first workshop will be held on Wednesday 2nd October 2024 from 2pm - 3pm in Kilburn Theatre 1.1. We look forward to seeing you at our workshops!

USER STUDIES.

UKIEPC PROGRAMMING CONTEST.

The best teams from Manchester will be able to compete in the North West Europe Regional Programming Competition (NWERC), which will be held at the Delft University of Technology from 22nd to 24th November 2024. Realistically, we can expect to be able to enter two or three teams from Manchester. Note that we will enter a team to NWERC only if all of its members have competed in UKIEPC 2024. The detailed rules on eligibility are explained on the ICPC website. However, in practice, any UG or Master's student at Manchester is eligible. Have fun and good luck!

DEPARTMENT SEMINAR.

A department seminar will take place on Wednesday 2nd October, 14:00 - 15:00, in IT407. Alessandro Abate, Professor of Verification and Control in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford, will talk about “Logic meets Learning - Formal Synthesis with Neural Templates”. Abstract: I shall present recent work on CEGIS, a ``counterexample-guided inductive synthesis'' framework for sound synthesis tasks that are relevant for dynamical models, control problems, and software programs. The inductive synthesis framework comprises the interaction of two components, a learner and a verifier. The learner trains a neural template on finite samples. The verifier soundly validates the candidates trained by the learner, by means of calls to a SAT-modulo-theory solver. Whenever the candidate is not valid, SMT-generated counter examples are passed to the learner for further training. I shall elucidate the ins & outs of the CEGIS framework, and display its workings on a few problems: synthesis of Lyapunov functions, of barrier certificates, and of more intricate proof certificates; and hybridisation of nonlinear dynamics for safety verification.

Bio: Alessandro Abate is Professor of Verification and Control in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford. Earlier, he did research at Stanford University and at SRI International, and was an Assistant Professor at the Delft Center for Systems and Control, TU Delft. He received an MS/PhD from the University of Padova and UC Berkeley. His research interests are in the formal verification and control of stochastic hybrid systems, and in their applications in cyber-physical systems, particularly involving safety criticality and energy. He blends in techniques from machine learning and AI, such as Bayesian inference, reinforcement learning, and game theory.

ALGC REOPENS AFTER EXTENSIVE REFURBISHMENT.

The Alan Gilbert Learning Commons reopened on Monday, 16 September, following extensive repairs and upgrades aimed at enhancing the student study experience. Key improvements include:

A new Cosy Campus space at the entrance, featuring a kitchenette with four microwaves and a dedicated seating area.
New carpets throughout the building and a deep-clean of all furniture.
Upgraded hardware, including desktop PCs and audio-visual facilities in group study rooms.
Upgraded software applications on PCs and loanable laptops.
A dedicated Support Zone for students’ digital support enquiries and appointments.

Library staff are available to assist and support students.

SOMETHING TO SHARE?

The deadline for sending in Monday Mail items: 12:00 (noon) every Friday. Just contact Paul.

Sudoku Challenge - Little Wonder by Michael Lefkowitz.

In each N-by-N grid, normal N-by-N sudoku rules apply. The indicated diagonals have the same sum. (Normal sudoku rules in a grid of size NxN: Place the digits 1 to N, once each, into every row, column and region.)

Chess Puzzle - Firouzja Vs. So, 2024

It’s time to sharpen your chess skills! Can you find the winning moves and secure victory on the board? Analyse the position carefully and claim checkmate!

GeoGuessr Round

This week, we’ve dropped you somewhere on Earth! Analyse the scenery, take in the landmarks, and piece together clues to figure out your exact location. Will you discover the hidden destination?

We are playing the 'I Saw the Sign 2.0' map: Locations with the name of the place visible in front of you at the starting point (e.g. on a sign, on a building, on an advertisement). Anywhere in the world - from tiny villages to large cities.

Click here to play this week’s challenge!

How to Submit

Winners’ Circle

Congratulations to last week’s Puzzle Masters:

Sudoku Champion: Weiming Xu
Chess Guru: Matthew Kirk
GeoGuessr World Traveler: Idris, 18,651pts

Good luck and happy puzzling!

Week 1 • Monday 23 September 2024 • #24.02

Paul pic

Good morning UG! It’s Monday 23rd September 2024, and it’s the first week of teaching of the 2024/25 academic year. It was good to see so many students around the campus last week, and to see such a great turnout at the welcome talks. If you have just joined us, then I hope you have settled into life in Manchester, have managed to get out and explore the campus and the city, and meet some new friends. I’m sure it will soon feel like home.

Please make sure you are familiar with your teaching timetable and, more importantly, where teaching activities are scheduled, as these can take place at different locations across the campus. Check out the University’s interactive map if you are not sure where buildings are located. If you are a 1st year student please make sure you have completed the COMP1INTRO Boot-up labs as you will to have Gitlab up and running for your labs this semester!

Just a reminder that there’s still time to nominate yourself as an academic representative (all years) or put yourself as teaching volunteer (years 3 and 4 only).

I hold my office hour on Tuesday, 12-1pm, somewhere on the lower first floor of Kilburn. If you want to discuss anything, ask any questions, or just have a chat, then please look out for me.

Enjoy your week, on with today’s news …

Paul
Undergraduate Programme Director

PASS1.

The PASS1 team (Danyaal Ahmed (Y3, CS), David Sendula (OnIE, CS), Gundeep Oberoi (OnIE, CSwIE), and Merve Turan (Y3, CS)) write: Hello Year 1s and PASS1 Leaders! Firstly, thank you Year 1 students for joining our welcome lecture and scavenger hunt last week! We hope you enjoyed it! We wanted to remind you that our first PASS1 session starts from next week (week 2) and we will let you know of the details via the Monday Mail so that you can join us! Dear PASS1 leaders, please be reminded that we will have the mandatory Meet Your Team session this week on Wednesday 25th September at 2pm in Kilburn 2.19. We will send you a separate email regarding this as well.

PASS2.

The PASS2 team (Kavin Gunasekara (Y3, CSwIE) and Vishal Kandasamy Sekar (Y3, CSwIE)) write: Hi Everyone, We hope you've enjoyed welcome week and started settling back into Uni life. To help with that, this year's first PASS2 session will cover Module Selection, Applying for Internships and Making the best of 2nd year. It will be in the IT Building - IT407 (take the bridge in Kilburn next to the mega lab) on Thursday the 26th from 12pm to 1pm. We'd love to see you there!

PASS3.

The PASS3 team (Max Beck-Jones (Y4, CS4), Sarah Saad (Y4, AI4), Luke Sanderson (Y4, AI4) and Rosie Halsall (Y3, CS)) write: Hello 3rd and 4th Years! We are a brand new scheme to support you all in your final year of study. We're planning on hosting social events, grad placement chats, and 3rd year project study sessions. Our first is this Tuesday (24th September) at 12-1pm in Kilburn 2.15. This week will be about how the scheme will run (any ideas are welcome!) and the 3rd Year Project. We also have the room booked until 2pm, so feel free to just drop by. There will be cookies.

STUDENT PUBLICATION SUCCESS.

One of our former students Guan Yu Soh (graduated 2023) has had work from his 3rd year project presented at EGSR 2024 (35th Eurographics Symposium on Rendering). Guan writes: I was very happy to present my work on the Neural Appearance Model for Cloth Rendering at the EGSR 2024 conference. The presence of many knowledgeable academics and experts provided me with constructive feedback and engaging discussions, motivating me to explore new avenues in research. I am deeply grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Zahra Montazeri, for her invaluable guidance throughout my research. I look forward to attending and presenting at future conferences, thanks to the confidence and experience I gained this time around! The Department provided some funding to support Guan’s attendance at the conference.

VOLUNTEERING OUTREACH IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING SOCIETY - VOISE.

Fancy using your skills to help the local community? Or gaining some volunteering hours towards your Stellify award? The Volunteering Outreach in Science and Engineering Society (VOISE) is the university’s leading outreach society for all things STEM related, and we are looking for plenty of new members to help us in our mission to “Inspire Tomorrow’s Innovators”. You can take part in as many (or as few) fun, interactive workshops across the year as you like, PLUS we have opportunities for you to develop your own outreach workshops to be run at local schools, if you fancy getting creative! Come along to our Taster Session on Wednesday 25th September in SU Room 2.2 from 12:30 - 1:30pm to find out more (there’s free pizza too!), and make sure to sign up on the SU Website and/or follow our Instagram @uom_voise. Can't wait to see you soon!

FINTECH SOCIETY.

Hello, everyone! We are the Fintech Society, a group of students eager to share more about the fintech industry. Given the recent popularisation of fintech in recent years, we would like to provide insights for those who would like to break into the industry for both technical and non-technical roles. If this sounds interesting to you, do check out our instagram page and discord group, as we will be hosting events in the near future. Remember to grab our membership from the student union’s website as well. We hope to see you soon!

TEACHING VOLUNTEER REPORT.

In 2024/25, recent graduate Minhea Popeanga (CSwIE) was a teaching volunteer in undergraduate labs last academic year. Minhea writes: Hi everyone! I’m a recent BSc Computer Science graduate, and I’d like to share my experience as a teaching assistant for the first-year course COMP11120. I chose to volunteer as a Teaching Volunteer as I genuinely enjoy teaching and helping others, and I am considering a career that might include teaching in the future. So it was a great opportunity to test my ability to explain concepts to people, but also a trial for me to see if I enjoy working with larger groups of students. Besides, it was fascinating to experience what it's like on the other side and understand some of the challenges you encounter as a lecturer or TA. Furthermore, being a Teaching Volunteer gives you the opportunity to apply for an Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, which recognises your skills and efforts in supporting learning in higher education. This together with the teaching experience looks great on your CVs and will be appreciated both by companies and by other institutions in case you’d like to continue in academia. Overall, it is an experience that I definitely recommend to anyone who enjoyed a particular module and would like to contribute to it in a meaningful way. If you are a 3rd or 4th year student interested in being a teaching volunteer, then please see the item from Andrea Schalk.

2023-24 PRIZE WINNERS.

Each year the Department recognises outstanding achievement by awarding prizes to UG students who have excelled academically or made significant contributions to life in the Department. We celebrated their success at the welcome talk last week, but just to remind you, the following students received awards for last academic year:

Year 1 (now Year 2):
- Golden Anniversary Prize for excellence in year 1 studies: Dastan Syrgabayev (CS), Sanjay Rao (CS), Jamie Rowlinson-Patel (CM), Marc Mhawej (CMwIE), Antony Salta (CSwIE).
- Michael Jealous Prize for best Year 1 student: Dastan Syrgabayev (CS).
- Netcraft Prize for top 10 performing single honours students: Dastan Syrgabayev (CS), Sanjay Rao (CS), Antony Salta (CSwIE), Hin Yip (CS), Thomas Partridge (CS), Daniel Stainer (CS), Daniel Groves (CS), Joshua Hines (CSwIE), Jonathan Wilson (CSwIE), Haleema Limbada (CS).
Year 2 (now Year 3):
- Professor’s Prize for outstanding performance in year 2: Madhavan Citalamangalam Kumaran (CSwIE), Summer Himlin (CM), Jarren Loke (HCI).
Year 3 (now Graduated/Year 4):
- Williams/Kilburn Medal for outstanding student: Claudi Craciun (CMwIE).
- Kilburn Prize for outstanding final year examination performance: James Colley (CM).
- Edwards Prize for the student who performed with distinction throughout their degree in Computer Engineering: Joe Constable (CS).
- Professor’s prize for outstanding performance in year 3: Claudiu Craciun (CMwIE), Zoya Anwar (CS), Georgia Cawley (HCIwIE).
- Head of Department prize for outstanding contribution to life in the Department: Jakub Pabian (CS), Zoya Anwar (CS), Claudio Craciun (CMwIE), Minhea Popeanga (CSwIE), Eman Ahsan (CSwIE).
- Hilary Kahn award for best 3rd year undergraduate project: Wei Tang (AIwIE).
- BCS prize for best final year education project: Irina Ferent (CSwIE).
- University Outstanding Achievement award: Claudiu Craciun (CMwIE).

Huge congratulations to all, really well done and just rewards for all your efforts. Give yourself a big pat on the back!

COMPUTER SCIENCE FC.

Computer Science FC is back again for another fantastic season of 11-a-side football in the Campus League. Upcoming trials are your chance to display your skills so dust those boots and get ready!! Lots of socials to follow throughout the year. Join the groupchat for upcoming info about the season and trials. Up the CSFC!!!

STUDENT PUBLICATION SUCCESS.

Adrians Skapars (Graduated 2023, CS) has been successful in having work undertaken as part of an internship published along with members of Computer Science @ Manchester: Y. Benkhedda, A. Skapars, V. Schlegel, G. Nenadic, and R. Batista-Navarro, (2024) “Enriching the Metadata of Community-Generated Digital Content through Entity Linking: An Evaluative Comparison of State-of-the-Art Models”. In Proceedings of the 8th Joint SIGHUM Workshop on Computational Linguistics for Cultural Heritage, Social Sciences, Humanities and Literature (LaTeCH-CLfL) co-located with the 18th Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (EACL 2024), St. Julians, Malta. Based on Adrians' work as an intern for the Our Heritage, Our Stories project, this paper reports the results of evaluating various entity linking models applied to digital archive collections.

SUPPORT SERVICE SPOTLIGHT - DASS.

The Disability Advisory and Support Service (DASS) is a specialist service supporting students with any condition that has a significant, adverse and long term effect on normal day to day activities. DASS helps students with a range of conditions which includes but is not limited to dyslexia and other learning difficulties, autism spectrum condition, mental health difficulties such as anxiety and depression, mobility and sensory impairments, unseen disabilities like epilepsy, HIV, AIDS, chronic fatigue, IBS and Crohn's. DASS can help students access exams, study and specialist support but only if you register with them. You can make an appointment with DASS at any time. Make an appointment and register. For help and advice you can always talk to Maria or Ben in the School wellbeing team.

WHAT IS AN ACADEMIC ADVISOR?

An academic advisor is a member of academic staff who not only provides academic support, but also pastoral support during your time in Manchester. Who is your academic advisor? Well, this depends what year you are in. If you are a 1st or 2nd year student, your academic advisor is your personal tutor - you can find out who your tutor is here. In the 3rd year, your academic advisor is your project supervisor, and in the 4th year it is Tim Morris. Don’t get your academic advisor confused with your Year Tutor (see below), who generally have more experience in supporting students and signposting them to support services in the university. Year Tutors also track student engagement (through attendance and coursework submission data), reaching out to students we have concerns about.

STUDENT SUPPORT HUB.

soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk: general queries; advice on University policies and services.
soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk: student record queries; registration advice and guidance; timetable queries/clashes; ATAS/Visa advice; extension to study period; project topics, allocation and supervisors; change of programme; return to study; professional accreditation
soe.studentexperience@manchester.ac.uk: student societies support; SSLC/student rep support; employability; graduation; PASS; academic advising; communications; summer internship programme; surveys (course unit and NSS).
soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk: mitigating circumstances; interruptions; disability coordinator support; general wellbeing support (appointments and helping you access the support you need).
soe.attendance@manchester.ac.uk: attendance and engagement monitoring.
soe.courseunits@manchester.ac.uk: course unit selection.
soe.placements@manchester.ac.uk: placement support and coordination.
soe.assessment@manchester.ac.uk: publication of results, exam queries, assessment queries (including DASS), progression and award queries.
soe.appealsandconduct@manchester.ac.uk: academic appeals; malpractice and student complaints.

If you are unsure which email to use then use soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk for general queries.

WELFARE WEEKLY WITH BEN - FIND YOUR TRIBE - GETTING STARTED AT UNIVERSITY.

This from Ben Herbert, Student Support and Wellbeing: Over the next few weeks, I will share with you some top tips for surviving University from my eight years working with students here at the Uni. Hopefully I can share some ideas and insight to help you stay healthy, motivated, and engaged with your studies.

A very common conversation I have with new students in the first week or two of the year is about them struggling to settle in. The chances that you have been put into halls with your future BFFs is probably low. But don’t be disheartened. Feeling overwhelmed, lonely and homesick are totally normal. It’s a huge change. My advice is to take steps to find people you can connect with now, before your workload starts to build.

Your first weeks of university may lead you to feel the only way to socialise is to go out drinking, and if you don't do that you will miss out. But there is so much more! Join a society through the Student's Union, sign up to a class, take up a sport or start a hobby. Joining a society, sports team or other activity allows you to get to know the people with the same interests, values, culture, or background as you. Building a network of friends is especially important if you are a long way from home. This will have a direct impact on your wellbeing and that in turn will have a direct benefit on your university work. Research has shown that students who participate in extracurricular activities are more motivated and tend to do better in their course.

If you haven’t done so already, this week take steps to join at least one society or club. Get out there and find your tribe! Check out the SU’s Tips here. Find more ideas for helping you find your tribe here.

KEEPING SAFE ON CAMPUS.

Manchester, like any other large city, can have issues with crime, hence it’s important you keep safe when on campus and travelling to/from the campus. Keep in mind the following:

Stay alert: Keep your belongings safe and out of view when travelling to or from campus and whilst you’re on it. Avoid wearing noise cancelling headphones so you know what’s going on around you, and stick to well-lit roads and pavements as you travel around the city, avoiding underpasses where possible. Keep your phone out of sight!
Download SafeZone: Our mobile app SafeZone can be used to quickly connect you with Campus Support and Security team if you feel unsafe, need immediate help or require first aid or wellbeing assistance. The app is free to download, easy to use, and operates across the Manchester campuses. You can find out more about SafeZone here.
Report unacceptable behaviour: Manchester has a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, harassment, discrimination, gender-based violence, hate or micro-aggressions. If you have witnessed any forms of this behaviour, or have a safeguarding concern, you can report it anonymously or get support from a trained advisor. Find out more about Report + Support.

YEAR TUTOR OPEN HOURS.

In the Department we have year tutors who are responsible for looking after the different cohorts in each year group. The Year Tutors are here to provide you with help and support if you need it, so feel free to contact your Year Tutor by email over the exam period. Year Tutors also run a weekly open hour (starting from Week 1 of teaching - next week) where you can pop along for a chat during the teaching period:

Year 1 (not CM): Terry Morley. Open hour: Monday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.7.
Year 2 (not CM): Aphrodite Galata. Open hour: Tuesday 14:00 - 15:00, Kilburn 2.101.
Industrial Experience Year: Duncan Hull., Open hour: Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00, Kilburn LF25.
Year 3 (not CM): Gareth Henshall. Open hour: Tuesday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.82.
Year 4: Tim Morris. Open hour: Tuesday 11:00 - 12:00, Kilburn 2.107.
CM (all years): Joe Razavi. Open hour: Monday 13:30 - 14:30, Kilburn 2.75.
UG Director: Paul Nutter. Open hour: Tuesday 12:00 - 13:00, Kilburn LF.

STUDENT REGISTRATION.

Remember that you need to register with the University before the 30th September 2024 (next Monday) and collect your student card.You can find more information on the University “Become a Student” webpage. Any fee queries should be submitted using the Student Services Enquiry Form.

PERSONAL TEACHING TIMETABLES.

COURSEWORK DEADLINES CHART.

MANDATORY TRAINING.

If you are a new 1st year student joining us this academic year then there are three mandatory units that you must complete. You are automatically enrolled on these course units in Blackboard:

COMP1RDMC: Respect & Dignity at Manchester
COMP1HS: Health and Safety
COMP1AMP: Academic Malpractice

If you have any issues with completing these modules then please contact the Student Support Hub (see above). Failure to complete these training modules will result in restrictions being put in place, for example, results not being released.

COMP10120 WELCOME WEEK WORKSHOPS.

Last week, we ran the Welcome Week Workshops for 1st year students where they had to solve some challenging task (you may remember this from your first year): this year, each team built a chute for our Kilburn duck! This year’s students showed great ambition but it seems that big chutes are rather challenging and likely to break! They showed great team spirit and amazing engagement throughout. We are looking forward to seeing more from this new cohort!

COMP1INTRO BOOT-UP LABS.

David Petrescu writes: If you are a 1st year student and you haven’t completed the intro lab, then we will be running a catchup session on Wednesday 25 Sept at 15:00-17:00 in 1.8/1.10. Remember this is the last session you will get help from staff and GTAs. In the meantime, you can work on these yourself on every machine in the labs in the Kilburn building. Please make use of week 1 as you have no coursework and the catch-up session to complete the Intro lab, as it exposes you to Linux which is the operating system you will be using for the majority of your time in the Department and ensures your git and GitLab setup is working correctly. It is vital that you complete the main parts of Lesson 2 (you can skip the side-quests, but be sure to do look at them later!) and all of lesson 3, as this introduces you to Git and helps you to set up Git in your home file store, which you will need for several course units this year (and future years).

CS UG COMMUNITY BLACKBOARD PAGE.

UG PROGRAMME HANDBOOK.

ATTENDANCE MONITORING.

From this week we will be monitoring attendance at timetables activities using SEAtS. You can find information on how to use SEAtS on the Student Support website, along with other information. Staff will display a QR code and/or pin during each session, and you must record your attendance via the SEAtS app or webpage during the session. Please note that teaching staff cannot change your attendance record, so please do not contact them to query your attendance.

LEARNING TIPS - UNIVERSITY TEACHING.

Learning Tips is a regular feature where we discuss various aspects of learning with a view to providing you with a few pointers on how to make the most of your learning while you are in the department. In the first item in this feature, we take a look at how learning at University probably differs a lot from what you may have been used to at school/college. University is very much about independent learning, we do much less hand-holding compared to what you may have been to in school/college. Teaching at University involves you having to learn concepts, knowledge and skills, and then put these into practise by solving problems (real-life in some cases). Lectures are very much different to classes in school/college, although you may be familiar with what happens in example classes. Lecturers use a variety of different styles of learning from more traditional approaches, such as chalk and talk (although chalk has mostly been replaced by projectors and powerpoint) whereby the lecturer will work through concepts at the front of the lecture hall, with some interaction with the audience. Then there’s more modern approaches, such as blended learning, where learning makes use of asynchronous (offline learning resources such as videos and quizzes) and synchronous activities (lectures, labs etc - timetabled activities), which has been shown to improve learning. In some cases, lecturers will experiment with their teaching, making use of the latest research to improve the effectiveness and impact of their teaching. We want you to move towards becoming a professional in your chosen discipline and taking more responsibility for your learning is part of that process. So, overall, what you will find is that you will experience a whole range of different learning styles at university. You may find that the way you worked in school is not the most productive one for university: the material is more specialised, and everybody on the programme had similar marks at school as you did. Be open minded, engage with the activities we have put together for you, and monitor how you are doing so that you can make adjustments to how you learn. You may also find it difficult to judge how productive some of our sessions actually are - we'll discuss that in a first year tutorial before too long. Finally, the department is always looking for ways to improve the teaching we offer and feedback from you is an important part of this, helping us to improve our teaching for future cohorts.

HOW DO I CHECK IF I’VE SUBMITTED MY WORK?

We often get asked by students how to check that they have submitted work successfully, and it’s quite easy to do.

Blackboard: if the submission method is using Blackboard, then you can check under the “My Grades” link on the left on each course unit Blackboard page (under “Submitted” or “Marked”). You can also check via SPOT, although SPOT is only updated at 12pm and 6pm daily, so any submission between those times will not be shown until the update takes place. SPOT includes the date and time when the last data was received from Blackboard on each page.
Git: if the submission method is using git, then you can check via SPOT. Submissions via git will show in SPOT immediately (but you do need to refresh the SPOT web page). You know if you have submitted correctly because the date and time will appear under the Submission column in the coursework table for that course.
Whilst SPOT shows you something has been submitted, it does not know what, so cannot be used to verify you've submitted the correct required files. To check the files you have submitted use Blackboard or GitLab.
Some course units have additional requirements, which are not documented in SPOT. Always make sure you carefully read the submission instructions for each piece of work.
Benchmark: Submission to Benchmark may not show in SPOT until the work has been marked. You should check Benchmark to ensure your submission was correct.

ACADEMIC REPRESENTATIVE RECRUITMENT.

Want to change something about your course? Want to represent your peers? Recruitment is now open to become an Academic Representative (or rep) for the 2024-25 academic year! Academic Reps are student leaders who work with the Students’ Union and University of Manchester and gather feedback & work with staff and collaborate with other reps to make positive change in their programme.

Why get involved? You’ll develop skills in leadership, negotiation, and professionalism and build great relationships across your programme. In the past reps have been key in improving assessment deadlines, changing communication methods between staff & students and improving the way students are supported. You’ll receive training from the Students’ Union and from your programme, so you don’t need any prior experience – just an interest in helping improve student experience for yourself and your peers! Interested? To sign up, head to this form and input your details by Monday 30th September, 12 noon. After this we’ll get back in touch with the next steps!

TEACHING VOLUNTEER CALL.

Teaching Volunteering Opportunity. Are you interested in supporting other students' learning? If you are a student in Years 3 or 4, we have an opportunity for you to do so. After successful pilot schemes, we are inviting students to let us know if they would like to act as an Undergraduate Teaching Volunteer on a Year 1 or Year 2 course unit. We are not yet able to confirm for which units this opportunity exists, so please list all units you are potentially interested in when filling in the form by 08:00 am, Monday 30th September. You'll help for a maximum of 2-3 hours per week on average, so you can only act on one course unit, but we're happy for you to tell us about units you're interested in for both, Semester 1 and Semester 2. You will be in a practical session such as labs or examples classes together with the course unit staff and/or graduate teaching assistants, so you don't have to worry about not being able to answer all questions. We won't ask you to be involved in marking (nor do we want you to tell students exactly how to carry out assignments), but we do want you to help students understand anything that is puzzling them using your experience and knowledge of the material. Previous volunteers have found this activity satisfying, and it also looks good on your CV. Colleagues have said that their volunteers have performed really well and they are highly appreciated. Those interested in becoming an Associate Fellow of Advance HE (see the Advance-HE website for details), the UK's professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education. If you have further specific questions, please email Andrea Schalk. We have also asked for the activity to be recognised for Stellify and for HEAR.

UKIEPC PROGRAMMING CONTEST.

This from Ian Pratt-Hartmann: The UK and Ireland Programming Contest (UKIEPC) will take place this year on Saturday, October 19th, 2024, 11:00 - 16:00. UKIEPC is an annual event in which teams of three participants try to crack a series of programming challenges. This year, as usual, Manchester will be one of the participating sites. Note that participation at Manchester is be available ONLY to teams consisting entirely of undergraduate or taught postgraduate students in the Department of Computer Science at Manchester (this, however, includes students on joint honours programmes such as Computing and Mathematics). The contest itself will take place in the labs on the Lower First Floor of the Kilburn Building. Refreshments will be provided in the common area on the Lower First Floor for participants. (Obviously, no food and drink will be permitted in the labs.) Details can be found on the UKIEPC website. You will need to register using the Competition website. (There is a "Take Part" button in the top right corner, which is surprisingly easy to miss.) Registration is now open: you may find that Manchester University is not yet listed as an available site: don't worry, it should appear in the list within a few days. Completing the form should be easy, but you are advised to assemble your team first and then sort out all the registrations. We will limit participation to the first twenty completely registered teams of three.

OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE CLUB.

Join our Open Source Software Club, Mon 23rd September 1pm, Nancy Rothwell Building. The Open Source Software Club is starting this month, bringing together talented student coders (like you!) from across the University with academics who are looking to build a community and user base for their open source research software. Membership is open to students with all levels of coding experience, allowing you to:

Grow your technical skills
Earn GitHub badges
Make public contributions
Get expert mentoring from experienced software engineers
Contribute to scientific research

Thee next meeting is on Monday 23rd September (*TODAY*), 1-2pm in the Makerspace, in the Nancy Rothwell (Engineering) Building. You'll need to complete some brief training to use the Makerpsace, find out more and register at bit.ly/oss-club-manchester.

SOMETHING TO SHARE?

The deadline for sending in Monday Mail items: 12:00 (noon) every Friday. Just contact Paul.

Sudoku Challenge - Mystery Product by Oddlyeven.

Normal sudoku rules apply. The grid is partially covered in fog. Placing correct digits will clear the fog from surrounding cells. Digits along a line sum to the product of the digits in the squares at either end of the line (if it is the same square, multiply that digit by itself). Digits may repeat on a line if permitted by the other rules. Lines do not branch or cross, but they may share squares with other lines.

Chess Puzzle - Gavrilescu Vs. Gallasch, 2024

It’s time to sharpen your chess skills! Can you find the winning moves and secure victory on the board? Analyse the position carefully and claim checkmate!

GeoGuessr Round

This week, we’ve dropped you somewhere on Earth! Analyse the scenery, take in the landmarks, and piece together clues to figure out your exact location. Will you discover the hidden destination?

Click here to play this week’s challenge!

How to Submit

Winners’ Circle

Congratulations to last week’s Puzzle Masters:

Sudoku Champion: Weiming Xu
Chess Guru: Weiming Xu
GeoGuessr World Traveler: Cyrus, 14,570pts

Good luck and happy puzzling!

Welcome Week • Monday 16 September 2024 • #24.01

Paul pic

Welcome to Monday Mail, the newsletter for undergraduate students in the Department of Computer Science. Monday Mail is sent every Monday morning (hence the name) during teaching and exam periods. The goal of Monday Mail is to keep you up-to-date with what’s happening in the Department, to provide information we think you will find useful, and to publicise all the great things that you are involved with, such as a hackathon success, or to publicise a competition you are organising, anything really, as long as it's of interest to the rest of the UG cohort. If you have anything you’d like to share then please just get in touch.

If you are a new undergraduate student joining us then welcome to the Department of Computer Science, my name is Paul Nutter and I’m the Undergraduate Programme Director, which basically means I’m responsible for the day-to-day running of the undergraduate degree programmes in the Department. If you are a returning student, then welcome back! I hope you had a good summer and found some time to relax and recharge the batteries ready for another exciting academic year. If you see me around the Kilburn building then please stop me to say hello, I'd love to hear from you.

We would like you to think of the Kilburn Building as your home whilst you are studying in the Department. Make the most of the facilities available as well as the great sense of community (among students and staff) we have in the Department.

Enjoy Welcome Week, I'll hopefully see you around. On with today’s news …

Paul
Undergraduate Programme Director

PASS1.

The PASS1 team (Danyaal Ahmed (Y3, CS), David Sendula (OnIE, CS), Gundeep Oberoi (OnIE, CSwIE), and Merve Turan (Y3, CS)) write: Hello Year 1 students and welcome to Manchester! We are your PASS1 coordinators. PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) are informal and engaging sessions for you to receive general support and guidance from your peers. PASS sessions are also great to hear about the experiences of former Year 1 students and to meet your fellow peers. There is a PASS1 Welcome and Scavenger Hunt planned for you this Wednesday (18th September) at 3pm in Crawford House TH1. You will get a chance to meet your fellow peers and get a better insight into what to expect in our weekly PASS sessions. Keep an eye on the mail for any other fun future events we might host for you! We really hope to see you there, and please don't hesitate to contact us via our university emails for any concerns or queries!

PASS2.

The PASS2 team (Kavin Gunasekara (Y3, CSwIE) and Vishal Kandasamy Sekar (Y3, CSwIE)) write: Hi Everyone, Welcome back to Uni! We hope you’ve had an entertaining and relaxing summer vacation! There’re loads of exciting events planned for you in PASS2 this year and it’ll kick off on Thursday the 26th (September), at 12pm in the IT Building - IT407. It’ll focus on setting you up for internship hunting this year and what the different modules are all about. Can’t wait to see you there!

WHAT IS MONDAY MAIL FOR?

Monday Mail is a newsletter for UG students in the Department of Computer Science that not only provides you with announcements and information we think you will find interesting (and hopefully useful), but also showcases the amazing things our students do. So, if you’ve been involved in anything that you think your peers will be interested in, from winning a hackathon to presenting your work at a meeting or conference, then just let me (Paul) know if you’d like to publicise it in Monday Mail. As an example, see the following item on student publication success. Also, if there’s anything you’d like to see in Monday Mail beyond the usual items, then please just let me know.

STUDENT PUBLICATION SUCCESS.

Alexandru Buburuzan (Year 3, AIwIE) has had his paper published in the Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) Workshops. “Lift-Attend-Splat: Bird's-eye-view camera-lidar fusion using transformers” introduces a novel sensor fusion method for 3D object detection in autonomous driving that selects and fuses camera and lidar features using a simple attention mechanism, bypassing monocular depth estimation. As a co-author, his primary contribution centred around understanding why the Transformer is a better candidate for multimodal sensor fusion, making use of model interpretability and explainability techniques. This research constitutes part of Alexandru's placement as a Research Engineer Intern at FiveAI. If you'd like to talk to Alexandru about his placement, or what went into writing a paper, you can contact him by email. Well done on your publication success Alexandru!

AFHEA SUCCESS.

Andrea Schalk (Discipline Head of Education) writes: Student teaching qualification success. As a pilot project we offered the opportunity last year to third year undergraduate students to apply for Associate Fellowship of Advance HE (AFHEA). Advance HE is an organisation for professionals in higher education. Four third year undergraduate students applied for an associate fellowship, and all four were successful: Mihnea Popeanga (CSwIE), Claudiu Craciun (CMwIE), Sambbhav Khare (CS4) and Atif Patel (CSwIE). Well done!

If this is something you would like to pursue, you'll need to be involved in activities such as being a PASS Leader or Coordinator or a Teaching Volunteer since the application is based on creating case studies around personal experience with teaching or supporting learning. If your third year project has a connection with education you should also be able to use your experience with that. Tom Carroll and Andrea Schalk will again provide mentoring for those interested in pursuing this option, and we'll set this up around half way through Semester 2.

UNICS NEWS.

Welcome back everyone! We are UniCS, the Computer Science society at the University of Manchester. We’re excited to bring you a variety of socials, workshops, career advice, competitions, and much more! Here’s an overview of our events this week:

Board Games Night - Wednesday 4PM - 6PM. Location: Kilburn Collab (lower first floor). We will provide board games and snacks. Join us for a few hours of fun and introductions before university kicks off.
UniCS Pub Circle - Friday 6:30PM - 10:30PM. Location: 532 Student's Union Bar. Join us for our Fresher's pub crawl! We will be starting and ending at 532 in the Student's Union Building. The Non-Compulsory Theme for the Night: Circles & Squares - First years are encouraged to dress as Squares: stripes, plaid & chequered patterns, box-ey clothing, and anything that you personally deem square-like - Other years are encouraged to dress as Circles: spot patterns, round hats, round clothing, and anything that you personally deem circle-like.
Society Fresher's Fair Stall - Friday 10AM - 4PM. Location: Manchester Academy 1. A chance to meet the committee and ask us any questions before the year starts! We will also be hosting games and prizes so keep an eye out for our stall for a chance to win something epic...

Further details for our events can be found on our social media pages and for any questions please feel free to reach out to us! See our SU Page to register for a free membership and our contact information. Bring along your friends and housemates of all courses. Come have a great time with us!

SOCIAL AND WORKING SPACES IN KILBURN.

We’d like all our students to consider the Kilburn Building to be their home during their time in Manchester. As such, we have several social and working areas exclusively for the use of CS students. This includes a variety of computer clusters: G23 on the ground floor, Tootill 0, Tootill 1, and LF31 on the lower first floor, and 1.8/1.10 on the first floor (please note that timetables activities also take place in these labs so they may not be available at all times) and collaborative workspaces: G41 on the ground floor, and Collab 1 and 2 on the lower first floor (again used for teaching). LF1.8 on lower first (glass fronted lab) offers a small number of computers and four group working areas, and this is not used for any timetabled activities. In terms of social areas, you have the lower first floor, where there’s comfy seating, bean bags, high tables with power supplies and private working booths, plus group seating on the upper level behind lecture theatre 1.1. You can also make use of the Turing lounge on the first floor where there’s a pool table (new cues have been ordered), table football table, and a table tennis table. Please make use of these facilities as they have been introduced for your benefit.

STUDENT WELLBEING SUPPORT IN CS.

Issues can impact students at any time, usually when you least expect it. If you are affected by any issues, and if they start to impact your studies, then it’s vitally important that you speak to someone and get the help and support you need. You can also speak to the relevant year tutor, however, you can speak to a member of our Student Support and Wellbeing Team, Maria Sloan and Ben Herbert, or drop into the student hub in the Nancy Rothwell Building (1st floor) and ask to speak to someone, in confidence, about anything that might be affecting you and your studies. Maria and Ben are also the Disability Coordinators for CS, so you can speak to them if you have any ongoing physical or mental health problems, or conditions such as ASD or ADHD, that affect your studies, even if you are not already registered with the DASS Team at the University. If you are registered with DASS and there are problems with your DASS plan you can speak with them about this too. You can contact Maria and Ben at soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk.

STUDENT SUPPORT HUB.

soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk: general queries; advice on University policies and services.
soe.programmes@manchester.ac.uk: student record queries; registration advice and guidance; timetable queries/clashes; ATAS/Visa advice; extension to study period; project topics, allocation and supervisors; change of programme; return to study; professional accreditation
soe.studentexperience@manchester.ac.uk: student societies support; SSLC/student rep support; employability; graduation; PASS; academic advising; communications; summer internship programme; surveys (course unit and NSS).
soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk: mitigating circumstances; interruptions; disability coordinator support; general wellbeing support (appointments and helping you access the support you need).
soe.attendance@manchester.ac.uk: attendance and engagement monitoring.
soe.courseunits@manchester.ac.uk: course unit selection.
soe.placements@manchester.ac.uk: placement support and coordination.
soe.assessment@manchester.ac.uk: publication of results, exam queries, assessment queries (including DASS), progression and award queries.
soe.appealsandconduct@manchester.ac.uk: academic appeals; malpractice and student complaints.

If you are unsure which email to use then use soe.hub@manchester.ac.uk for general queries.

WELFARE WEEKLY WITH BEN - WELCOME TO STUDENT SUPPORT AND WELLBEING.

This from Ben Herbert, Student Support and Wellbeing: Welcome to Welfare Weekly, a regular (probably not actually weekly) item in Monday Mail covering various topics and top tips to support your wellbeing while at University. I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce the Student Support and Wellbeing team (SSW) at the School of Engineering. You can find us every weekday from 9am (10am on Wednesdays) to 5pm in the Student Support Hub on the first floor of the Nancy Rothwell Building, or by emailing us on soe.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk.

The student support webpage provides links to detailed help and support in the University. The Support and Wellbeing team can assist you with any queries or concerns you may have about your wellbeing, personal, or study struggles. We can answer any questions you have relating to mitigation of assessments and point you in the right direction for getting help from DASS or the Counselling and Mental Health Service etc.

The Student Support Hub acts as your one stop shop to access information and support for personal as well as academic and (almost) all university related issues, so do stop by. For academic queries we also recommend speaking to your academic advisor or year tutor. Our hope is that you won't need to use the support and wellbeing team. For the majority, everything will go smoothly for you and you will leave with a degree you are happy with. But don't forget we are here if you need us.

Before I go, let me link you to some useful podcasts about settling into University life, hosted by University of Manchester students, for you to listen to on your down time.

UoM Students Maansi, Khadijat and host Georgia, discuss the things you need to think about before coming to university. How easy is it to make friends? What is the step-up like? What's it like coming from abroad?
Freshers week - arguably the most anticipated week of university life. In this episode, UoM students Jodie and Jacob bust some myths about what can be an exciting yet daunting week. They chat about clubbing, flat parties, freshers fairs and the first few days of university.

KEEPING SAFE ON CAMPUS.

Manchester, like any other large city, can have issues with crime, hence it’s important you keep safe when on campus and travelling to/from the campus. Keep in mind the following:

Stay alert: Keep your belongings safe and out of view when travelling to or from campus and whilst you’re on it. Avoid wearing noise cancelling headphones so you know what’s going on around you, and stick to well-lit roads and pavements as you travel around the city, avoiding underpasses where possible. Keep your phone out of sight!
Download SafeZone: Our mobile app SafeZone can be used to quickly connect you with Campus Support and Security team if you feel unsafe, need immediate help or require first aid or wellbeing assistance. The app is free to download, easy to use, and operates across the Manchester campuses. You can find out more about SafeZone here.
Report unacceptable behaviour: Manchester has a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, harassment, discrimination, gender-based violence, hate or micro-aggressions. If you have witnessed any forms of this behaviour, or have a safeguarding concern, you can report it anonymously or get support from a trained advisor. Find out more about Report + Support.

YEAR TUTOR OPEN HOURS.

In the Department we have Year Tutors who are responsible for looking after the different cohorts in each year group. Please note that there is one Year Tutor for all those students, across all years on the Computer Science and Mathematics degree programmes (what we call CM). The Year Tutors are here to provide you with help and support if you need it, so feel free to contact your Year Tutor by email at any time. Year Tutors also run a weekly open hour (starting from Week 1 of teaching - next week) where you can pop along for a chat:

Year 1 (not CM): Terry Morley. Open hour: Monday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.7.
Year 2 (not CM): Aphrodite Galata. Open hour: TBC, Kilburn 2.101.
Industrial Experience Year: Duncan Hull. Open hour: TBC, Kilburn LF25.
Year 3 (not CM): Gareth Henshall. Open hour: Tuesday 13:00 - 14:00, Kilburn 2.82.
Year 4: Tim Morris. Open hour: Tuesday 11:00 - 12:00, Kilburn 2.107.
CM (all years): Joe Razavi. Open hour: Monday 13:30 - 14:30, Kilburn 2.75.
UG Director: Paul Nutter. Open hour: Tuesday 12:00 - 13:00, find me on the lower first floor of Kilburn.

CS UG COMMUNITY BLACKBOARD PAGE.

UG PROGRAMME HANDBOOK.

WELCOME WEEK ACTIVITIES.

There are a number of activities scheduled for Welcome Week. You can find out more in the CS UG Community Blackboard space in the corresponding year folder (Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4). There are welcome talks scheduled as follows:

Year 1: Monday 16th September, 3 - 5pm, Roscoe Building, Lecture Theatre A (building 53 on the interactive campus map), Thursday 19th September, 2 - 4pm, Roscoe Lecture Theatre A (building 53 on the interactive campus map).
Year 2: Monday 16th September 2 - 4pm, Simon Building, Lecture Theatre B (building 59 on the campus map)
Year 3: Monday 16th September, 12 - 2pm, Kilburn Building, Lecture Theatre 1.1, (building 39 on the campus map)
Year 4: Thursday 19th September, 10 - 12pm, Engineering Building B, Room B_2B.025 M&T (building 25 on the campus map)

First year students will be allocated a tutor (academic advisor) who you will get to meet in the “Meet Your Tutor” lunch on Wednesday 18th September from 12 - 2pm (you will be allocated a one hour slot) which will take place somewhere in the Kilburn/IT Buildings - your personal timetable will tell you where to go. There will be other activities scheduled throughout the week, for example 1st year Introduction Labs and COMP10120 Workshops, and some activities arranged specifically for students on the CM degree programme, so please check your personal timetable to find out which activities you are scheduled to attend.

NEW STUDENT ATTENDANCE SYSTEM - SEAtS.

The University has introduced a new student attendance system called SEAtS to help us actively support student engagement. Attendance information will be used to help identify students who may be struggling academically or personally, so we’re able to quickly and effectively offer any support you may need. It will be used to replace existing visa check-in processes. As a student, logging in to SEAtS for the first time is a straightforward process that involves a few simple steps. Here's how to get started:

Step 1: Download the SEAtS App: It's available on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, so whether you're using an iPhone or an Android device, you can easily access it. Simply search for "SEAtS 2024" in your app store, download, and install the app. If you do not have access to a working smart phone, or do not want to install the app, there's also a web interface you'll be able to use.
Step 2: Log in using your University Email: You will only be able to log onto SEAtS once you have completed registration and signed up for your University IT account. Once the app is installed, open it and log in using your University email address and password. It's important to note that you must use your official University email for this initial login. This ensures that your account is correctly linked to your student profile and schedule.
Step 3: Logging your attendance: In lectures you should record your attendance using the QR code or pin provided by the lecturer - this will only work for the hour of the lecture. In some activities, such as small group teaching, attendance will be logged via an academic using a digital register.

COMPUTERS IN KILBURN.

Just a reminder that the computers in the teaching clusters in Kilburn need to be left switched on after use so that any software updates can be applied overnight. Please remember to just log out when you have finished using them, there’s no need to shut the computer down. Please do not just switch them off from the power button or socket! Don’t worry, the machines do go into standby mode to save the planet (to some degree!).

NEW LINUX HOME DIRECTORIES.

This from Chris Page: A significant change to student file storage has happened over the summer. From September 2024 onward, the primary Linux filestore for students has been changed to be their University of Manchester P: drive. This means that files you write to your home directory under Linux will also be visible when you log in under Windows, and vice versa. This move also includes expanding your P: drive storage to 10GB. Returning students can find their old Computer Science Linux home directory under /cshome/. When logging into the Linux desktop you will be shown a popup window that shows the location of your old Computer Science Linux home directory. Please note that none of the files in your Computer Science Linux home directory have been moved to your new P-drive based home directory. This means that any ssh keys you may have previously set up will no longer be in the location ssh expects. You can generate a new ssh key to use with GitLab as described on the Department wiki. Alternatively, you can copy the .ssh directory from your old Computer Science Linux home directory into your new P: drive based home directory, and then run the script fixsshperms from the command line to fix the permissions on the files.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT IN CS.

IT Services provide support for centrally provided systems: if you have problems with Office 365 including email, Blackboard, Duo, Wifi, printing, or using your University of Manchester account to log into Windows or Linux you will need to contact the IT Services helpdesk either via the in-person desk on the ground floor of Kilburn building, the support portal, or by calling 0161 306 5544. FSE Technical Services provide support for the Department of Computer Science GitLab service, the Web Dashboard, MySQL and MongoDB services, and can help with issues related to software used as part of your courses and submitting work with git. This can include general git problems, issues with access to git projects, submissions not appearing in SPOT, and problems with software on the cluster machines. They can be contacted by emailing support@cs.manchester.ac.uk. Please note that in general FSE Technical Services can not provide technical support for installing software on personal devices.

STUDENTS’ UNION FRESHERS FAIR.

The Students’ Union will hold their Freshers Fair on Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th September in Manchester Academy (building 78). You can find directions here. The 2024 Freshers Fairs are your chance to make the most out of Freshers! There'll be loads of fun activities and freebies, and you can also find out about the best student deals you can take advantage of during your time in Manchester. From 10am – 10.30am, each fair will host a Quiet half hour. These periods are there so people with sensory or mobility needs can feel confident in their ability to attend the fair in a safe and comfortable way. You can find out more information from the Students’ Union website.

STUDENTS’ UNION SOCIETIES FAIR.

The Students’ Union Societies fairs will take place on 18th, 19th and 20th September in Manchester Academy (building 78). You can find directions here. Whether you want to start a new sport, meet new friends, pick up an old hobby, or just see what we have on offer - this is the perfect place to do it! We have over 100 societies, sport clubs, student volunteering projects, and commercial stalls waiting for you on the day. There'll be loads of fun activities and freebies, and you can also find out about the best student deals you can take advantage of during your time in Manchester. There will be different types of societies on each day of the fair:

Wednesday 18th: Recreation, Sport, Volunteering and Fundraising groups
Thursday 19th: Culture, Faith, Arts and Media groups
Friday 20th: Academic, Medical, Campaigning and Political groups.

If you'd like to speak to a specific group, you can check which day they will be on and where they will be located at the fair in our Stall Allocation. From 10am on each day, there will be a Quiet hour, where people with sensory or mobility needs can feel confident in their ability to attend the fair in a safe and comfortable way. You can find out more information from the Students’ Union website.

ACADEMIC REPRESENTATIVE RECRUITMENT.

TEACHING VOLUNTEER CALL.

UKIEPC PROGRAMMING CONTEST.

This from Ian Pratt-Hartmann: The UK and Ireland Programming Contest (UKIEPC) will take place this year on Saturday, October 19th, 2024, 11:00 - 16:00. UKIEPC is an annual event in which teams of three participants try to crack a series of programming challenges. This year, as usual, Manchester will be one of the participating sites. Note that participation at Manchester is be available ONLY to teams consisting entirely of undergraduate or taught postgraduate students in the Department of Computer Science at Manchester (this, however, includes students on joint honours programmes such as Computing and Mathematics). The contest itself will take place in the labs on the Lower First Floor of the Kilburn Building. Refreshments will be provided in the common area on the Lower First Floor for participants. (Obviously, no food and drink will be permitted in the labs.) Details can be found on the UKIEPC website. You will need to register using the Competition website. (There is a "Take Part" button in the top right corner, which is surprisingly easy to miss.) Registration is now open: you may find that Manchester University is not yet listed as an available site: don't worry, it should appear in the list within a few days. Completing the form should be easy, but you are advised to assemble your team first and then sort out all the registrations. We will limit participation to the first twenty completely registered teams of three.

GETTING A JOB AS AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT.

Are you new to the UK? Come along to this session where we will run through the things you need to know to secure employment in the UK.

Date: Monday 16th September, 1pm – 2pm. **TODAY**
Location: Online via Zoom or on Campus. The Atrium, University Place – Building 37 on Campus Map.

To register and for more information, visit CareerConnect.

KILBURN BUILDING WORKS.

The loading bay entrance to the Kilburn Building (opposite University Place) is currently being refurbished, so there is no currently no access to the Kilburn Building from this entrance. Access (including outside normal working hours) is via the main entrance opposite Crawford house (on the opposite side of the building).

LIBRARY SUPPORT FOR THE START OF YEAR.

The Library is here to support you throughout your time at University. We provide:

Resources: We offer access to a wide range of books, journals, and databases;
Training: We offer training workshops to help students build the personal and academic skills they need to succeed in their studies and research;
Study Spaces: we have eight Library sites, offering over 3000 study spaces;
Support: Our Library staff are always available to answer questions.

If you need introductory information to help use the Library, or if you want to find out about tours and events, please go to the Library’s Get Started webpage. You can also drop-in at any of our Library sites and chat to our friendly staff about how the Library can support your studies.

SOMETHING TO SHARE?

The deadline for sending in Monday Mail items: 12:00 (noon) every Friday. Just contact Paul.

Welcome to Puzzle Corner, a range of puzzles, challenges and brain teasers set by our resident puzzle master Gareth Henshall. Every week Gareth will set you the challenge of solving a range of puzzles, so get ready to challenge your mind and explore the world with this week’s trio of brain teasers! Whether you’re a sudoku whiz, a chess strategist, or a globe-trotting explorer, Puzzle Corner has something for everyone. Clear your schedule, grab a cup of coffee, and let the fun begin!

Sudoku Challenge - ISD 9/9/2024 by Grant McLean.

Put your logical thinking to the test! Normal sudoku rules apply. Digits on a thermometer must increase from the bulb end. Digits in cages must not repeat and must sum to the value given. Orthogonally connected cells must not contain consecutive digits. Can you solve it?

Chess Puzzle - Cardoso Vs. Kulpruethanon, 2024

It’s time to sharpen your chess skills! Can you find the winning moves and secure victory on the board? Analyse the position carefully and claim checkmate!

GeoGuessr Round

This week, we’ve dropped you somewhere on Earth! Analyse the scenery, take in the landmarks, and piece together clues to figure out your exact location. Will you discover the hidden destination? We are playing the 'World' map: Embark on a journey that takes you all over the world. From the most desolate roads in Australia to the busy, bustling streets of New York City.

Click here to play this week’s challenge!

How to Submit

Winners’ Circle

Each week we will post the name of the 1st correct solution for the Sudoku & Chess puzzles and the person who tops the Geoguessr Leaderboard.

Good luck and happy puzzling!