All Hands on DEC - March 2007
This Months Stories:
- Robot Daze
- An overview of this month's activities
- SoSym Project has Successful First Review
- CC4G have a visit from Mayor
- Psychology Events
- Supporting Speaker Confirmed
- Two Unpublished DEC UG Open Afternoons
- JP Morgan Prizes
- SU Election Success
- PhD Studentships
- Bryce is back on his bike!
- DEC Schools Liaison Team
- Events Calendar
- How to submit future stories
- Next Newsletter
Robot Daze
Chris Benjamin and Keith Webber recently held the DEC/ Aimhigher Robot Daze. The days saw three local Schools visit BU and enjoy a day of programming and working our robots. The days, assisted by second year Electronics students, have received excellent feedback about the activity. DEC have received a letter of thanks from one school to all involved for a day which was a refreshing change to our normal information based lessons, signed by all the students.
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An overview of this month's activities
With the Easter holidays for both the University and Schools we have a quiet month for activities:
- Easter holidays 30 March to 20 April
- There is a Postgraduate afternoon on Wednesday 25 April from 3.30pm in the Staff Common Room
- Interior Design and Product Design have an additional Route B open day on Wednesday 25 April
SoSyM Project has Successful First Review
Research Group SoSyM had the first review of its project MDS (Misuse Detection System) this month.
Held on Friday 2 March, Commission reviewers found both our presentation and results very interesting. SoSyM's part of the MDS project focuses on fraud detection in mobile networks and supports the operator's business processes. The system uses artificial intelligence techniques to analyse call logs, and identifies anomalous patterns of behaviour that might indicate fraud. At the review SoSyM presented the first results of successful fraud detection within real mobile network data. This represents a great opportunity for exploitation and further work, as fraud is the single largest cause of revenue loss in this market, and estimates suggest globally the cost of such fraud may be in excess of £25 billion per year.
For more information please contact Jonathan Vincent or visit www.sosym.co.uk
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CC4G have a visit from the Mayor
On Wednesday 28 March, the Mayor of Bournemouth and Head of Computing, Dr Andrew Main, presented the CC4G (Computer Club 4 Girls) with certificates for completing the first section of their programme.
The girls, who are all from schools in Poole and Bournemouth, were joined by their parents and teachers during the final session before the Easter break.
Psychology Events
Dr Monica Whitty from Queen's University Belfast was invited to hold a talk on the topic of 'The Ins and Outs of Cyber-Cheating' on Thursday 15 February. The talk attracted a large audience of Professional Psychologists working in counselling together with staff and students of BU. The talk was based on Dr Whitty's research and published books and examined what online behaviours men and women perceive as acts of betrayal. Theories of offline infidelity, especially those developed by evolutionary theories and social cognitive theorists were drawn on to consider gender differences in attitudes towards online infidelity.
An invited talk from Andrea Lacey on 'Psychology for Everyone' launched a new local British Psychology Society (BPS) hub based at Bournemouth University on Monday 5 March. Andrea gave a broad overview of how Psychology affects our everyday lives and covered the different approaches within Psychology. The event was sponsored by BPS who provided a networking event for non-Psychologists and BPS members , supporting BPSs aim to 'Take Psychology to Society'.
For further information on these and future other talks in Psychology at BU please email jtaylor@bournemouth.ac.uk
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Supporting Speaker Confirmed
The additional speaker for the Festival of Design & Innovation 2007 has now been confirmed as Product Design graduate Phil Robinson.
Phil graduated from us in 2001 and has since had success with his ZorinPump, commercialised with the help of BU Innovations. Phil is currently working closely with teenagers throughout the UK in developing their design ideas.
Phil will be talking on the opening night for approximately ten minutes immediately before Mandy Haberman, the Key Note Speaker.
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Two Unpublished DEC UG Open Afternoons
Due to a fantastic increase in applications this year and to meet prospective student needs and expectations, DEC Exec have agreed to two additional open day dates which will remain unpublished.
These may be dedicated to certain courses and this detail will be decided nearer the time.
The additional dates are Wednesday 12 December 2007 and Wednesday 9 January 2008. Dates of all the general and School open days can be found in:
I:\DEC\Public\Marketing
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JP Morgan Computing Prizes
Dr Andrew Main has been working closely with JPMorganChase regarding two prizes they wish to offer to second and final year students on computing-disciplined courses.
The first of the awards The JPMorgan Prize for Excellence in Technology will be awarded to a second year student and presented in the summer term.
The second award The JPMorgan Prize for Technological Innovation in Business will be presented to a final year student at the graduation ceremony.
The awards are at very early stages, for more information please contact Andrew Main or Sonia.
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SU Election Success
After the SU elections this month two DEC students came out with the top positions. Adam Hyland and Sam Neaves, both final year BSc (Hons) Internet Communication Systems students, won President and Vice President positions respectively.
Both are looking forward to working with the SU after they finish their degrees in June.
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DEC PhD Studentships
The new PhD studentships have now been published onto the DEC website.
There are five DEC studentships available in the areas of computing and design.
For further information please visit http://dec.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/studentships/
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Bryce is back on his bike!
It seems that the Ironman triathlon competition in South Africa wasnt enough for sportsman Bryce.
This year Bryce Dyer (Course Leader for Product Design) will attend trials for the GB Triathlon team in his age group for the world championships in Hamburg. He will be competing as a master at the European track cycling championships as a Brit, and will be racing in France as a cyclist.
Good Luck Bryce!
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Schools Liaison Team
On Friday 9 March the Education Liaison Team visited DEC, updating us on their current activities.
In the past, academics would attend careers fayres with members of marketing. However, these events are now organised and facilitated by the EL team who have also vastly increased the frequency of their visits to these events.
Some of the schools/ fayres specialise in e.g. computer science and on these occasions it would be beneficial to invite an academic to be on hand to answer more specific queries, generating a positive response from attending students who may be interested in your courses.
If you are interested in putting your name on this list then please either email Sonia or add yourself to the list located at I:\DEC\Public\Marketing
Events Calendar
To help keep you up to date with school events happening within DEC, please find attached a chart which outlines Open Days, Conferences, School Visits, Planned Activities, Events, Careers Fayres and any other activities.
We are hoping that the introduction of this calendar will provide a useful overview, to see which schools are having visits and outline various events you may wish to be included in.
You are welcome to add to the list yourselves by visiting the link below. If you are filling in a School Visit please also fill in the other sheet within the table outlining the details of your trip.
I:\DEC\Public\Marketing\All Hands on DEC
Any questions or queries please contact Sonia via email.
How to submit future stories
If you have a story you would like included in the next issue of all hands on DEC please send it to Sonia. Each month the next deadline will be found at the bottom of the newsletter and a document can be found in the I drive (I:\DEC\Private\Marketing\All Hands on DEC) with all copy/story deadlines for the rest of the year.
Next Newsletter
April copy/ story deadline is: Wednesday 18th April
April newsletter will be sent out: Friday 27th April
