August 2023 newsletter
Bear looking at the mk1c sequencer
Welcome to the BEAR Newsletter, bringing you the latest news from the BEAR team (Birmingham Environment for Academic Research), as well as other relevant computing and data-related news from both within the University of Birmingham and outside.
As we move into the summer months, we are reflecting on previous events in this newsletter but Bear has still been out meeting researchers via the #BearonTour series, most recently making a visit to the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research. You can find out more about how Dr Hannah Nieto is using BEAR storage to help in the search to revolutionise thyroid cancer treatment in our blog post interview.
Further to last month’s competition, we would like to congratulate the winner of the 1000th publication to be logged as using BEAR services, Dr Andrew Bremner from Psychology. Lastly, with events at the university quietening down, we have been spreading the word to other universities about how we engage with researchers, giving a talk on ‘HPC: Reaching out to researchers and building skills’ for the Jisc Digital Research Community.
In this newsletter we cover:
- Opportunity for PGRs to join the BEAR Conference Organising Committee
- Software Licensing Digital Research Conversation
- BEAR Challenge 2023
- Request for AI speaker
- Case Study: BlueBEAR use in medicinal chemistry
- Virtual BEAR Drop-in Sessions
Opportunity for PGRs to join the BEAR Conference Organising Committee
Back in April, a team of dedicated PGRs worked with the BEAR team to deliver the BEAR PGR Conference to a diverse group of PGRs, as well as interested research staff – see the blog post on the BEAR Conference for more information. The conference proceedings have now been published and can be accessed via ePapers.
The BEAR conference was originally created to give PhD students experience in running a conference, as well as provide a showcase for the fantastic research done on BEAR. We are asking for PhD students and also early-career researchers (who can guide/help) from across the university to join the organising Committee for the 2024 Conference – please see our blog post on joining the Committee for more information.
Software Licensing Digital Research Conversation
Our most recent DRC took place in June, where speakers and attendees had really interesting discussions on issues around licencing of software, particularly open source and copyright. A summary of this fascinating event, with slides from our speakers, is now available via our blog post.
BEAR Challenge 2023
This successful 3-day event took place in June, with 50 students taking part in a series of challenges using Baskerville. Gavin Yearwood gives an overview of the activities and teams involved in this blog post.
Request for AI speaker
Nicola Davies from the ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers) Education Committee is organising a webinar on AI in research integrity. They’re looking for a speaker who uses (or is for using) AI in research to present their case in 15 minutes, then a further 10 minutes to address the perspective of someone from the publishing industry. If you are interested, please contact Nicola directly.
Case Study: BlueBEAR use in medicinal chemistry
In our latest case study, we hear from Samuel Dettmer, PhD student from the School of Chemistry, who has been making use of BlueBEAR and the Research Data Store to enable his research into the ability of metal compounds to bind to DNA structures in the area of medicinal chemistry.
Virtual BEAR Drop-in Sessions
During August, we only have virtual drop-in sessions via Zoom scheduled. If you would like to book an in-person meeting or Zoom session either at the time listed below, or at a date/time more suitable for you, then do get in touch via bearinfo@contacts.bham.ac.uk
Further details, including how to join the virtual sessions are available on our drop-in webpage. Upcoming dates are also listed below:
- Via Zoom – Tuesday 15th August, 11:00 – 12:00
Missed last month's newsletter?
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