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.
This month, we have some exciting news about awards, announced at the International Conference for High Performance Computing, SC23, in Denver, USA! Bear missed out on a trip to the States as they were busy meeting researchers from the Centre of Membrane Proteins and Receptors (COMPARE) for the #BearonTour. You can find out more about the cross-university research centre from Bear’s interview with researchers Hector Basevi and Joao Correia, in this month’s BEAR on Tour blog post.
Read below to find out more BEAR news:
- HPC Wire 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards
- Seven permanent posts available in Advanced Research Computing
- R User Group event – Tidy Tuesday
- Case study on exploring trends in graduate skills using BlueBEAR
- Virtual BEAR drop-in sessions & in-person event
HPC Wire 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards
We are excited to announce that researchers who use our advanced computing facilities have been recognised as award winners in the HPCwire 2023 awards! Advanced Research Computing is very proud to provide the BEAR computing facilities to support life-changing research at the university, which has again been internationally recognised in these highly competitive, global awards. You can find out more details on the awards and the research involved, featuring researchers’ Kit Windows-Yule and Paul Brook, in our awards blog post.
Seven permanent posts available in Advanced Research Computing
The University of Birmingham aspires to establish itself as a World Top 50 university by 2030, and Advanced Research Computing (ARC) have a key part to play in achieving this aim. ARC is a well-respected, award-winning team with a national and international profile. Our team is continuously growing, and we are excited to announce that we are looking for talented individuals to fill seven permanent posts:
DevOps Engineer (Grade 7, 1 post):
- We are looking for a strong Python programmer, with experience of Linux, APIs and Git. See our blog post for more details on the DevOps position and how to apply (closing date Tuesday 12th December).
Senior Research Software Engineer & Manager plus 5 Senior RSEs (Grade 8, 6 posts):
- Find out more about these positions and how to apply in our blog post on the RSE positions (closing date Wednesday 29thNovember).
R User Group event – Tidy Tuesday
The newly founded University of Birmingham R User Group are holding a hands-on Tidy Tuesday session, where R users from across the university can get together to analyse and visualise a dataset. Come along this Tuesday, 21st November, at 13:00-14:00 to Elm House, room G05 ( location map here). Bring your laptop and we will provide the tea, coffee and biscuits!
We are in the process of creating a mailing list for the UoB R User Group. If you would like to hear about future events, get in touch with us at bearinfo@contacts.bham.ac.uk and we will let you know how to sign up to the mailing list.
Case study on exploring trends in graduate skills using BlueBEAR
In this month’s featured case study, Max Schroeder (post-doc from the Department of Finance) explains how he has used our supercomputer, BlueBEAR, to enable his research into exploring trends in graduate skills. Max simulated a model economy, using the computational power of BlueBEAR to run millions of simulations to mirror the intricate reality of the UK’s graduate landscape. Results showed a trend for an evolving job market that increasingly values analytical capability.
Virtual BEAR drop-in sessions & in-person event
Until Christmas, we are just holding virtual drop-in sessions, but you can come meet us in-person at our Digital Research Conversation on Sustainable Computing – book your place here. Further details, including how to join the virtual sessions are available on our drop-in webpage. Upcoming dates are also listed below:
- Via Zoom – Friday 24th November, 14:30 – 15:30 (new time)
- Via Zoom – Thursday 30th November, 09:30 – 10:30
- Via Zoom – Tuesday 12th December, 12:00 – 13:00
Missed last month’s newsletter?
Find October’s newsletter here. Sign up to receive the newsletter direct to your inbox by joining our bear-updates mailing list here (UoB login required).