Birmingham Environment for Academic Research (BEAR) Newsletter
This month we reached our 1500th publication logged where BEAR services have been used during the research, congratulations to Aaron Scott from the Department of Inflammation and Ageing! We will be featuring a case study on his research in a future newsletter. In team news this week, we were pleased to welcome new Senior Research Data Scientist Rachael Stickland to the Research Software Group. Lastly, next week we will be taking part in the University’s Researcher Development Landscape workshop, to ensure that the training we provide is widely known throughout the University and discuss any gaps in provision.
Included in this month’s newsletter:
- Upcoming maintenance – 14-16 April
- BEAR Conference – extended deadline for talks/posters from PGRs
- Reminder – free places for RSE Midlands at The Exchange – 7 April
- ‘MATLABsolute Beginner’ workshop – 25 March
- OpenFOAM workshop series – starts 9 April
- ‘Data and AI for researchers’ at the University’s first Data Conference
- NEW! Intermediate Research Software Development workshop – starts 1 April
- Call for Institute for Data and AI Affiliates
- IDAI ‘Pump Prime Funding’ spotlight
- Case study on using BlueBEAR for nuclear physics research
- BEAR drop-in sessions
Upcoming maintenance – 14 to 16 April
Whilst we are very conscious that there has already been downtime for maintenance this year, another BEAR shutdown of all services lasting three days is scheduled for Monday 14 to Wednesday 16 April (inclusive). The primary reason for the additional and extended outages is due to the critical electrical infrastructure testing, maintenance and repairs Estates have needed to complete both in the data centre and for the entire Vale site. Full details and reminders will be sent as usual to the service mailing lists.
BEAR Conference – extended deadline for talks/posters from PGRs
There is still time for PGRs to submit an abstract to present their research enabled by any BEAR services as a poster or talk at the BEAR Conference, being held on Thursday 22 May. This is an excellent opportunity to practice presenting to a wider audience than at discipline-specific conferences, to gain skills in public engagement. Prizes are on offer for the best talk and poster, kindly supplied by Lenovo. Submit your abstract or register your attendance via the BEAR Conference webpage (deadline for abstracts Friday 28 March).
Reminder – free places for RSE Midlands at The Exchange – 7 April
There are still places available to attend the RSE Midlands Conference at The Exchange on Monday 7 April. In addition to talks from Research Software Engineers (RSEs), there will be case studies from our Tier 2 supercomputer, Baskerville, and researcher Grant Wilson will describe the DIATOMIC digital twin project for Birmingham. If you have experience with RSEs, or are curious to find out more about them, please see the RSE Midlands webpages for event details and to book your free place.
‘MATLABsolute Beginner’ workshop – 25 March
On Tuesday 25 March from 15:00-17:00 (in Gisbert Kapp, LT2) there will be an On-Ramp workshop run by MATLAB experts, with free pizza provided. Open to all levels of ability… just bring a laptop! To register, email the MATLAB Student Ambassador Dagmar Fraser and/or join the LinkedIn group to hear about future events.
OpenFOAM workshop series – starts 9 April
Join the ‘OpenFOAM Workshop Series (Spring 2025)’, a hands-on training program taking you from basic usage to advanced programming in open-source CFD! Organised by Dr Chandan Bose, this series is perfect for students, researchers, and engineers keen to harness the full power of OpenFOAM. The first session on ‘Introduction to CFD using OpenFOAM’ is being held on Wednesday 9 April from 14:00-16:00 in the Metallurgy & Materials Building G6 (C block, room GC13). Find out more including how to register your interest via the OpenFOAM workshop blog post.
‘Data and AI for researchers’ at the University’s first Data Conference
On Wednesday 26 February, we ran a session in collaboration with the Institute for Data and AI (IDAI) entitled ‘Data and AI for researchers’ at the University’s inaugural Data Conference. Featuring information on IDAI and BEAR services, together with a series of case studies from researchers on how they make use of our services, you can read a summary of the session via the UoB Data Conference blog post.
NEW! Intermediate Research Software Development workshop – starts 1 April
We are delivering a new workshop over 3.5 days in April (starts Tuesday 1 April) to teach a core set of established, intermediate-level software development skills and best practices for working as part of a team in a research environment, using Python as the programming language. If you have been writing software for a while and would like some support in improving it, register for your place via the Eventbrite page.
Call for Institute for Data and AI Affiliates
The Institute for Data and AI (IDAI) is now accepting applications for Affiliate membership. Membership provides an opportunity to lead impactful research in data science and AI, collaborate across disciplines, and grow your academic profile. Further details on the Affiliate scheme and an application form are available via the ‘Call for Affiliates’ webpage (deadline Monday 28 April), including details of a related ‘Theme Ideation Workshop’ on Tuesday 8 April.
IDAI ‘Pump Prime Funding’ spotlight
In Advanced Research Computing, we collaborate closely with IDAI and will be featuring a series of guest blog posts from their Project Manager, Joshua Panteli, on the winning projects in their latest round of Pump Prime Funding. These projects will buy out time from our Research Data Scientists and Research Software Engineers. You can find out about three of the research projects covering a wide range of disciplines in the first ‘IDAI Pump Prime Funding spotlight’ blog post.
Case study on using BlueBEAR for nuclear physics research
In this month’s featured case study, we hear from Kiran Nutter (PhD student in Physics), who has been utilising BlueBEAR to study applications of gamma ray imaging. Kiran explains two aspects of his research which support advances in medicine, running simulations on BlueBEAR to design an imaging camera for cancer therapy, and using Computational Fluid Dynamics to model blood flow during life support. Have a read of Kiran’s case study to find out more.
BEAR drop-in sessions
We are now holding monthly in-person drop-in sessions on the first Wednesday of the month at 13:30-14:30 on the first floor of Staff House (formerly Café Aroma). We will still be providing additional virtual drop-in sessions via Zoom for those not on campus or who require specialist help – check the drop-in webpage for updates, as well as details on how to join the sessions. Currently scheduled dates are also listed below:
- In-person – Tuesday 25 March, 12:30-13:30 – Main Library foyer
- Via Zoom – Friday 28 March, 09:30-10:30
- In-person – Wednesday 2 April, 13:30-14:30 – Staff House, first floor (look for our banner)
- Via Zoom – Thursday 3 April, 11:00-12:00
- Via Zoom – Friday 11 April, 09:30-10:30
Missed last month’s newsletter?
Find February’s newsletter here. Sign up to receive the newsletter direct to your inbox by joining our bear-updates mailing list here (UoB login required), or ask to join via email at bear