Birmingham Environment for Academic Research (BEAR) Newsletter
Last week we were excited to welcome 60 undergraduate and taught postgraduate students to BEAR Challenge 2026! Supported by many members of the ARC team, they experienced High Performance Computing (HPC) for the first time and heard about career opportunities in this field. The successful event was part of the university-wide UoB Xtra summer programme and can be counted towards the Birmingham Award, to demonstrate additional skills gathered outside academic study.
As we head towards the summer, we will be piloting some new Byte-Sized RSE sessions, a great way to find out about key software engineering topics in a short and informal format – see details below.
Included in this month’s newsletter:
- BEAR Conference blog post
- 50 extra GPUs added to BlueBEAR
- IDAI Research Data Science Spotlight seminar
- Byte-Sized RSE
- Training workshops
- Changes to external sharing in SharePoint Online
- Number of publications supported via BEAR
- Case study on the use of BlueBEAR in bioinformatics
- BEAR drop-in session dates
News from the Advanced Research Computing team
BEAR Conference blog post
The 15th BEAR Conference took place in April on the theme of AI x Integrity. Yaru Zhou from the PGR organising committee has written a blog post on the wide range of talks and panels that took place, with reflections on running the event from fellow committee members. A good read if you are interested in being involved next year!
50 extra GPUs added to BlueBEAR
We have recently doubled the number of GPUs available on BlueBEAR, taking the total to 100. Details of these extra A100-40 and A100-80 nodes can be found on our BEAR Docs site.
IDAI Research Data Science Spotlight seminar
On Wednesday 24 June from 12:30 – 15:00, join colleagues from our Research Data Science service to hear about their work and a showcase of four interdisciplinary projects. Lunch provided! Register via the Microsoft Form.
Byte-Sized RSE
Join us over 6 weeks of summer lunchtime sessions, covering a range of key research software skills in a short, byte-sized format – with lunch! From code development to unit testing and continuous integration, you can attend any or all of the sessions. More details and booking via the Byte-Sized RSE webpage.
Training workshops
We have a few spaces available on upcoming training courses this summer, including Introduction to BlueBEAR, Advanced BlueBEAR, Python, MATLAB and Git. You can find full details and booking on the training webpages.
Changes to external sharing in SharePoint Online
From May 2026, Microsoft has changed how files and folders are shared in SharePoint Online and OneDrive with people outside the University. The one-time passcode method for accessing files has been retired and replaced with secure sign-in using a Microsoft account. This means some content may no longer be accessible. It is important that you review what you have shared externally and reshare anything still needed to help prevent access issues. Learn more about the change here.
Use of BEAR services
Number of publications supported via BEAR
When we ask researchers to re-register their projects every 6 months, we also ask them to provide details of publications that have been enabled by using BEAR services. Since May, a further 14 publications have been registered, bringing the total on our database to 1780. Thank you to all who have helped provide this valuable information, which enables us to show the University that our services provide essential support for research. It is possible to add information on your publications at any time – see details on the Acknowledging BEAR webpage.
Case study on the use of BlueBEAR in bioinformatics
In this month’s case study, researcher Sarah Berger from Bioinformatics explains how she used BlueBEAR to design new proteins that can be bound to metals for use as contrast agents in MRI scans. Take a look at Sarah’s case study to find out more.
Opportunities for 1:1 support
BEAR drop-in session dates
We are currently holding monthly in-person drop-in sessions on the first Wednesday of the month on the first floor of Staff House (formerly Café Aroma). We also provide additional virtual drop-in sessions via Teams 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:
- Via Teams – Tuesday 23 June, 11:00-12:00
- In-person – Wednesday 1 July, 11:30-12:30 – Staff House, first floor (look for our banner)
- Via Teams – Thursday 9 July, 11:00-12:00
- Via Teams – Monday 13 July, 13:30-14:30
Missed last month’s newsletter?
Find May’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 bearinfo@contacts.bham.ac.uk