Over the last few years, Advanced Research Computing (ARC) has hosted more than ten work experience students, ranging from year 10 pupils to undergraduate students. We’ve found the experience incredibly rewarding, both for the students who take part and for our team. One of our key aims for offering work experience placements is to encourage … Continue reading “Work experience in Advanced Research Computing – 2026 students”
Author: Stephanie Thompson
Early access: Baskerville National Compute Resource
Baskerville Supercomputing Centre and the Institute for Data and AI (IDAI) are giving University of Birmingham users early access to the Baskerville National Compute Resource (NCR), from October 2026, as alpha and beta testers, before the machine is fully running from April 2027. The service is likely to be interrupted until final testing is complete. The technical specification of … Continue reading “Early access: Baskerville National Compute Resource”
Students’ journey from HPC newcomers to international competitors
Below we hear from the Beariables team in their own words about their experience going to Computing Insight UK and winning the national cluster challenge. Authors: Team Beariables – Harry Vicaradge, Jamie Cline, Ewan Hallatt, Sereya Mee, Adam Wilson and Arthur Baverstock In December, our team the Beariables? attended the Computing Insight UK Conference, where … Continue reading “Students’ journey from HPC newcomers to international competitors”
From BEAR Challenge to research innovation: A student’s journey into HPC
We previously heard from several participants of BEAR Challenge 2025 how they had enjoyed attending the event and the skills they developed (see blog post here), with one team going onto win the national CIUK challenge. In this blog post, we hear from undergraduate student David Adesoye-Amoo on how the challenge helped him navigate a … Continue reading “From BEAR Challenge to research innovation: A student’s journey into HPC”
We’re recruiting! Four new Grade 8 posts in Advanced Research Computing
Following the award of a multi-million‑pound UKRI grant to deliver the National Compute Resource (NCR) GPU‑accelerated system, Baskerville NCR, the University of Birmingham’s Advanced Research Computing (ARC) team is expanding. We are recruiting four new Grade 8 roles to help shape and support this ambitious national-scale project, offering the chance to work with cutting‑-edge‑ technology, … Continue reading “We’re recruiting! Four new Grade 8 posts in Advanced Research Computing”
Your chance to shape funding into national AI and HPC infrastructure
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) are seeking members of the researcher community using AI to provide their expertise and experience to help shape the UK’s future AI compute infrastructure. Below is the letter inviting contributions: The survey should take around 20 minutes to complete and can be found via the link here: … Continue reading “Your chance to shape funding into national AI and HPC infrastructure”
BEAR Champion activities in 2025
The BEAR Champion team continues to expand its reach across the University, with ten new BEAR Champions joining the voluntary team in 2025. Our BEAR Champions help us spread the word at the University of Birmingham about all the BEAR (Birmingham Environment for Academic Research) services that are available to support their research. We currently … Continue reading “BEAR Champion activities in 2025”
We’re recruiting! Two Graduate System Engineer posts
If you want to make a difference and are fascinated by how technology works, come and join a leading team responsible for supercomputing and allied services at the University of Birmingham! The Advanced Research Computing team that runs Birmingham Environment for Academic Research (BEAR) services is looking for two graduates (recently graduated or in final … Continue reading “We’re recruiting! Two Graduate System Engineer posts”
Call for volunteers to join R User Group Organising Committee!
We’re looking for volunteers to help re-launch the R User Group at the University of Birmingham. This Special Interest Group (SIG) will bring together R users from across the University to share knowledge and skills. R is a popular programming language with many applications and excellent tools for reproducible research. To support R users from … Continue reading “Call for volunteers to join R User Group Organising Committee!”
Update – 2024 IT Needs of Active Research survey progress
It has been nearly two years since the last Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research (PVC-R) ‘IT Needs of Active Research Survey’ was released, and as we prepare for the next survey, we wanted to update you on some actions that IT Services has taken since we analysed the results of the 2024 survey. You can find … Continue reading “Update – 2024 IT Needs of Active Research survey progress”