In this case study, we hear from Dr Kelsey Joyce, a Research Fellow in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, who is working to understand whether wearable sensors can help predict acute mountain sickness in trekkers at high altitude. For thousands of trekkers every year, the journey to Everest Base Camp is the … Continue reading “From Everest Base Camp to Birmingham: can wearable sensors predict altitude sickness?”
Tag: HPC
Summer 2026 BEAR Newsletter
Birmingham Environment for Academic Research (BEAR) Newsletter This month’s Editor: Stephanie Thompson In Advanced Research Computing, we’ve been welcoming lots of new starters this month, some of whom will be supporting the Baskerville National Compute Resource, which was turned on for the first time last week! Find out how to be one of the first … Continue reading “Summer 2026 BEAR Newsletter”
Work experience in Advanced Research Computing – 2026 students
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”
Understanding recent BlueBEAR service disruptions – July 2026
Over the past few months, BlueBEAR users may have experienced periods of reduced service availability, planned maintenance, and interruptions to normal operations. We recognise that these disruptions can be frustrating, particularly when research projects depend on reliable access to High Performance Computing (HPC) resources. This blog post explains the factors behind recent outages and outlines … Continue reading “Understanding recent BlueBEAR service disruptions – July 2026”
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”
June 2026 BEAR Newsletter
Birmingham Environment for Academic Research (BEAR) Newsletter This month’s Editor: Debbie Carter 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 … Continue reading “June 2026 BEAR Newsletter”
Exploring the dynamics of alien solar systems with BlueBEAR
In this case study, we hear from Alix Freckelton, a PhD student in Physics and Astronomy, who is exploring transit timing variations (TTVs). My research focuses on transit timing variations (TTVs): these are tiny irregularities in the times that we see exoplanets transiting their host stars. TTVs are caused in multi-planet systems by the planets … Continue reading “Exploring the dynamics of alien solar systems with BlueBEAR”
AlphaFold protein structure prediction to study DNA replication
In this case study, we hear from Paolo Passaretti, a postdoc in Cancer and Genomic Sciences, who is investigating how cells copy and protect their genomes during DNA replication. I am a postdoctoral researcher in Prof Aga Gambus’ Laboratory, in the Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, where we study how cells copy and protect … Continue reading “AlphaFold protein structure prediction to study DNA replication”
De Novo Protein Engineering: Future-Proofing MRI Contrast Agents with BlueBEAR
In this case study, we hear from Sarah Berger, a researcher working in Bioinformatics, who has been using BlueBEAR to develop proteins that can bind to metals. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an essential diagnostic tool, particularly powerful when combined with contrast agents. Most state-of-the-art MRI contrast agents are based on the metal gadolinium, which has intrinsic physical … Continue reading “De Novo Protein Engineering: Future-Proofing MRI Contrast Agents with BlueBEAR”
May 2026 BEAR Newsletter
Birmingham Environment for Academic Research (BEAR) Newsletter Members of the team attended a great BEAR PGR Conference at the end of April on the theme of AI, research integrity and ethics. There were some really thought-provoking talks on the implications of AI and some interesting examples of PhD research from across the university. The event was organised … Continue reading “May 2026 BEAR Newsletter”