News in brief, 19 February 2020
Published: 18 February 2020
A round-up of news across the University
Professor James Leiper appointed to the British Heart Foundation
Professor James Leiper, from the University's Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, has been announced as an Associate Medical Director for Research for the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
Professor Leiper will start on 1 April 2020 and join the BHF's senior research team which sets the charity’s research strategy and oversees its funding of around £100 million in research grants each year.
Prior to his move to Glasgow, Professor Leiper worked at UCL on mechanisms of vascular function before taking up the role of Medical Research Council Programme Leader at the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences in 2009.
He has undertaken internationally-leading research in the field of vascular physiology and his work had led to the creation of a new biotechnology company focussed on the development of new medicines for the treatment of sepsis.
Professor Leiper will be based at the BHF for most of the week but will continue his research at the University of Glasgow.
Hacky Hour: 19 February, 2pm, 1A The Square
Research can be daunting, but sometimes you just need some help getting some code running. Hacky Hour is a monthly drop-in session aimed at helping researchers (both student and staff) with computing questions that relate to their research. We foster an informal atmosphere, there is no sign-up process. You can come along to ask questions, or offer to help others with their research.
Topics we cover include programming and code questions (Python, R, or anything else), high performance computing (clusters or on GPUs), data access to online databases and social networks, scraping websites, image processing, and machine learning. Questions range from the relatively simple problems with inherited code, to rather complex questions about computational complexity, and discussions are encouraged.
Hacky Hour will aim to run on the third Wednesday of every month at 2pm, at the cafe in 1A The Square, but check our Twitter feed for exact bookings. Anyone looking to extend their research network, or simply have a casual chat about computing, is welcome to join us.
To find out more tweet us @UofGHackyHour, or email william.pettersson@glasgow.ac.uk
Prògram Latha na Gàidhlig 2020 | UofG Gaelic Day Programme 2020
Thursday 27th February 2020
University’s annual Gaelic Day celebrating Gaelic language and culture, with events across campus and online social media campaign.
For further information: https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/gaelic/events/
#UofGLnaG
First MSCA Fellowship for College of Social Sciences
Dr Gregoris Ioannou has won a prestigious Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowship. This is the first time that a MSCA Fellowship has been won by a scholar working in the College of Social Sciences.
Working under the supervision of Professor Ruth Dukes in the School of Law, Gregoris will use the two-year fellowship to conduct research on Collectivism in the Digital Era: Novel Approaches to Worker Mobilisation and Interest Representation (CODE). Against a background of trade union decline throughout Europe, the CODE project examines examples of revitalisation: new forms of trade unionism and or worker mobilisation, that harness social media and other forms of digital technology to reach and communicate with workers, including young workers. Using mixed methods, including contextual analysis and comparison across jurisdictions, it aims to identify (i) what kinds of worker mobilisation and collective action have been and are likely to be successful in the current digital era, and (ii) how interest representation and workers’ empowerment might be enhanced. In this way, it aims to make a contribution of real theoretical and practical significance to the reversal of trends towards weakened trade unions and growing inequalities of wealth and opportunity.
Gregoris joined the University of Glasgow in January 2019 to work as a Research Fellow on the ERC-funded Work on Demand project. In the intervening months, he has been conducting fieldwork in Greece and Scotland, analysing and comparing the experiences of young workers in precarious or insecure employment in the hospitality and catering sector. Prior to joining Glasgow, he was employed at the University of Cyprus and Frederick University, Cyprus. He holds degrees (BSc and MSc) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the University of Warwick (PhD).
Read this School of Law blog.
School of Computing Science partners with Code First Girls
The School of Computing Science is to partner with Code First Girls to offer free training in front-end web development (HTML, CSS and JavaScript) to female and non-binary identifying students.
The course comprises eight evening classes (6pm-8pm), from 27 February 2020 to 23 April 2020 (including a break for the University exam period). The courses will take place in the Sir Alwyn Williams Building on Lilybank Gardens.
Code First Girls runs free, in-person, part-time coding courses for female/non-binary identifying young individuals across the UK and Ireland.
To be eligible to apply for the free course you must identify as a woman/non-binary, have a working laptop and: be aged 18-23 OR have studied in the last two years OR be a student at a University.
This course is for complete beginners who haven't taken any Code First Girls courses before. To register for the course, please sign up here:
https://codefirstgirls.arlo.co/w/courses/158-university-of-glasgow-introduction-to-web-development
We are also looking for volunteer tutors with expertise in the areas above. If you’d like to help out, please fill out the form here:
https://codefirstgirls.typeform.com/to/QdvQTf
Any queries may be directed to Dr Matthew Barr (Matthew.Barr@glasgow.ac.uk)
First published: 18 February 2020