School of Computing Science

SICSA Cyber Security Research Theme: Online Cyber Security PhD Student Forum 2021

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 03 December, 2021
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Location:TBA

The SICSA Cyber Security research theme is pleased to announce the PhD Student Forum 2021. PhD students at SICSA Universities, whose research is aligned with Cyber Security, are invited to participate in the forum by submitting a poster of their current research. All submissions will be reviewed for inclusion in the forum. Students with an accepted submission are expected to attend and present their research at the online forum. The online forum will be open to all SICSA PhD students, but only accepted submissions will get the opportunity to present and receive feedback on their work. Attendance is FREE, for both presenters and any other registered attendees. A Zoom link will be provided to all registered participants. Submissions Submissions should include a one-page poster describing the research (max A2 size and in PDF format). Email the submission to admin@sicsa.ac.uk with the subject: Cyber Security PhD Student Forum 2021. Recognition, Lunch and Prizes All accepted submissions will receive certificates of accomplishment and an UBER Eats voucher will be sent the day before the forum so attendees can get lunch delivered. Authors of accepted posters will present their work at the forum and up to three best submissions will receive Amazon vouchers for their presentations. Important Dates Submission Deadline: 29 October 2021 (AoE) Notification of Acceptance: 12 November 2021 Registration Deadline: 25 November 2021 (see Forum website for registration link) Forum: 3 December 2021 (10am-4pm) Forum Agenda 9:45am-10am Pre-Forum Coffee & Chat 10am Welcome & Opening Remarks 10:15-11am Keynote by Stuart MacDonald (CEO Seric Systems, Glasgow) 11am-11:15am Coffee Break 11:15am-1pm Session I - Talks by PhD students 1pm - 2pm Lunch Break 2pm - 3:30 Session II - Talks by PhD students 3:30pm Close & Prize announcement For any queries please contact Karen Renaud or Jacques Ophoff. Register here.

SICSA Cyber Security Research Theme: Online Cyber Security PhD Student Forum 2021

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 03 December, 2021
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Location: TBA

The SICSA Cyber Security research theme is pleased to announce the PhD Student Forum 2021. PhD students at SICSA Universities, whose research is aligned with Cyber Security, are invited to participate in the forum by submitting a poster of their current research. All submissions will be reviewed for inclusion in the forum. Students with an accepted submission are expected to attend and present their research at the online forum. The online forum will be open to all SICSA PhD students, but only accepted submissions will get the opportunity to present and receive feedback on their work. Attendance is FREE, for both presenters and any other registered attendees. A Zoom link will be provided to all registered participants. Submissions Submissions should include a one-page poster describing the research (max A2 size and in PDF format). Email the submission to admin@sicsa.ac.uk with the subject: Cyber Security PhD Student Forum 2021. Recognition, Lunch and Prizes All accepted submissions will receive certificates of accomplishment and an UBER Eats voucher will be sent the day before the forum so attendees can get lunch delivered. Authors of accepted posters will present their work at the forum and up to three best submissions will receive Amazon vouchers for their presentations. Important Dates Submission Deadline: 29 October 2021 (AoE) Notification of Acceptance: 12 November 2021 Registration Deadline: 25 November 2021 (see Forum website for registration link) Forum: 3 December 2021 (10am-4pm) Forum Agenda 9:45am-10am Pre-Forum Coffee & Chat 10am Welcome & Opening Remarks 10:15-11am Keynote by Stuart MacDonald (CEO Seric Systems, Glasgow) 11am-11:15am Coffee Break 11:15am-1pm Session I - Talks by PhD students 1pm - 2pm Lunch Break 2pm - 3:30 Session II - Talks by PhD students 3:30pm Close & Prize announcement For any queries please contact Karen Renaud or Jacques Ophoff. Register here.

Neural Machine Translation Inside Out

Group: Information Retrieval (IR)
Speaker: Lena Voita, University of Edinburgh and University of Amsterdam
Date: 06 December, 2021
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Zoom link will be provided after registration

FATA Seminar : A Constraint Programming Solver You Can Trust (But Don't Have To)

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: Dr. Ciaran McCreesh, University of Glasgow
Date: 07 December, 2021
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: Contact organizers for Zoom coordinates

I'm writing a new constraint programming solver. It's not the fastest solver in the world (yet), it doesn't support every global constraint (yet), and it only works with integer variables (so far), but it does have one feature that no other solver does: it can produce an auditable record of any problem it solves. This record consists of a formal definition of the problem, the solution found, and a mathematical proof that the solution is correct. This proof can be verified independently, using a simple piece of software that does not know anything about constraint programming. In this talk I'll give a very quick introduction to constraint programming via examples, and then talk about how my solver solves these problems. I'll also talk about what we have to implement in a solver to support proof logging, and try to justify why I think you should be able to trust my solver -- or rather, why proof logging means you don't need to trust it.

Verifying the User of Motion Controller Robotic Arm Systems via the Robot Behaviour

Group: Systems Seminars
Speaker: Emma Li, University of Glasgow
Date: 07 December, 2021
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
Location: Online Zoom Webinar

Motion-controlled robotic arms allow a user to interact with a remote real world without physically reaching it. By connecting cyberspace to the physical world, such interactive teleoperations are promising to improve remote education, virtual social interactions and online participatory activities. In this work, we build up a motion-controlled robotic arm framework comprising a robotic arm end and a user end, which are connected via a network and responsible for manipulator control and motion capture respectively. To protect the system access, we propose to verify who is controlling the robotic arm by examining the robotic arm’s behaviour, which adds a second security layer in addition to the system login credentials. In this work, we have the following contributions:

1) We find that a robotic arm’s motion inherits its human controller’s behavioural biometric in interactive control scenarios.

2) We derive the unique robotic motion features to capture the user’s behavioural biometric embedded in the robot motions.

3) We develop learning-based algorithms to verify the robotic arm user. Extensive experiments show that our system achieves 94% accuracy to distinguish users while preventing user identity spoofing attacks with 95% accuracy.

TBA

Group: Programming Languages at University of Glasgow (PLUG)
Speaker: Vikraman Choudhury, University of Glasgow
Date: 07 December, 2021
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 422 Seminar Room

Vikraman Choudhury from the University of Glasgow will be giving a talk. Full details will be available nearer the time.

Location

This will be a hybrid PLUG, streamed online via Zoom and will also take place in-person in SAWB422. Zoom details will be sent to the mailing list nearer the time.

More information about PLUG's mailing list can be found here:http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/plug/

As with previous Wireless PLUGs, please:

1. join promptly at the advertised start of the session, and we will begin on the academic hour;
2. start with your cameras turned off and microphones muted; and
3. ensure you can be identified by your username.

Questions

If the speaker is happy with questions during the talk, please use the chat or 'raise hand' feature. Should the speaker not see these interrupts, the chair will actively interrupt.

SICSA Education: SDP Community Workshop-Secure Development Practice Education

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 08 December, 2021
Time: 14:00 - 17:00
Location: TBA

The UK National Cyber Security Strategy 2016 - 2021 emphasised the importance of making technology secure by design and developing the cyber security skills pipeline. Despite this emphasis, it's unclear how effective HEIs are at imparting Secure Development Practices knowledge and skills to the thousands that graduate from UK universities each year. Such practices entail more than writing code. They encompass the broader design and engineering practices that produce usable and secure software. We already know the transfer of know-how from Secure Development Practice research to practice is slow, but is it equally slow from research to education too? It's also unclear where in the curricula such knowledge should be embedded, what expertise is needed to deliver and evaluate this knowledge, and -- given limited literature in Secure Development Practices education -- what Computer Science education challenges we need to overcome. Finally, given the interdisciplinary nature of Cybersecurity, how do we engage and support those delivering social science and humanities programmes to incorporate education around design theories and practices for security. The objective of this half-day online workshop, which will be run in collaboration with the Scottish Informatics & Computer Science Alliance (SICSA), is to bring together a community of researchers, practitioners, and educators broadly in ‘Secure Development Practices education’. The workshop will include the HMG perspective of this topic, a panel with invited speakers discussing the challenges and opportunities in Secure Development Practices education, and breakout groups on different aspects of this theme. Workshop participants will get the chance to network with likeminded collaborators, and take the first steps in growing a UK community in Secure Development Practices education. When registering, please make sure to answer the required questions about your interest in SDP Education. We will be reviewing the answers and accepting participants based on those. Please note that receiving the Eventbrite ticket is not a confirmation of acceptance, and that we will be in touch with you separately to confirm it in due course. Register via Eventbrite.

SICSA AI Research Seminar: Prof Emma Hart "Towards the Autonomous Evolution of Robotics Ecosystems"

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 10 December, 2021
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
Location: TBA

You are invited to the first Christmas series talk from the AI theme. The Christmas talks will take place every year in December featuring a high-profile academic in Scotland. The first speaker of this series is Emma Hart, who will be talking about the Autonomous Evolution of Robotics Ecosystems. Abstract Robot design is traditionally the domain of humans – engineers, physicists, and increasingly AI experts. However, if the robot in intended to operate in a completely unknown environment (for example planetary exploration) then it is very difficult for human designers to predict what kind of robot might be required. Evolutionary computing is a well-known technology that has been applied in various aspects of robotics for many years, for example to design controllers or body-plans. When coupled with advances in materials and printing technologies that allow rapid prototyping in hardware, it offers a potential solution to the issue raised above, while also addressing issues associated with the infamous reality-gap. However, it also brings new challenges. The additional constraints introduced by the need for example to manufacture robots autonomously, to explore rich morphological search-spaces and develop novel forms of control require some re-thinking of “standard’ approaches in evolutionary computing and some novel approaches to engineering. In this talk I will discuss some of these challenges and propose and showcase some methods to address them, that have mainly been developed in the context of the collaborative EPSRC funded ARE project. I will also touch on some ethical issues associated with the notion of autonomous robot design. Bio Emma Hart is a Professor at Edinburgh Napier University. After gaining an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University of Oxford, she switched fields to Computer Science, gaining an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh where she focused her research on nature-inspired methods for solving difficult optimisation problems. At ENU. she leads the Nature-Inspired Intelligent Systems group. Recognised as a world-expert in Evolutionary Computation, she has been invited to give keynotes at major international conferences, mostly recently at IEEE CEC in New Zealand. She is Editor-in-Chief of international journal Evolutionary Computation (MIT Press), and an invited member of the UK Operations Research Society Research Panel. In Scotland, she previously led the SICSA theme in Artificial Intelligence and was a member of the Steering Group that contributing to the development of Scotland’s recently published AI Strategy. She is a member of the REF2021 panel for Computer Science. Her work finds applications in a wide variety of domains and has attracted over £2.5 million in from EPSRC, Leverhulme, EU and UKRI Knowledge-Transfer Projects. Much of it focuses on developing novel algorithms inspired by biological systems that are used in the context of optimisation and learning: this ranges from evolutionary methods to design algorithms that predict tree-damage in forests to minimise economic losses due to storm-damage, through software systems that optimise routing to minimise carbon-emissions to evolving robots that continuously adapt to their environment. A common theme throughout her research is to be able to develop software systems that autonomously improve over time: learning from experience, adapting to new user goals and developing new behaviours in response to changes in the environment that they operate in order to remain fit for purpose. Her recent work in applying these ideas to robotics has attracted significant media attention, for example in national newspaper such as the Guardian and Telegraph; she will be presenting a talk on this topic at TEDWomen in December 2021. Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/94051082262?pwd=STgzRnM3TmdWWkNEeTFGcHpHMFpRZz09 Meeting ID: 940 5108 2262 Passcode: 569195 One tap mobile +442039017895,,94051082262#,,,,*569195# United Kingdom +442080806591,,94051082262#,,,,*569195# United Kingdom Dial by your location +44 203 901 7895 United Kingdom +44 208 080 6591 United Kingdom +44 208 080 6592 United Kingdom +44 330 088 5830 United Kingdom +44 131 460 1196 United Kingdom +44 203 481 5237 United Kingdom +44 203 481 5240 United Kingdom Meeting ID: 940 5108 2262 Passcode: 569195 Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/acqBcLk7xi

TBA

Group: Systems Seminars
Speaker: Natalia Chechina, Erlang Solutions; University of Glasgow
Date: 14 December, 2021
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
Location: Zoom

TBA

Healthcare Seminar: TBC

Group: Computing Technologies for Healthcare
Speaker: Prof. Frederick Matsen, Fred Hutch, Seattle Washington
Date: 12 January, 2022
Time: 17:00 - 18:00
Location: https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYsf-2tpjkqHte7oAoHA8svaCuDku4j0eJ8

Biography:

Dr. Frederick “Erick” Matsen is an expert in computational biology, which is the science of using biological data to develop computer algorithms, or programs, to understand biological systems and relationships. His research team has developed new methods to analyze data generated by sequencing the DNA of viruses, immune cells and complex environmental samples containing many microorganisms. The team also pursues more abstract questions about the methods used to construct evolutionary trees. Another focus of Dr. Matsen’s work is on improving software used in computational biology, both by developing open source tools and by contributing to work on larger, collaborative projects.

FATA Seminar : TBD

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: Dimitrios Los, University of Cambridge
Date: 18 January, 2022
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: Contact organizers for Zoom coordinates

TBD

FATA Seminar : TBD

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: Michael McKay, University of Glasgow
Date: 25 January, 2022
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: Contact organizers for Zoom coordinates

TBD

TBA

Group: Systems Seminars
Speaker: Paul Keir, University of The West of Scotland
Date: 15 February, 2022
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 422 Seminar Room

TBA

Healthcare Seminar: TBC

Group: Computing Technologies for Healthcare
Speaker: Dr. Karim Lekadir, University of Barcelona
Date: 16 February, 2022
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJctcuivqTgjGNDzJCbOXXwcNsCB0yg73egy

Biography: 

Dr. Karim Lekadir is a Ramon y Cajal Researcher and Director of the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Lab at the Universitat de Barcelona (BCN-AIM). He holds a PhD from Imperial College London (UK) and was previously a visiting scholar at Stanford University (USA). His current research focuses on the development of data science and machine learning approaches for the analysis of large-scale biomedical data, including imaging, clinical, lifestyle, and mobile data. The software he developed during his PhD for cardiac functional quantification has been CE marked and commercialised by CMRtools, and is now used in more than 250 clinical centres worldwide. He is the Coordinator of the following Horizon 2020 projects: euCanSHare (2018-2022), developing a big data platform for cardiovascular research; EarlyCause (2019-2023), which investigates multi-morbidity using experimental and data science approaches; and EuCanImage (2020-2024), which is building a federated artificial intelligence environment for cancer imaging. He is also work package leader in the longITools H2020 project  (2019-2024), developing a mobile app for cardio-metabolic risk prediction based on exposome data. In addition, Karim is General Chair for the MICCAI 2024 Conference (Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assited Intervention) which for the first time will take place in Africa – in Marrakesh, Morocco. He is an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

Cyber Physical Systems & Cyber Security Research Themes: SICSA Event at IEEE DSC 2022

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 22 June, 2022
Time: 09:00 - 17:00
Location: Edinburgh Napier University, Craiglockhart Campus, 219 Colinton Road, Edinburgh , EH14 1DJ, United Kingdom

In parallel with IEEE DSC 2022, we are running an event organised by Dr Naghmeh Moradpoor and sponsored by SICSA to support women in cyber given that the lack of women in cybersecurity is something that the UK government, the industry and university are keen to address. Therefore, it aims to inspire women into cybersecurity roles by bringing together the cyber women from across the UK in the form of a poster and a paper competition. Having the best paper and best poster competition held in parallel with the above conference, will assist women in cybersecurity to understand the demands for cybersecurity/digital forensics in different organisations. This event not only connects women in cybersecurity to leading industrial experts but also provides for greater collaboration amongst Scottish universities and leading industries. We hope that the delegates will engage with industrial contacts for future partnerships and research-based industrial collaborations. Prizes The event will select total of x8 winners (x4 winners for the best papers and x4 winners for the best posters) as follows: Prizes for x4 winners (total: £230), best posters: First place: X1 £100 Amazon voucher; X1 Certificate from the event Second place: X1 £50 Amazon voucher; X1 Certificate from the event Third place: X1 £30 Amazon voucher; X1 Certificate from the event Outstanding woman in cyber (poster category): X1 £50 Amazon voucher; X1 Certificate from the event Prizes for x4 winners (total: £230), best papers: First place: X1 £100 Amazon voucher; X1 Certificate from the event Second place: X1 £50 Amazon voucher; X1 Certificate from the event Third place: X1 £30 Amazon voucher; X1 Certificate from the event Outstanding woman in cyber (paper category): X1 £50 Amazon voucher; X1 Certificate from the event Please note that both males and females can enter the above competitions for best papers and best posters, competing for first place, second place, and third place. Only females are allowed in the Outstanding Woman in Cyber (paper & poster) categories. Contact Dr Naghmeh Moradpoor, Edinburgh Napier University  

SICSA Conference Sponsorship: Euro - Par Conference 2022

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 22 August, 2022
Time: 01:00 - 01:00
Location: University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, United Kingdom

SICSA is a proud sponsor of the 28th International European Conference On Parallel and Distributed Computing. Euro-Par is the prime European conference covering all aspects of parallel and distributed processing, ranging from theory to practice, from small to the largest parallel and distributed systems and infrastructures, from fundamental computational problems to full-fledged applications, from architecture, compiler, language and interface design and implementation, to tools, support infrastructures, and application performance aspects. Euro-Par’s unique organization into topics provides an excellent forum for focused technical discussion, as well as interaction with a large, broad and diverse audience. A week of scientific events including workshops, posters, and tutorials. Covering all topics related to parallel and distributed computing: Compilers, Tools and Environments Performance and Power Modelling, Prediction and Evaluation Scheduling and Load Balancing Data Management, Analytics and Machine Learning Cluster and Cloud Computing Theory and Algorithms for Parallel and Distributed Processing Parallel and Distributed Programming, Interfaces, and Languages Multicore and Manycore Parallelism Parallel Numerical Methods and Applications High-performance architectures and accelerators Parallelism in IoT/Edge Computing Proceedings in Springer LNCS series. In person and Online Euro-Par 2022 will be held as a hybrid event, in-person at the University of Glasgow, and online. The University campus is located in the West End of Glasgow and is easily reachable by air and by rail. Euro-Par 2022 is organised by the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow, with support from Heriot-Watt University, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Stirling. Find out more about upcoming deadlines and the programme of sessions.