April 2008 Issue 60
Keeping you in touch with opportunities from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
www.epsrc.ac.uk
International Review of Materials
Town meeting on 18 April SINCE 1999, International Reviews across EPSRC’s remit have been an important part of our strategy formulation. Reviews provide input on the quality and impact of the UK research base. They are based on a common framework of questions so that Council can look at the issues and recommendations raised across disciplines. The International Review of Materials took place during the week beginning 13 January 2008. Fourteen international panel members, chaired by Professor Jim Williams of Ohio State University, visited nine sites and met with representatives of 24 academic establishments. The panel’s task was to meet as many people as possible, including PhD students, postdocs and representatives from industry, in order to: • assess and compare the quality of the UK research base in materials against the rest of the world • assess the impact of the research base activities in materials internationally, on other disciplines nationally, on wealth creation and on quality of life.
HECToR launched! Research Councils’ next generation supercomputer
CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer the Rt Honourable Alistair Darling officially launched the HECToR service on 14 January. HECToR represents a major £113m investment by the Research
The review was organised with active involvement from Learned Societies through a Steering Committee which advised on panel membership, development of an evaluation framework specific to materials and the evidence to be given to the panel. Professor Williams will present his Panel’s findings and recommendations at an open meeting on 18 April. Invitations to the meeting, to be held at the RSA in London, have been sent out but you can also register to attend through our website. This meeting will be the start of the dialogue with the community on the report. EPSRC and all the partners in the review would like to thank all those who were involved in the review and look forward to working with the community and other stakeholders in taking forward its recommendations. There will be further articles on the progress of this review in future issues of Connect. Contact: Anne Farrow, anne.farrow@epsrc.ac.uk Further information: www.epsrc.ac.uk
Councils in the provision of infrastructure and support for UK computational scientists. Based at the University of Edinburgh’s Advanced Computing Facility (ACF), HECToR will run in parallel with the current HPCx service until it closes, giving UK researchers the unique opportunity to exploit the complementary nature of these two machines. The launch event was very well attended with invited guests including numerous members of the UK computational science community, and stakeholders from industry, higher education and government. Contact: Dai Jenkins, dai.jenkins@epsrc.ac.uk Further information: www.hector.ac.uk
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Inside and UP 2 New Structure for EPSRC 3 TOP membership Meeting new challenges
Key appointments
in High 4 Flexibility Performance Computing Two services, one approach
5 Calls
Forthcoming EPSRC funding opportunities
6 Doctoral Training Centres Major funding initiative