We had a fantastic response to the SICSA Data Science Research Theme – Call for Research Grants.  The call is now closed.  Thank you to those who submitted applications, we will be in contact with your shortly to let you know the outcome of your application

The SICSA Data Science Theme invites proposals to support Data Science research across Scottish Universities to carry out research activities completed by 31 July 2022. We support the following activities:

• Travel/networking  (max £250);
• Face-To-Face Event Organization, including workshops and presentations, for funding toward catering or speaker travel (max £250);
• Online events/Webinars Organization (max £250);
• Computational resources  including cloud credits (max £500); and
• Other small grants to support specific Data Science projects (max £500).

These smaller applications will be considered shortly after being submitted, and we aim to have a decision within a week. The closing date for this call is 27 April 2022, at noon.

We also sponsor two larger grants for the following activities:

• Studentship, including research visit or extension to existing PhD (max £1000); or
• Data set curation, including collection and processing (max £1000).

These larger grants will be awarded on merit. The closing date for this call is 11 April 2022, at noon.

There is no restriction on the topics, but we encourage applications to research into new Data Science related areas and those that are difficult to find funding elsewhere. Evidence of attempts to find additional or alternative funding would be considered a strength. Proposals that demonstrate value-for-money will be preferred.

For more information on the Data Science Theme please click here. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Data Science Theme leaders, Yashar Moshfeghi and Stewart Massie. If you need help organising an event, please contact Anastasia Fliatoura.

SICSA Data Science Small Grants Application Form

Logic4Peace  (Fundraising online Logic event for Peace)

Friday 22 and Saturday 23 April 2022

Venue: Online (information will be provided to registered participants)

Call for Abstracts:
Logicians participating in this conference stand united for Peace. The on-going Russian military invasion in Ukraine is causing death, destruction and it is the direct cause of a gigantic humanitarian crisis. Educational facilities have been hit, supply chains have been broken and people have lost their families and homes. By organizing this conference, we offer our moral and financial support to our colleagues in Ukraine in this time of war.

This event is used to collect financial aid for two specific causes:

• We financially help our colleagues at universities in Ukraine, who are either displaced or have lost their homes, and thus are in urgent financial need.
• We support the charitable fund ‘Voices of children‘ which provides humanitarian aid and assists in Ukraine with the on-going evacuation processes.

As the world urgently needs more logic and rationality, Logic4Peace creates a platform for logicians from around the world to present their work in any area of logic, including:

• philosophical logic, philosophy of logic and history of logic,
• mathematical and computational logic,
• applied logic and logical structures used in science and the humanities.

Abstracts should be short, maximum 1 page or 500 words, not including the references and can be uploaded in PDF format via easychair by 11 April 2022 (9AM Central European Time).

We welcome participants from all nationalities to submit an abstract. We welcome new ideas as well as on-going work and reports about already published results.

The registration page for this conference is estimated to open on 31st March, please check our website. The registration fees will be entirely used to offer financial aid to Ukraine to help our colleagues and the Voices of Children. We also invite academic institutions and organizations to sponsor this online logic event.

On behalf of the Organization of Logic4Peace. 

Tech Start-Ups and the Scottish Tech Ecosystem – A role for Scottish Universities and SICSA

Students of Computing Science, Informatics and related subjects are invited to participate in a short survey about support for students forming start-ups while they are at University.  This survey will be used to help inform SICSA’s* strategy for supporting technology entrepreneurship within Scottish Universities, as part of our response to the Scottish Government’s review of the Tech Ecosystem in Scotland (“the Logan Review”, 2020).

Participation is optional and can be anonymous.  Completing the survey will take approximately 5 minutes.  Results will be aggregated into a report to be shared with SICSA, its partners and funders. There will be further opportunities to participate in a focus group on this topic.

Please complete the survey here: https://glasgow.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/sicsa-startup-survey-students-2022

The survey is open from 12pm, 9^th March – 12pm 1^st April 2022

The SICSA HCI Theme is proud to announce the 2022 HCI Sustainable Challenge Fund. This fund intends to bring together researchers involved in work surrounding the UN Sustainable Development Goals that involve HCI methods and thinking. We anticipate that this fund will be helpful for researchers interested in running a series of events that will culminate in larger, multidisciplinary research applications.

In this first round, we anticipate funding a maximum of two challenge bids and have £3,000 to support this. Funding can facilitate a series of events linked to a specific challenge theme, and we would encourage applicants to be creative in their approach to this. We also encourage applicants to reach outside of the HCI theme and find collaborators from other academic areas that would add value to their application.

The first round of this funding closes on Friday, 29th April. We will communicate decisions to applicants by 13 May, and all budgets must be spent by the end of July 2022.

Any applications should follow the SICSA Research Theme Event Sponsorship Guidelines.

Applications should be made to Anastasia.Fliatoura@glasgow.ac.uk and should detail:

The application should be a maximum of 2 sides of A4 paper and should detail:

• The team involved in the bid (including affiliations),
• The specific UN Sustainability Goals that the work links to, and how the work promotes these goals,
• An outline of events planned as part of the Challenge Fund,
• A brief breakdown of costs for the application

Potential applicants can send any questions surrounding the 2022 HCI SCF Fund to Mary-Ellen Foster  and Michael Crabb.

The SICSA Artificial Intelligence Research Theme invites proposals to support Scottish AI researchers in carrying out research activities over the summer of 2022. We anticipate applications for three types of activities (or a combination):

• Travel/networking (max £250)
• Equipment including cloud credits (max £500)
• Studentship (max £1000)

While there is no restriction on the topics, we encourage applications to research into new AI-related areas and those that are difficult to find funding for. We are particularly keen to support proposals that also align with the emerging SFC challenge areas of:

• Future Health and Wellbeing
• Tackling the Climate Emergency and the Just Transition to
  Net Zero
• Transition to a Sustainable economy

Projects can also be topped up by host institutions. Total funds are limited so we will have a preference for projects that show good value for money, and we don’t expect to award more than 2 summer studentships.

The closing date for this call is 29 April 2022.

Please send questions on the scheme to Dimitra Gkatzia and Sandy Brownlee.

SICSA AI Small Grants Sponsorship Guidelines.

SICSA AI Small Grants Application Form.

We are delighted to announce Dr Stewart Massie, Robert Gordon University commenced in the role of the Data Science Research Theme Co-Lead today taking over the role from Professor Mike Chantler, Heriot Watt University.

Stewart is currently a Reader in Computer Science at Robert Gordon University working in the Smart Information Systems group with the School of Computing.  He has been heavily involved in SICSA in the early years with the SMART Tourism initiative and was a regular exhibitor and attendee at our annual DemoFest events.  Stewarts vision for the role as Research Theme Co-lead is to work closely with Dr Yashar Moshfeghi (current Co-Lead) to broaden the Data Science research theme’s impact within the academic environment and more widely with other potential stakeholders by encouraging the research to be more applicable, transparent and accessible.

Stewart is succeeding in the role by Professor Mike Chantler, Heriot Watt University who has been instrumental in leading /co-leading the Data Science Research Theme over many years.  Mike remains very involved in SICSA and the SICSA Directorate would like to express our huge thanks and gratitude for his support, hard-work and loyalty over the years.

The Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities, in partnership with the Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences, are collaborating on Spring into Methods to commission interactive, interdisciplinary and innovative research methods training for our postgraduate researchers.

The Spring into Methods programme brings together arts, humanities, social science, and other doctoral researchers from across Scotland to offer sessions providing an in-depth approach to learning a specific research method for up to 15 hours.

SGSAH and SGSSS invite proposals from members of staff in any of the affiliated HEIs to provide this training which will be offered, with our support, both/either online and face-to-face. To increase accessibility, we ask for highly interactive proposals delivered either online, in person, or a blend of both (hybrid). We aim to fund 6-8 training proposals.

Our emphasis is on interactive, interdisciplinary and innovative sessions that demonstrate both expertise in methods training and leadership to involve early career researchers in delivery. Our main audience is doctoral researchers from arts, humanities, and social science, but our emphasis on interdisciplinarity means we encourage applications from other disciplines, e.g. academics affiliated with centres for doctoral training (e.g. the UKRI Centre For Doctoral Training in Socially Intelligent Artificial Agents (SOCIAL AI) or research pools (e.g. SICSA, the Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance).

The deadline for workshop proposals is 4pm on Friday 28 January 2022.

Submit a Proposal

Submit a proposal via the SGSSS website here: https://social.sgsss.ac.uk/spring-into-methods/ (scroll down for the online submission form, below the timetable).

If you have any questions regarding this scheme then please do not hesitate to get in touch with Mike Crabb.

More information and guidance.