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TUCS Newsletter 19.12.2013

Content of the newsletter

TUCS activities

New courses

Announcements

Latest publications at TUCS

TUCS Staff wishes everyone relaxing and happy holidays!

TUCS activities

TUCS Research Programme activities

TUCS Distinguished Lecture Series

TUCS Distinguished Lecture Series has been a great success and drawn large audiences to each lecture. TUCS Staff has now viewed the attendance lists from the past year that the Series has been underway.  One study point will be granted to students who have attended at least four lectures of the series.

The series will continue again next spring with a new set of great speakers with the following two speakers already confirmed:

TUCS Board meeting

TUCS Board had their final meeting this year on Monday 16th December 2013 at 13.00.

TUCS GP Doctoral Defences

On Friday, December 20th, M.Sc. Khalid Latif from University of Turku, Department of Information Technology, presents his Doctoral Thesis “Design Space Exploration for MPSoC Architectures” for public critisism. The opponent of M.Sc. Latif is Professor Koen Bertels from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. Docent Tiberiu Seceleanu will act as a custos at this public defence.

Time: 9:00 em

Place: Auditorium Beta, ICT Building

New courses

Courses on transferable skills at University of Turku

http://www.utu.fi/fi/Tutkimus/tutkijakoulu/courses/Sivut/home.aspx

Announcements

DCFS 2014 in Turku

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at University of Turku organizes 16th International Workshop on Descriptional Complexity of Formal Systems during August 5-8, 2014. Preliminary information can be found at http://www2.math.utu.fi/projects/dcfs2014/.

EUROWEB fourth application call now open

EUROWEB, European Research and Educational Collaboration with Western Balkans, is a scholarship programme for students on undergraduate, master, doctoral and post-doctoral level as well as for university staff in academic or administrative positions, financed by the European Commission. The Erasmus Mundus EUROWEB scholarship offers a unique opportunity for full-financed academic mobility for individuals from the EU and Western Balkans partner countries. The project is part of the large-scale, EU-funded programme Erasmus Mundus Action 2.

The EUROWEB Scholarship Programme is open to selected nationals in EU countries and Western Balkans who want to study or work at one of the partner institutions (see Applicant information). The overall objective of EUROWEB project is to create a partnership in research and education that will strengthen the ties between EU and Western Balkans.

The Consortium includes 17 Higher Education Institutions: 9 in Europe and 8 in Western Balkans. Scholarships are available for mobility from the Western Balkan countries to EU partners and vice versa.

European Partners:

 Western Balkan Partners:

The details about partners, and the offer from the partner institutions to EUROWEB applicants, are available under Partner Institutions: http://www.mrtc.mdh.se/euroweb/index.php?choice=partners

The fourth application call is now open!

The application deadline is January 1, 2014.

More information on the programme can be found here:http://www.mrtc.mdh.se/euroweb/index.php  or from Outi Tuohi (otuohi@abo.fi).

APPLY here: http://www.mrtc.mdh.se/euroweb/index.php?choice=application

ICT ShowRoom 2014 registration

ICT ShowRoom is an exhibition and a competition, in which

The event is open for the public.

The ICT ShowRoom will be organised on Thu 6 March 2014. The registration for the event is now open until 31.1.2014.

More information on the event here: https://abacus.abo.fi/register.nsf/

Horizon 2020 launched 11 December

(Info via the “Computability in Europe” association)

 

The EU's research funding programme for 2014-2020, Horizon 2020, is being launched on 11 December 2013. In preparation for this the majority of the draft Work Programmes, are now available to download at:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/index_en.cfm?pg=h2020-documents

The Work Programmes are being made public prior to the adoption process of the Work Programmes by the Commission and their contents may therefore still change. It is however expected that any changes will be minor at this stage.

__________________________________________________________________________

Particularly relevant to CiE members will be Pillar 1 - Excellent Science, which is allocated a total budget of 30% of that for Horizon 2020. Under this heading come:

* European Research Council

* Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions

* Research Infrastructures

* Future and Emerging Technologies

__________________________________________________________________________

ERC Calls in 2014 unclude:

* Starting Grants (2-7 years postdoc) Up to 2m euros for 5 years

Call opens Dec. 11 2013, closes 25 March 2014 (budget 485M)

* Consolidator Grants (7-12 years postdoc) Up to 2.75m euros for 5 years

Opens Dec. 11 2013, closes 20 May 2014 (budget 713M)

* Advanced Grants (Leading researchers) Up to 3.5m euros for 5 years

Opens 17 June 2014, closes 21 Oct. 2014 (budget 450M)

* Synergy Grants (2-4 PIs) Up to 15m euros for 6 years

No call in 2014

* Proof of Concept (ERC grant holders) 350k for up to 18 months

Opens Dec. 11, closes 1 April 2014, 1 Oct. 2014 (budget 15M)

__________________________________________________________________________

MSCA Schemes:

* ITN (Innovative Training Networks) - Replaces FP7 ITNs, now only ESRs ITN 2014 - Call 11 Dec. 2013 to 6 Apr. 2014 (405M)

ITN 2015 - 2 Sep. 2014 to 13 Jan. 2015 (370M)

* IF (Individual Fellowships for ERs) - Replaces IEF, IOF, IIF, CIG

Last 12-24 months, split into European Fellowships, Global Fellowships

IF 2014 - Call 12 Mar. 2014 to 11 Sep. 2014 (240M)

IF 2015 - 12 Mar. 2015 to 10 Sep. 2015 (213M)

* RISE (Research & Innovation Staff Exchange) - Replaces IAPP, IRSES

Funds Networking, Workshops, Conferences, Career development, New skills

RISE 2014 - Call 11 Dec. 2013 to 24 Apr. 2014 (70M)

RISE 2015 - Call 6 Jan. 2015 to 28 Apr. 2015 (80M)

* COFUND (Cofunding or regional, national & International Programmes)

Supports ESRs under Doctoral programmes, ERs under Fellowship progs.

COFUND 2014 - Call 10 Apr. 2014 to 2 Oct. 2014 (80M)

COFUND 2015 - 14 Apr. 2015 to 1 Oct. 2015 (80M)

__________________________________________________________________________

FET Activities:

* FET Open (Exploring new ideas) - Individual research projects, 40% of

FET budget - early 'off the wall' ideas - single stage application

Call opens 11 Dec. 2013, closing 30 Sep. 2014 (77M), 31 Mar. 2015 (37M),

29 Sep. 2015 (40M)

* FET Proactive (Emerging themes and communities) - 3 Topics

Opens 11 Dec. 2013, closing 1 April 2014 - single stage (10+20M)

* FET Flagships (Grand interdisciplinary challenges) - Flagships already

decided (eg, Human Brain) - see webpages for details

* FET HPC (High Performance Computing) - split HPC 1(94M), 2(4M), 3(2M)

Calls 11 Dec. 2013 to 25 Nov. 2014

__________________________________________________________________________

See webpage: http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/

for Research Infrastructures (Calls open 11 Dec. 2013)

There is much else under other Pillars of Horizon 2020, involving Industrial and Societal themes, etc. See:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/

Horizon 2020 brings €2.7 billion to EIT

Under the new EU Horizon 2020 for research and innovation, adopted by the European Parliament, the EIT’s budget will significantly increase. The EIT will receive €2.7 billion for 2014-2020, 3.5% of the overall EU research and innovation budget. This represents a significant increase from the initial EIT start-up budget, which was around €300 million for 2008 to 2013. The funds will strengthen the EU's research and innovation capacity and contribute to growth and the creation of new jobs.

The EIT comes under the responsibility of Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, who described the vote as "a massive boost for European research and the entrepreneurs of tomorrow".

"With the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Europe is seriously investing in people who have the knowledge and talent to innovate and change lives. This is excellent news for the research community and the EIT's entrepreneurs of tomorrow," said Commissioner Vassiliou.

Read more: http://www.eitictlabs.eu/news-events/news/article/eit-plans-for-2014-to-2020-adopted-by-european-parliament/#allView

120 health & wellbeing companies at SLUSH

More than 120 startups of the health and wellness industry attended the SLUSH start-up conference in Helsinki mid-November. This year the event was bigger than ever before with more than 1200 companies, 5000 visitors, 500 investors and 300 media representatives.

EIT ICT Labs was one of the sponsors of the Health Track and the HealthSPA demo area, where the most promising health and wellbeing related start-ups pitched and showcased their products. HealthPuzzle, HeiaHeia, Koru, Traxmeet and Wellmo were some of the EIT ICT Labs related startups attending. The winner of this year’s Showcase Demo competition was  BetterDoctor, the startup that helps people find doctors.

Read more: http://www.eitictlabs.eu/news-events/news/article/-87a7f79468/#allView

TUCS GP travel reports

TUCS GP travel report: ITW 2013 by Toni Ernvall

Full name of the event: 2013 IEEE Information Theory Workshop

Place and date: Seville, Spain, September 9th – 13th, 2013

Type of event: conference

My article:

The scientific profile of the event: ITW is a conference on information theory. There are presentations for example on the following areas: coding, networks and security.

Opinion on the best paper and its topic: I think that 'Combinatorial Flow over Cyclic Linear Networks' by Chung Chan, Kenneth W. Shum and Qifu T Sun was interesting because its topic dealt with network coding.

Number of participants: About 160 talks so maybe about 200 participants

Social events: Lunch and coffee breaks were at the conference center so they were also social events.

Touristic impressions: The historic parts of Seville are very interesting. There are many notable buildings, including The Alcazar and the Cathedral.

TUCS GP travel report: STE2013 by Rajeev Kumar Kanth

Full name of the event: International Conference on Sustainability, Technology and Education (STE2013)

Place and date: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, November 29th – December 1st, 2013

Type of event: Conference

My article:

The scientific profile of the event: The International Conference on Sustainability, Technology and Education (STE2013) aims to address the main issues which occur by assessing the relationship between Sustainability, Education and Technology. Broad areas of interest are: Sustainability and Leadership, Sustainability and Green IT, Sustainability and Education. These broad areas are divided into more detailed areas. However innovative contributes that do not fit into these areas will also be considered since they might be of benefit to conference attendees.

Opinion on the best paper and its topic: I found interesting, the talk from Professor Narayanan Kannan, Faculty of Environmental Science, University Putra Malaysia, and topic of the talk was A PLANET IN TROUBLE: APPLICATION OF GREEN TECHNOLOGIES IN ECO-PRESERVATION AND E-PRESERVATION OF ANCIENT DATABASES FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE. I had an opportunity to chair this keynote session.

Number of participants: That was a medium conference and number of participants was approximately 100.

Social events: Social event was taken place as a welcome reception and evening dinner with traditional Malaysian dances in the Saloma restaurant at the centre of the city near popular Petronas Twin Tower.

Touristic impressions: Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the largest city of Malaysia in terms of population. Kuala Lumpur is situated midway along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, at the confluence of the Klang and Gombek rivers. It is approximately 35 km from the coast and sits at the centre of the Peninsula's extensive and modern transportation network. A developing metropolis, Malaysia's city centre is constantly experiencing rampant development and features a few insipid structures. Yet it manages to trump these architectural letdowns with ingenious urban wonders like the Petronas Twin Towers and Menara KL.

TUCS GP travel report: ICFEM 2013 by Inna Pereverzeva

Full name of the event: The 15th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods (ICFEM 2013)

Place and date: Queenstown, New Zealand, October 29th – November 1st, 2013

Type of event: conference

My article:

The scientific profile of the event: ICFEM provides a forum for those interested in the application of formal engineering methods to computer systems. The goal of this conference is to bring together industrial, academic, and government experts, from a variety of user domains and software disciplines, to help advance the state of the art.

Opinion on the best paper and its topic: “Verifying an Aircraft Proximity Characterization Method in Coq” by Dongxi Liu, Neale Fulton, John Zic and Martin de Groot and “Formal Kinematic Analysis of the Two-Link Planar Manipulator” by Binyameen Farooq, Osman Hasan and Sohail Iqbal.

Number of participants: it was around 100 participants during the main conference and affiliated workshops.

Social events: Reception Dinner at the True South Dining Room. The Banquet Dinner at the Skyline Queenstown Restaurant, on the top of the mountain with the lovely view on the town and lake.

Touristic impressions: Queenstown is a resort town in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is surrounded by majestic mountains and nestled on the shores of crystal clear Lake Wakatipu. Queenstown is known for its adventure and ski tourism. You can try any type of activities here: walking, hiking, biking, bungy jumping to whitewater rafting, river surfing, canyon swinging and thrills on a jet boat and so on.

TUCS GP travel report: SERENE 2013 by Inna Pereverzeva

Full name of the event: The 5th International Workshop on Software Engineering for Resilient Systems (SERENE 2013)

Place and date: Kiev, Ukraine, October 1–4, 2013

Type of event: autumn school and conference

My article:

The scientific profile of the event: The SERENE 2013 workshop provides a forum for researchers and practitioners to exchange reports on advances in all areas relevant to this challenge, including, relations between resilience, dependability and quality attributes; requirements engineering and re-engineering for resilience; trustworthy and intrusion-safe systems; error, fault and exception handling in the software life-cycle; resilience prediction and experimental measurement; modelling of resilience properties,verification and validation of resilient systems; frameworks, patterns and software architectures for resilience; resilience at run-time: metadata, mechanisms, reasoning and adaptation; empirical studies in the domain of resilient systems; cloud computing and resilient service provisioning; resilience of software-hardware co-engineering; engineering of self-healing autonomic systems.

Opinion on the best paper and its topic: “Engineering a Platform for Mission Planning of Autonomous and Resilient Quadrotors” by Davide Di Ruscio, Ivano Malavolta, Patrizio Pelliccione

Number of participants: round 50 participants

Social events: The banquet dinner at the Ukrainian traditional restaurant with the life music. The guided excursion around the Kiev city center.

Touristic impressions: Kiev is a very beautiful city with its old history, is one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe. Kiev is a mix of the old and the new, a lot of famous historical architecture complexes stand along with modern buildings. I enjoyed walking around the city centre very much.

Open jobs at University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University

Latest publications at TUCS

Articles in journals (4):

Articles in proceedings (3):

Chapters in edited books (1):

Technical reports (4):