Cs@manchester Podcast

Episode 16 of the CS@Manchester podcast features an interview with Jon Parkinson, a PhD student here coming to the end of the four-year programme. Jon talks to us about why he chose to change his career and study computer science, why he came to choose to study in the area of Machine learning. We talk about how he's enjoyed the course and what it feels like to reach the end of the PhD. I hope you enjoy today's episode. If you have any ideas for what you would like to be featured in this podcast please contact us! @csmcr or jez.lloyd@manchester.ac.uk Find out more about studying a PhD in the School of Computer Science: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/ More on the Machine learning research group: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/mlo/

Part two of our Hackathon special episodes features interviews with organisers, sponsors and hackers at the Student Hack V event at Media City. Featured in the episode is second year HCI student Stefania Hristea and Ankur Banerjee from @Accenture, who sponsored the event and set a hack challenge (@ankurb). Also I speak to Luke Beamish, a first year hacking at the event, sponsors Julian Bucknall and Mohammad Azzam from @Barclays bank and finally organiser Ben Possible (@benpossible), a student currently out on his industrial experience year, with former PhD student and mentor Andrew Leeming (@leemingA). Want to find out more about Hackathons in manchester? Check out the Hacksoc pages: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HackSocManc/ @hacksocmcr @studenthack

Today's episode features an interview with Dave Ames and Sarah Zaman, two members of the CAS Regional Centre, the North West base of the Computing At School. The Regional Centre is a major new initiative to build regional support for computing in all Primary and Secondary schools. It is run jointly by the University of Manchester (School of Computer Science) and Edge Hill University, and is funded by the Department of Education through BCS (CAS). We talk about the work that they've been doing across the region with school children, and the role they play in supporting teachers tackle the change in curriculum in Computer Science. We also celebrate their recent successes including a Better World award, recognising their work in Widening Participation. http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/study/news/full-article/?articleid=4995 If you wish to contact the CAS team please email casmanchester@computingatschool.org.uk

Today's episode of the CS@Manchester podcast poses the question - 'What exactly IS Computer Science?' to three academics from the School here in Manchester. They are Dr Caroline Jay, Dr Gavin Brown and Dr Eva Navarro-Lopez. We also ask what is unique about the culture here in the School and what reasons a student might consider joining to study at the University of Manchester, the birthplace of Computer Science. If you would like to contact the podcast team then please either email: jez.lloyd@manchester.ac.uk or tweet us @csmcr

Our latest episode of the CS@Manchester podcast features an interview with Laura Howarth-Kirke from the BBC. Laura graduated from the School of Computer Science in 2013 and won SET Student of the Year. She has since worked at the BBC under firstly their graduate scheme and now as a software developer. We discuss how and why she first became interested in Computer Science, her role and experiences working at the BBC and what future technologies she expects to see in the future that will change our behaviour with the web and TV. You can tweet us @csmcr if you have any questions and see our full archive of podcasts here: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/about-us/podcasts/

Our final year Computer Science students graduated last week, which included a formal ceremony followed by a Champagne reception celebration in the Kilburn Building. There were over 400 people in the glorious Manchester sunshine toasting our successful graduates, including many families and friends alongside academics and support staff from the School. We managed to catch up with a few of our students (who are, in order by appearance: George Vanbrugh, Lora Lovchalieva, Veneta Haralampieva & Anmol Khurana) and ask them about their experiences as an undergraduate here in Manchester and where they plan to go next, now they have graduated. We also speak to Toby Howard (http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby/), our Undergraduate director, on a proud day for everyone in the School, where we get to celebrate the fantastic achievements of so many students, as their journey at Manchester comes to an end. Tweet us @csmcr or if you have any enquiries about our degree programmes then please email ug-compsci@manchester.ac.

We interviewed 4 of our recent Computer Science graduates attending a recent Alumni event back at the School of Computer Science at The University of Manchester. Featured in the episode are: Stephanie Cook Software Engineer, BBC Mihai Anca Software Developer, Envoy (Formerly working at Twitter in Silicon Valley) Qasim Ashraf Software Engineer, Appsense Zac Hamid, Graduate Software Developer, IBM

Today's episode of the CS@Manchester podcast features an extended interview Prof Danielle George from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. We talk about her experiences doing the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 2014, why she thinks the term Engineer is wrongly reflected in society and her thoughts on the crossover between Computer Science and Engineering, and what they can learn from each other. You can follow us on twitter @csmcr @EngineerDG

Today's episode of the CS@Manchester podcast features an interview with Dr Simon Harper, a lead academic in the field of Human Computer Interaction and User Experience in the School of Computer Science here at The University of Manchester. Simon talks to us about his journey into academia, he's research interests, the future of our computer use, our behaviour with them and his role as UG Applicant Tutor in the School. You can find out more information about Simon here: http://simon.harper.name @sharpic Stream our archive of episodes here: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/about-us/podcasts/

Just before Christmas our MSc and PhD students had their graduation ceremony and we caught up with a few of them at the celebrations to talk about their experiences on the course, what they've enjoyed about Manchester and what they may do in the future. We also spoke to some academic staff members about what the day means to them, where our students might further their careers and their personal highlights supervising student projects. Staff and students featured, in order of appearance: Dr Jon Shapiro, Director of PGR, School of Computer Science Dr Chris Seaton, Phd Computer Science, @ChrisGSeaton Prof Jim Miles, Head of School of Computer Science Dr David Rydeheard, Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science Dr Duncan Hull, Lecturer, School of Computer Science @dullhunk Adones Rukundo, Uganda (MSc Advanced Computer Science) Abhilash Rai, India (MSc Advanced Computer Science & IT Mgt) Diego Lavayen Alarcon, Ecuador (MSc Advanced Computer Science) Crefeda Rodrigues, India (MSc Advanced Computer

Today's episode of the CS@Manchester podcast is an interview with comedy act Fox Dog Studios, who are graduates from the Computer Science degree here in Manchester. We talk about their experiences at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, why they chose to take this career path and the technical challenges they face in producing their interactive show. You can find more information about them here: https://foxdogstudios.com @foxdogstudios

As part of the celebrations of Ada Lovelace Day last week we interviewed a number of academics and students to find out their thoughts about the challenges facing Women In Computer Science/STEM and what we can do to raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. Today's episode interviewees include Dr Caroline Jay, Prof Danielle George, Prof Uli Sattler, Prof Sophia Ananiadou, Sarah King and Osnat Katz. If you have any questions for the podcast team then please email schools.liaison@cs.man.ac.uk

Episode four of the CS@Manchester podcast features an interview with Professor Steve Furber from the School of Computer Science at The University of Manchester. Steve talks us through his time before joining the University, his research with The Human Brain Project, SpiNNaker and his interest in historical computer science pioneers Ada Lovelace and Alan Turing.

Today's episode is an interview with one of our final year PhD students, Oscar Florez, and his journey from Colombia to Manchester and his research in BioMedicine and informatics.

Today's episode features interviews with Hannah Roberts, one of the organisers of the Pint Of Science festival and Dr Gavin Brown, a Senior Lecturer in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Manchester.

This panel discussion featuring Professors Steve Furber & Ross King, Tom Higham from Future Everything and Mark Ewart from Barclays Bank, focuses on the Future of Computing, with questions from local schools around the North West of England.