Past Events

Science and Engineering at The University of Edinburgh

School of GeoSciences

Research

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Past Events

This page contains outlines of the Research Staff Organisation meetings that have taken place and the powerpoint presentations that were given at them. It is designed as a source of reference for a follow up to the meeting and a source of information for those that were unable to attend.

2009-2010

26th May 2010 at Abden House, Pollock Halls

School of GeoSciences Research Staff Away Afternoon - almost 40 members from the School Research Staff community enjoyed a fine lunch, varied talk programme and a wine reception. If you missed it you missed out on the following:

12.30-13.30: Lunch

13.30-13.50: Nick Hulton, Dean of Teaching & Learning

13.50-14.20: Wyn Williams, Dean of Research Careers

14.20-14.50: Sheila Thompson, Director Researcher Development

14.50-15.05: Stuart Gilfillan, Research Fellow, Research Staff Organisation

15.05-15.20: Helen Kettle, Ex-Research Fellow at GeoSciences, currently Mathematical Modeller at BIOSS

15.20-15.35: Coffee and Biscuits

15.35-16.30: Two parallel break out sessions, one for early career researchers and one for established researchers focused on finding out the training needs of each group of research staff

16.30-16.45: Summary of training needs from both groups

16.45: Wine Reception

28th April 2010 at Crew Building

Edinburgh Beltane - what's it all about? - Heather Rea from the Edinburgh Beltane Organistion gave a great talk on how Researchers could get involved with the outreach project. The four year project aims to change culture in our partner Research and Higher Education Institutions (HEI's) so that more researchers are willing and able to engage with the public about their work. Heather explained how they plan to achieve this aim and how we as research staff can be involved.

24th February 2010 at Grant Institute

Do Research Staff have a role within a School Research Strategy? - Iain Woodhouse from the School of GeoSciences gave a provocative talk on the reasons for developing a School Research Stategy and outlined the role the he thought Researchers could play in developing the strategy. A lively disscusion ensued.

27th January 2010 at Crew Building

Open Meeting to gather Feedback on the Development Review Process - A meeting jointly organised by the Research Training and Development (RTD) Organisation and the Research Staff Organisation (RSO) to find out what worked and what didn't in the development review process this year and find out what researchers would like to see changed for next year. Whilst the turn out was lower than anticipated, good feedback on the review process was given and on the whole most researchers present had found the reviews beneficial.

28th October 2009 at Drummond Street

Making the most of your Development Review and Whisky Tasting experience - An informal meeting where members of the RSO committee shared their experiences of Development Reviews and highlighted how to get the best out of the review. This was followed by a Whisky tasting experience where attendees got to sample four different fine whiskies from different Scottish regions along with education on what you are supposed to be tasting from our resident whisky connoisseur David Murray-Rust! Oatcakes, home smoked salmon, Scottish cheese and other refreshments accompanied the whisky so if you missed it you missed out!

29th September 2009 at Grant Institute

Open Meeting on the Management of Research Staff - School wide meeting for PI's and Research Staff, hosted by Research Training and Development (RTD), which outlined how the School intends to implement the Code of Practice for the Management of Research Staff. A particular focus of the meeting was the implementation of annual Career Development Reviews for all Research Staff, with the first series to be completed by the end of the current calender year. Four short talks were presented and the powerpoint slides are available below:

The role of Research Training and Development in the Code of Practice - Pete Nienow, Head of RTD.

The Importance of Implementing the Code of Practice - Prof. Nigel Brown, Head of College of Science and Engineering.

The Responsibilities of the PI and the School within the Code of Practice - Simon Tett, Deputy Head of RTD.

The Responsibilities of the researcher within the Code of Practice - Stuart Gilfillan, Research Staff Organisation.

2008-2009

7th May 2009 at Grant Institute

Reviewing, Nuisance or Fun? - Talk given by Dick Kroon from the School of GeoSciences, covering reviewing academic papers. His talk outlined when to accept or not accept a review request and how to best complete a review. It was followed by a useful question and answer session. Informal talk so no presentation available.

5th March 2009 at Grant Institute

Environmental Modelling Made Easy - our speaker was Robert Muetzelfeldt, from Simulistics, a spin out company from the University of Edinburgh formed to enable continued development of the modelling program Similie. Simile is a visual modelling environment developed for ecological and environmental modelling. Robert gave a brief introduction to the Similie package, then concentrated on Simile's use for science-related modelling. He then outlined its use for the more social-science aspects (for the human geography community) and finished by explaining the opportunities for model sharing, web-based modelling, and putting the models onto the Edinburgh Compute and Data Facility (ECDF).

12th February 2009 at Crew Building

Implications of the 2008 RAE Results - Head of School, Martin Siegert outlined the implications of the School's excellent 2008 RAE results. He also briefly touched on the proposed future assessment exercise and how to maximise profiles within it (basically write more papers!).

4th December 2008 at Drummond Street

Code of Practice for the Management of Research Staff - Sheila Thompson, from corporate HR, outlined the implications for researchers of the University's new Code of Practice for the Management of Research Staff.

9th October 2008 at Grant Institute

Cheese and Wine - introductory event of the RSO for this academic year aimed to remind everyone to the aims and objectives of the organisation, what we achieved last year and what we plan to join this year and also to drink wine and eat cheese!!

2007-2008

24th April 2008 at Drummond Street

Teaching: Good Bad or Evil? - how to survive and make the most of your teaching commitments by Dan Hammett of the School of GeoSciences.

To download the presentation click here

6th March 2008 at Grant Institute

Good Post-doc/Bad Post-doc - hints and tips on making the most of Post-doc research by Patience Cowie of the School of GeoSciences.

To download the presentation click here

7th February 2008 at Crew Building

Training Opportunities for Research Staff - talk on training opportunities available to research staff within the University by Sheila Thompson from the Universities Corporate HR department.

To download the presentation click here

6th December 2007 at Grant Institute

Future of the School of GeoSciences - vision for the School of GeoSciences talk by Head of School Martin Siegert. Informal talk so no presentation available!

8th November 2007 at Drummond Street

Funding - talk on research funding opportunities by Janet Ball and Anne Sofie from Edinburgh Research and Innovation.

To download the presentation click here

25th October 2007 at Drummond Street

Introductory Cheese and Wine - first event of the RSO aimed to introduce everyone to the aims and objectives of the organisation, and to drink wine and eat cheese!!