MPS Weekly Update
8 October 2015
The School is seeking to fill the role of
Equality & Diversity Champion from
amongst its number.
This role would include and extend the
gender equality work in which the school
has already been engaged.
The role is open to all staff, irrespective of
seniority. It will require a commitment to
suitable training and a general willingness to
gain expertise about equalities matters in the
context of the law, HR legislation and the
University context in particular.
If anyone would like to discuss such a role
within MPS, please make an appointment with
Prof Peter Coles, Head of School, via Dorothy
Lamb.
Daniel explains his poster to
Prof Michael Davies,
PVC Research
CONGRATULATIONS!
My Costume Drama
Aaron Lawrence, a 2nd year Physics & Astronomy undergraduate, has
come up with a splendidly unorthodox way to raise funds and awareness for
MindOut, the LGBTQ Mental Health Service. His challenge is to be
bedecked in nothing but fancy dress for a whole year. He will swap his entire
wardrobe and one day you might find him a superhero in the student study
spaces, another day a koala in the kitchen and endless other characters
over the course of the year.
When asked how he came up with the idea, Aaron says:
‘I’ve always loved a little fancy dress. One day I joked that I liked it so much I
should do it full time. As I was also trying to think of a way to raise money for
MindOut and support their tremendous services for LGBTQ people
affected by mental health issues, ‘My Costume Drama’ was born. And I only
just realised that 2016 is a leap year, as if 365 days were not enough. I will
have to think of something special for the 29th of February …’
Please support Aaron with donations via his donation page or directly at any
of the events he has planned – details on www.justgiving.com/
mycostumedrama and view his Facebook page www.facebook.com/
mycostumedrama
For more information on MindOut, please visit www.mindout.org.uk
Daniel Hajas, a 3rd year
Theoretical Physics student,
scooped second place and
won a £30 Amazon voucher in
last week’s exhibition
showcasing the work of about
fifty undergraduates who took
part in this year’s Junior
Research Associate (JRA)
and Sussex University
Research Associate (SURA)
schemes.
Daniel, who is visually
impaired, highlighted the
challenges faced by blind
students by exhibiting a
completely blank poster,
explaining that this was how a
blind person would experience
a complex equation.
www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/
newsandevents/?id=32446
Physics & Astronomy news
IT courses
By Royal Appointment
Monday 12 October 10am-1pm
IT Services, Shawcross
Photoshop CS6 – Up and Running
www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/
newsandevents/eventscalendar?
id=19653
Tuesday 13 October 10am-12.30pm
IT Services, Shawcross
Excel 2013 for beginners
www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/
newsandevents/eventscalendar?
id=27514
Prof Barry Garraway explaining Sussex work on
quantum enhanced gyroscopes to Prince Andrew, the
Duke of York, when he visited the UK Quantum
Technology Hub for Sensors and Metrology in
Birmingham (29/9/15). UoS press release to follow.
The 2015 Nobel Prize for
Physics has been awarded
jointly to Takaaki Kajita
(University of Tokyo) and
Arthur B. McDonald (Sudbury
Neutrino Observatory – with
whom P & A have close
collaboration) for the discovery
of neutrino oscillations.
Wednesday 14 October 2pm-4pm
PowerPoint for Beginners
IT Services, Shawcross
www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/
newsandevents/eventscalendar?
id=26963
See Dr Simon Peeters’ news
article on the UoS pages
www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/
newsandevents/?id=32456
Information for Academics
A new mobile app has been launched
which hopes to tap into the creative
juices of people with autism to find new
technological solutions to some of the
everyday challenges they face.
‘ASCmeI.T.’, a free mobile app
available on Android and Apple, has
been developed by a consortium of
researchers from the Universities of
Sussex, Bath and Southampton with the simple aim of
involving people with autism in the development of new
technologies that could help them.
It enables people with Autism Spectrum Conditions –
as well as families, teachers, professionals and
anyone who supports someone with autism – to share
their ideas on what kind of new technology would best
help.
www.sussex.ac.uk/newsandevents/?id=32338
The new Student Mobility Partnerships Fund Scheme
was launched recently. It might be of interest to those
in the school looking to develop international
opportunities for undergraduate students.
The scheme aims to support faculty by providing
awards to:
visit partners to set up exchanges, summer schools or
field visits for undergraduates or
travel to existing partners with a view to sending
Sussex students to them
Full details are available at
www.sussex.ac.uk/studentrecruitment/
internationaloffice/partnerships/ipdf
Departmental seminars coming up
MASS
Astronomy
www.maths.sussex.ac.uk/seminar
Thursday 8 October 3pm
Pev 3 5C11
Dr Johannes Zimmer (Bath)
From the semi-infinite exclusion process to a
conservation law on the half line: scale-bridging via
large deviations
www.sussex.ac.uk/astronomy/
newsandevents/calendar
Friday 9 October 3.30pm-4.30pm
Arts C133
Helen Russell (Cambridge)
Massive molecular gas flows and AGN feedback in
galaxy clusters
ADPE
EPP
www.sussex.ac.uk/apde/research/seminars
Monday 12 October 3pm
Pev 3 5C11
Mahir Hadzic (King’s)
On stable melting and freezing in the Stefan problem
https://epp.phys.sussex.ac.uk/epp/
Seminars_2014_15
Thursday 9 October 1pm
Shawcross AS02
Steve Biller (Oxford)
The confidence game
Information for Academics
TPP
www.sussex.ac.uk/tpp/research/
seminars
Tuesday 13 October 1pm-2pm in Pev 2 foyer
Pop-up Careers Advice in MPS
www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/newsandevents/
eventscalendar?id=32266
DOUBLE BILL
Monday 12 October 2pm
SEPnet room Pev 2 4C10
Prof Christof Wetterich (Heidelberg)
Big Bang or big freeze?
Thursday 15 October 9.15am-4.30pm
Pev 3 Creativity Zone
Effective Researcher
www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/newsandevents/
eventscalendar?id=31890
Monday 12 October 4pm
SEPnet room Pev 2 4C10
Prof. Harald Fritzsch (Ludwig Maximillians University,
Munich)
Flavour mixing and neutrino masses
UNIVERSITY EVENTS & INFORMATION
Friday 9 October 6pm-7.30pm
Meeting House Quiet Room
International quiz organised by the International
Students’ Society
www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/newsandevents/
eventscalendar?id=32416
Sussexsport are running their popular children’s
activity camps during the forthcoming school half-term
holidays
www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/newsandevents/?id=32459
Sussexsport have gone sugar free for October as
part of Brighton & Hove City Council's Big Sugar
Debate.
Joining in with a series of ‘Sugar Smart’ events
taking place throughout the month, Sussexsport staff
have pledged to go sugar
free from 1 October and are
asking staff across campus
to join them in the challenge.
www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/
newsandevents/?id=32304
LOCAL EVENTS
Friday 9 October 8pm
Cemetery after dark – St Nicholas Church, Brighton by torchlight (£5, children go free)
An evening stroll around Brighton’s oldest churchyard, explore the Victorian home for ‘fallen
women of infirm mind’ and hear tales of famous people who are buried here.
Saturday 10 October 10am-4pm
Friends’ Meeting House, Ship Street, Brighton
World Mental Health Day: Festival for the Mind
Free day of talks
www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/newsandevents/eventscalendar?id=31669
Saturday 10 October 11am-5pm
For £10 anyone can come along and learn to sing the entire Brahms Requiem with the
Brighton Festival Chorus, plus an impromptu performance at 6pm in St George’s
Church, Kemp Town
www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/bfc-brighton-festival-chorus-8448093576?s=44285468
Saturday 10 October doors open at 5.30pm for 6pm concert
St Mary’s Church, Upper St James’ Street, Kemp Town
Motets and Madrigals (free entry)
Your chance to winner dinner for two at Pelham House
NB Closing date 20 October
www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/newsandevents/?id=32142
Friday 16 October 3pm-7.30pm
The Keep, Woollards Way
Vanguard Women: a welcome to the
Anna Mendelssohn papers
www.thekeep.info/events/vanguard
-women-a-welcome-to-the-annamendelssohn-papers/
For those who enjoy
using weapons of
mass construction,
please note that not
only is it Wool Week
but also National
Knitting Week.
www.national-awareness-days.com/nationalknitting-week.html
October is Black History Month.
For news & events, please visit
www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/
If you have any items for inclusion in the next MPS
weekly update, please contact Dorothy Lamb
E [email protected] by 12 noon at the
latest on Wednesday before Thursday
publication.
If you have any news for our web pages, our
information co-ordinator, Justine Charles, would be
delighted to hear from you.
E [email protected]