Monthly Archives: April 2015

Horizon 2020: Secure Societies Call (inc. Cyber)

Posted on by

The European Commission has published four different calls under the Secure Societies Societal Challenge 7 of the Horizon 2020 Programme.

The new open calls are as follows:

Each call contains several topics and the last call will be of particular interest to people in the Department of Computer Science. Details are as follows (click on the above links for full info):

Digital Security: Cybersecurity, privacy and trust call
Proposals should investigate the dependencies on communication networks and ICT components (including SCADA and IACS systems) of critical infrastructures, analyze and propose mitigation strategies and methodologies for assessing criticalities of services and detecting anomalies, developing tools and processes to simulate or monitor cascading effects due to ICT incidents, and develop self-healing mechanisms. ICT should be protected or re-designed at the software level, but also at the physical level, leading to more robust, resilient and survivable ICT infrastructure.

Horizon 2020: Important Info about 2-stage Evaluations

Posted on by

The ever-helpful folk at UKRO have obtained provisional guidance on the way significant changes will be treated at stage one and two of a two-stage evaluation.

 

As stated in the European Commission’ guide to proposals submission and evaluation’: ‘the full proposal must be consistent with the short outline proposal [submitted at stage one] and may not differ substantially.’

The rationale behind this rule is to ensure  that there is fair and equal treatment of competing proposals and to prevent applicants from deliberately setting out false promises in the first stage that are not reflected in their second stage proposals.

Applicants submitting proposals at stage two are now asked in the application form if any significant changes have been made since the previous submission and are required to tick the relevant boxes referring to changes made to the budget, partnerships, approach or the work plan, as well as to describe these in detail. However, since no exact definition of ‘substantial differences’ has been provided by the Commission, many applicants were struggling with the new question in the application forms.

UKRO has sought informal guidance from the European Commission and as a result of this we understand that assessments of the changes made between stages one and two are done on a case-by-case basis, since each situation is different, and that there is no official guidance on this particular issue provided to the evaluators. The justifications given in the application form will of course be considered as part of the usual evaluation process.

It is important to remember that the stage one evaluation only concerns the criteria ‘excellence’ and ‘impact’ (in relation to the expected impact statement in the work programme). It does not cover the make-up of the consortium (except for the minimum number of partners needed for eligibility), nor the detailed work plan. Therefore, as any outline proposal is developed into a full proposal there is likely to be some form of evolution. When this results in differences compared to the outline proposal then it is the interest of the applicant to ensure that they have described the changes and the reason behind the changes.

Applicants are asked to provide details regarding changes in budget or partnerships, but these on their own would not normally constitute a substantial difference.

UKRO understands that the following examples might be considered a substantial change by the Commission services:

  • conceptual basis, or methodology, has completely changed;
  • objectives of the work have been significantly altered (especially if the degree of innovation/advance beyond the state-of-the-art is greatly reduced);
  • expected impact no longer corresponds at all to that set out at stage one.

If in doubt, applicants can indicate that changes have been made to the proposals by ticking the relevant boxes and later explaining in the pop up text boxes that these do not constitute significant differences.

4th IMA Conference on Mathematics in Defence 2015

Posted on by

Thursday 26 November 2015, Satellite Applications Catapult, Harwell Oxford, UK

Science and technology play an increasingly important role in equipping and supporting the armed forces. Mathematics is fundamental to these disciplines, providing a framework for understanding and solving the varied and complex problems faced, and is used to model military systems and scenarios. These models can be used to estimate system performance, suggest improvements, or find weaknesses of real systems.

This conference brings together a wide variety of mathematical methods with defence and security applications. The programme will include keynote speakers, contributed presentations and poster sessions as well as refreshment breaks for informal discussions. It is intended for mathematicians, scientists and engineers from industry and academia, as well as government and military personnel who have an interest in how mathematics can be applied to defence problems.

This will be the fourth Mathematics in Defence conference; the first three conferences, held in 2009, 2011 and 2013, each attracted over 100 delegates from a range of organisations including QinetiQ, Dstl, BAE Systems, Thales, Rolls Royce, the IMA, the MoD, academic establishments and international parties.

Conference Topics

The conference will cover the following themes: Data analysis: data and text mining, data fusion, information visualization, multidimensional data analysis; Modelling and Estimation: electromagnetic models, estimation theory, Markov models, non-linear models, mathematical models, simulation; Operational Analysis: cost benefit analysis, counter-terrorism, risk management, intelligence analysis, behaviour analysis; Security: cryptography and coding, security systems, secure communications; Signal Processing: adaptive processing, computer vision, digital signal processing, distributed sensor processing, emitter location, image processing, signal enhancement, super-resolution, synthetic aperture radar, time series analysis; Statistical Methods: Bayesian techniques, classification, detection, identification, tracking, Monte Carlo methods, particle filters, pattern recognition.

Confirmed Invited Speaker: Prof Simon Maskell, Professor of Autonomous Systems, University of Liverpool

Instructions for authors

Contributed papers or posters are invited on all aspects of mathematics in defence. Papers or posters will be accepted on the basis of a 300-500 word abstract which should be submitted by 14 May 2015 by e-mail to conferences@ima.org.uk. Abstracts are expected to conform to the following template in Times New Roman, size 10 font:

Title

Contributing author(s) Surname, Initials

Affiliation(s) Department, organisation.

Abstract: 300-500 words only.

Authors will be advised of acceptance by 15 June 2015. Successful authors will be invited to submit a paper or poster for inclusion in the conference proceedings by 14 September 2015. Authors accepted for oral presentations will be requested to submit a paper; authors accepted for poster presentations may optionally also submit papers. This is an open conference and all papers and presentations will be unclassified. The proceedings will be made available to delegates on CD and for download from the conference webpage. Prizes will be awarded at the conference for the best paper, the best poster and the best early career researcher’s presentation.

Further Information

For further information please visit the conference webpage (http://www.ima.org.uk/conferences/conferences_calendar/4th_mathematics_in_defence.cfm.html) or contact Lizzi Lake, Conference Officer (E-mail: conferences@ima.org.uk, Tel: +44 (0) 1702 354 020)

Kings College Distinguished Lecture: Professor Jane Hillston

Posted on by

The Department of Informatics, King’s College London, is delighted to invite you to the Distinguished Lecture of Professor Jane Hillston (University of Edinburgh).

Choosing not to be discrete — the benefits of fluid approximations in dynamic modelling

Monday 27 April 2015, 18:30-19:30

JKTL Nash Lecture Theatre (K2.31), 2nd Floor of the King’s Building, Strand Campus.

A drinks reception will follow this lecture.

Abstract: Discrete representations of systems are usual in theoretical computer science and they have many benefits. Many discrete state models have been shown to be useful for capturing and analysing dynamic system behaviour. Examples include finite state machines and continuous time Markov chains. Unfortunately these models suffer from the problem of state space explosion, sometimes termed the “curse of dimensionality”. In recent years, research has shown that there are cases in which we can reap the benefits of discrete representation during system description but then gain from more efficient analysis by approximating the discrete system by a continuous one. In this talk I will give the intuition behind this shift of perspective and explain how it allows us to study and predict the behaviour of the systems which would otherwise have been beyond analysis.

Biography: Jane Hillston is Professor of Quantitative Modelling in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Her principal research interests are in the design of formal modelling languages, particularly stochastic process algebras, to model and analyse dynamic systems and the development of efficient solution techniques for such models. These models capture both engineered computer systems and naturally occurring systems such as biochemical pathways and the spread of disease within a population. Prof Hillston received the BA and MS degrees in Mathematics from the University of York (UK) and Lehigh University (USA), respectively. She received the PhD degree in Computer Science from the University of Edinburgh in 1994. Her work on the stochastic process algebra PEPA was recognised by the British Computer Society in 2004 who awarded her the first Roger Needham Award. She was elected to fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2007. She is also a fellow of the British Computer Society and a member of the executive committee of Informatics Europe.

If you would like to attend, please register here.

The Faculty of Natural & Mathematical Sciences at King’s College London has a Code of Conduct, which we expect participants at our events to abide by. This is intended to ensure an inclusive and productive environment and can be read here.

Marie Curie Individual Fellowships FAQ and Events

Posted on by

MSC logo webThe European Commission has published a Frequently Asked Questions document regarding the Marie Curie Individual Fellowships call.

Want to know if you, or somebody you’d like to work with is eligible? Want to know how the four years of full-time equivalent research experience calculated? Is Switzerland eligible for this call? All these questions (and more!) are answered in the FAQ.

The PDF is available, along with all other relevant documentation for this call, on the call documents tab.

There are also still places left on the Information Events taking place in Leeds and London, on the 5th and 6th of May respectively. Find out more and register here.

*Please note we do not support the Global Fellowships offered on this scheme. Get in touch for more information.