BCS Birmingham Branch would like to thank David Huen of the University of Wolverhampton for a fascinating introduction into Bioinformatics. Genetics and understanding the operation of biological cells is a key part of this field. David gave an insight into the various issues that are related to the subject such as ethical and legal issues and the sheer size of the data which needs to be handled, transmitted and stored. To be able to address the challenges of this growing subject specialists from many fields are needed including IT specialists. There was a lively discussion at the end of the presentation about various issues including future possibilities which may arise from research and development.
May 2013 Event – Bioinformatics: A Big Data Challenge
Summary
The very rapid technological development since the Human Genome Project poses interesting challenges to computing professionals in terms of how the data can be captured, analysed and archived. This talk by David Huen of the University of Wolverhampton will introduce a general audience to the origins and the motivations for collecting and storing this data and provide an appreciation of the kind of challenges that lie ahead for its management and analysis.
This event will take place on Tuesday 21st May 2013 at the Tally Ho! Sports & Conference Centre in the Trophy Suite. The presentation will begin at 18:30. You can book your place on the BCS event booking system.
Tea, coffee and a buffet will be available from 18:00. Both members and non-members are welcome.
About the Speaker
David Huen originally trained as a chemical engineer in Birmingham in those distant days when strikes used to happen every Christmas. He worked in the petroleum industry for six years prior to returning to academia to retrain as a molecular biologist. He has been in academic research since, first at Birmingham and subsequently in Cambridge. He is currently a lecturer in Bioinformatics at the University of Wolverhampton.
April 2013 Event – Formula 1 – Our Thanks
BCS Birmingham Branch would like to thank all those who came to this event with 58 people attending.
The branch would like to thank to Steve Nevey for his informative and enjoyable presentation where we were given a detailed insight to the technically challenging world of Formula One and also into the nature of the personalities of the people. Drivers enter a physically challenging world of high ‘G’ forces and violent motion of the car during a race. A Formula 1 team is made up of 250 to 600 highly motivated people who work together with a high level of trust aiming to achieve success on the track. Steve’s presentation showed the technology and methods of working which lead to success.
We would like to thank the Formula Student teams from Aston University, Birmingham City University and the University of Birmingham for bringing their race cars to the event and putting them on show.
April 2013 Event – The Business of Formula 1 – An Insight
Summary
Spanning the international race-scene the world of Formula 1 racing is not only highly competitive but also underpinned by cutting-edge technology with an interwoven mix of intriguing personalities and high-profile celebrities. At this event Steve Nevey, formerly Business Development Manager at Red Bull Racing, will describe the intense and often extreme world of Formula 1 where materials seem to defy the laws of physics and people are pushed to their mental and physical limits. Steve is able to draw some interesting comparisons between the different worlds of Formula 1 and more conventional business. Examples are the lessons which can be learned from honing a pit stop to 2.4 seconds and the active transfer of core competence from one area of the business to another.
This event will take place on Tuesday 16th April 2013. The presentation will begin at 18:30. Please note that this event will be held in Room 8 at Faraday Wharf, Birmingham Science Park Aston.
Formula Student race cars from Aston University and Birmingham City University will be on display. There will be an opportunity to speak to the student race team members from 17:30.
Tea, coffee and a buffet will be available from 18:00. Both members and non-members are welcome.
We expect that this event will be heavily subscribed and spaces are limited. To avoid disappointment please book early on the BCS booking system at https://events.bcs.org/book/605/.
About The Speaker
In contrast to the fast-paced world of Formula 1 motor racing, Steve Nevey started his career as a designer in the world of shipbuilding. Steve started his Formula 1 career in 1989 with Footwork Arrows as a specialist Computer Aided Design Engineer. Steve has spent the last 22 years in the world of Formula 1 motor racing working with teams such as Footwork Arrows, Stewart Grand Prix, Jaguar Racing and until very recently multiple world champions Red Bull Racing. He has fulfilled a variety of technical and commercial roles, both behind the scenes at the teams’ highly sophisticated headquarters and at the race circuit.
March 2013 Event – Our Thanks to Ian Hughes
We would like to thank Ian Hughes of Feeding Edge Ltd. for his fascinating presentation showing the potential of virtual worlds and games augmented with technology. He illustrated how children would undertake programming tasks with enthusiasm without regarding it as programming work. There is free software available and also hardware which can be obtained at a modest cost where the achievement of a working result can be obtained quickly, sometimes within a matter of hours.
March 2013 Event – Getting Emerging Technology into TV Land, Schools and the Boardroom
Synopsis
We welcome Ian Hughes of Feeding Edge Ltd. who will share some tales from his experience of presenting an emerging technology slot on three series of the ITV children’s show “The Cool Stuff Collective”. He will discuss how the future technology elements in the show, whilst aimed at 7-12 year olds, are actually threaded together to get more people into STEM subjects through participation with open source and maker culture.
This event will take place on Tuesday 12th March 2013 from 18:00 to 20:00 at the Tally Ho! Sports and Conference Centre in Birmingham.
Tea, coffee and a buffet will be available. Both members and non-members are welcome.
Bookings for this event can be made on the BCS event booking system.
About the Presenter
Ian Hughes is a Metaverse Evangelist and founder of Feeding Edge Ltd. In 2006, whilst at IBM, he led thousands of colleagues into virtual worlds like Second Life with projects such as Wimbledon. Ian Hughes is the chair of the BCS Animation and Games Industry Group.
February 2013 Event Cancelled
Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, we have had to cancel our event planned for 12th February 2013. We plan to reschedule the event later this year.
February 2013 Event – Relativistic Computing
Synopsis
In October last year David McMahon of Ridgian gave us an insight into the strange world of Quantum Computing. We are delighted that David is returning to provide a glimpse of the stranger world of Relativistic Computing.
For this event David will present a Relativity 101 and then go on to explain how some computer scientists have proposed making use of General Relativity and it’s bizarre effects to boost the computing speed of computers. No previous knowledge of relativity is expected or required – just a very open mind!
This event will take place on Tuesday 12th February 2013 from 18:00 to 20:00 at the Tally Ho! Sports and Conference Centre in Birmingham.
Tea, coffee and a buffet will be available. Both members and non-members are welcome.
Bookings for this event can be made on the BCS event booking system.
About the Presenter
David McMahon is a SharePoint MVP and is a Software Systems Architect for Ridgian, a Microsoft Gold Partner. Over his 15 years in the industry following a career in the RAF David has worked with and gained extensive experience of SQL Server, XML/XSLT and ASP.NET Web Application Development. He has worked at Ridgian for the past 8 years delivering solutions to the public and private sector.
Christmas Event – Our Thanks to Chris Hills
We would like to thank Chris Hills for his presentation last year about the various festivals of Christmas and highlighting the diverse local festivals which are held in the UK today. The numbers add up to show that the traditional Christmas is around 150 years old and our space technology has a long way to go to catch Santa’s sleigh !
Christmas Event – Computational Christmas: Do The Numbers Add Up?
Synopsis
Our Christmas event will take place on Tuesday 18th December 2012 from 18:00 to 20:00. In the tradition of our last few Christmas events the subject is outside the technical arena. In a subject related to the time of year our speaker, Chris Hills, will take a light hearted but factual look at some of the traditions and legends of Christmas and related festivals. This Christmas event will amuse and confound! There will be some fun questions and “prizes”.
This event will take place at the Tally Ho! Sports and Conference Centre in Birmingham. Tea, coffee and a seasonal buffet will be available. Members, non-members and guests are welcome.
Bookings for this event can be made on the BCS event booking system. Please book early so that we can make sure that there will be plenty of refreshments.
About The Speaker
Despite being an electronics and software engineer Chris Hills has social skills of a normal person and speaks intelligible English without too much jargon. As he says there are 10 types of people in the world – those who understand binary and those who don’t!