FORCES Project - Management Committee Minutes 03/04/01

• Muffy Calder (MC), Glasgow
• Graham Clark (GC), Marconi Communications (Secretary)
• John Derrick (JD), Kent
• John Evans (JE), Marconi Communications)
• Evan Magill (EM), Stirling
• Mark Ryan (MR), Birmingham (for item 7)
• Ken Turner (KT), Stirling (Chairman)

Action points arising from meetings are identified as AP/meeting/action/owner. This meeting was number 5.

1. Appointment of Secretary

   G. Clark graciously agreed to act as secretary for this meeting.

2. Apologies for Absence

   G. Blair was was unable to attend due to sabattical leave in Norway.

3. Approval of Agenda

   The agenda was approved, the chairman requesting to start with item 7.

4. Approval of Minutes and Matters Arising

   The minutes of Meeting 5, 04/12/00, were accepted. All matters arising were covered by outstanding actions or agenda items.

5. Review of Outstanding Action Points

   AP/5/0/GC G. Clark confirmed his participation as Marconi representative on the colloquium programme committee.

   AP/5/1/MC See item 6.

   AP/5/3/KT K. Turner is still in discussion with EPSRC, but does not see that a time extension to cover an autumn colloquium will be a problem. Ongoing

   AP/5/4/EM+GB E. Magill presented the current status of "FORCES 2" under item 7. Ongoing

   AP/5/5/GC Marconi support for "FORCES 2" will depend on the structure and content of the proposal, and will have to be approved by the Marconi central research and education authorities. It is not possible to enter into any commitment at this stage. Ongoing

6. September Colloquium

   M. Calder has approached IEE Scotland who are keen to support a colloquium. This includes free use of the Teacher Building, the offer of speakers and publicity as an IEE event. ScotlandIS are also interested and have offered speakers. It was decided that possible links with CommTech will only be used for publicity. For various reasons early October is preferable to September; the week beginning 1st October will be investigated. With the additional offers of speakers, the possibilities of either a 2 day colloquium or the addition of poster sessions were discussed. The latter is certainly possible. It may be appropriate to repeat some presentations given at earlier London colloquia, as the Glasgow audience will be very different. Certainly project members should publicise their work. M. Calder will join E. Magill, J. Derrick, and G. Clark on the programme/organising committee.

7. "FORCES 2"

   E. Magill presented the idea of a joint PhD programme between the participating universities (Birmingham, Glasgow, Kent, Lancaster, Stirling), involving common summer schools, short courses and industrial placements. Each university will be invited to submit course proposals reflecting their particular interests and specialisations to fit into a framework currently under development. Members expressed a desire to combine teaching components with existing courses, or at least to open up FORCES components to non-FORCES students. To get EPSRC backing, it will be necessary to emphasise the research aspects of the project (i.e. bringing together different perspectives on a common research topic) rather than the teaching. Motorola have expressed interest in participating. To recruit students for September 2002, submission and approval would ideally be achieved before end 2001.

   AP/6/0/EM E. Magill will circulate a skeleton proposal in 2 to 3 weeks. Ongoing

   AP/6/1/EM E. Magill will approach EPSRC for guidance. Ongoing

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