Jan 23 2012
Morning!
Registration for the Irish Collegiate Programming Contest (IrlCPC) opened a few minutes ago!
It sounds like a really good event, and this year it is being held in UCC. (Interestingly, last year’s photos show that the attendees all look exactly like the stereotypes you would associate with such an event. That is a pity in terms of trying to broaden its appeal!)
Dec 03 2011
A friend told me about a very interesting academic paper during the week. The paper is titled Can apparent superluminal neutrino speeds be explained as a quantum weak measurement?, and it is available for download from http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1110/1110.2832.pdf.
I am sure the paper is interesting to those who work in that area. However, in a more general sense the abstract is a really great! It is a perfect example of “less is more”!
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Aug 25 2011
Science Foundation Ireland has announced its latest round of funding, in which 15 million Euro will be distributed to fund 79 different university projects. All of the usual universities are in there. See Robust and competitive research will drive Ireland’s economic development – Sherlock for the details.
To be honest, I find it a bit depressing to see some of the names I first came across over 10 years ago in that list, and these people are still doing basically the same projects. It makes me feel that the world moves on, but academics never change :|
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May 31 2011
I heard a review of the papers on the radio this morning that referenced this article: ‘Cloud’ postgrad course a world first. In summary, CIT is to run some third and fourth level taught courses focusing specifically on Cloud Computing. For more details see Cloud Computing @ Cork Institute of Technology.
I think this is a really great idea for two reasons:
I bet the other institutions are regretting that they did not think of this first! To me, the key issue should be that all courses are sufficiently fresh and up-to-date to allow successful students to go into any area that is currently in demand!
The unfortunate thing for CIT was that the homepage of its website contained no mention of these courses at the time :| It does now – see CIT partners with EMC to deliver world’s first degree in Cloud Computing :o
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May 26 2011
Congratulations to CTVR for securing 24€ million!
For more information see Minister Sherlock announces €24million boost for telecommunications research centre.
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May 12 2011
There is another interesting insight into how the taxpayers’ money is spent by third level institutions. (I previously wrote about this in How DERI Spends the Taxpayers’ Money.) This time it involves WIT (home of TSSG), and you can read about it in College president defends €100,000 spent on taxis.
In fairness, it probably sounds worse than it actually is! I recall meeting five UL academics at an event in Dublin. They travelled between Limerick and Dublin by limousine, because it was cheaper than buying five return train tickets!
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Apr 25 2011
IRCSET recently announced the results of the 2011 Postdoctoral Scheme (see IRCSET Postdoctoral Fellowship Schemes 2010/2011). The value of each fellowship is roughly 80,000€ over two years (see Empower).
According to my count there were 37 fellowships awarded this year. These can be broken down by institution as follows:
Clearly TCD and UCD are doing something right because they account for more than half of the successful applicants!
The fellowships can also be broken down by category, although these results are more evenly distributed:
It is also interesting to note how many of the names do not sound Irish!
Overall, I do not think that these fellowships represent good value for the tax payer! I say this, because I know some of the people who have successfully applied for this fellowship. In all cases, it is seen as a way to continue a career as an academic. Furthermore, the people I have known had or have no intention of remaining in Ireland or working in industry. In other words, these people want to become academics for the sake of becoming academics, and their contribution to the country will be minimal.
If it were up to me, I would fund more PhD students who then go on to work in industry!
Feb 18 2011
Ouch – German ‘plagiarism’ minister Guttenberg drops doctorate.
Of course, somebody in Ireland did something similar in Ireland within the last 10 years…
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Nov 11 2010
Earlier this week I wrote about the huge, and unwarranted, costs of certain staff in Top Educational Salaries in Ireland. So today I decided to stay with expenditure in Irish education, and write about something that has really been annoying me for the last two weeks.
Somebody told me about an article describing how a UCG research group called DERI has been spending the tax payers’ money that was given to them by Science Foundation Ireland. The article is very revealing, and it can be read online: Tighter Controls at NUIG Research Institute Following Expenses Controversy.
I will quote some of the more astonishing revelations…
Tighter controls have been implemented at a research institute at NUIGalway after a hundred thousand euro was spent to hire private jets. The private flights were for researchers and academics at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute, DERI, at NUIG, in 2004.
The wastage continues…
Other expenses incurred include 154 thousand euro to send dozens of DERI staff to a luxury resort in Crete for conferences.
Shame on you both UCG and DERI for your pathetic self-interest at the cost of everybody else.
So what is the outcome of all of this?
Current DERI Chief Executive, Michael Turley, says policies have been tightened since those expenses were incurred.
What is wrong with this country? Why have those involved in this embezzlement, and those who were supposed to be overseeing it, not being charged with criminal activity? How come they have not been fired? Is it to much to ask that they be forced to pay it back? Even a public apology to the taxpayers whose money was squandered would be a start. Is policy tightening really the best outcome to this? It stinks!
It is sad, because the dishonesty of one group, and the incompetence of its university, will generate a negative impression regarding all of the research groups and universities in Ireland. I certainly would be ashamed to be associated with such a shambolic research group.
I also think that Science Foundation Ireland must share some of the blame here. At the minimum, it should immediately suspend all payments to UCG, until this money is repaid.
I also wonder should the spending of other similar research groups be scrutinised more closely?
Sep 08 2010
There is bad news for the Irish Universities in Trinity and UCD slip down world university rankings.
Unfortunately, this situation is only going to get worse given that the Irish Government is irrationally determined to put all of the nation’s resources into supporting failed banks :(
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