Present
- Alan Champneys (AC)
- Jonathan Cooper (JC)
- Steve Elliott (SE)
- Mike Friswell (MF)
- Robin Langley (RL)
- Suzanne Lightfoot (SL)
- Simon Neild (SN)
- David Wagg (DW)
- Keith Worden (KW)
1. Kenwood Hall Engineering Nonlinearity Annual Review 2014
DW asked for the general feedback and reactions of MC members to the ENL annual review at Kenwood Hall. There was general agreement that the review had gone well and colleagues were collaborating well. One of the issues that arose was the need to consider what to showcase for the EPSRC report. A discussion followed about what should be included. KW suggested that there was a lot of interest in the ontology research and verification and validation. AC suggested that the themes make several proposals which should then be independently edited and the best work subsequently chosen. DW said it should be an opportunity to present all aspects of the project’s work and achievements, from blue sky research to areas of interest to the ENL industry partners.
ACTION 1
MC to feedback any more thoughts on the issue to DW over the next few months.
2. RA recruitment, redeployment, extending contracts and annual reviews
DW said that the MC needed to think about the length of contracts for RAs. All the money has now been allocated to the RA budget and each institution needs to manage it appropriately. There is the flexibility to change around the lengths of contract but it has to be done within the constraints of the allocated budgets.
AC pointed out that more needed to be done on rotor dynamics. He asked if there was a possibility of advertising an RA position from April 2015 when Kiran Vijayan’s contract comes to an end.
ACTION 2
Swansea to advertise for new RA position and update MC with decision.
Six-monthly reviews for RAs are now due.
ACTION 3
DW and SL to send out reminders for six-monthly reviews for RAs. These will contain details of who is being reviewed and when their last review was held.