The importance of collaboration: The latest engagement between DiRAC and ARC
By Connor Aird, on 26 April 2024
When time is scarce on a research project, it is important to continuously plan and effectively collaborate with the whole team. A good example of this is the DiRAC project, Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking in 3d Models of Fermions with Prof Simon Hands (PI) which, due to a funding deadline, had to be delivered in 5 […]
Research Integrity in an AI-Enabled World
By Samantha Ahern, on 5 April 2024
Over the last 15 months there has been much debate, hype and concern relating to capabilities of tools and platforms leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) and media generators. Broadly termed Generative AI. The predominant narrative in Higher Education has been around the perceived threat to academic integirty and associated value to degrees. As such a […]
Role models, outreach and changing the future of STE(A)M
By Samantha Ahern, on 20 December 2023
STE(A)M is for everyone, so why isn’t that reflected in the demography of STE(A)M professionals? Sadly, when we look at the prevailing media representation and social narrative around STE(A)M it’s not surprising. Which, is why, events like the one I recently supported at Samuel Whitbred Academy organised by STEMPoint are incredibly important. Over the course […]
Randomising Blender scene properties for semi-automated data generation
By Ruaridh Gollifer, on 12 December 2023
Blender is a free and open-source software for 3D geometry rendering. Uses include modelling, simulation, animation, virtual reality applications, and more recently synthetic datasets generation. This last application is of particular interest in the field of medical imaging, where often there is limited real data that can be used to train machine learning models. By […]
k-Plan now available to researchers!
By Sam Cunliffe, on 11 December 2023
One of ARC’s longest-running collaborations is with the Biomedical Ultrasound Group. Over the past three years, we’ve been developing a graphical user interface to simulate ultrasound treatment plans! This software is called k-Plan, and licences are now available for sale through UCL’s commercial partner, BrainBox (who also sell ultrasound transducers). If you’re interested in medical […]
First Julia workshop at ARC
By David Pérez-Suárez, on 15 November 2023
Last Friday (the 10th of November) we run our first ever Julia workshop. After years of having an expert in our team – Mosè – who has been introducing the rest of the team to this wonderful language and even convinced some collaborators to use it on their projects, we’ve done the jump to teach […]
Using continuous integration efficiently
By Matt Graham, on 3 November 2023
Use of continuous integration (CI) is an important part of creating robust and reproducible research software, however running automated jobs on services such as GitHub Actions and GitLab CI/CD comes with an associated energy, and so environmental, cost. As an example, in the 30 days from 2nd October to 1st November 2023, the UCL/TLOmodel repository […]
Simulating light propagation through matter.
By Sam Cunliffe, on 31 October 2023
Observing how light interacts with materials allows us to develop non-invasive medical imaging techniques, that rely on these interactions to assemble an image or infer an appropriate diagnosis. Light interacts with materials in many different ways. One of the most commonly observed interactions is dispersion; which causes white light to split into individual colours, creating […]
RSE and Education for Sustainable Development: A Call to Action
By Samantha Ahern, on 12 September 2023
RSECon23 opened with a keynote from Gael Varoquaux, introducing themes synergistic to my conference workshop “How do we design and deliver sustainable digital research education”. The actual theme of the workshop, what role(s) does RSE have to play in Education for Sustainable Development probably wasn’t what most participants were expecting. However, there were some very […]
Two Senior RSE posts available at UCL ARC
By Jonathan Cooper, on 27 October 2022
The UCL Centre for Advanced Research Computing (ARC) is recruiting for two permanent Senior RSE members, with a closing date of 6th November 2022. One post has a focus on supporting UCL East, while the other is intended to be more teaching-focused, but any individual matching the job description is encouraged to apply. The most […]