Seminar 1: Writing proposals for research grants

Abstract:

Being successful in securing grant for your project is not only a success of academic life but it represents your new vision, creativity, and pioneering in your subject. In this talk the main guidelines for writing a successful grant, centred around the following items, will be presented:

Ø  Research grants and grant types,

Ø  How to build upon your expertise, experience, publications, and eligibility,

Ø  How to put the team together,

Ø  Founding opportunity announcement/request for proposal,

Ø  Going through writing style, format (margins, font, etc.), page limit, referencing, check it across criteria – requirements and deadline,

Ø  Choosing a striking short title (how narrow, how general?)

Ø  Problem statement,

Ø  What are the challenges?

Ø  Articulating the goal; show it as big as you can (in lay and technical languages),

Ø  Narrowing the objectives,

Ø  Timeline your activities work packages/tasks,

Ø  National, societal, academic impacts,

Ø  Strategic budget, (a) what should be accounted for? (b) what should be justified? (c) how to manage spending over the course of research,

Ø  Peer review by your colleagues, how important is it?

Ø  Planning for early submission,

Ø  Review process, feedback, how to respond?

Ø  What are the most important reasons for failure?

Presenter: Professor (Dr) Saeid Sanei, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Saeid Sanei, a Senior Member of IEEE and a Fellow of British Computer Society, received his PhD from Imperial College London, UK in 1991. Since then, he has been working in different reputed universities in Singapore and the UK. His multidisciplinary research covers adaptive and nonlinear systems, speech, bioengineering, body sensor networks, and machine learning. He has published five books (monograms), several edited books and book chapters, and over 400 papers in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He has served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Signal Processing Letters, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Elsevier Journal of Scientia Iranica, and Journal of Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience, and as the Guest Editor of many journals including MDPI Sensor and Biosensor Journals. He is also a reviewer of IEEE Journals and Transactions as well as many other non-IEEE journals. During his academic life he has secured research grants from Total Board Fund of Singapore, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), The Leverhulme Trust, Nuffield Foundation, Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), and internal university funds in the UK. Prof Sanei has been the panel member or reviewer for Welcome Trust (Int.), MRC (UK), NSF (USA), EPSRC (UK), NIHR (UK), European, EPFL (Switzerland), and many other grant proposals. Currently, he is with Nottingham Trent University, as a Professor of Signal Processing and Machine Learning and a Visiting Academic in Digital Health to Imperial College London, UK.

Schedule : Friday 16 September 2022, 1400-1500.

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Convener: Associate Professor (Dr) T.P. Fowdur, Faculty Research Adviser,

                    Vice Chair IEEE Mauritius Section

Seminar 2: Research Paper Writing Skills

Abstract:

Papers represent the scale, depth, and details of your research. They also show the novelty of your work, significance/impact of your achievements and rigorous attempts you have made in experimental design and testing your proposed system/algorithm. Your publications disseminate the knowledge you have developed over a considerable time. Nevertheless, even very best works may be devalued or become useless if you cannot effectively communicate it to the related community of researchers. Therefore, the aim of this talk is to describe some simple and concrete ways to improve your technical/research writing and avoid some common mistakes. At the end of this talk, more resources for improving your writing will be introduced too.

Presenter: Professor (Dr) Saeid Sanei

Saeid Sanei, a Senior Member of IEEE and a Fellow of British Computer Society, received his PhD from Imperial College London, UK in 1991. Since then, he has been working in different reputed universities in Singapore and the UK. His multidisciplinary research covers adaptive and nonlinear systems, speech, bioengineering, body sensor networks, and machine learning. He has published five books (monograms), several edited books and book chapters, and over 400 papers in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings cited over 8500 times. He has served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Signal Processing Letters, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Elsevier Journal of Scientia Iranica, and Journal of Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience, and as the Guest Editor of many journals including MDPI Sensor and Biosensor Journals. He is also a reviewer of IEEE Journals and Transactions as well as many other non-IEEE journals. He has received the best paper wards from IEEE ICASSP several times and best paper reviewer award from EUSIPCO. Currently, he is with Nottingham Trent University, as a Professor of Signal Processing and Machine Learning, Leader of Cognitive Computing and Brain Informatics Research Group, and a Visiting Academic in Digital Health to Imperial College London, UK.

Schedule: Friday 14^th  October 2022, 1400-1500.

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Convener: Associate Professor (Dr) T.P. Fowdur, Faculty Research Adviser,

                    Vice Chair IEEE Mauritius Section

Seminar 3: How to do research ? : Foundation and Replication

Abstract: Different academic researchers have different methodology to do their research. The author’s research methodology is building research foundation, performing replication and validation. In this presentation, the author shares his research methodology with colleagues. Examples of coding and modulation are presented for building research foundation, performing replication and validation.

Presenter: Professor (Dr) Hongjun Xu

Hongjun XU (MIEEE, 07) received the B.Sc. degree from the University of Guilin Technology, Guilin, China, in 1984; the M.Sc. degree from the Institute of Telecontrol and Telemeasure, Shi Jian Zhuang, China, in 1989; and the Ph.D. degree from the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing, China, in 1995. From 1997 to 2000, Dr. Xu was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa, and Inha University, Incheon, Korea. Dr. XU is currently a full Professor with the School of Engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. Dr. Xu also is a rated scientist of the national research foundation in South Africa. Dr. Xu has authored and co-authored more than 70 journal papers. His research interests include wireless communications and image processing.

Schedule: November 4^th 2022, 1100-1200 (MUT).

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Convener: Associate Professor (Dr) T.P. Fowdur, Faculty Research Adviser,

                     Vice Chair IEEE Mauritius Section

Seminar 4: Conference and Workshop presentation skills

Abstract:

The soft skills to prepare and deliver clear and concise oral presentations of research results at international conferences are of great importance for professional and personal development of researchers and research students. By giving a presentation at a conference, students gaining visibility, getting feedback on research work, establishing new contacts, collaborating with other research groups, and maybe of even getting more funds so that they can carry out better research. An international conference is communication environments where research achievement can be shared and published face-to-face as well as research networks based on common interests can be strengthened. Although workshops and seminars tend to be less formal, it is worth notice that the success depends on practical task and important questions. However, conference and workshop presentation skills are the most challenging for novice researchers and presenters due to lack of experiences and academic communicative skills.

The major goal of this seminar is to serve as guideline for the organization of research report in written form. In the first part of the seminar, particular attention is paid to four key parts of a research report: the title, abstract, introduction, and to the main body of text. Each of them should be self-contained and complete to the greatest possible extent. Writing should be clear and concise according 4Cs rules: Consistency+Continuity+CrossReferences+Clarity. It is very important to use proper English grammar and sentence structure. Misprints must be corrected. In the second part of the seminar, it is pointed out that a presenter should use limited time wisely, to make the greatest possible understanding progress for a given amount of time. It is important to check if the presentation has an overall flow, a smooth transition from topic to topic, from familiar information to new information. At the same time, the audience is always should aware of the big picture. The improvement of presentation skills can be expected with the help of the tips provided in the seminar.

Presenters:

Zoran S. Bojkovic               This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.      

Dragorad A. Milovanovic  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.                  

Bios:

Zoran Bojkovic is full professor of Electrical Engineering University of Belgrade, Serbia, Life Senior Member of IEEE, full member of Engineering Academy of Serbia, member of Scientific Society of Serbia, member of Athens Institute for Education and Research ATINER. He was and still is visiting professor worldwide. He is author/co-author of more than 500 publications: monographies, books (Prentice-Hall, Wiley, McGraw Hill, Springer, CRC Press Taylor&Francis Group, IGI GLOBAL, WSEAS Press), book chapters, peer-reviewed journal, conference and symposium papers. Some of the books have been translated in China, India, Canada, Singapore. His research focuses on computer networks, multimedia communications, green communications, 5G and beyond. He is a highly regarded expert in the IEEE, contributing to the growth of communication industry and society reviewing process in many journals as well as organizing special sessions and being General Chair and TPC member at numerous conferences all over the world. The other activities include serving as Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editor in international journals WSEAS, NAUN and IARAS.

Dragorad Milovanovic received the Dipl. Electr. Eng. and Magistar degree from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. From 1987 to 1991, he was a Research Assistant and PhD researcher from 1991 to 2001 at the Department of Electrical Engineering, where his interest includes simulation&analysis of digital communications systems. He has been working as R&D engineer for DSP software development in digital television industry. Also, he is serving as an ICT lecturer medicine/sports informatics and consultant in development standard-based solutions. He participated in research/innovation projects and published more than 300 papers in international journals and conference proceedings. He also, co-authored reference books/chapters in multimedia communications published by Prentice Hall, Wiley, CRC Press (2009, 2020), Springer and IGI Global. Present projects include adaptive coding of 3D-Video and immersive media, intelligent connectivity integration&interoperability, 5G/6G multimedia wireless communication.

Schedule: December 16^th  2022, 1100-1200 (MUT).

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Convener: Associate Professor (Dr) T.P. Fowdur, Faculty Research Adviser,

                    Vice Chair IEEE Mauritius Section

Seminar 5: Advances in Engineering Project Management

Abstract: In many mature organizational contexts, such as leading global companies in the Engineering industry, the application of Project Management (PM) standards and practices has been claimed to be essential to gain both a) improved processes and increased competitiveness of organizations, and b) adaptation to major shifts in economic paradigms. To help understand the major challenges, global trends and key stakeholders’ perceptions towards organizational agility in the Engineering industry, this presentation illustrates and analyzes Standard Project Management frameworks for understanding critical success factors of the project environment; Managing uncertainty; Strategic benefit execution; Analysis of the success factors and failures causes in engineering projects; and Major challenges of adopting agile methods in engineering projects worldwide.

The author has focused on organizational behavior by asking executives and program managers the following questions: Why should we think holistically about knowledge management, organizational development and change management in Engineering? What is the added value of the digital approach to engineering projects today? The major finding is that many organizations have issues in the maturity of Leadership and Governance processes’ deployment enabling project execution through agile teams. A foundational approach is proposed in regards to behavioral and performance barriers that should be addressed by the Digital Transformation Program supported by the cultural shift and a mature Enterprise IT Architecture Management (EAM) in order to build integrated Teams using Project oriented data domains/platforms and to allow successful transformation support of Engineering organizations into their Digital future. The importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the further development of project management was especially emphasized.

Keywords:

Project management, ICT, Organizational transformation, Enterprise Architecture Management, Agile Project Management, Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence

Presenter: Professor (Dr) Vladan Pantovic

Vladan Pantović - Professor of IT and Project Management at the Faculty of Information Technology and Engineering, Union University– Nikola Tesla. Doctor in Technical Sciences (PhD Information Systems and Management), University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, M.Sc.E.E. (Postgraduate degree, Magister) Computer Engineering and Information Technology & B.Sc.E.E. (5-year degree, Dipl. Ing.), Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

Experienced electrical & computer engineer, covering various complex business roles, from project management to top executive, in banking, ICT, financial & public services, engineering, consulting, as well as in research and development projects. Certified PMP (Project Management Professional), CISM (Certified Information Security Manager), CGEIT (Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT), CDPSE (Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer), CCM (Certified Continuity Manager) and ISMS LA (Information Security Management Systems Lead Auditor). International expert with more than 35 years of experience as an executive director, project leader, in different field assignments including organizing project teams, results monitoring, reporting, occupying various complex business roles in an international environment, from multidisciplinary innovation project management to being a top executive in engineering, banking, education, information technology, financial & public services, consulting, R&D, corporate development, audit (Quality Austria). Participation in different types of projects, including EU-funded. PMI, ISACA, IAPP & ABPMP Member, ACM & IEEE Senior Member, Chairman of the IEEE Education Society Chapter Serbia & Montenegro, Member of the Board of Directors of PMI Serbia Chapter, Member of the Institute for Standardization of Serbia (Committees for ISO 27000 & ISO 20000 standards).

Schedule: Friday 27^th January  2023, 1100-1200 (MUT).

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Convener: Associate Professor (Dr) T.P. Fowdur, Faculty Research Adviser,

                    Vice President IEEE Mauritius Section