Yeah, I know. I should have posted a review for May at the latest in early June. But you know how it is: I was on holiday, then I had a workshop, then it was exam boards and the next thing you know it's the end of June. C'est la vie, I guess, but I'd better upload this today (30th June at time of writing), or it's going to be the end of July.
So, what have I been up to these last two months?
Submitted that full proposal, gave my pitch and… got rejected. So, first submission in four years and first rejection in four years. Such is academic life. Still, it was a really helpful process which got me thinking about things in more detail, which is good, and the feedback was largely positive. So, at least it moved my thinking forwards.
And I've been on the other side of the equation, as I interviewed five candidates to replace my former Research Fellow Shaq on ITDF. It's times like this when I wish I had five posts to give out, but alas, I have just the one.
Finished those two theses. As of today, both have been submitted.
Marked dissertations, compiled marks for my module, compiled samples of coursework for our external examiner, attended exam board.
Did my final Michael Beverley Innovation Fellowship sessions, including giving my final presentation. The course has been great, and I shall miss our sessions together. Hopefully, though, this isn't the end of my involvement with the programme, and our cohort will keep in touch.
Copy edited and proofread the Tracking People collection that Anthea Hucklesby and I have been editing. I think, as of today, that's all finished. It's been a really good process: I've never done anything like this before, so having Anthea's guidance has been really valuable.
Speaking of Anthea, I was down in Birmingham to help her run a workshop for a new Wearables network she is putting together at Birmingham University. I’m not part of the network, but she asked me down to run a version of the Ultimate Tracking Device exercise I did for the Tracking People Network. It was a great day, and I got to meet lots of interesting people doing interesting work on wearables!
Speaking of Birmingham, I took the opportunity to drop in to Birmingham City University while I was in town to meet up with my former SUITCEYES colleague, Arthur Thiell. Arthur and I have been working together for three and a half years now, and this was the first time we’ve met face-to-face, so that was very nice!
Went on a shopping spree: bought a Skinetic Vest (for ITDF) and an HSD Mk II prototyping kit (for the MBIF) from Actronika and (feeling inspired by Myrthe and Astrid's work when we went to Eindhoven I'm February) a Swell Form Maker for Feel the Physics. Exciting times ahead!
Been doing more work for Feel the Physics, which has been affected by staff illness, but I think we are on course to steer it in over the course of the next month. I’ve been sorting out the response to our ethics review, and experimenting with the Swell Form Maker.
Had a really good two-day joint workshop between Leeds Centre for Disability Studies, ITDF and the MuseIT Horizon Europe project.A very thought provoking day, which featured a contribution form Graham Pullin, which was very exciting; and
My Undergraduate project team, who have been working on Haptic Navigation did an excellent job, and got the ultrawide band network up and running in the foyer of Mechanical Engineering. They did such a good job that I’m paying two of them to do a few weeks work tidying it up into a more usable form for Michael Beverley Fellowship.
Next month? Well, World Haptics in Delft looms large, and I have arranged to visit Bartimeus while I am out there to talk Haptic Navigation. We have two days of in-person ITDF workshop: my first in-person full-team ITDF workshop since January 2020, since I couldn’t make the one in Dundee in 2021, and the one in Sheffield in 2022 was cancelled due to the heat wave. Let’s hope this one goes ahead… at least the temperature is looking reasonable… for now! I have a thesis to read for examination; a Workshop proposal for ASSETS (which is being led by Arthur Thiell); a trip to visit Russ Palmer and Riitta Lahtinen for ITDF; and we need to get testing started for Feel the Physics. And preparing for the next teaching cycle.
Never a dull moment, eh?
