(a) a member of staff or postdoc to spend some months at BT

- we could certainly agree to permit one of the DTC lecturers/fellows take up the opportunity. I think our best assured way to deliver on 'some months' would be through a joint research grant application to EPSRC (or other funder), leading to a post-doc employed with that condition.

 

(b) and UW to host someone from BT for a few months,

- delighted to do this. (It can be a problem for commercial employees to do this, in terms of perceived impact on their career development in the company, but that woud be BT's problem not ours).

 

(c) and UW to officially approve a joint supervisor from BT for each [BT-associated!] PhD student

- entirely appropriate if we envisage something like 'CASE Award' terms; the University has some notion of 'external co-supervisor'.

 

Lest I sound slightly discouraging, I entirely agree with the aspirations behind (a) and (b). They could lead to a very productive interaction. It is only on the side of individual staff willingness that I note some challenges.

 

Yours, Robin.

>>> Robert MacKay <R.S.MacKay@warwick.ac.uk> 01/23/06 02:40pm >>>
Dear Robin,
Keith Briggs at BT is keen to see us commit as well as them,
e.g. a member of staff or postdoc to spend some months at BT and UW
to host someone from BT for a few months, and UW to officially
approve a joint supervisor from BT for each PhD student. Sounds good
to me, but any comments?
He says I have to go to Sverrir Olaffson to ask about money, so
I'll do that next.
Best wishes, Robert

Prof R.S.MacKay FRS, Director of Mathematical Interdisciplinary
Research,
B2.05 Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL,
U.K.
phone +44: 24 765 22218, FAX 24182, secretary: 23870
mackay@maths.warwick.ac.uk http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/~mackay