Introduction
My name is Gladys. I am doing my Master’s in
Advanced Computer Science at the University of Manchester. Growing up watching movies portraying
how scientists achieved some of their missions using various intelligent computer
applications made me fond of computer-related courses. That's why I did a BSc
degree in Computer Engineering. As the world is now technologically based and
computing is the foundation of so many advancements happening in this digital
era; my passion for computer science has been enhanced.
If someone asks me why I wanted
to study Computer Science at the University of Manchester; my answer would be that I wanted to
study this course at one of the best Universities in the UK and the world. With
enough lecturers who know their area of interest intensely, it has led to the
production of graduates/experts who are doing well in the computing industry
hence inspiring new applicants like me, to opt for UoM.

Why You Should Study Computer Science
Everyone at one point wants to be a problem solver and the most important aspect of computer
science is problem-solving! Most successful businessmen such as Bill Gates (founder
of Microsoft), the late Steve Jobs (founder of Apple), and Mark Zuckerberg (founder
of Facebook) are from the computer
science industry. As a computer science student, you will study the design,
development, and analysis of software and hardware used to solve problems in a
variety of business, scientific, and social contexts.
Here's some reasons why I think Computer Science is such an
important degree:
- Computing and computer technology are part of just
about everything that touches our lives from the cars we drive, the movies we
watch, to the ways businesses and governments deal with us.
- Computing
enables you to make the difference in the world as it drives innovation in sciences from impacting the
health industry, automation of the majority of business processes, and
enhancing our social life just to name few.
- Computing jobs are among the highest-paid and have
the highest job satisfaction.
Why Manchester?
The University of Manchester is the best place to highly consider as
it has state-of-the-art computer laboratories, experienced lecturers who
provide constant support whenever you need it, big libraries with about 4
million books, the list goes on! UoM is home to great scientists who
transformed the computing industry. Alan Turing, the pioneer of modern
computing and a great Mathematician; and Thomas Kilburn, who invented the world's first electronic stored-program
computer also known as "Manchester Baby". To honor them, the
Computer Science building is named after Kilburn and the school of Mathematics
building is named after Turing.
The computer science modules at all years of study are interesting and
very engaging preparing you for a prosperous career, with room for modifications/improvements
to keep up with the industry demand. I am confident in saying that this course
has everything one would wish for in this computing industry. There’s room to learn
modules such as software engineering where you will learn various programming
languages such as python and java; machine learning, artificial intelligence,
data science, etc. and you can do modules from other courses too in order to strengthen
your knowledge base.
The career path for computer science students is smooth as there is a
huge increase in demand for computer science professionals all over the world.
Some popular jobs are data scientists, software engineers (programmers and
developers), cybersecurity specialists, game designers and developers, IT
consultants, information system auditors, machine learning and artificial intelligence
experts and so many other opportunities.

The Alan Turing Building on UoM Campus
Is Computer Science for Me?
This
is the one question most of you desire to get answers when you are faced with
several options especially when it comes to University and degree selection.
It is not necessary to be certain
about what specialty in computer science you would like to follow. Just have
some passion for technology and you will find yourself in the richness of this
beautiful computing world.
Keep calm and join computer science. The
current and the future is digital!
To learn more about Computer Science at UoM, please visit: https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/2020/00560/bsc-computer-science/entry-requirements/
For more information about Computer Science careers visit: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/computer-science

Introduction
My name is Jemma and I am a second year PhD student in the
History of Science, Technology and Medicine (HSTM). I took a somewhat roundabout route to this
subject area. After finishing my A-Levels, I didn’t really know what I wanted
to study at university. I enjoyed both Biology and Chemistry so ended up
applying for Biochemistry at the University of Manchester in 2012. With a
number of the bioscience degrees at Manchester, there is the option to do them
as a 4-year undergraduate rather than the standard 3 – with the additional year
being spent working in industry. By the time my placement year came around I realised
that, whilst I found the theory and topics fascinating, I hated lab-based
research. As a result, I chose to spend a year working at the Manchester
Museum’s herbarium – the botany department of the Museum. My project with them
centred on a 19
th century medical collection called the Materia
Medica, which contains plants, animal and mineral products that used to be
employed in the teaching of pharmacy at Owens College (later this became the
University of Manchester). I became obsessed! I changed my degree for my final
year to Biology with Science and Society, which is basically a Biology degree
with HSTM modules, and did my final year dissertation on the domestic use of
opium (the plant extract which morphine comes from) by women in the 19
th
century. HSTM has been a great way to combine my love of history and science.
After my undergraduate degree, I received a 1+3 studentship
to do my Masters and PhD in HSTM at Manchester. My Masters dissertation
returned to the Materia Medica collection as I compared pharmacy education in
Manchester and London in the 19th century. In 2018 I started my PhD,
looking at the place medicinal plants had in 20th century pharmacy.
In Depth…
Pharmaceuticals drugs today are often presented as being
created intentionally – often synthetically by chemical processes – and somehow
separate from traditional medicinal knowledge. However, many drugs still have a
basis in herbal medicine. So how did this perception come about? Why do we view
modern drugs as being divorced from traditional knowledge practices? My
research therefore focuses on medicinal plants, specifically within the context
of conventional pharmacy, during the 20th century. It examines how
plants were used as well as perceived following the rise of synthetic
pharmaceutical drugs to present a more complicated history of drugs than a
simple forward progression from traditional herbal knowledge of the 19th
century to modern, synthetically produced drugs of the late 20th.

I really enjoy my research, but I don’t spend all my time
just doing the PhD. I am a strong supporter of academics not just doing
research but also engaging people with their work. I therefore split my time
between doing my PhD and other activities (though with the emphasis on my PhD
of course). Along with being a Widening Participation Fellow, I am a Heritage
Guide for the University and still volunteer at the Manchester Museum’s
Herbarium. At the Museum, I often get involved with their events as well as designing
activities myself (such as an activity on medicinal plants used by the Romans -
https://blogs.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/pharmacy/2018/11/02/manchester-science-festival-2/).
I am also a big fan of interdisciplinary collaboration, having worked with
members of the pharmacy department as well as artists on public engagement
activities. My current project is setting up a podcast series, called In
Pursuit Of Plants, dedicated to sharing cross-disciplinary research on
medicinal plants – from history to biophysics – with the public. Along with
other PhD students, I even co-organise conferences to promote interdisciplinary
connections amongst Masters and PhD students at the University of Manchester.
Whilst it is important to balance these so they don’t detract from my research,
doing things beyond the PhD is very rewarding and a great way to get others
excited about the topic.
Going Further…
Links to the In Pursuit of Plants podcast series and website
can be found via our twitter page: @IPOP_Podcast
History of Science, Technology and Medicine is such a
diverse field, to find out more about the types of research conducted in our
PhD group check out our website: https://chstmphdblog.wordpress.com/people/
For a look at some of the public engagement I have done, you
can read this blog post (plus see the final video!) of a collaborative project
with a creative from Reform Radio: https://chstmphdblog.wordpress.com/2018/10/12/mixlab-2018-a-public-engagement-experiement/
You can also follow me on twitter for more on my research
(plus lots of photos from the Manchester Museum): https://twitter.com/PlantHistorian
For more on the Biology with Science and Society
with Industrial/Professional Experience see:
http://www.chstm.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/
by YPU Admin on November 27, 2014,
. Tags:
creation, cyborgmanifesto, cyborgs, film, Humanities, Religion, religionandtheology, Research, robots, sci-fi, Sociology, startrek, technology, terminator, theology, and unnatural
Introduction
My name is Scott Midson and I'm in the third year of a PhD
in Religions & Theology (R&T). In my research, I look at how technology
changes the way that we think about ourselves. More specifically, I explore the
idea of ‘creation’, which is an important religious idea, and ask what it means
to re-create ourselves or to create things like robots.

In depth
I didn't always know I was going to be studying robots and
religion, though! Going back a few years, I came to university (at Manchester)
with an interest in the sociology of religion. I didn't study religion at
A-Level but was given a place on the ‘BA Religions & Theology (Religion
& Society)’ programme because of my interest in the subject. Here, I looked
more and more at ideas about technology and how new media technologies
influence our beliefs. I then took a year out and did some travelling, but when
I returned to the department as a postgraduate, I came across a very
interesting essay by Donna Haraway called ‘A Cyborg Manifesto’, and I loved it
so much that I ended up writing a PhD thesis on it!
In the essay, cyborgs are used as metaphors for the ways
that we interact with technology and how we cannot separate ourselves from the
technologies that we use everyday. Think about the technologies you use
everyday: could you live without your computer, for example? Or your mobile
phone? Or what if you had no access to a clock – how would this affect you and
society? We are cyborgs, the argument goes, because we live so closely with our
technologies.

But not everybody likes the idea that we are cyborgs. For
some people, there is a limit to how much we should embrace technology – think
here of dangerous robot-like cyborgs in ‘The Terminator’ or ‘Star Trek’. Or, imagine
that a new technology becomes available that would surgically implant your
phone in your body. Would you want it? Would it be any different to always
having your phone with you in your pocket?
A lot of people fear invasive technologies like this, and a
big part of my research is finding out why. This is where I link what I study
to religion: in Christian theology, humans are described as created in the
‘image of God’. Although what the ‘image of God’ means is unclear, there seems
to be a link between the ‘natural’ state of humans (i.e. when they were created
by God) and the use of ‘unnatural’ technologies. I thus question religious
ideas about the ‘natural’ human and the ‘image of God’ in order to look at how
we can use the cyborg metaphor better and not fear it so much.
Going further
One of the best things about what I study is how frequently
these themes and topics appear in popular culture. Most sci-fi films and books
make reference to how technology changes the human, and you’d be surprised at
how many of them involve religious and theological ideas in some way! If you’re
interested in this topic, then a good place to start exploring further is to
ask how technology is portrayed next time you watch a (sci-fi) film.
Other useful sources
to get you started are:
Charlie Brooker’s TV miniseries ‘Black Mirror’ (http://www.channel4.com/programmes/black-mirror/)
– all episodes are available online (but many do contain some shocking images
and offensive language)
I keep a research blog where I post intermittently on films,
programmes, and even billboards that catch my attention (http://scadhu.blogspot.co.uk) (I also
tweet some stuff about my research - @scadhu)
This ‘cyborg anthropology’ site (http://cyborganthropology.com/Main_Page)
gives a fairly good and accessible overview of the metaphor of the cyborg
If you’re interested more generally in the sort
of stuff we get up to in Religions & Theology at Manchester (we don’t all
want to be priests or vicars!), then check out this page (
http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/religionstheology/).
Alternatively, the Lincoln Theological Institute (LTI) page (
http://religionandcivilsociety.com/lti/)
shows some of the more specific work that some people in the department do. The
LTI is a think-tank that does its own projects but is connected to the
University of Manchester R&T department.
Are you interested in Science, Technology and Engineering?
Would you like to meet representatives from some of the biggest
companies in the UK?
Then come along to The University of
Manchester on Wednesday 23rd
October and find out more!
During the event, you will get the
opportunity to visit information stands from companies within the technology, engineering, manufacturing,
healthcare, construction, transport and media sectors.
Companies such as Samsung, JVC, BBC Academy, Network Rail, the NHS, 2Dtech and many more will
be at the exhibition.
You will also have
the opportunity to hear from a range of speakers on subjects such as ‘Choosing What and Where to Study’, ‘Student Life’ and ‘So you think you know the Sciences?’ Current students and staff from academic
schools will be available throughout the event to answer any questions you have
about university.
Time: 3pm-6pm
Location: The Great Hall, Sackville Street Building, The
North Campus, The University of Manchester
Please register completing a registration survey. If you have any questions, please email schoolsandcolleges@manchester.ac.uk.
The registration deadline is Friday
11th October at 5pm.
We look forward to seeing you at the
event!
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