Solar panels??

This is a pic of the new Materials and Analytical Science Building of the Chemistry department which I took sometime back. Was looking at the photograph today I realised that the windows looked quite unique. Are they solar panels?

The building costs £25 million and you can see the construction online via their webcam here.

Dilip Mutum : 19 Dec 2011 02:10 |  Tags: Campus |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Interview and ebook

1. My interview on blogging is on the Knowledge Centre site. More info here.

2. My first eBook on personal branding and social media for researchers is now available for download. It's totally free.

Dilip Mutum : 31 Jul 2011 02:28 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

New blog

As my life as a PhD student at the University of Warwick nears the end, I have decided to continue my rants and thoughts on areas of interest on a personalised blog - DilipMutum.com

However, I will continue blogging here about life in Warwick as long as I am still around in campus.

Dilip Mutum : 20 Jun 2011 14:37 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

My articles in the Wolfson Research Exchange website

In case you have not heard, the Wolfson Research Exchangehas a brand new website which was just launched today.

I am quite honoured that I played a small part in creating the new site. 

Here are my articles on the site:

• Creating journal alerts
• RSS Feeds: how they work
• Getting the most out of conferences
• Facebook for researchers
• Making your blog more interactive
• Using Twitter to boost your research profile
• Personal branding for researchers
• Using LinkedIn to promote yourself
• Enhancing your ePortfolio

Would love to hear your comments/ suggestions for further improving the articles/ guides.

Dilip Mutum : 19 May 2011 17:14 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Comparing printers

At the recently concluded Annual Woxbridge doctoral conference, I had a poster on display. I had printed mine with Warwick Print and it cost me £25.90 for a A1 size poster.

There were only a few of us with posters and I observed that the quality of the posters of the Judge Business School and Said Business School students were much superior than ours. By quality, I am referring to the paper and the printing.  Their posters were on glossy paper and the colours and graphics were much more vibrant and sharper. 

As we were taking the posters down, I commented on the quality of their posters. I found out that the lady had printed her with Oxford printers and it cost her £25 while the guy from Cambridge had printed it withtheir official University printers as well and it cost him only £17. 

I was quite happy that Warwick Print was able to print out my poster at short notice - I had ordered it on Friday and got it on Monday. However, they definitely need to improve the quality of their printing and lower their rates. If Cambridge students can get better quality posters at cheaper rates, why can't we as well?

Dilip Mutum : 14 Apr 2011 19:44 |  Tags: Conference |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

View from my office window

The WBS Teaching Centre is undergoing renovation and we have moved to our new offices in the Humanities building. I was initially not too happy about the move but I later found out that the new office is not that bad. Ther's a cafe downstairs and the building is near to the bus stand, car park 7 as well as the Library. Best of all our office overlook a japanese garden which I had once covered in my Where in the campus series.

The trees are now flowering and the sight from my window is wonderful. 

We usually resent changes to our comfortable lives but sometimes it can be for the better.

Dilip Mutum : 11 Apr 2011 03:21 |  Tags: Campus Flowers |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Ducks at WBS

Some ducks. They were not bothered by my presence at all. 

Dilip Mutum : 16 Feb 2011 22:40 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Get rid of the vending machine in the WBS Teaching Centre

I am really pissed off. This the second time, I have been ripped off by the vending machine in the WBS Teaching Centre. I put the coin in nothing happened and I couldn't get it out as well.

Also noticed that there were a lot of coins inside which means that I am not the only one who got ripped off. The owners are lucky that it is in a University and inside the WBS teaching centre or it would have been in a bad condition else where.

What made me made mad was the fact that there was no contact information on the machines. At least the ones in the past had a number you could call and they would tell you that you could get your money back from the reception in Rootes Building.

I hope they get rid of the machines soon.

Updated (2:45pm): I finally found the number to call on the University website and someone is coming along.

2nd Update: (4:02pm): No one came and I left as I had a class to take. Came back and can see the coins are still there.

Dilip Mutum : 25 Jan 2011 14:44 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The case of the open gate

This event happened a couple of days back and I forgot to blog about this. Only recalled it today.

Anyway, one day as usual I drove to car park 7 and I noticed that the gate was open and drove in - slowly. Looked at my rear mirror it was still open. Didn't think much about it as this happens sometimes. Was quite happy as this meant that I could use my £3 parking fare for a cup of coffee and with left over money for a muffin.

Anyway, I found a spot, parked my car and came down the stairs and when I reached the ground floor I noticed something strange - the gates were closed. 

I pressed the button at the gate and called up security.  I gave my details and explained what had happened. The guy at the other end told me that it was impossible as he had checked and during that time the gate was functioning normally - there was no way that it could have been open.

However, the fact was that it had been open when I went in, there was no car in front of mine (at least I didn't notice one) and it was still open when I looked back. 

I still have no explanation of what happened that day but the story ended well and I got to park for free that a day. 

Dilip Mutum : 25 Jan 2011 00:14 |  Tags: Strange |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Confusing immigration statistics

updated: 11 January 2011

Like many other countries today, immigration is a very sensitive issue here in the UK. Apparently a lot of people seem to agree that there are too many immigrants in the UK and people are now openly saying it out loud.

However, what makes it very confusing are the numbers quoted by various organisations and individuals. I am not going to quote who said what but identify some issues and some questions for researchers to look at.

First of all, which numbers should be quoted? Do you look at the estimate migrant flows (International Passenger Survey, IPS) or the the foreign resident population (Annual Population Survey, APS). I think that it is essential to look at both and deeper.

According to Migration Watch UK, the net immigration in 2009 "was 196,000. 3 million immigrants have arrived since 1997". What they failed to mention was that "among those classed as immigrants to the UK in 2009, many were actually Britons returning from overseas." (Source: BBC). Plus the net increase might also be due to the fact that fewer British people are moving overseas.

As the UK is part of the EU, it can't do much about people from other EU states moving into the UK so the focus in on the citizens from non-EU countries who are now subject to much tougher rules. The question is why does most immigration numbers quoted always include all foreigners without differentiating between EU + non-EU foreigners? Is it to beef up the numbers?

Next issue relates to students. 362,015 student visas were issued between June 2009 and June 2010. This number is of course included in the total number of immigrants but I would like to argue that most students are not long term migrants but are instead customers of British education planing to stay in the UK for only between 1 to 5 years (sometimes a bit more for some who continue from undergraduate to post graduate studies). I think it would not be wrong to consider them as long term tourists. 

Another issue is the number of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants, the numbers are altogether very hazy. I have no idea whether they are being included in the net immigration statistics at all.

To get a better picture, I recommend that all organisations and individuals quoting statistics about the net immigration into the UK should always include

1. the EU and Non-EU numbers.

2. the number of Britons returning from overseas

3. the number of students (EU and Non-EU again).

4. Clarify whether the number includes refugees and illegal immigrants.

This would give a better idea of the net immigration into this country and help make better policy decisions.

Dilip Mutum : 10 Jan 2011 04:08 |  Tags: Issues Politics |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem