DHM – 25 Apr 2014
Present
Dave Wark
Stephen Haywood
Claire Shepherd-T
Fergus Wilson
Robin Middleton
Apologies
Chris Lowe
Debbie Loader
Actions from Last Meeting




Claire – Furniture. Survey completed. See Matters Arising.
Katie – Yes, chasing access for JAs to STFC systems.
Robin – Yes, set up task number for membership fees.
Dave – not managed to speak to Roger about rottweilers on E, T & C Committee.
Matters Arising
R1 Refurbishment – Claire
Know they need to arrange storage for our stuff.
Lasers will go into R104. Not clear if we can go into R104. Current default is that we will not go in
because BID want building.
R1 Refurb will commence in Jan/Feb.
D&B should finish cladding by end of May.
Walls in refurbished R1: Can screw bookshelves to wall … and will be sound-proofed.
Finances
Stephen – awaiting conclusion of last FY. Looks good.
Indirects – Robin
We have £388k (after ADT took £6k).




Training – less used than in past: a lot is centrally funded and also fewer staff.
Office Moves – significant uncertainty.
Management Travel – Robin to understand with Debbie/Dave.
(Foster Airways – actually underspent … one reason was extra money was obtained for LBNE
and ILC.)
 Non-Project Travel – introduce.
ACTION – Robin: Discuss with Debbie and Dave about Dave’s travel.
Henrique wants only 20k from DDF for LZ – support for Eddie Holtom during bridging period. Also
Pawel (bless him), is asking Fergus for £2k for software from NDI pot.
ACTION – Stephen: Talk to Pawel.
Done. Stephen has given Dave a proposal.
Grad Students – assuming 4 not 5, with no VAT. Committed ourselves, new Quota scheme won’t
provide until Oct 2015.
Stoppress: Claire might have a method of obtaining Brazilian students.
Remove tasks for:
 Collider Generic R&D
 KE
Risk Reporting
Chris will take care of last request from John Sullivan concerning Risk Audit etc.
Departmental Matters
HR Working Group
Stephen is in a working group looking at making the interface to Retained HR more efficient and
effective.
Robin was elected unanimously PPD deputy.
Steering Committee
May help to talk to French about matrix management.
ACTION – Stephen, Claire, Fergus: Talk to French colleagues to understand about matrix
management.
We should talk to PIs about engaging us to facilitate TD connections.
CMS: OK for Brunel, Bristol/
ACTION – Stephen, Fergus: Talk to UK PIs about Td connections.
We should try to engage with H2020 … but we need real help in understanding processes/rules and
handling admin … Katie Lambert does not do this.
Oxford and CERN have professional support.
Dave & Francesca have set up a H2020 bid for T2HK.
ACTION – Fergus: Emphasis the kind of help we need with H2020, when speaking to Katie Lambert.
ACTION – Dave: Emphasis the kind of help we need with H2020 at Ops Board in Eburgh.
ACTION – Dave: Explain to community (next week’s PPUAC?) that RAL can help distribute H2020
travel funds to Unis.
Stephen showed a quick assessment he had made of our “flexible staff”:
Head
Sci/Eng
flex
JA
non-flex
Comp
Admin
Total
FTE (14/15)
54
20
10
24
11
11
76
67.7
Computing and Admin support are also cross-cutting.
Strategy and Cross-cutting Activities
TDAQ Group - Claire
Consultancy:
 Advice on systems
 Getting started
 Support for smaller groups
Could we get CERN to support some engineers ?
It was straightforward for Bode and Renato (Alice) – simple, generic contracts.
Better use of CfI funded activity – Neil buys into this.
DOM
Includes Cryogenic expertise.
Also might have potential to take on extra projects.
Also Boulby.
Silicon
Fergus will be WP Manager for Rich Mechanics.
Would be a great area to engage Steve Worm on his return – he could lead this activity.
Should include Fergus, Steve McM and ATLAS Group. Also Gary could be available (need to ensure
Gary is well managed).
Oxford connections.
This activity will need some money and TD effort (effectively money) in addition to NDI funds …
propose to use some of the £100k.
H2020 bids ?
Photo-detectors
Dave Cockerill could take a lead.
Dave Wark interested in Photocathodes, working with e2V ?
Other skills
Mechanical expertise (eg Roy), and Fergus engaging in Rich Mechanics.
Project Management.
Review
We need to pull together some documentation:
 CHST – write about TDAQ & Photo Detectors
 FFW & SJM & SDW – write about Si
 FFW – Mechanics
 SJH – DOM
Stephen will try to pull this together; Dave will write an Intro.
ACTION – Stephen, Claire, Fergus, Dave: produce some text for 23 May.
AOB
Visiting Fellowships
Sensitive: do not discuss financial aspects outside DHM
Stephen estimates we have an extra ~£100k which is available since we do not have to pay VAT on
JAs.
He proposes some of this could support some Visiting Fellowships – see paper circulated before
meeting.
These could be to educate collaborators, strengthen links, gain extra pairs of hands, etc.
These would be handled by requests from GLs to DHM … we don’t want to advertise this scheme too
widely, since it could lead to questions as to the origin of the money.
Could include people from overseas and from distant parts of UK … could win friends in the North.
Looks best if these are for 2-3 months.
Could also work in reverse where we send PPD away for 2-3 months … I can make suggestions 
Propose to leave fairly loosely defined to allow GLs to identity most appropriate solutions.
Need to flesh-out with HR.
Claire interested in connections with KIT.
Could use money for Si Detectors.
Other uses of this money (the Fellowship scheme will not consume all of it) include:
 Paying for TD effort in support of our work – win TD friends
 Supplementing the DDF, in particular in the light of Pawel’s voracious appetite.
 Support for 3D Metal Printing project.
Keep money separate from DDF, ie leave in Indirects.
Support Dave Cockerill (3D printing, etc) – needs few £10k’s to pursue.
ACTION – Stephen: Pursue proposal and communicate to Senior Staff when mature.
Minutes lovingly prepared by Debbie’s deputy. 26/4/2014