The university has officially reversed the redundancy plans for our foundations of computer science team. I am honestly stunned by this outcome and I know this reversal belongs entirely to the thousands of people who stepped up to defend the integrity of our field. Thank you for proving that academic …
March 18, 2021
Final supporters
Under the name of "shaping for excellence", the University of Leicester will decrease its fundamental research capacity and the quality of our degree programmes. Planned are closures or major cuts in five Departments/Schools and in the Leicester Learning Institute, IT support, the library, and other divisions.
In Informatics, it looks like this: the University VC proposes to merge Informatics and Mathematics into a combined school focussed exclusively on AI, data science, computational modelling and "digitalisation". This includes the proposal to cease research in Foundations of Computer Science (FoCo) where research is "highly theoretical and not directly linked with applications", retaining staff only if the research they have published in the past (!) aligns well with the new desired focus on foundations of AI, computational modelling, data science and digitalisation. Staff have been given no opportunity to alter their research to fit with the proposed new direction. The plan is to make redundant (in the middle of a pandemic) all (up to 10) staff in foundations of computer science whose past research is deemed not to be a good enough fit with the new strategic priorities. It is worth mentioning that there are no financial issues in the School of Informatics: The School has had consistently very strong student recruitment for many years, has always been professionally accredited, has increased its research grant income substantially, and is highly profitable.
- FoCo covers algorithm design and analysis, logic in computer science, foundations of software science, programming languages, concurrent systems, and testing and verification. The University management holds the view that, where this research is highly theoretical, it is not aligned with the proposed strategic priorities in AI, data science, computational modelling, and digitalisation.
- The University management therefore wants to retain only those FoCo staff whose past research (judged e.g. via papers and grant applications) is deemed to be directly relevant to the foundations of AI, data science, computational modelling, and digitalisation.
The plan to drop all but the most applied research in foundations of computer science is short-sighted and will cause long-term damage to the quality and reputation of the School that remains.
What can you do?
Sign this petition, to strongly request that the Executive Board step back from the plans to largely eliminate research in foundations of computer science at the University of Leicester.
Add your position/affiliation if appropriate, and in the comments field any message of support for affected staff.
Pass on the link to your colleagues, and share on your favourite social media.
If you hold some sway, you might email, write to or phone the Vice Chancellor or the Chair of Council. If you don't... forward to someone who does.
The view that foundations and theory have no practical value permeates also the rest of the University management’s view as they intend to make redundant all 8 staff in pure mathematics. You can support our colleagues in mathematics by also signing their petition.
Some background on the business case:
Foco are not redundant
Press coverage:
Leicester Mercury 26 Jan
- Leicester Informatics Students' Petition
- Mathematics
- School of Business
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology & Behaviour - Students' Petition
- Medieval Literature
____________
The undersigned would strongly request that the University of Leicester withdraw the threat of redundancy for all staff in Foundations of Computer Science whose past research is not deemed to be a good enough fit with newly proposed narrow strategic priorities.
Updates
Reached 2,500 supporters
February 8, 2021
February 7, 2021
I am honestly overwhelmed by how many of you have stepped up to support these researchers. If we can reach that next milestone together, it will be impossible for the university to ignore the weight of your concern.
Reached 1,000 supporters
February 3, 2021
Reached 100 supporters
February 3, 2021
January 31, 2021
I am honestly overwhelmed by the response this has received so far. If we can cross the one hundred mark it will show the university that people are truly paying attention to what happens in our department.
1,046 Comments
Research into the foundations of science shouldn’t be treated as a business. It’s an activity to enrich knowledge and prepare the grounds for future applications to follow. It’s a shame to think even just parts of foundations of CS are dispensable.
At the University of Copenhagen, a former dean of Science tried to merge the departments of Mathematics and Computer Science. Massive protests from both departments and from external interest groups stopped this, so it definitely helps to speak up.
Professor, University of Bologna (I) and INRIA (F) An extremely short-sighted decision: you need Theory and Science to develop good applications. Furthermore, the Foundations of Computer Science (FoCo) group at Leicester is of very high quality
I've been an AI researcher for three decades, so this is the third hype-cycle I've seen. I could point out the ways in which theory has been critical to my most applied research on drug design. I'm sure many others here have similar experiences.
This is very absurd and on top of being legally questionable, it will create a very dangerous precedence: nothing could stop the university in 5 years to declare all AI & DS research obsolete and rehire their beloved TCS researchers and so on.
Why do that?
If not reversed, this decision will have a huge negative effect on the image of the University.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Copy link or share directly
The university has officially reversed the redundancy plans for our foundations of computer science team. I am honestly stunned by this outcome and I know this reversal belongs entirely to the thousands of people who stepped up to defend the integrity of our field. Thank you for proving that academic …
March 18, 2021
Final supporters
Under the name of "shaping for excellence", the University of Leicester will decrease its fundamental research capacity and the quality of our degree programmes. Planned are closures or major cuts in five Departments/Schools and in the Leicester Learning Institute, IT support, the library, and other divisions.
In Informatics, it looks like this: the University VC proposes to merge Informatics and Mathematics into a combined school focussed exclusively on AI, data science, computational modelling and "digitalisation". This includes the proposal to cease research in Foundations of Computer Science (FoCo) where research is "highly theoretical and not directly linked with applications", retaining staff only if the research they have published in the past (!) aligns well with the new desired focus on foundations of AI, computational modelling, data science and digitalisation. Staff have been given no opportunity to alter their research to fit with the proposed new direction. The plan is to make redundant (in the middle of a pandemic) all (up to 10) staff in foundations of computer science whose past research is deemed not to be a good enough fit with the new strategic priorities. It is worth mentioning that there are no financial issues in the School of Informatics: The School has had consistently very strong student recruitment for many years, has always been professionally accredited, has increased its research grant income substantially, and is highly profitable.
- FoCo covers algorithm design and analysis, logic in computer science, foundations of software science, programming languages, concurrent systems, and testing and verification. The University management holds the view that, where this research is highly theoretical, it is not aligned with the proposed strategic priorities in AI, data science, computational modelling, and digitalisation.
- The University management therefore wants to retain only those FoCo staff whose past research (judged e.g. via papers and grant applications) is deemed to be directly relevant to the foundations of AI, data science, computational modelling, and digitalisation.
The plan to drop all but the most applied research in foundations of computer science is short-sighted and will cause long-term damage to the quality and reputation of the School that remains.
What can you do?
Sign this petition, to strongly request that the Executive Board step back from the plans to largely eliminate research in foundations of computer science at the University of Leicester.
Add your position/affiliation if appropriate, and in the comments field any message of support for affected staff.
Pass on the link to your colleagues, and share on your favourite social media.
If you hold some sway, you might email, write to or phone the Vice Chancellor or the Chair of Council. If you don't... forward to someone who does.
The view that foundations and theory have no practical value permeates also the rest of the University management’s view as they intend to make redundant all 8 staff in pure mathematics. You can support our colleagues in mathematics by also signing their petition.
Some background on the business case:
Foco are not redundant
Press coverage:
Leicester Mercury 26 Jan
- Leicester Informatics Students' Petition
- Mathematics
- School of Business
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology & Behaviour - Students' Petition
- Medieval Literature
____________
The undersigned would strongly request that the University of Leicester withdraw the threat of redundancy for all staff in Foundations of Computer Science whose past research is not deemed to be a good enough fit with newly proposed narrow strategic priorities.
Updates
Reached 2,500 supporters
February 8, 2021
February 7, 2021
I am honestly overwhelmed by how many of you have stepped up to support these researchers. If we can reach that next milestone together, it will be impossible for the university to ignore the weight of your concern.
Reached 1,000 supporters
February 3, 2021
Reached 100 supporters
February 3, 2021
January 31, 2021
I am honestly overwhelmed by the response this has received so far. If we can cross the one hundred mark it will show the university that people are truly paying attention to what happens in our department.
1,046 Comments
Today's advances in genomics and human health sit on top of ongoing foundational research in computer science from recent decades. Denying your students the opportunity to contribute in this and other impacted areas is misguided to say the least.
Research into the foundations of science shouldn’t be treated as a business. It’s an activity to enrich knowledge and prepare the grounds for future applications to follow. It’s a shame to think even just parts of foundations of CS are dispensable.
At the University of Copenhagen, a former dean of Science tried to merge the departments of Mathematics and Computer Science. Massive protests from both departments and from external interest groups stopped this, so it definitely helps to speak up.
Professor, University of Bologna (I) and INRIA (F) An extremely short-sighted decision: you need Theory and Science to develop good applications. Furthermore, the Foundations of Computer Science (FoCo) group at Leicester is of very high quality
I've been an AI researcher for three decades, so this is the third hype-cycle I've seen. I could point out the ways in which theory has been critical to my most applied research on drug design. I'm sure many others here have similar experiences.
This is very absurd and on top of being legally questionable, it will create a very dangerous precedence: nothing could stop the university in 5 years to declare all AI & DS research obsolete and rehire their beloved TCS researchers and so on.
Why do that?
If not reversed, this decision will have a huge negative effect on the image of the University.
Share Petition
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Today's advances in genomics and human health sit on top of ongoing foundational research in computer science from recent decades. Denying your students the opportunity to contribute in this and other impacted areas is misguided to say the least.