Image: UWCS

Meet the science societies: UWCS

The University of Warwick Computing Society is one of the largest and most active societies at the university. It is both the academic society for Computer Science and related areas, and is the bastion for all gamers at the university. The society attracts a wide range of members from both STEM and non-STEM subjects such as English, Physics, and Business.

Throughout the year the society hosts numerous social, academic, and gaming-related events every week, as well as major events at least twice a term. Every Monday, members of UWCS will meet outside the Department of Computer Science to head to the pub for food and drink, and to have a chat and catch up with other society members. Each Friday in term time caps off the week with a double-barrelled evening of programming workshops and gaming, both in the department of computer science. The programming workshops are open to people of all skills, experience, and programming ability, with the aim to help people learn to program — a skill that increases productivity and employability.

The programming workshops are open to people of all skills, experience, and programming ability…

If you have your own project on the go that you’d like some help with, feel free to attend as there may be someone there who can help you. Across the atrium in the department is the night-long gaming event, running from 8 pm ‘till 8 am the next morning. Here you can play video games to your heart’s content on a plethora of games hardware old and new, including the departmental machines or the societies’ HTC Vive VR headset. Steam is available to play on these the departmental computers, and the society has a vast array of games for the consoles in its possession. If you’re into board games, don’t fret — many people in the society will join you for a game of Carcassonne or Settlers of Catan.

Image: UWCS

Every term UWCS hosts a few larger events for members, such as our LAN parties on central campus. At these LANs, you bring your own PC to LIB2 to game with other students all weekend, starting Friday evening and finishing up Sunday evening. You can stay up for the 48 hours if you dare, or choose to surrender to sleep and maintain a reasonable sleep schedule. All sorts of games are played throughout these LANs, from MOBAs like DoTA 2 to FPSes like Counter-Strike or Overwatch. There are also events on in the evenings during these LANs  for people who would like to show off their skills. At the end of the year, the society throws an all-week LAN during the final week of term. Prizes are to be had and sleep is to be lost at this Big, Friendly LAN (otherwise known as BFL)!

Every term UWCS hosts a few larger events for members such as our LAN parties on central campus.

On the academic side, UWCS hosts  talks from society members and external speakers alike. In term 1 there is a talk given by the society president and tech officer on the basics of the Linux operating system, as well as a talks from former society members now working for the likes of Google and the BBC.

Over the past year, the society has been working hard to improve its academic side, by introducing a successful programming workshop for beginners and hosting academic talks from external speakers. For the coming academic year the exec committee wishes to continue these efforts by increasing the number of talks per term, while also hosting some academic-oriented events such as a security capture-the-flag challenge. The exec has also purchased a high quality 3D printer for members, so they can create a prop for their cosplay, a replacement part for a broken games controller, or a case for their new Raspberry Pi or Arduino as part of their new programming project. We hope you’ll come and join us during your time at Warwick!

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