Head of SHS update

31 Mar 2017

This month Kay updates us on the School Board, recent accreditation visits from the British Psychological Society, Health Care and Professions Council and the General Optical Council as well as International Women’s Day.

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to my March update.

Firstly, the staff survey is open and runs until Tuesday, 18 April. You should have all now received an email with a link to the survey from Capita. The survey only takes 15 minutes to complete and is an opportunity for you to share your views about working at the University. We are leading the way in the Faculty with a response rate of 51% – don’t let us lag behind and be sure to complete your survey! Also, don’t forget you can enter the prize draw to be in with a chance of winning £250 of mini-break vouchers and a £50 John Lewis voucher.

We started the month with our School Board where we celebrated £527 raised through our Athena SWAN questionnaire for the #learnwithoutfear campaign. I provided my Head of School update and discussed our forthcoming accreditation visits which I am delighted to say have all been successful thanks to the hard work of many staff so congratulations to the teams responsible for the following programmes:

Doctorate in Clinical Psychology accredited by the British Psychological Society
BSc/M Speech & Language Therapy accredited by Health and Care Professions Council
BSc/MSci Optometry accredited by the General Optical Council

We reflected on communications within the school, what is working well and how we can improve. I also launched my photography competition. Click HERE for more information about how you could be in with a chance of displaying your photographs around our School buildings.

I was delighted to learn that our School has been awarded the greatest number of prestigious Higher Education Academy fellowships. Prof Ann Wakefield from the Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work has been awarded Principal Fellowship, and joins Fiona Kevan, Dr Pat Cartney and Dr Nigel Henderson as Principal fellows within the School. Colleagues from across the school have also been awarded Fellows and Senior Fellowship positions. This is great news for our staff and our students who will benefit from their experience and learning. I would like to thank all of those across the school who have been crucial in supporting, mentoring and assessing on the Leadership in Education Programme. Click HERE for a full list of staff.

It is with great pleasure to announce Sam Butterworth from the Division of Pharmacy and Optometry as the new Business Engagement Lead for the School. This role links up with the work Sam is doing with the Divisional Research Committee, Medical Research Council Confidence in Concept funding scheme and the North West Centre for Advanced Drug Delivery.

This month we celebrated International Women’s Day. I hosted a panel discussion at the Faculty event where I was joined by Deborah Dalley, Professional Trainer and Coach, Karen Kirkby, Professor of Proton Therapy and Robina Shah MBE, Chartered Psychologist and Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester. After hearing from each speaker, staff and students took part in an open discussion about developing influence, work-life balance and how, as women, we are sometimes present but unseen. You can find out more about how the Faculty celebrated International Women’s Day HERE.

Staff have continued to represent the School internationally. Steven Pryjmachuk, Professor of Mental Health Nursing Education, has been elected President-Elect (2017-18) and President (2018-19) of the International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses (ISPN) at the annual conference in Baltimore. ISPN is an advanced practice organisation of around 400 masters/doctorally prepared mental health nurses that focuses on research, scholarship and leadership in mental health nursing.

Li-Chia Chen, Senior Lecturer in the Division of Pharmacy and Optometry, also recently attended the Hong Kong Pharmacy Conference. This was a great opportunity to meet young talented students, pharmacists and academics based in Hong Kong and also from across the world.

Postgraduate students funded by Research Councils UK have taken part in ResearchFish, a review activity where funders measure the impact of research through student reports on their PhD, including their experiences, activities, outputs and impact. This year our ResearchFish submission rate from SHS was 96% compared to a University average of 68%. Thank you to our postgraduate students, supervisors and staff in the Doctoral Academy who helped achieve this outstanding result.

Congratulations to Tracey Burgoyne and her team in the Division of Pharmacy and Optometry who raised a remarkable £395 for the Brain Tumour Charity through a variety of events – including leg waxing!

Finally I would like to bring to your attention the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES2017) that opens on Monday 3 April. This is an opportunity to gain feedback from our researchers about what we do well and how we can continue to improve. Postgraduate researchers will be emailed directly on this date to complete the survey.

With best wishes,

Kay

Professor Kay Marshall

Head of the School of Health Sciences