President's Weekly Update
12 December 2014
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, paid another visit to Manchester to follow up on a number of announcements made in the Autumn Statement last week. This included a meeting with Professor Kostya Novoselov and I to see progress on the National Graphene Institute (NGI), which will open in Spring 2015; hear the latest news on graphene and other two dimensional materials and meet a group of apprentices who are working on the building. NGI is looking spectacular now that it is nearing completion.
I then went on to the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), where the Chancellor was joined by Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, Sally MacDonald (Director of MOSI), Ian Blatchford (Director of the Science Museum Group) and a large audience. The Chancellor spoke about announcements he made last week regarding the major funding for the Sir Henry Royce Institute for Materials Research and Innovation, to be based at our University; and ‘Factory Manchester’, an arts complex to be built on the site of the old Granada Studios. He also announced funding for MOSI, part of which will be used for a permanent graphene exhibition; a new ‘Life Science fund’ to support start-up companies at Alderley Park in Cheshire (owned by Manchester Science Partnership, of which the University is a shareholder); and EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) which will be held in Manchester in 2016 - so Manchester will now become the ‘European City of Science’. He went to meet school children taking part in experiments on luminescence at MOSI with Professor Brian Cox. Professor Colin Bailey (Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences) told the audience about the ‘Sir Henry Royce Institute’; Sally MacDonald talked about MOSI; Rowena Burns explained how the funding at Alderley Park will be used; and Professor Luke Georghiou (Vice-Chair of ESOF and Vice-President for Research and Innovation) described ESOF and what it will mean for Manchester to be European City of Science. Professor Brian Cox concluded by welcoming the announcement and arguing that all political parties should support science as a driver for prosperity.
I then attended the very impressive City Football Academy at Manchester City Football Club, which was also opened by the Chancellor. The owner of Manchester City, Abu Dhabi, has invested heavily in remarkable facilities at the football club, which were built largely by local people, for local people, and have invested much more widely in Manchester and the University.
This week degree ceremonies were held in the Whitworth Hall, mainly for Masters and PhD graduates. I presided over a ceremony for students from the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures in which the acclaimed opera singer Susan Bullock was conferred as an honorary Doctor of Music.
Over a couple of days in London I co-chaired the Council for Science and Technology which discussed transport, energy and by coincidence, museums, led by Ian Blatchford.
I met with Lord Douro, who is chair of King’s College London, at his wonderful Apsley House on Hyde Park Corner (also known as Number 1 London). He wanted to thank me for participating in the selection of their new Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ed Byrne.
I joined a panel at the House of Commons for the launch of a report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics on the culture of scientific research in the UK. The report described discussions with young researchers who had many positive things to say about research and research careers in the UK but also had concerns about increasing pressures, competitiveness and the growing use of ‘metrics’ to assess research outcomes and quality. You can see the report at:
It was a pleasure to see Baroness Frances D’Souza again at the House of Lords. She is the Lord Speaker (Head of the House of Lords) and is very interested in The University of Manchester’s work with local communities, schools in disadvantaged areas and our international activities.
The other thing I did in London (it was a very busy couple of days) was to record ‘Desert Island Discs’ for Radio 4, with Kirsty Young. The recording is about twice as long as the final programme, so it’s hard to say what will be included - and I can’t talk about my choice of records, book or luxury item. I think it is due to be transmitted early in the New Year.
I attended an event to celebrate the tenth anniversary of UMI3 (which stands for ‘Inspire, invent, innovate’). UMI3 is our subsidiary organisation which deals with invention disclosures, intellectual property, start-up companies and investment funding for commercialisation of our discoveries. Presentations were given by Mark Rahn of MTI, Cassy Doherty of the IP Group and Simon Rowland from Arago. Posters displayed some of the many successes of UMI3 and guests included many staff from the University, members of the UMI3 board, investors and past employees. Clive Rowland (Chief Executive of UMI3) described the organisation’s achievements over its first decade, while Professor Luke Georghiou described the relationship with the University and future goals for UMI3. There were further presentations on the UMIP premier fund of £32 million to fund start-ups and the incubator company.
Next week we will receive the results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF), and I will be sending out a message to staff next Wednesday when we have a clearer picture of our performance. Deans and Heads of School will also be sending their own messages to staff, though the analyses of our results will go on for some time and we will not know the funding implications until the Spring.
You might be interested to take a look at a special animated seasonal greeting which has been created by the Division of Communications and Marketing and is currently proving extremely popular on our social media channels with over 24,000 views, 1,000 likes and 200 shares since Monday alone:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to president@manchester.ac.uk