President's Weekly Update
3 April 2014
Last Friday, we held the ‘topping out’ ceremony for the National Graphene Institute (NGI) on Booth Street West - many of you will have seen it growing at a rapid pace. The ceremony was attended by George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer; David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science; Sir Howard Bernstein, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council; Professor Philip Nelson who has just started as Chief Executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); Neil Viner from EPSRC; David Sweeney from HEFCE; Anil Ruia, Chair of our Board of Governors; many members of staff – most notably Diana Hampson, Head of Estates and Facilities and her staff and construction workers on site.
Professors Colin Bailey (Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences) and Kostya Novoselov outlined our recent advances in graphene and new ‘2D materials,’ and their potential applications. We then met many of the construction workers on site and climbed to the top floor where I, then Sir Howard and the Chancellor gave speeches, before the Chancellor signed a large girder which will be prominently placed in the new building. The weather was fine and the event was very successful - apart from the climb up the open staircase which I really didn’t like.
I went on to the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), where I spoke at the launch of a report from the North West Business Leadership Team (of which we are members) on strengths in science and technology across the region. David Willetts was also at MOSI attending another event, but he made an unscheduled opening speech at the event, noting recent successes in Manchester including the NGI, the Square Kilometre Array at Jodrell Bank and the European Open Science Forum (ESOF) which Manchester will host in 2016, and which his department has supported.
It’s been a busy week for Schools visits. Senior colleagues and I went to the Schools of Social Sciences (SoSS) and Computer Science and the Institute of Brain and Behavioural and Mental Health (IBBMH) in the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences.
On our visit to Computer Science, students said that they found their course very hard work but also commended the School for looking after them well. With staff, we talked about how to improve the recovery of true costs on research grants, the recent Staff Survey and what seemed to be ever increasing workloads for all of us.
In SoSS the students’ ‘Post Crash Economics Society’ explained why they want changes to the curriculum in economics. We recognised their views but said that curriculum design and content is determined by local academic staff who are the experts, so they should continue to discuss their views in the School. With students and staff we discussed the potential boycott of marking by union members as part of the dispute on pay. Strangely in Computer Science, a student from Geography joined us and in SoSS we had one from Drama - but that was fine!
In IBBMH, PhD students made some excellent suggestions to promote cohesion, particularly for staff and students who work in very different Schools. With staff we discussed the relative merits of recruiting very senior academic staff versus younger ‘rising stars’ and recognising the training and experience of Professional Support Services staff through some form of qualification or accreditation.
I’ve also given quite a few talks over the past few days. I gave the annual Peter Lindsay talk at Imperial College on our research, called ‘A Stroke of Bad Luck.’ While in London, I also spoke at an event organised by the Academy of Medical Sciences, looking forward to 2025. I’m not very good at crystal ball gazing, so I gave my preferred future and likely difficulties along the way.
I spoke at an event organised by the Students’ Union on ‘The Purpose of Higher Education’ along with UK hip hop artist Akala, Paul Cottrell, Head of Democratic Services at UCU and Dr Steven Jones from our Manchester Institute of Education. Our discussions covered the importance of equipping students for employment, the inherent value of education, the process of education and how universities should connect with civil society. Most of the many questions from over 300 students, staff and public were directed at me.
I also gave a seminar to the students’ Neuroscience Society and a first year lecture - at the horrible time (for students) of 9am on Monday - and I failed to make the AV work (probably my incompetence), though I do wonder if my lecture was better without the ‘prop’ of slides, which students had, but I didn’t.
The first live President’s Question Time event for staff was held on Tuesday. Professor Martin Humphries (Vice-President and Dean of Life Sciences), Karen Heaton (Director of Human Resources), Steve Mole (Director of Finance) and I responded to questions that had been submitted by staff and also took questions from the audience. You can see the session at:
If you missed Professor Andre Geim on Desert Island Discs on Radio 4, it’s definitely worth listening to on iPlayer:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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