President's Weekly Update
12 March 2015
This week I am delighted to announce that Professor Martin Schröder will become the new Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Martin is currently Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Nottingham where he has served for four years. He is an expert in materials chemistry applied to energy research and is currently Principal Investigator for the EPSRC Programme Grant ‘Coordination Chemistry for Energy and our Sustainable Futures.’ Martin will be joining us on 1 June 2015.
Together with several staff from the University I attended a reception at Number 11 Downing Street for the launch of the five year strategic plan for the charity ‘Find a Better Way’. The charity was founded by Sir Bobby Charlton to improve the detection of landmines and deal with the horrific injuries that result from exploding landmines. We were involved in the first research funded by the charity which was on the detection of landmines, with the charity now funding projects across a number of universities. Professor Colin Bailey (Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor) is a trustee of the charity. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, gave a speech in support of the charity (he is Bobby Charlton’s local MP, so has been involved from the beginning) and pledged £10 million government support.
Our Global Leadership Board (GLB) meeting was held this week in London. This is chaired by Rory Brooks and includes senior alumni and supporters of the University from the UK, USA (members of our North American Foundation) and Hong Kong (where we also have a foundation). I gave a general update on the University’s progress, plan and challenges. Will Spinks (Registrar, Secretary and Chief Operating Officer) talked about our financial position and future plans to increase discretionary funds for investment. Professor Keith Brown (Vice-President and Dean of Humanities) presented on the Faculty of Humanities and Chris Cox (Director of Development and Alumni Relations) updated the group on fundraising. As usual we received many insightful questions and comments and attended an excellent dinner hosted by Rory and his wife Elizabeth at their home in London.
I spent less than a day in Cannes at MIPIM, a major international property conference with about 22,000 attendees, where the theme was ‘smart cities’. After arriving just a few minutes before my session, (my plane was delayed), I spoke about the University, ESOF (EuroScience Open Forum) which we will host in July 2016, and Manchester as the European City of Science. Then I took part in a ‘conversation with’ style question and answer session with Sir Howard Bernstein, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council and later attended the ‘Manchester dinner’.
I spent a couple of days in London, mainly at the Royal Society, where as a Council member, I ‘observed’ the Society’s sectional committees to consider candidates for election.
In between meetings at the Royal Society I had meetings with Professor Jackie Hunter (Chief Executive of BBSRC), Jennifer Smookler, the new Secretariat for the Council for Science and Technology of which I am a member, and Professor Paul Blackmore from King’s College London. Paul is undertaking a research project to explore ‘prestige’ in universities and has interviewed about 20 Vice-Chancellors.
Professor Ian Greer, who will be joining us in the summer as the new Dean of Medical and Human Sciences, and I met with a number of government ministers to discuss potential investment in health research in the North of England.
Like around 10,000 University staff I received my email invitation to take part in the University’s Staff Survey 2015 this week – and I completed it! The survey is being carried out by Capita on our behalf, to ensure anonymity and confidentiality. It only takes around 15 minutes to complete and the responses will be used to update action plans across the University to address the issues raised. You can find out more about the Staff Survey at:
Thank you to the many colleagues who acted swiftly and effectively in response to an incident last week involving potentially explosive chemicals in the Pariser Building on North campus. There was inevitably some inconvenience as buildings were evacuated but thankfully no-one was injured and no damage was sustained.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to president@manchester.ac.uk
President's Weekly Update
12 March 2015
This week I am delighted to announce that Professor Martin Schröder will become the new Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Martin is currently Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Nottingham where he has served for four years. He is an expert in materials chemistry applied to energy research and is currently Principal Investigator for the EPSRC Programme Grant ‘Coordination Chemistry for Energy and our Sustainable Futures.’ Martin will be joining us on 1 June 2015.
Together with several staff from the University I attended a reception at Number 11 Downing Street for the launch of the five year strategic plan for the charity ‘Find a Better Way’. The charity was founded by Sir Bobby Charlton to improve the detection of landmines and deal with the horrific injuries that result from exploding landmines. We were involved in the first research funded by the charity which was on the detection of landmines, with the charity now funding projects across a number of universities. Professor Colin Bailey (Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor) is a trustee of the charity. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, gave a speech in support of the charity (he is Bobby Charlton’s local MP, so has been involved from the beginning) and pledged £10 million government support.
Our Global Leadership Board (GLB) meeting was held this week in London. This is chaired by Rory Brooks and includes senior alumni and supporters of the University from the UK, USA (members of our North American Foundation) and Hong Kong (where we also have a foundation). I gave a general update on the University’s progress, plan and challenges. Will Spinks (Registrar, Secretary and Chief Operating Officer) talked about our financial position and future plans to increase discretionary funds for investment. Professor Keith Brown (Vice-President and Dean of Humanities) presented on the Faculty of Humanities and Chris Cox (Director of Development and Alumni Relations) updated the group on fundraising. As usual we received many insightful questions and comments and attended an excellent dinner hosted by Rory and his wife Elizabeth at their home in London.
I spent less than a day in Cannes at MIPIM, a major international property conference with about 22,000 attendees, where the theme was ‘smart cities’. After arriving just a few minutes before my session, (my plane was delayed), I spoke about the University, ESOF (EuroScience Open Forum) which we will host in July 2016, and Manchester as the European City of Science. Then I took part in a ‘conversation with’ style question and answer session with Sir Howard Bernstein, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council and later attended the ‘Manchester dinner’.
I spent a couple of days in London, mainly at the Royal Society, where as a Council member, I ‘observed’ the Society’s sectional committees to consider candidates for election.
In between meetings at the Royal Society I had meetings with Professor Jackie Hunter (Chief Executive of BBSRC), Jennifer Smookler, the new Secretariat for the Council for Science and Technology of which I am a member, and Professor Paul Blackmore from King’s College London. Paul is undertaking a research project to explore ‘prestige’ in universities and has interviewed about 20 Vice-Chancellors.
Professor Ian Greer, who will be joining us in the summer as the new Dean of Medical and Human Sciences, and I met with a number of government ministers to discuss potential investment in health research in the North of England.
Like around 10,000 University staff I received my email invitation to take part in the University’s Staff Survey 2015 this week – and I completed it! The survey is being carried out by Capita on our behalf, to ensure anonymity and confidentiality. It only takes around 15 minutes to complete and the responses will be used to update action plans across the University to address the issues raised. You can find out more about the Staff Survey at:
Thank you to the many colleagues who acted swiftly and effectively in response to an incident last week involving potentially explosive chemicals in the Pariser Building on North campus. There was inevitably some inconvenience as buildings were evacuated but thankfully no-one was injured and no damage was sustained.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to president@manchester.ac.uk