President’s weekly message
18 June 2015
Warmest congratulations to several staff and ‘friends’ of the University, who received national honours in the Queen’s Birthday list: Professor Rachel Griffith in the School of Social Sciences and Dr Maria Balshaw, Director of our Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester City Art Gallery, were both awarded CBEs and Dr Erinma Ochu, a Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fellow in the Faculty of Life Sciences, was awarded an MBE. Dr Rory Brooks, Chair of our Global Leadership Board and a great supporter of the University, was honoured with a CBE. You can find out more at:
We held an event to celebrate the completion of our fabulous new cancer building – the Manchester Cancer Research Centre - which is located opposite The Christie, with some of our staff, supporters, partners and funders, notably The Christie and Cancer Research UK. The building was very much the ‘brainchild’ of Professor Nic Jones, Director of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre, who has seen the project through from its conception to delivery. I presented along with the senior representatives of our partners and Nic explained the concept of the building and thanked those who had made it happen. The key staff in the Directorates of Estates and Facilities who delivered the building and many of our most generous donors to the building and to our research attended – and all loved the building!
I was delighted to see our remarkable success in the 2015 UnLtd SEE Change Recognition awards announced in London this week. These awards recognise the collaborative efforts of staff and students, co-ordinated by UMI3 (our innovation and exploitation company) and Manchester Enterprise Centre, to stimulate, support and launch a range of social enterprises over the last few years. Not only did we win the top award of Higher Education Institute of the Year, but we also won the awards for outstanding innovation (Clintouch: Professor Shon Lewis and Charlie Stockton, Institute of Brain, Behaviour and Mental Health, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences (MHS)), Social Entrepreneur of the Year (In Place of War, Ruth Daniel, School of Arts Languages and Cultures, Faculty of Humanities) and Outstanding Achievement (Jolly Wheezers, Dr Adam Garrow, Institute of Population Health, MHS), and several more of our nominations, including two student-founded social enterprises, were runners-up.
I gave an opening address to an event at our Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) to launch our major initiative in synthetic biology SYNBIOCHEM, which has support of over £12 million from BBSRC and EPSRC. The event included many industrial partners and was followed by a full day of discussions on industrial collaboration. Industrial biotechnology is one of the University’s five ‘research beacons’, which is being led by Professor Nigel Scrutton and provides an excellent example of interdisciplinary teams of staff tackling major problems. For further information, see:
We had a visit from the Chief Technology Officer for Siemens, Dr Siegfried Russwurm and his colleagues, including Juergen Maier, who holds an honorary chair with us. They visited the National Graphene Institute, our high voltage lab and I joined them for lunch.
I chaired our annual University promotions committee for academic staff. The main objective of the committee is to look across the University at the issues such as equality and diversity, balance of promotions and practices within Faculties.
Some of my colleagues and I met with the executive of the University Students’ Union for the last time before they hand over to the incoming executive (though a few members will remain) with the incoming officers. We discussed the format of meetings, the current and likely government impact on universities, partnership with students, major items likely to be on the agenda for next year and the election of our next Chancellor - including Ladbroke’s odds!
It was a pleasure to meet Gerry Yeung, a former member of our Board of Governors, with Professor Keith Brown (Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities) to discuss how we build closer links with China and with our local Chinese community.
I travelled to Nottingham University to give a talk to about 400 staff and students at their annual Life Sciences graduate symposium. The head of Life Sciences in Nottingham, Professor Ian Macdonald, was the lab demonstrator on my very first ever practical as an undergraduate in physiology at Queen Elizabeth College, London University - a long time ago. Ian supervised my final year undergraduate project which inspired me to do a PhD. I also had a meeting with about 25 young academic staff who raised the same questions and problems that our own academics face - balancing teaching and research, struggling or funding, pressures to publish, work-life balance and difficult career choices.
The results of the latest Staff Survey are now being disseminated across the University and we are beginning to work on developing actions to address issues raised by staff.
Please take a look at this fantastic interactive link that describes our heritage:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to president@manchester.ac.uk
President’s weekly message
18 June 2015
Warmest congratulations to several staff and ‘friends’ of the University, who received national honours in the Queen’s Birthday list: Professor Rachel Griffith in the School of Social Sciences and Dr Maria Balshaw, Director of our Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester City Art Gallery, were both awarded CBEs and Dr Erinma Ochu, a Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fellow in the Faculty of Life Sciences, was awarded an MBE. Dr Rory Brooks, Chair of our Global Leadership Board and a great supporter of the University, was honoured with a CBE. You can find out more at:
We held an event to celebrate the completion of our fabulous new cancer building – the Manchester Cancer Research Centre - which is located opposite The Christie, with some of our staff, supporters, partners and funders, notably The Christie and Cancer Research UK. The building was very much the ‘brainchild’ of Professor Nic Jones, Director of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre, who has seen the project through from its conception to delivery. I presented along with the senior representatives of our partners and Nic explained the concept of the building and thanked those who had made it happen. The key staff in the Directorates of Estates and Facilities who delivered the building and many of our most generous donors to the building and to our research attended – and all loved the building!
I was delighted to see our remarkable success in the 2015 UnLtd SEE Change Recognition awards announced in London this week. These awards recognise the collaborative efforts of staff and students, co-ordinated by UMI3 (our innovation and exploitation company) and Manchester Enterprise Centre, to stimulate, support and launch a range of social enterprises over the last few years. Not only did we win the top award of Higher Education Institute of the Year, but we also won the awards for outstanding innovation (Clintouch: Professor Shon Lewis and Charlie Stockton, Institute of Brain, Behaviour and Mental Health, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences (MHS)), Social Entrepreneur of the Year (In Place of War, Ruth Daniel, School of Arts Languages and Cultures, Faculty of Humanities) and Outstanding Achievement (Jolly Wheezers, Dr Adam Garrow, Institute of Population Health, MHS), and several more of our nominations, including two student-founded social enterprises, were runners-up.
I gave an opening address to an event at our Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) to launch our major initiative in synthetic biology SYNBIOCHEM, which has support of over £12 million from BBSRC and EPSRC. The event included many industrial partners and was followed by a full day of discussions on industrial collaboration. Industrial biotechnology is one of the University’s five ‘research beacons’, which is being led by Professor Nigel Scrutton and provides an excellent example of interdisciplinary teams of staff tackling major problems. For further information, see:
We had a visit from the Chief Technology Officer for Siemens, Dr Siegfried Russwurm and his colleagues, including Juergen Maier, who holds an honorary chair with us. They visited the National Graphene Institute, our high voltage lab and I joined them for lunch.
I chaired our annual University promotions committee for academic staff. The main objective of the committee is to look across the University at the issues such as equality and diversity, balance of promotions and practices within Faculties.
Some of my colleagues and I met with the executive of the University Students’ Union for the last time before they hand over to the incoming executive (though a few members will remain) with the incoming officers. We discussed the format of meetings, the current and likely government impact on universities, partnership with students, major items likely to be on the agenda for next year and the election of our next Chancellor - including Ladbroke’s odds!
It was a pleasure to meet Gerry Yeung, a former member of our Board of Governors, with Professor Keith Brown (Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities) to discuss how we build closer links with China and with our local Chinese community.
I travelled to Nottingham University to give a talk to about 400 staff and students at their annual Life Sciences graduate symposium. The head of Life Sciences in Nottingham, Professor Ian Macdonald, was the lab demonstrator on my very first ever practical as an undergraduate in physiology at Queen Elizabeth College, London University - a long time ago. Ian supervised my final year undergraduate project which inspired me to do a PhD. I also had a meeting with about 25 young academic staff who raised the same questions and problems that our own academics face - balancing teaching and research, struggling or funding, pressures to publish, work-life balance and difficult career choices.
The results of the latest Staff Survey are now being disseminated across the University and we are beginning to work on developing actions to address issues raised by staff.
Please take a look at this fantastic interactive link that describes our heritage:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to president@manchester.ac.uk