President's Weekly Update
19 November 2015
I chaired the Steering Committee of EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), which will be held in Manchester next July. The Committee, which includes senior representatives from across Europe, heard updates on progress and, most importantly, signed off the programme, which will be published shortly. With many more excellent proposals that could be accommodated, we had to reject over 60%. Over half the programme will be dedicated to science, known as ‘science4science’ - cutting edge science and topical subjects across the whole of science, but including a strong emphasis on the early career scientist. The remainder will cover ‘science4policy’ and ‘science4society’ and will include many science journalists.
Vicky Rosin, Programme Director for ESOF in Manchester, also updated the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (GM LEP), of which I am a member, on the programme. After that, the LEP discussed the Spatial Framework for GM and future needs for houses and growth spaces, skills and employment, manufacturing and climate change, and carbon targets.
You may have seen the latest international league table for universities, published in the Times Higher. In the Global Employability ranking for students we came 24th in the world!
I attended the Board meeting of the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC) which is a partnership between the University and its major hospitals. The main topics were integrating research across the partners, developing shared facilities for research and clinical trials, forthcoming bids for funding and integrated communication.
Some time ago, we launched a travel fund for collaboration with the University of Melbourne, which was very successful, and we are now planning a further scheme with Melbourne. In September, I discussed a similar collaboration with two of the major universities in Hong Kong. Thanks to the generous support of our Hong Kong Foundation, I can now announce the first of these two programmes with the Chinese University of Hong Kong. For further details please see:
At a Senior Leadership Team meeting, we considered how we can best engage and communicate with staff across the University and gain their input and ideas. If you have any suggestions, please submit them to:
We are seeking nominations for outstanding candidates for our honorary degrees and Medal of Honour award, as well as nominations for national honours. If you have strong suggestions, please see:
I met Peter Ellingworth, Chief Executive of the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI), to discuss the health partnerships in Manchester, devolution of the health budget to GM and the huge opportunities for collaboration with healthcare companies.
I met Professor Clive Morris, Director of Health Innovation Manchester (HInM), which brings together research, innovation and driving new findings into practice as part of ‘Devo Health’. First, Clive and I met with senior staff from KPMG, who are reviewing governance and organisation of HInM, and then Clive gave me an update on progress of HInM.
The Israeli ambassador to the UK, Mr Eitan Na’eh, visited the University with his senior staff. After a private meeting with Dr Tim Westlake, Director of Student Experience, and me, the ambassador gave a presentation to our staff and students in politics and Middle Eastern studies on ‘Changing political paradigms in the Middle East’. This was followed by many questions and answers from our students and staff. I was very proud of our students who presented very challenging questions but in a respectful and thoughtful way.
John McGrath, the new artistic director of the Manchester International Festival (of which I am a Board member), came to see me to discuss how the University can be more involved in the next Festival in 2017 and how the Festival can be linked to ESOF.
Professor Clive Agnew, Vie-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, and I had one of our regular meetings with Naa Acquah, General Secretary of the Students’ Union. We discussed the Union’s plans to update their strategy and priorities, the safety (thankfully) of all our students who were in Paris at the weekend, wider safety issues for students, and visiting speakers to the University and the Students’ Union.
I talked through potential plans for my international visits with Professor Steve Flint, Associate Vice-President for Internationalisation, and Tanya Luff, Head of International Relations. These visits focus on student recruitment, major academic and industrial partnerships, and alumni. We try to pack as much as possible into short trips, often combining a couple of centres.
I hosted a ‘thank you’ event for the many staff who worked so hard on two major recent events: our Foundation Day and the visit of the President of China, Xi Jinping. Both visits went extremely well in spite of many complexities! So it was nice to see a large number of people attending the event, so many of whom work ‘behind the scenes’ but are critical to the success of such events.
At the recent Annual Performance Reviews for our Professional Support Services, we discussed an outcome of the last Staff Survey which suggests that some of our staff do not feel valued. This was particularly true for building attendants, store-room staff, gardeners etc, whom we need to recognise and value more.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to president@manchester.ac.uk
President's Weekly Update
19 November 2015
I chaired the Steering Committee of EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), which will be held in Manchester next July. The Committee, which includes senior representatives from across Europe, heard updates on progress and, most importantly, signed off the programme, which will be published shortly. With many more excellent proposals that could be accommodated, we had to reject over 60%. Over half the programme will be dedicated to science, known as ‘science4science’ - cutting edge science and topical subjects across the whole of science, but including a strong emphasis on the early career scientist. The remainder will cover ‘science4policy’ and ‘science4society’ and will include many science journalists.
Vicky Rosin, Programme Director for ESOF in Manchester, also updated the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (GM LEP), of which I am a member, on the programme. After that, the LEP discussed the Spatial Framework for GM and future needs for houses and growth spaces, skills and employment, manufacturing and climate change, and carbon targets.
You may have seen the latest international league table for universities, published in the Times Higher. In the Global Employability ranking for students we came 24th in the world!
I attended the Board meeting of the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC) which is a partnership between the University and its major hospitals. The main topics were integrating research across the partners, developing shared facilities for research and clinical trials, forthcoming bids for funding and integrated communication.
Some time ago, we launched a travel fund for collaboration with the University of Melbourne, which was very successful, and we are now planning a further scheme with Melbourne. In September, I discussed a similar collaboration with two of the major universities in Hong Kong. Thanks to the generous support of our Hong Kong Foundation, I can now announce the first of these two programmes with the Chinese University of Hong Kong. For further details please see:
At a Senior Leadership Team meeting, we considered how we can best engage and communicate with staff across the University and gain their input and ideas. If you have any suggestions, please submit them to:
We are seeking nominations for outstanding candidates for our honorary degrees and Medal of Honour award, as well as nominations for national honours. If you have strong suggestions, please see:
I met Peter Ellingworth, Chief Executive of the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI), to discuss the health partnerships in Manchester, devolution of the health budget to GM and the huge opportunities for collaboration with healthcare companies.
I met Professor Clive Morris, Director of Health Innovation Manchester (HInM), which brings together research, innovation and driving new findings into practice as part of ‘Devo Health’. First, Clive and I met with senior staff from KPMG, who are reviewing governance and organisation of HInM, and then Clive gave me an update on progress of HInM.
The Israeli ambassador to the UK, Mr Eitan Na’eh, visited the University with his senior staff. After a private meeting with Dr Tim Westlake, Director of Student Experience, and me, the ambassador gave a presentation to our staff and students in politics and Middle Eastern studies on ‘Changing political paradigms in the Middle East’. This was followed by many questions and answers from our students and staff. I was very proud of our students who presented very challenging questions but in a respectful and thoughtful way.
John McGrath, the new artistic director of the Manchester International Festival (of which I am a Board member), came to see me to discuss how the University can be more involved in the next Festival in 2017 and how the Festival can be linked to ESOF.
Professor Clive Agnew, Vie-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, and I had one of our regular meetings with Naa Acquah, General Secretary of the Students’ Union. We discussed the Union’s plans to update their strategy and priorities, the safety (thankfully) of all our students who were in Paris at the weekend, wider safety issues for students, and visiting speakers to the University and the Students’ Union.
I talked through potential plans for my international visits with Professor Steve Flint, Associate Vice-President for Internationalisation, and Tanya Luff, Head of International Relations. These visits focus on student recruitment, major academic and industrial partnerships, and alumni. We try to pack as much as possible into short trips, often combining a couple of centres.
I hosted a ‘thank you’ event for the many staff who worked so hard on two major recent events: our Foundation Day and the visit of the President of China, Xi Jinping. Both visits went extremely well in spite of many complexities! So it was nice to see a large number of people attending the event, so many of whom work ‘behind the scenes’ but are critical to the success of such events.
At the recent Annual Performance Reviews for our Professional Support Services, we discussed an outcome of the last Staff Survey which suggests that some of our staff do not feel valued. This was particularly true for building attendants, store-room staff, gardeners etc, whom we need to recognise and value more.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to president@manchester.ac.uk