President’s weekly update
14 April 2016
We held one of our regular ‘strategic briefings’ for our Board of Governors, this time on the new Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD). The scale, design and progress of the £350 million new building were presented by Diana Hampson, Director of Estates and Facilities, and Neil Stubbs, who is the project manager. The building, which will be on Booth Street East, opposite the National Graphene Institute, will house all our schools of engineering and materials. It is longer than the height of the Beetham Tower and has a footprint equivalent to eleven football pitches. The Grosvenor residences which were on the site have been demolished and completion of MECD is expected in 2020. Professor Martin Schroder, Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, told Board members about the academic vision for the building and the opportunities that it will bring.
On the same day, I met our Chair of the Board, Anil Ruia, and his successor, Edward Astle, who will take over as Chair when Anil’s term ends in September. I updated both on the many things that are happening in the University and on how we are following up on actions from the Board conference last month.
I visited the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences in the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences and met with senior staff, other staff and students. The discussions with staff focussed on the forthcoming organisational changes arising from the establishment of the new Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, which will take place on 1 August this year, and on the opportunities created by devolution of the health budget to Greater Manchester (Devo Manc) which happened just a couple of weeks ago. The Institute has been very successful in bringing together relevant researchers and in raising the profile of cardiovascular sciences in Manchester. The PhD and MRes students we met seemed generally happy and the Institute had a very high satisfaction score in the last Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES).
We held a ‘Science to Business’ event for EuroScience Open Forum at the top of the BT Tower in central London - with spectacular views, though it was a little strange when it started rotating. Attendees included business leaders and heads of funding agencies. The event was opened by Howard Watson, Chief Information Officer and Managing Director - Architecture and Global IT Platforms at BT, which is a principal sponsor of ESOF. I talked about the opportunities for businesses to engage with ESOF and we saw a video from Seema Kumar, Vice-President for Innovation, Global Health and Communication at Johnson & Johnson, another founding partner. It was an excellent opportunity to talk to existing and potential partners - a number of whom were also interested in research collaborations with the University.
I met with Richard Judge, Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Andrew Curran, Chief Scientific Officer at HSE, and Professor Neil Bourne, from our School of Materials, to discuss collaboration on an exciting new initiative in risk and regulatory science, covering research, training and wider education.
I chaired our annual Awards and Honours Group - comprising mainly members of our Board of Governors. The group’s main task is to consider recommendations to Senate and the full Board of candidates for the award of University honorary doctorates - always a near impossible task because there are so many worthy candidates. Recommendations now go to the Board for approval. Anyone can suggest names for honorary degrees, our Medal of Honour and nominations for national honours - please contact:
I welcomed delegates to a Commonwealth Study Conferences (CSC) leaders’ meeting. This is a partnership between Common Purpose (the international leadership development organisation) and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Study Conferences. Attendees included leaders and potential leaders from the private and public sectors, from the UK and globally. Their meeting was held in the National Graphene Institute and they wanted to hear about the challenges of collaboration between public, private and not-for-profit organisations - I said there are many great stories to tell about this in Manchester!
I was delighted to give my support and be photographed with some of the many staff who will take part in the Greater Manchester 10k Run on 22 May. The organisers aimed to get 1,000 staff to sign up as part of their ‘purple wave’ and 1,100 staff have signed up! They will start together with all runners sporting a purple running shirt to create maximum University impact and the best possible community feel.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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