President’s Weekly Update
5 May 2016
We honoured the contributions made by two former lay members of the Board of Governors yesterday when the Chair of the Board conferred on them Medals of Honour, the University’s highest medals. The recipients, Robert Hough and Gerry Yeung, were excellent ‘critical friends’ to the University over a sustained period, providing the right balance of support and challenge and acting as ambassadors for the University in many fora. In addition, Robert and Gerry - both of whom have very successful business lives - have made immense contributions to the city and beyond with their voluntary service in a wide range of areas. We celebrated the awards in Christie’s Bistro with many University staff and external guests. For more information, please see:
At our Board of Governors’ meeting, Professor Ian Greer (Vice-President and Dean of Medical and Human Sciences) updated the Board on progress with the new Faculty, our proposal for a Biomedical Research Centre and health devolution. Professor Luke Georghiou (Vice-President for Research and Innovation) told the Board about the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee enquiry into the commercialisation of graphene, our Science and Innovation Audit for government and progress with ESOF (EuroScience Open Forum) to be held in Manchester in July - registration is now open!
I also had one of my regular meetings with Anil Ruia, Chair of our Board, to update him on current and ongoing issues, including the current budget process, recent publicity around commercialisation of graphene and progress on the Campus Masterplan.
Following on from our very successful funding for links with the University of Melbourne, Australia, we are launching a new Manchester-Melbourne Research Fund. For us, priority will be given to joint projects that fall within our Research Beacons. The funding initiative will open on 5 May, to coincide with the visit of Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, to Manchester on the same day. The deadline for applications is 17 June. For details, see:
I visited two Schools this week - Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences (CEAS) and Arts, Languages and Cultures (SALC).
Professor Chris Hardacre has been in post in the University and as Head of CEAS for just a month, but seems to be settling in well. The students we met, like others, chose to study with us based on our ‘reputation’ and position in league tables and praised the support they receive. In the staff meeting we talked about the future MECD (Manchester Engineering Campus Development) and the opportunities this will present for sharing facilities and expertise.
In SALC we heard about many exciting new research initiatives. Students gave the same reasons for choosing Manchester and were very positive about their experiences, but both staff and students expressed concerns about shortage of space for study in some parts of the School. Staff also raised questions about language teaching and large theatres for pre-sessional events.
Senior colleagues and I met with members of the executive of our Students’ Union and discussed student bursaries, recent events at the National Union of Students’ annual conference, support for students with wellbeing, health and personal issues and the ‘safe space’ policy operated by a number of students’ unions which aims to avoid any discrimination for individual attendees at events.
I welcomed a group of staff from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) who came to assess our ‘research excellence with impact’ activities. I spoke about social responsibility and public engagement and described the numerous events and visits to disseminate what we do and ESOF.
I gave a lecture to first year students in Life Sciences on the events that occur in the brain in diseases such as stroke, brain haemorrhage and injury and will give a second lecture this week on the latest research into potential new treatments for acute and chronic brain disease.
Malcolm Whitehouse has been appointed as Director of IT at the University. He will join the University on 16 May 2016 for a handover period with Interim Director, Adrian Ridpath, before taking up the role on 6 June 2016. Malcolm has over 30 years of experience in all aspects of the architecture, design, delivery, transition and operation of business-led IT services in the public, private and charitable sectors.
We said farewell to Steve Mole, who retired after six years as Director of Finance. He is succeeded by Steve Dauncey, who was formerly a member of our Board and chair of the Board Audit Committee. He has started right in the middle of budget setting for 2016/17.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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