President's weekly update
29 March 2018
Earlier this week we hosted a visit by Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Teo of Singapore who was in Manchester with his wife and a large group from the Singapore government and funding agency. DPM Teo and his wife are both graduates of our University (indeed they met here during their studies). He is Patron of our very active Singapore Alumni Association and I have met him several times in Singapore.
Professor Sir Andre Geim (who holds a Distinguished Visiting Professorship at the National University of Singapore) and I took him on a tour of the National Graphene Institute. Professor Martin Schröder (Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering) spoke about the Manchester Engineering Campus Development, the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre and the Henry Royce Institute and James Baker, CEO of Graphene@Manchester spoke about our commercialisation of new 2D materials.
I hosted a lunch for the DPM with internal and external guests. He then had a briefing on our Dalton Nuclear Institute and visited the Stoller Biomarker Discovery Centre in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health where he learnt about our research on genomics and precision medicine. He also visited our new Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research. I re-joined DPM Teo and his wife to meet with some of our Singaporean students and staff from the Division of Development and Alumni Relations.
I hope that you saw my message about the latest developments in discussions on the USS pension. UCU has issued a message to say it will consult with its members on the latest proposal regarding USS to establish an expert group but have also called for further strike action. This would affect 13 universities, including ours and would potentially take place between 16-20 April. A statement from UUK has outlined that employers have indicated their support for this proposal, however this is conditional on the suspension of industrial action. UUK expects the union to provide urgent clarity on the action planned for the week of 16 April. Suspension of this action would be a huge relief to students ahead of the main examination period.
We held our annual lunch for Emeritus Professors in the Whitworth Hall, which was attended by about 60 of our retired professors, quite a number of whom are still actively engaged with the University. I gave a presentation on the University’s performance over the past year, the many changes we are facing and the situation with the USS pension scheme. I also provided an update on the great opportunities for increased research funding, our growing international profile, our many activities in social responsibility and the huge value of our close links with our City and region. They were particularly concerned about the focus on universities in terms of value for money rather than wider value.
I spoke at a farewell event for Dr Nick Merriman, Director of the Manchester Museum, who will soon be leaving us to take up a new role in London. After the speeches I was persuaded to join the ‘Bollywood dancing’ to celebrate our forthcoming South Asia Gallery.
I met with Jon Rouse, who leads the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership which oversees all of health and social care across our region. We discussed the disappointment that none of the additional medical student places announced recently by the Department of Health and Social Care were awarded to our University or to the proposed new Greater Manchester Medical School which was being developed by Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford, with our strong support. This is a concern because the North West is so short of doctors, particularly GPs. We also talked about how we can work together to progress with health devolution and the important role of the University in health and social care as well as addressing the mental health of our students. On the latter point, I was pleased to hear that our bid to HEFCE for £150,000 to improve mental health and wellbeing support for our postgraduate research students had been successful. This will involve University academics in health psychology working together with mental health and wellbeing experts working in the NHS and charity sector.
Tim Newns, who is Chief Executive of MIDAS, Manchester’s Inward Investment Agency, came to see me to discuss the University’s key role in international relations, especially with India and China and how we can work more closely on developing international relations.
I spoke at two major conferences held at our University. At the Complement UK National Conference I spoke about our research on inflammation and brain disease. I also gave a welcome talk to the conference on ‘Street Drugs in the Northern Powerhouse’, which included leading researchers on addiction as well as representatives from the police, policy makers and charities such as Shelter. Students, members of the public and ‘experts by experience’ who are recovered drug addicts also attended.
‘Digital’ is an area that spans the whole of the University and impacts on all our research and teaching and learning. I held meetings this week to discuss our progress on digital health and on how we link this with the government’s strategy and funding on digital. It was also a major feature of my discussions with DPM Teo and Jon Rouse.
There will be no message next week because of Easter holidays. I hope that you all manage to have a break and a well-earned rest.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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