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President's weekly update

18 July 2019

We held the final meeting of our Board for this academic year. Prior to the main meeting, Matt Atkin, Director of Planning, gave a briefing on ‘Our Future’ which led to a discussion of the next steps on the University’s Vision and Strategic Plan. The Board gave very helpful feedback and wanted regular updates and some detail on likely costs of new activities in our plans.

At the main meeting I updated on recent news, we had reports on equality, diversity and inclusion, social responsibility, Professional Services and preparations for REF (Research Excellence Framework). The Board approved our budget and five year financial plan (recognising that the latter is subject to many likely changes), considered the results of our recent Staff Survey and the Board evaluation of its effectiveness and the contributions of senior staff.

After the Board, we thanked lay and elected staff members who have completed the end of their term for their excellent contributions.

The Chinese Minister for Science and Technology and a number of his colleagues visited the University. Professor Sir Andre Geim, Professor Colette Fagan, Vice-President for Research, and I gave presentations. The visitors had a guided tour of the National Graphene Institute, then visited our Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre and Manchester Institute for Biotechnology and had lunch with our staff who are involved in international collaborations, particularly with China.

I attended an event at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester to mark the launch by the Bank of England of the new £50 note depicting a scientist who was voted for by the public. The event was held in Manchester because Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, announced that the scientist on the new note is Alan Turing who was a member of staff at our University from 1948-1954, and who is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. Professor Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Deep Mind, spoke about Turing’s many achievements over his tragically short life.

At a meeting of the North-West Business Leadership Team attended by the elected mayor of Greater Manchester (GM), Andy Burnham, we discussed the GM Local Industrial Strategy which was launched recently. Juergen Maier, Head of Siemens UK, and I spoke about the development of the priorities in the strategy then we considered its implementation and the critical role of local businesses in its delivery. Major topics included skills needs, further devolution to GM, infrastructure and transport and inward investment.

Implementation of the Strategy was also discussed at the GM Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), of which Juergen and I are both members. We considered the work of the LEP Foresight group, looking at the needs of GM for the next 30 years and heard updates on skills, transport, spending of the Local Growth Fund that is allocated to GM and the performance of the GM Growth Company.

I hosted an event to thank Professor James Thompson’s great contributions as Vice-President for Social Responsibility over the past three years which was attended by many colleagues who have worked closely with James. Professor Nalin Thakker will take on this Vice-President role in September.

I chaired a meeting of the Oxford Road Corridor. We discussed the Strategic Regeneration Framework for the area, potential bids to the next Strength in Places government fund, the growth in population, jobs and impact of the Corridor and promotion of the many activities around Oxford Road.

Degree ceremonies continued this week and many have commented on how beautiful the campus is looking with the many new green spaces and wild flowers.

There will be no message next week as I will be away for a few days.

Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor

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