Dear all 

With the return of our students after the festive break and exam period, the campus has been really buzzing again and February seems to have flown by!  

Much of my time at the beginning of this month was spent with the Promotions Committee considering applications for academic promotions. As always, it was lovely to get the opportunity to learn a bit more about the achievements of many of our colleagues through their applications. Our recommendations have now gone to the Faculty and we hope to be able to celebrate some SEED promotions come the summer.  

February has been a busy month in the School, with many events taking place. One of those events was the inaugural lectures from Will Fletcher and Seth Schindler, which were very well-attended. Unfortunately, attending University Senate meant that I only managed to attend the end of this event but if, like me, you missed hearing Will’s and Seth’s fascinating talks you can get a flavour of them by watching the short video which I recorded with each colleague afterwards - just click on the relevant name.   

On the subject of events: if you’re organising one, please do remember to complete the SEED Event submission form so that your event is added to our events calendar and promoted internally.  

I was really glad that over 80 of you joined in person and online for the visit from our President, Duncan Ivison. Thank you all for your engagement and considered questions. If you haven’t yet had a chance to watch the short video I recorded with Duncan during his visit you can watch it here. Alan Lewis (Architecture Head of Dept) and I also took Duncan on a tour last week of the Manchester School of Architecture – a now thirty-year collaboration between us in SEED and MMU. This adds to earlier visits he has had around our various technical facilities. The feedback I have from Duncan is of genuine enthusiasm and interest in all the facets of our work.  

As you’re hopefully aware, final year undergraduate students are currently being encouraged to complete the National Student Survey. In previous years SEED has had one of the University’s highest response rates (82.1% last year!). We would like to improve on that this year. The NSS, as you may know, is used to measure student satisfaction both internally and externally, helps inform prospective students as they choose a university, and is used in university league tables. We also use the NSS feedback to inform how we change and improve on our pedagogy and teaching practices. So, if you are involved in teaching final year undergraduates, please do encourage them to complete the NSS – you can find resources to help with this here.   

This time of year is evidently survey time, as we also have our University-wide Colleague Engagement survey coming up. You’ll be emailed an invitation to complete this on or soon after 10th March. Please do take ten minutes to complete the survey – results from this are used to identify issues and inform improvements at School, Faculty and University level. Last year only 40% of SEED staff completed the survey and I hate to think that 60% of you are not having your voices heard. At the upcoming School Board next month, David Pattwell and I will speak to the ‘Your voice’ survey data from last year and what changes have been initiated considering this.  

Congratulations are in order for two SEED colleagues who have been appointed to the University’s leadership team: Rebecca Hodgson, who has been appointed Associate Vice-President for Curriculum and Quality, and Sarah Dyer, who has been appointed Associate Vice-President for Teaching Excellence and Innovation. It’s great to see SEED colleagues taking the lead in these important roles.  

Congratulations also to Sarah Marie Hall who recently secured a UKRI Future Leadership Fellowship extension funding, and who has also won a prize from the Yale Global Justice Program for a book she co-authored. And to Miri Firth who has been named in Vevox's list of Top 50 Voices to Follow in Higher Education for 2026. 

I’ve mentioned that February was a busy month for events and it seems that March will be too.  

I am looking forward to hearing from many of you at the School Board meeting on March 11 (the first to be chaired by our newly elected Chair – Umit Yildiz) and hoping to see lots of you at our second set of inaugural lectures on 18th, where we’ll hear from Johan Oldekop and Michael Wigelsworth – please do book your place so the School Operations team know how many of you to expect. I’m also hoping to attend the Making Matters exhibition, which colleagues from our modelmaking team are helping to organise alongside the Manchester Society of Architects – the exhibition will be on throughout March with a programme of workshops taking place so do check it out.  

I know that many of you will be heading out on student field trips this month. Thank you for helping to give our students these memorable and unique learning experiences – I know that for many of them these trips will be a highlight of their time at Manchester. Please do remember to ensure you have completed a risk assessment for your trip and requested a cash passport if required. 

After what’s at times felt like an interminably cloudy and grey winter, it’s lovely to finally see the signs of spring around campus. Although as I say this, it is raining outside! Finally, to colleagues celebrating Ramadan, ‘Ramzan Mubarak’!

Very best wishes

Khalid