President's Weekly Update

6 November 2014

Earlier this week I attended an event at Manchester Town Hall at which the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne and the leaders of the ten local authorities that make up Greater Manchester Combined Authority, signed an agreement on the devolution of significant authority and funding to Greater Manchester. This was a major event for Greater Manchester and the wider region and signals a new political future for Greater Manchester.

You will be aware that the ongoing triennial revaluation of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is likely to reveal a significantly increased deficit, which the USS Trustee Board will be required to address by the pension regulator in order to ensure that the scheme is financially sustainable.  You can find out more on StaffNet at:  Message about USS  This is a cause of great concern to everyone in the University and particularly to members of the USS pension scheme which include most of our academic and senior administrative staff.

Members of the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) have voted to take ‘action short of a strike’ from Thursday 6 November over proposed reforms to the USS pension benefits to address the deficit. Of course we will aim to do everything possible to ensure that no student is disadvantaged by the industrial action and that a spirit of collegiality is maintained across the University.

I spoke at an event at Salford Royal Hospital Trust called ‘World Stroke Day’ to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the opening of their specialist stroke unit. The event was organised by my good friend and colleague Professor Pippa Tyrrell, who has led many of the remarkable developments in stroke care and clinical research in Manchester.

The event was attended by doctors, nurses, therapists, scientists (including some of my colleagues from Life Sciences and past PhD students), stroke survivors and their carers, and many staff from the Stroke Association which provides fantastic support for those who have had a stroke and support our research. Amongst the speakers was Sir David Dalton, Chief Executive of the hospital and a stroke survivor, who read a wonderful poem. I talked about why research is important, our own findings on inflammation as a contributor to brain damage after stroke and our clinical trials that are ongoing at Salford Royal.

It was a pleasure to welcome Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation, a charity that supports science, particularly capital projects and which has provided valuable funding to our University. Paul visited the Manchester Centre for Genomics Research and Manchester Museum and heard about our Campus Masterplan. I also hosted a lunch for him with senior colleagues where he wanted to hear about how the University is doing in student recruitment, widening participation and our plans for the future.

I hosted a dinner for leading staff from the Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre (MAHSC). We heard about some recent successes from Peter Noble, Chief Executive of MAHSC, future plans from Professor Ian Jacobs (Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences), the Academic Health Science Network from Sir David Dalton and recent assessments of research strengths across the partnership from Professor Colin Sibley (Research Director for MAHSC).

We welcomed Professor Stuart Lindsay from Arizona State University, which we are collaborating with on distance learning.  Stuart is a graduate of Manchester and a member of our North American Foundation and was here to discuss potential research collaborations.

I’ve spent quite a lot of time over the last week in London at various meetings, including the Council of the Royal Society, the AstraZeneca Board and meetings with alumni.

I was at yet another football match this weekend - this time at the ‘other end’ for the Manchester City - Manchester United match at the invitation of the Chief Executive of Manchester City (I try to be balanced in my support). It was very nice that Sir Bobby Charlton and his wife came to chat to me and said they had such fond memories of when Sir Bobby was awarded an honorary degree by the University. He was also gracious in the win by City.

Next week I will be in India for a few days as part of a science and higher education delegation with the Minister for Universities, Science and Cities, so I won’t write a message until the following week.

Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor

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