President's Weekly Update
22 September 2016
George Osborne, MP for Tatton in Cheshire and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, was in Manchester to announce his continued support for the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ to stimulate growth across the North of England. He also announced the establishment of a ‘think tank’ to support further investments in the North. I spoke on a panel with him at the Town Hall which was chaired by the Leader of Manchester City Council, Sir Richard Leese. The event was packed, with many local leaders and press in attendance. I talked about the value of the Northern Powerhouse to the University, our successes in the National Graphene Institute (NGI), the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, The Sir Henry Royce Institute, e-health (Connected Health Cities), our recent Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) award, major developments in culture and the creative industries in the City and the University, our partnerships with other northern universities and the submission of our audit of Science and Innovation assets.
Mr Osborne then visited the NGI to meet Sir Andre Geim, Professor Luke Georghiou (Vice-President for Research and Innovation), James Baker (Business Director at the NGI) and me and to hear about the latest discoveries, developments and applications in graphene - and for Andre and George to lift our graphene coated drone which recently flew at the Farnborough Air Show!
Over 150 staff from all parts of the University, in over 100 rooms in nine different buildings, ran the Sustainability Challenge as part of Welcome Week for all our first year undergraduates on Tuesday. Thousands of students worked in multidisciplinary groups to tackle one of the biggest Ethical Grand Challenges of the day and they were simultaneously introduced to the outstanding research, innovative teaching and social responsibility agenda of the University. In taking the challenge, students have also completed the first part of the new Manchester Leadership Award – visit:
At the Board's Finance Committee we reviewed the draft year end accounts for 2015-16, which are somewhat complicated by new financial reporting regulations, discussed many current financial activities and considered the Campus Masterplan. Because of our need to deliver a sustainable financial position to enable us to invest and meet our Manchester 2020 ambitions, Finance Committee approved our recommendation to ‘pause’ capital programme projects in the Library and in Coupland 3 (although planned accommodation for the School of Dentistry and some teaching spaces in Coupland 3 will be completed). They will be reconsidered in summer 2017, and other approved major Campus Masterplan projects will progress as planned. You can find out more at:
I spoke at a session for induction of new members of our Board of Governors about the goals and ambitions of the University and the important role of our Board. I also met a prospective Board member with our new chair, Edward Astle, and we planned the next Board Planning and Accountability Conference which will take place in spring 2017.
I attended a meeting of the North West Business Leadership Team, chaired by Juergen Maier, Chief Executive of Siemens UK, and attended by about 25 business leaders from the region. All reported on the impact of Brexit, which for most had been transient but uncertain, though some (notably those in the construction industry) noted increased costs because of the fall in sterling. I reported on the successes of our recent BRC award and ESOF conference in July and the submission of our Science and Innovation Audit to government.
It was a pleasure to attend a dinner arranged by Manchester Science Partnership (in which we are a shareholder and which owns Alderley Park, City Labs and much other incubator space in the region). The main guest was Sherry Coutu, who is highly respected for her work on ‘scale-up’ companies. Together with business leaders from the city we considered how we can apply ideas on scaling-up companies locally.
I attended part of our Human Resources Sub-Committee, which is chaired by Professor Colin Bailey (Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor) to consider the recent academic promotions exercise. The discussion focussed on the diversity of promotions and how we can increase the number and proportion of women and staff from ethnic minorities who are promoted.
We held a welcome event for our new President’s Doctoral Scholarship (PDS) holders. These are amongst our best and brightest PhD students across all disciplines in the University, who attend a number of events as a cohort. This is the fifth year that we have recruited about 100 new PDSs. I spoke at the event about conducting a PhD and the importance of considering opportunities outside their own research project and discipline.
I attended the formal ‘ground breaking ceremony’ for the £11.6 million extension to the Schuster Building, which is due to be completed in early 2018 and is supported by a major grant from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and will provide excellent new teaching and student facilities.
We held a lunch for senior colleagues to thank Professor Martin Humphries for his great contributions to the University as Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences, a position he held for eight years. Before that he undertook leadership roles in research. Martin has just won a major programme grant to further his research on adhesion and cancer.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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