President's weekly update
7 December 2017
Senior colleagues and I have been considering how we get wider and more effective engagement with staff across the University - academic and Professional Support Services - as this was one of the two key themes identified in the 2017 Staff Survey. Professor James Thompson, Vice-President for Social Responsibility, is leading work on engagement and managing change (which we face at an ever increasing rate), working with our Staff Learning and Development team. In January we will launch our Inspiring Leaders Programme (ILP) when 130 staff, including myself and Heads of Schools and Directorates and their direct reports, will participate in a four-month programme of workshops, webinars and coaching which are designed to help us effectively tackle the challenges and opportunities ahead. Applications to take part in the ILP exceeded the number of places available and we are now scheduling for it to run a second time in 2018. Programmes to support other leaders are being prepared for the New Year and beyond.
This week we discussed wider staff engagement with Dr Simon Hayward, who leads a company that specialises in staff engagement in large organisations of very varied types and activities, and one of his colleagues, Karen Sadler, who is leading on ILP. Simon holds a doctorate in business administration (DBA) on leadership styles from our Alliance Manchester Business School (which included research on our University). We considered how we better encourage and gather staff views and interaction and how communication must be in both directions. Views are of course always welcome!
I attended the Board of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, chaired by Lord Jim O’Neill, who holds an honorary chair with us. We considered investment in transport in the North, education and skills and the implications of the government’s Industrial Strategy White paper, which was published recently. Over the next few weeks we expect further information and detail on the strategy, with specific statements for each major sector.
Professor Clive Agnew, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, and I visited the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences where staff were quite positive about the Faculty review and pleased to have recruited several excellent new academic staff. Students welcomed podcasting of lectures, valued the experience of spending a year in industry and felt that the student rep system worked well. They wanted more rapid feedback and wider access to computers with specialised software. In a packed staff meeting we discussed concerns about the USS pension scheme, problems staff had encountered with some central services, but they noted that the switch to ‘Duo log in’ had been extremely successful.
I gave the annual Thomas Young Prize Lecture at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London. I worked at St George’s for seven years before moving to Manchester so I knew quite a few in the audience. I spoke about our research on brain inflammation, spanning from understanding the mechanisms of inflammation to developing new treatments for stroke and related disorders, and a major clinical trial that we will begin early in 2018 in patients with sub-arachnoid haemorrhage (brain bleeding).
My many research colleagues and I will greatly miss Professor Pippa Tyrrell who is retiring as Director of stroke services at Salford Royal NHS Trust and as a professor in the university. I have worked closely with Pippa for over 20 years, we have jointly supervised many research students, gained joint grants and published together extensively. I spoke at her leaving event at Manchester Art Gallery, which was attended by many who hold Pippa in great respect and affection.
While in London, I met Graham Brady, MP for Altrincham and Sale and Chairman of the influential 1922 Committee. We discussed the role of universities and their contribution to the wealth and wellbeing of the UK, Brexit, the value of international students, concerns about funding of higher education and universities more generally and the role of universities such as ours in driving local economies, notably the Northern Powerhouse.
Soon after that I chaired the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology. Normally I co-chair with the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, but Professor Sir Mark Walport has stood down from this post to become Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation and his successor, Dr Patrick Vallance from GlaxoSmithKline, will not take up this role until later in March.
In Manchester I met Professor Nilesh Samani, the new Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, to discuss the strengths in cardiovascular research in Manchester, our investments to date and the opportunities presented by ‘Devo Manc’.
Last week I mentioned our very successful ‘Ig Nobel’ event held in University Place. The film of the event is now available at:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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