President's weekly update
14 June 2018
I travelled to New York (for just one night) for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the North American Foundation of The University of Manchester (NAFUM). NAFUM raises funds for the University, promotes awareness of our activities in the USA and Canada and seeks volunteers and mentors for our students.
We held a reception at the British Consulate, hosted by the Consul General, for over 100 NAFUM members and recent - and not so recent - alumni. I spoke about the University after an introduction from the Consul General. Dr Gian Fulgoni, President of NAFUM, talked about its successes and we heard from two other NAFUM Board members, Robin Mills and Walter Grattidge. Robin has been on the Foundation Board for many years and Walter graduated with his PhD in 1944 and is now 94 years old.
The reception was followed by an event for current and past NAFUM members and other senior alumni and donors. I also managed to hold several private meetings with our donors, but all were a bit challenging as I had almost completely lost my voice.
In Manchester we were visited by senior academic staff from the Harvard University Chan School of Public Health. They are interested in studying the impact of devolution of the health budget to Greater Manchester and how it impacts on health and social care. After my introduction, Jon Rouse, Chief Officer of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, gave an update. Jon has just been awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his services to health and social care. These meetings were followed by discussions on evaluating health outcomes, social determinants and inequalities in health and plans for further collaboration between Harvard and Manchester. Professor Jackie Oldham, who is leading the collaboration, noted great progress and major plans at our closing session.
Back in Manchester, I hosted a lunch for staff from across the University where we discussed how we can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of teaching and tackle mental health problems amongst students. We also discussed our new IT programmes, rewarding research excellence and cross Faculty initiatives.
I joined the final session of our current staff development programme called Managing at Manchester which aims to support colleagues with growing managerial responsibility. Those on the programme told me what they had learnt and gave very positive feedback then asked me about some of the issues I face in management, particularly of people and teams.
In London it was a pleasure to meet Dame Angela Strank, one of our Board of Governor members, who has just been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. We were joined by several other leaders of the Royal Society to celebrate her success.
I spoke at a UK-China Cooperation Forum in London that was organised by the China Britain Business Council. I talked about our Confucius Institute, the new Manchester China Institute, the many and growing partnerships with Chinese universities and businesses, our many Chinese students, the Manchester China Forum of which we are members, my trip to China earlier this year with the Prime Minister and the President of China’s visit to Manchester and to the University.
Some of you may have heard Professor Jeanette Winterson’s recent Dimbleby Lecture on gender equality which considered the recent campaigns for women’s equality and the suffragette movement. Jeanette, who is a renowned author, is a Professor in our Centre for New Writing and has just been honoured with a CBE in the recent Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to literature. This seems so appropriate in the week that we are celebrating the centenary of women securing the right to vote in the UK. The suffragette movement is closely associated with Manchester and was led by Emmeline Pankhurst and her family. Christabel, her daughter, was the first female law student at our University.
You may have seen a message on StaffNet about The University of Manchester Superannuation Scheme (UMSS). After much consideration a consultation will open on Monday, 18 June 2018 on proposed changes to the scheme.
Thank you all those who completed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) training by the end of May (the regulations came into force on 25 May). The online training must be completed by all members of staff every two years and I would therefore ask those who have not met this requirement to complete as a matter of urgency. You can sign up to the online course at: Data Protection Training
You may have heard about the Bee in the City initiative which will see 80 super-sized bee sculptures forming an art trail across Manchester’s streets, parks and public spaces this summer. Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov took me to Mayfield Warehouse near Piccadilly to see many of the individually designed bees, including one which has been created by one of our students, Kelly Stanford and will be installed at Oxford Road Station. Kelly is about to graduate in History of Art and her design depicts many stories linked to science at the University. It has been signed by a number of our staff and I added my signature. We will also have our own University bee, which will be on display in the Old Quad from July until September.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor