President's weekly update
16 December 2022
Wonderful winter degree ceremonies
It’s fantastic to see our students graduating again in Whitworth Hall, and with many proud family members and friends sharing those achievements. It was very nice to have a student speaking at each of the ceremonies. We are all very conscious that this is a cohort that suffered particularly badly because of lockdowns during COVID. You can watch some of our graduation highlights collated by our social media team.
Lyra the robot….
….developed here at the University by Professor Barry Lennox and his team to clean up nuclear facilities has been named one of the inventions of the year by TIME magazine.
Addressing health inequalities
I attended an online event hosted by Dr Julian Skyrme, Director for Social Responsibility, for members of our General Assembly on what we are doing to address better health – one of the five priorities in our social responsibility and civic engagement plan. It included inspirational talks from some of our staff and one of our medical students, who is currently based at Preston.
Separately, I discussed our plans to address health inequalities with leaders of Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Combined Authority. They are very supportive and keen to work with us on this rapidly developing project.
Discussions with staff
At one of my regular meetings with small groups of staff from across the University, we discussed the value of our flexible learning strategy, the benefits and challenges of our size (some problems of inconsistency), the slowness of changes, impact of staff shortages (which is a national problem, but with some improvements lately), student mental health problems and the huge value of our place and of being both civic and global.
A tour of the Paterson building
Several senior colleagues and I had a tour of the amazing new Paterson Research building on the Christie site and right opposite our Oglesby Cancer Research Building. The new £150m building replaces the old building that was damaged by fire. It will house many of our cancer researchers and Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, and is due to open in Spring 2023.
Regional issues
At a meeting with the other GM vice-chancellors, we discussed how we address the skills gap in our city region, in particular working with our further education colleges, the Greater Manchester innovation accelerator bid in which we all participated and the importance of student progression and retention.
The Northern Powerhouse Partnership Board, which I also attended by video, discussed the next steps, the welcome announcements in the Autumn statement and the Convention of the North conference. We were joined for the last part by Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. He stressed how committed he and other senior ministers in government were to levelling up. He mentioned Manchester several times.
Chancellors past and present
It was lovely to see Lemn Sissay, our former Chancellor and to hear all he is doing in Manchester and beyond. It just so happened that as Lemn arrived, our current Chancellor, Nazir Afzal, popped into my office. The inevitable selfie followed!
And finally…
I hope that you all have a fantastic and much deserved break over the festive season. I want to offer my special thanks to our staff who will be working through the holiday period to ensure that vital operations continue and the students that stay with us are well looked after. I look forward to seeing you again in 2023 with my message resuming on 12 January.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor