President's weekly update
13 July 2023
Graduation ceremonies
Our graduation ceremonies [https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/news/display/?id=30021] are now in full swing, and it is wonderful to see the celebrations. Sadly, we still have some students for who we are not yet able to provide a degree classification because of the industrial action by some members of UCU. While the impact is concentrated on a small number of areas, for each individual affected this will be very distressing. Much effort is ongoing to rectify that as quickly as possible. I am very grateful to the many staff who have worked so hard to try to ensure that our students can graduate with a classification – or at least that they can be involved fully in graduation ceremonies.
It was a bit of a surprise when I was first hugged then showered with confetti at one of the ceremonies!
Cyber attack
Significant work continues to both contain and understand the nature of the impact of the cyber attack on our systems and data. We will continue to keep relevant staff and students updated when appropriate as the forensics work reveals the extent of the impact. There is also a great deal of work underway to rebuild and enhance our systems. There will be some disruption as this work is implemented over the coming weeks and months, but I hope that staff and students will understand how important this is.
Paterson research building
At the Board meeting for the new Paterson building, we heard that most staff have now moved into the new building and the project is within budget, which is remarkable given its scale and the huge impact of COVID on the construction industry and costs. Many people have contributed to this project, but I do want to particularly recognise Professor Nic Jones who has been pivotal in its success.
Greater Manchester Vice-Chancellors
At one of our regular meetings, we discussed ongoing industrial action, changes to government regulations, forthcoming party conferences, our collaborative work with further education colleges and the potential impact of government changes to regulations on international students bringing dependents.
I also had a video meeting with Professor Nic Beech, the incoming Vice-Chancellor for the University of Salford. Nic will take up the role on 1 October from the University of Middlesex. I explained about our regular meetings, our Civic Universities Agreement across all five universities with Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and the many partnerships including on health, innovation and citizen engagement, and that the leaders of each of our Students’ Unions also meet regularly.
National mental health initiative
It was a pleasure to meet Professor Husseini Manji who co-chairs (with Professor Kathryn Abel, one of our staff) an exciting UK Government Mental Health Mission [https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/427-million-funding-boost-for-mental-health-research/33559] (involving private, public and academic partners) to support the NHS’s efforts to improve treatment options available for people dealing with debilitating mental health conditions. Husseini saw many opportunities to work with us and health providers in Greater Manchester, particularly given our devolved health budget, our collaboration through Health Innovation Manchester and our University-wide initiative on health inequalities.
Horizon Europe
Many of us had hoped, and some even expected that at last, a deal would be agreed to allow the UK to be associated with Horizon Europe funding. A draft proposal was put to the Prime Minister, who then met with the European Commission President, but unfortunately press reports [https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-politics-2023-7-sunak-and-von-der-leyen-fail-to-agree-horizon-europe-deal/] indicate that no agreement has been reached, though negotiations continue.
The Christie
The next chair of The Christie hospital board has just been announced; Edward Astle, who served as chair of our Board of Governors, so knows us very well. Congratulations to Edward!
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor