President's weekly update
14 March 2024
A fantastic series of Alumni and Philanthropy events
We held our annual Cockroft Rutherford lecture this week. Primarily directed at our alumni, we wanted to build on the wonderful array of speakers that we’ve had in the past. So, in our bicentenary year, and celebrating 20 years since the publication of the groundbreaking paper on the isolation and properties of graphene, which led to the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics to Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov, it was wonderful and completely appropriate that Professor Sir Andre Geim was our star speaker this year. It was a privilege for me to hold an ‘in conversation’ with Andre, covering everything from his remarkable early life, winning an ‘Ig Nobel Prize’ and of course his work on graphene and its applications and the Nobel Prize itself. The video will be available to watch soon.
The occasion was timed to be followed the next day by a joint meeting of our three major philanthropic advisory boards - our Global Leadership Board, our North American Foundation and our Hong Kong Foundation. We were very grateful that many of our members travelled to Manchester. I gave an update on recent developments, current challenges and opportunities. They also received presentations from Brian Gilvary, one of our alumni and currently Chair of Ineos Energy on sustainable energy, Professor Philip McCann on The Productivity Institute (TPI) which we host and Professor Petra Hammerlik on her research on brain tumours and the work of our Geoffrey Jefferson Centre for research on brain diseases with a focus on bridging between industry and academia.
We also had a major event for many of our very generous donors in the Whitworth Hall at which I spoke about the critical importance of philanthropy to the current and future success of our university and thanked them for their incredible generosity. With so many travelling to campus, it was a great opportunity for private meetings with donors.
An important reminder of a zero tolerance of discrimination and intimidation
We have issued an important statement jointly with our Students’ Union reiterating that we will not tolerate any acts of discrimination or intimidation and, where brought to light, these will be reported to the police. This follows antisemitic graffiti which was found in the toilets of the Students’ Union. It was quickly removed and reported to GMP. We have made clear that there will be serious consequences to any such actions under our disciplinary procedures and with the police.
Celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD)
I was pleased to attend and open an event to celebrate IWD and to hear some amazing speakers. It was clear that we have made good progress in gender equality, as evidenced by attaining an Athena Swan Silver award but we still have much to do. Just before the event, I met Professor Olive Mugenda who was the first female vice-chancellor in Kenya and now chairs an organisation with which we have a strong partnership in health. Olive is keen to work with us on programmes for women in leadership.
School visit
Students in the School of Health Sciences said that their feedback was listened to and they felt supported. They do face problems with accommodation since many of them are on programmes that run well beyond the standard academic year. International students felt welcome. One student was very angry about what she saw as the university’s relations with Israel.
Staff told us that despite a major problem nationally with recruitment into areas such as nursing and midwifery, we are doing very well. They raised concerns about students being chased for unpaid fees when in fact it was other agencies who pay the fees. One member of staff on sabbatical from the USA said that in all her time at two prominent universities in the US she had never seen a visit from a president or a provost to open meetings.
Great Science Share for Schools
This amazing activity, led by Professor Lynne Bianchi, has been granted patronage of the UK National Commission for UNESCO in 2024.
Regeneration task force for region around Old Trafford
I have been asked to join a task force that will look at regeneration of the region around Old Trafford that will be chaired by Lord Sebastian Coe.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor