Teaching Sustainability update

Work on the Teaching Sustainability project continues, with Schools reviewing their portfolio of UG and PGT programmes and course units. Alongside programme closures, we have been taking a closer look at opportunities for growth, including ways in which we can enhance existing programmes’ demand. We are also considering online delivery, innovative approaches to pedagogy and ensuring the portfolio meets future job market needs.

We were delighted to welcome Elizabeth McCrum, the University of Reading’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, and the UoM’s External Examiner, to our last taskforce meeting to hear key lessons and insight from Reading’s curriculum review project. This work covered the whole university’s programme portfolio. I found it incredibly useful to appreciate how Reading have approached their project, what has worked well and what we can learn from them.

I was very pleased to meet Charles Forsdick, the University of Cambridge’s Drapers Professor of French and Lead Fellow for Languages at the British Academy, with Julia Dobson and Thomas Schmidt. We had extremely useful and wide-ranging discussions, including on the ongoing work on national language strategy proposals, in which the Academy and Universities UK are involved, and work to align languages with the Labour government’s key missions.

I was also interested to explore the latest map from the British Academy which plots the UK higher education (HE) provision of social sciences, humanities and arts subjects (also known as Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy or SHAPE). The project examines the impact of the challenges faced by HE institutions on the changing availability of SHAPE subject first degrees for UK home students aged 20 and under.

The map shows regional ‘cold spots’ in SHAPE provision and how the offer at individual universities has shifted over time. It is one of many valuable resources we are using to inform our Teaching Sustainability project work. It is great for understanding the patterns and trends in supply and demand for the subjects we teach. Please look at it too!

School and Faculty Office visits complete

Along with my Faculty Leadership Team (FLT) colleagues, I have now completed my annual visits to our four Schools and the Faculty Office, with the final meeting at AMBS taking place last week. I have really appreciated the opportunity to hear from and talk to so many colleagues from across the Faculty during the visits over the last month and a half.

Thank you to the more than 400 people who attended the visits in-person and online. We had some extremely thoughtful and constructive questions and discussions with colleagues, and we will be reflecting on the feedback received. As I indicated, I am very happy to talk to departments and divisions if colleagues would like me to as well.

Inaugural Mark George Memorial Lecture

Last month, we hosted the inaugural Mark George Memorial Lecture, established by the University and Manchester-based Garden Court North Chambers to commemorate the life and contribution of Mark George KC to the legal, campaigning and education communities. Mark was Head of the Chambers and was instructed for 22 families in the Hillsborough Inquiry at the 2014-16 inquests.

Entitled ‘The miscarriages of justice following the Hillsborough disaster’, the lecture was given by award-winning investigative journalist David Conn. He reflected on the disaster, the families’ fight for justice and failures in our legal system. David has reported on Hillsborough and the families’ campaign for nearly 30 years and has also worked to expose other injustices.

Celebrating success

I am thrilled that academic colleagues continue to secure significant research awards and funding, demonstrating the strength of the discipline in our Faculty.

Recent examples include Francesca Billiani (SALC), who has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship of more than £290,00 for the ‘New Muralism: Urban Futures Through the Arts in Italy’ project.

Geoff Pearson (SoSS) has received funding for a third phase of the N8 Policing Research Partnership, a £625,000+ collaboration between eight universities and 11 police forces in the north of England to support policing research and its impact.

An AMBS team led by Principal Investigator Arijit De (PI), with Co-Investigators Yu-Wang Chen, Julia Handl, Pedro Sampaio and Manuel Lopez-Ibanez, has been awarded a UKRI grant of nearly £49,000 for a project looking at ‘Optimising Vessel Operations: Simulation modelling for efficiency gains and time savings across differing load scenarios’.

In SEED, Turkia al Moustafa has received a BA CARA (Council for At-Risk Academics) Researchers at Risk grant for work on ‘The Effects of Live Pre-Fire Fuel Moisture Content (FMC) on Fire Occurrence in Heather-Dominated Moorlands in the UK’.

And in professional services, it is fantastic that the hard work and achievements of staff in the Faculty Office have been recognised through the first annual Appreciation Awards. More than 60 people gathered at Christie’s Bistro for an event celebrating nominees for the Awards, which are designed as a way for staff to show their thanks for all colleagues.

International Women’s Day

I hope many of you have had the chance to attend one or more of the University’s talks and events marking International Women’s Day (IWD). The official day itself is tomorrow (Saturday, 8 March) but activities have already been taking place this week and continue throughout the month.

IWD celebrates women’s achievements and resilience while highlighting that there is still a long way to go to reach gender equality. This year’s theme is ‘Accelerate Action’, focusing on the importance of taking quick and decisive steps to achieve equality. Thank you to everyone involved in organising the events, and more widely in promoting and supporting efforts to advance equality for all.

I was delighted that AMBS recently received the Athena Swan Siver Award in recognition of its work on gender equality. It is a great example of the positive changes we can make through the concerted work and collaboration of many colleagues on our equality journey.

Regards Fiona

Professor Fiona Devine, Vice-President and Dean, Faculty of Humanities