Appointment of Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

18 Dec 2007

Message from Professor Alan Gilbert, President and Vice-Chancellor.

The University's Board of Governors at its meeting on Monday 10 December 2007 approved the appointment of Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell as Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, with effect from 10 December 2007.

The resolution to appoint Nancy to this position was carried by acclamation.

Nancy will be a genuine Deputy President. We will take care to ensure that her appointment does not create another layer of line management in the Senior Executive. In other words, she and I will share responsibilities across the full range of high level management tasks and functions, ranging from internal oversight and communication to external representational roles, nationally and internationally.

I am pleased that Nancy's new role will enhance my own capacity to listen to and interact with colleagues throughout the University.  Such communication has been vital during the past year, when our necessary "belt-tightening" has caused acute workload pressures for many, but it will continue to be vital as we reinvest to continue building towards 2015. Nancy's high national and international profile will also greatly strengthen our capacity to engage with important external bodies and shape wider policy-making processes.

While she will combine this position with her research programme in Life Sciences, Nancy will now relinquish her responsibilities as Vice-President (Research).

Following the completion of the University's RAE Submission, I think that it is appropriate for oversight of the research policy portfolio to be exercised by Professor Simon Gaskell, working with Associate Vice-Presidents Nigel Vincent and Michael Grant, the Associate-Deans (Research) in each Faculty and the Research Office. Simon will of course monitor this new arrangement, and we will review from time to time the question of whether we are making appropriate provision for high level research management.

Professor Alan Gilbert
President and Vice-Chancellor
December 2007