All entries for Friday 29 April 2016

Looking forward to the Summer term

I would like to welcome back everyone who may be returning to the University after their Easter vacation. As always there is a lot to look forward to, and if we get more sun than the hail we have had recently, we will all be able to enjoy it still more! Amongst many other things, we have the Aviva Women’s tour due to come through campus in June, and another Summer of graduation ceremonies ahead.

In the last few weeks I have had the chance to meet some of our alumni abroad, as well as some of our partners in Asia. It has been a great privilege to meet so many of our alumni who are doing so well, and who attribute at least a part of that success to their experiences at the University.

For many of you back here on campus, we are heading into exam season and for that I wish you the very best of luck. For those of you looking for somewhere to study during this term, the Library have a range of additional study spaces available, some of them open 24 hours. Having taken a lot of exams myself, I know that it can be a stressful time, so I would encourage you to try to find some time to have a break and enjoy yourselves and keep up with your music, sport or other leisure activities. If you would like any support during this time, there is some guidance available online.

Last week I was involved in the Staff Network Day, an event open to all staff which was themed around our work in the region. It was a wonderful event, and a great opportunity to share some of our thinking about how we can work with our local region and also to hear from members of our community about how you can get involved. Watch this space. This is timely, as only this week I was at the launch of the Midlands Innovation which is a partnership of six research intensive universities across our region. The centrepiece project at the moment is a £180 million fund to accelerate energy research. It was a marvellous event organised by our events team, put together, as always, in an incredibly professional manner - their work is a huge credit to us. We have a long history of collaboration and success in the Midlands, with the Science City Research Alliance, Midlands Energy Consortium and National Physics Alliance amongst some of those initiatives. This event itself was a great opportunity for Midlands Higher Education institutions to come together to harness research strengths and innovation and provide the ideas, test-beds and solutions to enhance productivity and to respond to global challenges. I have also sat on the first meeting of the leadership group for the Midlands Engine – a group that brings together the public and private sector with universities, focussing on sustainable growth in our region.

Finally, we know that our students do incredible things every day, and achieve a lot during their time with us. I’m pleased to be moderating a society organised event on the forthcoming EU referendum on Wednesday 4^th May. I know this will be the first of a number of events and would encourage everyone to find out more ahead of the referendum on 23^rd June, whatever your current views. The Outstanding Student Contribution Awards are a way for us to acknowledge other key contributions students make. Any member of our community (staff or students) can nominate a student to be considered, so I would urge any of you who know an exceptional student to submit a nomination before the deadline on 9^th May. If you need some inspiration, you can read about last year’s winners on the OSCAs webpages.

Execblog Resource : 29 Apr 2016 14:30 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem