Campus News
University signs the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment
March 4th, 2019
The University has signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which provides a code of best practice in research assessment to which institutions can subscribe. Many funders of the University’s research have already signed DORA, including the research councils which make up UKRI, the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, and the Daphne Jackson Trust.
As a signatory of DORA, the University of Nottingham is committed to:
- avoiding journal-based metrics, such as Journal Impact Factors, as a surrogate measure of the quality of individual research articles
- being explicit about the criteria used to reach hiring, tenure, and promotion decisions and foregrounding the scientific content of a paper
- considering the value and impact of all research outputs and a broad range of impact measures.
Professor Dame Jessica Corner, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange who signed DORA on behalf of the University, said: “Signing DORA signals a commitment to our staff, to our funders, and to the wider world, that we are committed to a fair and transparent approach to research assessment, which draws upon the best possible modern practice.”
Tags: DORA, research, San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment
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Celebrating inspirational women
March 4th, 2019
A month of activities is set to celebrate inspirational women at the University of Nottingham.
As the countdown to International Women’s Day 2019 #BalanceForBetter begins the University has started to showcase the incredible talent, skills and contribution women are making every day.
On Friday 1 March we launched our Inspirational Women social media campaign. It follows a recent invite to staff and students, asking them to nominate female colleagues in Nottingham and our campuses in China and Malaysia by explaining their inspirational contribution to the University. Almost 150 submissions were received celebrating women at all levels and job types.
Each day throughout the month three nominations will be shared via social media channels. At the end of March 2019 a collage of inspirational women will be created and all nominations will be available to read.
Professor Sarah Sharples, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion said: “I’m delighted by the response to the campaign and the breadth of nominations we’ve had come in. It is incredible to see the number of inspirational acts, some big, some small, taking place around the University and the contribution women are making on a daily basis.
“Perhaps what is even more humbling is the response of the nominees, many of whom are genuinely surprised that someone finds them inspirational and took the time to nominate them.”
Elsewhere across the University there are a number of both cross university and specialist events led by faculties.
A key highlight on Friday 8 March is an annual joint conference held with Nottingham Trent University (NTU).
Speakers at these events will share a range of experiences from within academia, professional services and industry, giving valuable insight into how we can support gender equality and intersectionality within our university communities, higher education, and more broadly.
Throughout March the University will be sharing news and research stories with a special focus on achievements and contributions of women as well as relaunching a digital version of the Women’s Expertise Guide — a joint venture with NTU which brings together a catalogue of expertise for media and policy makers.
Tags: edi, Equality Diversity and Inclusion, International Women's Day 2019, IWD2019, Women's Expertise Guide
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Campus Solutions questions and answers
March 1st, 2019
For colleagues using the new Campus Solutions student records system
As you start using Campus Solutions, you may have a question that you would like to know the answer to. The typical questions we have received so far, along with the answers, can now be viewed on the Campus Solutions Workspace site.
Tags: campus solutions, IT systems, Workspace
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Staff Networks Review – have your say
March 1st, 2019
Staff are invited to contribute to a review of the University’s staff networks.
The purpose of this review is to ensure the right networks are represented, and the right support is in place to enable them to operate effectively.
The views and experiences of all staff across the University, those who are members of our staff networks and those who aren’t, are extremely important to this review process.
Responses to the survey will help inform the Review Group and feed into the recommendations in the Final Report, which will be submitted to the University’s EDI Committee. The review is sponsored by Professor Sarah Sharples, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).
This is part of a wider review of Nottingham’s EDI governance structure, and is aligned with developing the University’s EDI Strategic Plan.
All feedback received will be recorded both anonymously and verbatim. However, if any staff members would like to speak with the Review Group in more detail about their responses, please provide contact details at the end of the survey.
The review is available on the EDI website. Alternatively a hard copy can be requested from Julie Thomas at julie.thomas@nottingham.ac.uk or internal ext. 15769.
Tags: Diversity and Inclusion, EDI Committee, equality, Professor Sarah Sharples
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From Kurdistan to Nottingham – celebrating top Maths honour
February 28th, 2019
The University of Nottingham has held an event to celebrate the amazing achievements of PhD alumnus, Caucher Birkar, who studied at the University after escaping the brutal war between Iraq and Iran.
Caucher Birkar grew up in the Kurdish region of western Iran in a rural subsistence farming village. In his final year as an undergraduate at the University of Tehran, Caucher Birkar came to England where he sought political asylum. After studying at the University of Nottingham he became a Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, at the University of Cambridge.
At a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro last year, Caucher was awarded the prestigious Fields Medal, an honour presented every four years by the International Mathematical Union to the world’s most accomplished mathematicians. This is the first such medal awarded to a UK mathematician in the last 20 years and the highest honour in Mathematics. The Fields Medal and the Abel Prize are the highest international trophies in Mathematics, similar to the Nobel Prize in other sciences.
Caucher studied under the supervision of Ivan Fesenko, Professor of Pure Mathematics in the School of Mathematics at the University of Nottingham. Ivan said: “Caucher’s story is quite extraordinary. He came from Kurdistan to live in in Nottingham whilst he waited for a decision about his asylum application from Home Office. He was so passionate about striving to learn cutting edge mathematics that he almost immediately came to our maths department and asked me for a supervision of his work. I recommended some books for him to read and set an ambitious research project for his PhD years which I thought would take quite a time for him to implement. He came with its solution in three months, instead of usual three years! We then helped him to attend workshops and meet international researchers. Caucher met with and started to collaborate with Professor Slava Shokurov from Johns Hopkins University. We were delighted to apply our best efforts to help him to grow, with encouragement and support. While here in Nottingham, Caucher was awarded the London Math Society grant as the most promising UK PhD student in Mathematics, and then the EPSRC postdoc fellowship, and soon came his first famous breakthrough.”
Professor Fesenko continues, “Caucher is an incredibly hard-working researcher. He concentrates very deeply during his study. I remember I gave him a key from a committee meetings room so that he could use a very quiet room for his work when no committee meetings were taking place. Since his PhD years in Nottingham, Caucher has been regularly visiting our research group to give talks on his ongoing research work. We’re most delighted to be welcoming him back to Nottingham for this special event to celebrate his inspirational achievement. The Pythagoras theorem was proved 2500 years ago and is still remembered. Mathematical achievements are among the longest to live, they reflect something very important in our civilizations and they are based on fundamental understanding of underlying beauty of mathematical structures, often very hidden like a great treasure. Caucher has been very successful in finding such treasures which will be remembered for centuries.
Nurturing and supporting future leaders in science is a distinctive feature of the University of Nottingham. We would like more of our PhD students, here in Nottingham and elsewhere in the UK, to reach the stars in their journeys for knowledge, and we are here to support them!”
Tags: Caucher Birkar, Fields medal, International Mathematical Union, Professor Ivan Fesenko
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Technical Skills and Conference Fund announced
February 28th, 2019
A new fund has been set up to support technicians at the University of Nottingham.
The University of Nottingham’s Technical Skills and Conference Fund has been launched to support technical staff in their development, enabling them to attend courses and conferences to further their skills and expertise.
The University has a diverse technical base of the highest quality in terms of skill, knowledge and expertise and employs over 700 technicians across campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia. They have skills that span a wide range of disciplines and make a fundamental contribution towards the University’s aims to deliver excellence in research and knowledge exchange, teaching and the student experience.
In 2017 the University of Nottingham signed up to The Technician Commitment — a sector-wide initiative, backed by a range of stakeholders, to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for the technical community in higher education and research.
The University’s Vision for Technical Talent was launched in December 2018 and aims to ensure that our technical staff are world-class and that the University of Nottingham is the employer of choice for technical talent. We are committed to attracting, developing and retaining the highest-quality technicians.
To be eligible to apply to the Technical Skills and Conference Fund you must be a member of staff of the Technical Services Job Family.
There are four application deadlines:
- 31 March 2019
- 31 May 2019
- 30 September 2019
- 31 January 2020
To apply, please complete the Technical Skills and Conference Fund application form which is available at nottingham.ac.uk/technicians.
Tags: Technical Skills and Conference Fund, Technical staff, technicians, The Technician Commitment, Training and development
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Brexit: Global and Political Affairs Unit briefing — 27 February 2019
February 27th, 2019
The Global and Political Affairs Unit (GPAU) has published its latest briefing on Brexit.
The document, last updated on Wednesday 27 February 2019, is intended to address some of the key questions you may have about Brexit and what we know so far about the process of leaving the European Union. Read the briefing.
Tags: Brexit, Brexit briefing, EU referendum
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University of Nottingham featured in QS World Rankings
February 27th, 2019
Five University of Nottingham subjects have been ranked within the top 50 in the world according to a new league table.
The QS World University Rankings by Subject table also sees four of the subjects feature in the top 10 when compared to other UK universities.
The following subjects are featured in this year’s ranking:
- Pharmacy & Pharmacology (eighth in the world, fourth in the UK)
- Nursing (27th in the world, fifth in the UK)
- Veterinary Science (36th in the world, seventh in the UK)
- Education (43rd in the world, eighth in the UK)
- English Language & Literature (48th in the world, 16th in the UK)
The rankings, which feature around 1,000 institutions, also show that 27 of the 34 subjects ranked at the University of Nottingham are in the top 150 worldwide.
The QS World University Rankings by Subject series are based on academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per research publication paper and an index that looks at productivity and impact of work published. It allows prospective students to compare universities in their particular area of interest.
Tags: QS World Rankings
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University of Nottingham appoints new Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
February 26th, 2019
The University of Nottingham is delighted to announce today that Helen Pennack will be joining as our new Chief Marketing and Communications Officer.
Helen is currently the Director of Marketing and Communications at the University of Warwick and has worked in the higher education sector for the past fifteen years in various marketing, communications and external relations roles.
External Relations is one of the University of Nottingham’s largest professional service departments, with nearly 300 staff working across a broad range of areas including student recruitment and admissions, widening participation, Lakeside Arts, marketing and digital, communications and advocacy, global engagement, political affairs and the University’s new Institute for Policy and Engagement.
At Warwick, Helen created the University’s first marketing function and led on the institution’s recent rebrand. As the institutional lead for marketing and communications, she currently oversees a department with a diverse range of responsibilities including marketing, student and staff communications, alumni engagement and events. Helen also has direction over the marketing activities in the University’s commercial arm. Helen is also a faculty member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education in Europe’s Marketing Institute.
Dr Paul Greatrix, Registrar of the University of Nottingham said: “I am delighted to be welcoming Helen to the University of Nottingham as our new Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. She will be taking on the leadership of an outstanding team of professional staff and we all look forward to working with her as we continue to support the successful delivery of the University’s strategy across External Relations.”
Helen said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the University of Nottingham in this exciting role. At this current time, the higher education sector faces many challenges, but there are also opportunities too. Nottingham has a justified reputation as one of the most forward-thinking, pioneering universities in the world. As a Nottingham alumna I’m particularly proud and excited to have the opportunity to return to my University in order to lead an exceptional team of talented people in External Relations and help tell the University’s story.”
We look forward to welcoming Helen to the University in the coming months.
Tags: chief marketing and communications officer, CMCO, External Relations, Helen Pennack
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Fairtrade Fortnight 2019 – get involved
February 22nd, 2019
The University of Nottingham will once again be celebrating its Fairtrade status during Fairtrade Fortnight.
Fairtrade Fortnight is a nationwide celebration taking place from Monday 25 February – Sunday 10 March. It’s a celebration of better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world.
The University of Nottingham will be hosting our own series of events across our campuses.
Events include a microwave cookery session, a lecture on Fairtrade and sustainability, a swapshop and more. You’ll also have the chance to find out about Fairtrade brands and products available on campus.
Visit the Sustainability webpages for the full event listing.
Tags: events, Fairtrade, Fairtrade Fortnight
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