Campus News
Campus Solutions implementation — go live rescheduled to April 2018
December 13th, 2017
Message from the project sponsor:
“We have taken the decision to postpone the expected January go live until April 2018. This is a difficult step, but a necessary one — and one which colleagues and I are convinced is required to ensure the successful completion of the project.
We carried out a Gateway Review in November, to assess the project’s readiness to go live. Colleagues in the project and in schools and departments worked hard to address these elements, and I want to thank them for their hard work and commitment. However, though significant progress has been made and we are in a much stronger position, we need to ensure we all have the fullest confidence to go live, reflect the hard work of colleagues at all levels across the institution, and launch the new system when users are fully ready to realise its benefits.
Our next available window to carry out the huge migration of data required to launch the new system after Christmas is Easter, leading to an April go live. This ensures that we have as little adverse impact as possible on student support and experience, and colleagues’ work. We will share more comprehensive timings in the new year, detailing when specific functionality within the system comes on line, and how this will affect staff and students.
I want to thank you for your support so far, and for your continued support over the coming months.”
Professor Sarah O’Hara
Sponsor, Project Transform
Tags: Admissions, campus solutions, direct admissions, MyNottingham, Professor Sarah O’Hara, Project Transform
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Open access: support and training for researchers
December 13th, 2017
A message from Professor Dame Jessica Corner, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange:
“My message in July launching the University of Nottingham Publication Framework promised news of further work underway to support publication. I am now pleased to announce a phase of initiatives that will generate fresh momentum and awareness around open access routes to sharing the outcomes of research.
The University has maintained a longstanding commitment to open access, as a way to share your scholarship as widely and freely as possible. The hub of this commitment is Nottingham ePrints, our institutional repository. This has seen a sharp increase in volume of deposits since 1 April 2016, in a positive response to HEFCE’s mandate that articles and conference papers accepted for publication from that date must be available open access in order to be eligible for assessment in REF2021.
The open access landscape can be challenging to navigate. The REF mandate makes it essential that every researcher is able to do so in a timely and informed way. In the coming months you will see a fresh wave of communications and events that aim to assist you in reconciling funder open access requirements with publisher copyright constraints. Led by the LRLR Research Support team, activity will include new training opportunities, social media campaigns and expanded online guidance.
HEFCE has defined a limited number of scenarios where an exception to their open access requirements for REF2021 may be claimed. A new University process for the appraisal and recording of such exceptions will be a key focus of this initiative. Among other outreach events, REF Co-ordinators and APM staff who support research within Schools and Faculties will be invited soon to workshops that will explore how Nottingham will meet the challenges of REF exceptions.
One aspect of HEFCE’s rules around open access that can be especially confusing is the deadline by which articles and conference papers must be deposited in Nottingham ePrints. HEFCE continues to state a preference that deposit occurs within three months from the date of acceptance for publication.
However, until Sunday 1 April 2018 they are conceding a grace period that extends this deadline to three months from the date of publication.
HEFCE has recently confirmed that from Sunday 1 April 2018 a “deposit exception” will have to accompany outputs that take advantage of this concession (i.e. that are deposited after three months from acceptance, but before three months from publication).
I trust these activities will have a positive impact on your confidence to harness the benefits that open access offers. Guidance on a range of open access themes, and FAQs based on issues raised by Nottingham colleagues, may be found within the LRLR research support webpages. If you have a query that is not answered there, please email openaccess@nottingham.ac.uk.”
Tags: HEFCE, Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Jessica Corner, open access, professor dame jessica corner, Publication Framework, research, Research and Knowledge Exchange
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Vice-Chancellor’s Blog — December 2017
December 13th, 2017
The Vice-Chancellor has published her latest staff blog thanking all staff for their contribution and support this term, and reflecting on the recent Brexit ‘phase 1’ negotiations and the Office for Students.
Visit the Vice-Chancellor’s blog page to read more.
A recording of Professor West’s recent inaugural lecture, viewed by more than 115,000 people worldwide, as well as the lecture text is also now available.
Tags: Brexit, inaugural lecture, Office for Students, Professor Shearer West, VC, VC's blog, Vice Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor's blog
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Maternity/Adoption/Shared Parental Leave focus groups — feedback and next steps
December 13th, 2017
We recently held a series of focus groups to explore experiences of taking maternity/adoption/shared parental leave and returning to work following that leave.
Focus groups took place at five campuses (University Park, Jubilee, QMC, Sutton Bonington and Derby) with a good number of staff attending – two of whom brought their babies along. There was good representation across the institution, a balanced attendance in terms of gender, and great feedback from attendees. Attendees told us they felt that their voice had been heard and that the issue felt important. One added that they felt good ideas had been generated and would be taken further.
Attendees also described a range of experiences including difficulties in balancing work and home responsibilities while often also getting used to a new life role. The positive impact of a supportive and understanding line manager, good communication, and flexibility to carry out work and home responsibilities was a strong theme across the groups.
The feedback from the focus groups has been invaluable in helping identify the actions to be taken forward to improve people’s experiences of preparing for, taking, and returning from maternity/adoption/shared parental leave, as well as effectively supporting staff around these key points in their working lives.
As a result of the feedback, we are establishing Athena SWAN Parenting Rooms; dedicated spaces to support staff and students breastfeeding or expressing breast milk, should they prefer to do so in a private location. Look out for an update in February.
A Maternity Checklist is also in development to support conversations, trigger actions, and help make it easier to plan for and return from maternity/adoption/shared parental leave, by supporting better understanding of the key areas for consideration and discussion. The checklist has been circulated to focus group participants and is being revised following feedback before wider release.
Other ideas generated from the focus groups will be explored by a group specifically set up to consider support for working parents, sponsored by Professor Marion Walker, APVC for Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity. We’ll let you know more in the New Year. If you would like to get involved in this group, please contact the People and Culture team.
Thank you to all of the focus group participants who have given up their time to support this important work both within and outside of the groups. You are making a real difference to the ways in which the University supports working parents.
Tags: adoption, Anthena SWAN, diversity and inclusivity, equality, maternity, parental leave, Parenting rooms, people and culture, shared parental leave
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Organisational Effectiveness (Student Support) Review — update
December 13th, 2017
Have you had your say yet? There’s a week left to contribute to the Organisational Effectiveness (Student Support) Review, looking at how we support our students.
More than 20 consultation workshops have already been hosted across four campuses since the review was launched last month. These workshops have enabled 150 participants to raise issues experienced since following the move to our new organisational structures, share their views and explain their ideas for solutions. We have also received more than 100 responses to the online consultation.
Thank you to everybody who has taken the time to get involved in the workshops and submit comments. The Review and Improve Group are now in the process of reviewing the material gathered and potential solutions are already emerging that will form the basis of a set of recommendations that will be made to the UEB at the end of January 2018.
If you haven’t yet sent us your views, there’s still time for you to have your say by completing the online consultation.
All comments submitted via this route will be accessible by the Review and Improve Group. A summary of the comments provided will be shared after the consultation has ended; no comments will be attributed to the individual that sent them, but may be quoted anonymously in the final report.
Alternatively you can email the review secretariat directly at oereview@nottingham.ac.uk. If you would prefer your views not to be attributed when the consultation responses are drawn together, please make that clear in the email and the review secretariat will respect your preference.
The deadline for all submissions is Friday 22 December.
Tags: OESS, organisational effectiveness, Organisational Effectiveness (Student Support) Review, review and improve, student support
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LMA Mentoring Scheme
December 12th, 2017
The University of Nottingham Leadership and Management Academy (LMA) Mentoring Scheme is calling for mentors to add to its existing mentor pool.
If you are a contracted member of staff who would like to volunteer to become a mentor in addition to the permanent role that you hold, please visit the LMA Mentoring Scheme page on the LMA Hub where you will find details about how to apply.
The LMA Mentoring Scheme is an integral part of development opportunities provided by the Leadership and Management Academy. It provides mentoring to staff across the University, regardless of job family or level, who request mentoring support, and complements other mentoring schemes that already exist within departments, faculties and schools, thereby extending the provision for mentoring within the University.
All mentors who are part of the scheme will receive initial mentor training as well as continuing professional development opportunities to enhance mentoring skills.
If you have any questions about the scheme, please email Christine Wilkinson. The deadline date for applications is Wednesday 31 January 2018.
Tags: Continuing Professional Development, Leadership and Management Academy, LMA, mentoring, Mentoring Scheme, staff development, training
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Coaching opportunity — call for coachees
December 12th, 2017
The Leadership and Management Team is asking for members of staff to come forward if they are interested in being coached by an internal coach pool colleague.
21 coaches are currently being trained to Level 5 standard — and each will need to coach a minimum of two people between Monday 8 January and Monday 30 April 2018 in order to embed and build on their learning and practice.
Willing volunteers who have a genuine coaching requirement and can also be supportive of coaches who are growing their experience in this field can apply by completing the form available via this link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=7qe9Z4D970GskTWEGCkKHpNDARhRktJJuGao8NeILdZUNldSRVRaV0wwR0RXV1ZVOUUwWTJUOUxVVC4u
(Please copy and paste the link into your browser if it doesn’t take you straight there.)
Executive coaching cannot be offered at this stage, but any volunteer from Levels 1-5 across any job family within the University can apply. The deadline date for applications to be a volunteer coachee is Monday 18 December 2017.
Please read our PDF, ‘getting the most from coaching‘, to read about how to get the most from this coaching opportunity.
For more information please email Christine Wilkinson, Management Development Manager.
Tags: coach, coachee, coaching, Internal Coach Pool, leadership and management
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IT support out of office – Tuesday 12 December
December 8th, 2017
On Tuesday 12 December all of the Campus IT support team will be unavailable due to a development training session. This is the first time the whole team will come together at the same time for training.
All IT support offices will be closed until 2pm and contact numbers will be redirected to the IT Service Desk. The team will also not be responding to emails during this time.
Accessing IT support
During the unavailability, you can still contact the IT Service Desk on 0115 95 16677 or log a support call online for less urgent enquiries. All Smart Bars (except Sutton Bonington) will be open as usual and our Student IT support tutors will be available to answer enquiries. Please contact Campus IT support to prearrange any IT support requirements needed for the morning and early afternoon of Tuesday 12 December.
Zone changes on University Park
From Monday 11 December, Campus IT support North and South will merge into a single support zone – ‘Campus IT support East’. The combining of teams aims to improve efficiency and minimise confusion over which support zone to contact. An updated map highlighting which area is covered by ‘East zone’ will be available from Monday.
You can contact the new zone from Monday via email: IT-Support-UP-East@nottingham.ac.uk or telephone: 0115 95 15200. This number will operate a menu system – press 1 for AV support and press 2 for IT support. The open door/office locations will remain the same (Pope Building A20 and A23, Chemistry W1A and Pharmacy A17).
Tags: campus it, campus support, Information Services, IT Service Desk, it support, service desk
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Dr Jane Wellens wins Universitas 21 award
December 6th, 2017
The Universitas 21 (U21) Award winners 2018 have been announced as the University of Nottingham’s Dr Jane Wellens and Dr Chongsheng Peng of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
The U21 Awards were created in 2012 to recognise the innovative work being delivered at Universitas 21 member universities towards the internationalisation of higher education.
Announcing the award winners, U21 described Dr Jane Wellens and Dr Chongsheng Peng as “exceptional members who have made significant contributions to Universitas 21.”
Dr Wellens is the University of Nottingham representative within the U21 Group of Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies. She has offered a sustained contribution since 2013 through active participation in the Group of Deans and Directors of Graduate Schools of U21, exploring areas of mutual strength and establishing collaborative activities in particular related to doctoral education. This resulted in the submission of a successful proposal to the Newton-Picarte Institutional Skills Call.
Furthermore, she has been involved in implementing a doctoral education policy at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, which was a precedent for other Chilean universities whose directors of doctoral education attended a national workshop – the first ever held in Chile on research supervision supporting and recognising doctoral supervision. This policy has been identified as the single most influential factor on PhD satisfaction and has also been linked with time to completion.
The U21 Award honours her work in sharing best practice in ‘excellent’ doctoral supervision and the development of doctoral training and research supervision in the local context of Chile.
Dr Wellens said, “I was totally surprised by the news that I had been nominated by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile for this award. It has been a privilege to collaborate with them and other Universities in Chile on the Newton-Picarte project and as well as to work with colleagues from Nottingham and the broader U21 DDoGS group who share a commitment and passion for enhancing international doctoral education. We have explored similarities and common challenges in doctoral research and found many span international as well as discipline boundaries. As a result, our institutions are working to implement solutions and mechanisms which will enhance global research through facilitating long term collaborations involving both doctoral researchers and their supervisors.”
Professor Bairbre Redmond, Professor of Universitas 21, said:
“The U21 Awards were designed to recognise and celebrate the work of individuals in the network who have made a significant contribution to cross-network internationalisation in higher education. Our 2018 winners exemplify such contributions.
“The work of Dr Jane Wellens (University of Nottingham) as part of the Deans and Directors of Graduate Schools group (DDoGs) represents a sustained contribution in the field of international doctoral education, including a successful proposal to the Newton-Picarte Institutional Skills Call, part of which allowed the University of Nottingham to host a group of colleagues of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
“Not only have 60,000 students from around the world successfully participated in Dr Chongsheng Peng’s Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on ‘Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chinese Culture’, but this engaging online course also became an initial part of the U21 Summer School 2016 at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, thus allowing U21 students to experience a blended learning experience in this important topic.
“My warmest congratulations to these two most worthy winners of the U21 Awards.”
Tags: Dr Jane Wellens, U21, U21 Awards, Universitas 21
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15% Blackwell’s discount for UoN staff (ends Friday 8 December 2017)
December 6th, 2017
Blackwell’s bookshop is offering a 15% discount to UoN staff until Friday 8 December 2017.
The offer can be used at the Blackwell’s store on Level B Portland Building – next door to the Portland Coffee Company. To receive the discount, staff should show their university ID card at the till point.
Please note: this discount excludes existing offers, gift cards, book token, e-bookers and e-readers, technology and stamps.
From 4-8 December 2017, Blackwell’s opening hours are:
- Monday 4 December: 9:00am-5:30pm
- Tuesday 5 December: 9:30am-5:30pm
- Wednesday 6 December: 9:00am – 6:30pm
- Thursday 7 December: 9:00am-5:30pm
- Friday 8 December: 9:00am-5:30pm
Tags: Blackwell's, blackwells bookshop, books
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