Campus News
Goodbye and good luck to Mary Visser
January 9th, 2017
The University’s Chief Information Officer, Mary Visser, has decided to leave the University to set up her own consultancy.
Mary joined the University as Chief Information Officer in July 2013 where she has been responsible for leading the University’s Information Services with responsibility for all IT services and corporate systems. She has led the development of our IT Strategy and has been responsible for the strategic and professional leadership of the service during a period of significant technological and organisational change.
Lucy Burrow, John Skelton and Sue Platt continue to be the senior points of contact for IS matters, and staff should direct any routine IS enquiries to their usual IS contact.
We take this opportunity to thank Mary for her service to the University and to wish her well for the future.
Tags: appointment, departure, Information Services, IS, staff
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Take part in a mental health support study
January 9th, 2017
REBOOT Notts is looking for volunteers for a study evaluating two online support tools for mild to moderate low mood/depression and/or anxiety.
The study investigates whether online peer support website “Big White Wall” is more or less effective in helping people when they are experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety, compared to freely available online information from the NHS (Moodzone). Anyone aged 16+ with a Nottingham postcode can take part.
Participants who complete their research measures at every stage will be entered into a prize draw to win £100 of high street vouchers, from which there will be 30 winners. While participants are not paid, REBOOT hope that their involvement will enable them to access helpful information, record changes in their mood to help them understand how they are feeling as well feeling positive about taking part in research that will help local healthcare services to make informed decisions.
REBOOT is a collaboration including the Institute for Mental Health and is made up of university researchers, NHS clinicians and most importantly members of the public who have experienced depression and anxiety. Find out more about REBOOT Notts.
Tags: depression, health, Institute of Mental Health, mental health, prize, REBOOT, research, study
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Keep that festive feeling going – become a Family Link volunteer!
January 6th, 2017
Due to huge student demand, we are seeking more volunteers to be matched with international students, researchers and their families to help extend a big Nottingham welcome to everyone who wants to take part.
Family Link matches students with people in the local community to help give them a warm welcome to their new community and to encourage cultural exchange – usually done through at least one meet-up per term across the academic year. Visits to museums, Sherwood Pines, tea and biscuits and Sunday roasts are always popular options – but it’s completely up to you what you’d like to do!
Become a Family Link volunteer today.
Tags: Campaign and Alumni Relations Office, CARO, Family Link, international, volunteer, volunteering
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Start the New Year with a new development opportunity
January 6th, 2017
Reminder: our new programme for first time leaders is open for nominations until Friday 13 January.
Stepping into Leadership is the new programme for first time leaders from the Leadership and Management Academy, and the only way to get onto it is to get your nomination in before Friday 13 January. You can find out the details and submit your nomination by following this link:
Stepping into Leadership Programme
Stepping into Leadership is our Leadership Development programme aimed at people who are working in or are newly promoted to their first leadership position, and are leading smaller teams or projects for the first time.
The programme is a great opportunity to explore your leadership skills, identify areas of strength and areas for development and really get to understand what it means to be a leader at The University of Nottingham.
If you’re not leading people yet, but want to in the future, you can nominate yourself for our Aspiring Leaders programme, nominations for this programme are open until Friday 10 February. You can find out more by following this link:
Both programmes are being launched as part of the wider Leadership and Management Academy, which has been established to support staff and develop existing and future leaders at all levels, across all job families, providing a comprehensive range of learning and development activities.
If neither of these programmes seem right for you, or you’re after help with leadership and management right now, you can find out about our other programmes, or access our catalogue of learning resources by visiting the LMA Hub.
Tags: aspiring leaders, aspiring leaders programme, Leadership and Management Academy, LMA, Professional Development, training
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Challenge yourself and raise money for CBTRC
January 5th, 2017
We have some very exciting fundraising opportunities for 2017 – the chance to go on once-in-a-lifetime trips and raise money for the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre (CBTRC).
Email impactcampaign@nottingham.ac.uk to find out more, how to sign up and fundraising support.
- Way of the Roses: 40 University staff and friends will cycle from the Way of the Roses route from Bridlington to Morecambe between Friday 19 and Sunday 21 May. Would you like to take part in this event and help us to raise £40,000 for the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre?
- Skydive: take part in a tandem skydive and join in a world record attempt on Saturday 17 June at Langar Airfield.
- Trek the Great Wall of China between Thursday 7 – Saturday 16 September. See the itinerary and video for this trip.
- Climb Kilimanjaro between Wednesday 27 September – Friday 6 October. See the itinerary and a video.
Take part: if one of your New Year’s resolutions is to run the Robin Hood Half Marathon or cycle the Great Notts Bike Ride, why not raise money for the Impact Campaign at the same time?
Tags: Campaign and Alumni Relations Office, challenge, charity, fundraising, Impact, Impact Campaign
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Planning a holiday? Support the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre
January 5th, 2017
The Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre is now an associate charity partner of Booking.com.
If you’re planning a holiday just use the link http://www.booking.com/cbtrc and the centre will receive a donation to fund ground-breaking research into childhood cancer.
Please note that this link is for personal use only and is not to be used for University business.
Tags: Campaign and Alumni Relations Office, cancer research, CARO, CBTRC, charity, Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre, donate, holiday, offer, research
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Appointment of the next Vice-Chancellor
January 5th, 2017
The role of Vice-Chancellor of The University of Nottingham becomes vacant from 1 October 2017 when Professor Sir David Greenaway retires. The University has appointed Perrett Laver as the executive search firm to support the search for his successor.
The appointment process requires a joint Council and Senate committee which is chaired by the President of Council and includes an elected Student representative to reflect our commitment to putting students at the heart of our University. The Joint Committee wants to ensure that all members of our community – staff, students and alumni – have the opportunity to contribute along with other stakeholders in our success, locally, nationally and internationally.
We are therefore engaging in a significant range of consultation activities including direct discussions, focus groups, open meetings and online responses.
You can find full details of the consultation process together with an online consultation form on the Vice-Chancellor search microsite. In addition to the online response form all staff and students can attend one of two open meetings taking place in January (no need to book – just turn up):
- Tuesday 17 January at 11am-12pm – Coates Road Auditorium, University Park
- Wednesday 18 January at 2-3pm – Keighton Auditorium, University Park
Thank you in advance for your involvement in this important process. Please do direct any questions to Dr Paul Greatrix, Registrar.
Tags: appointment, David Greenaway, Paul Greatrix, Perrett Laver, retirement, University Council, University Executive Board, Vice Chancellor
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National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain – staff offer
January 4th, 2017
University of Nottingham staff can buy half-price tickets to see the amazing National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, starting at 7.30pm on Thursday 5 January.
The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain is one of the UK’s musical treasures, which each year brings together over 160 of the nation’s most talented young musicians to give thrilling performances that match, and even surpass, those of professional orchestras. Every year it performs to a capacity audience at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms, its televised performances always ranking amongst the highlights of the season.
Under the baton of leading British conductor John Wilson, the 164-strong NYO will pack the stage to perform three thrilling orchestral masterpieces. Komarov’s Fall, by leading Australian composer, Brett Dean, is a white knuckle ride depicting the fateful space voyage of Russian Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, whilst Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 4 is a tour de force for orchestra and solo pianist, in this case the brilliant Serbian, Tamara Stefanovich. Rachmaninov’s passionate Symphony No. 2 ensures a gripping finale, the composer’s great gift for heartfelt melodies never bettered than in this twentieth century classic.
Staff can hear the orchestra for half-price – between £5 and £12.25. To claim the offer, please call the box office on 0115 989 5555 or drop in between 9am and 8.30pm and quote ‘NYO half price offer’. Please note that this offer is not available online.
Tags: arts, discount, music, Nottingham Conferences, offer, orchestra, Royal Concert Hall
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University celebrated in New Year Honours
January 1st, 2017
Two members of The University of Nottingham have been recognised by The Queen in the New Year Honours.
Shona Powell, Director of Nottingham Lakeside Arts, has been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her work in the arts- most notably transforming The University of Nottingham’s arts centre and museum into a major national asset.
Kevin Bales, Professor of Contemporary Slavery in the School of Politics and International Relations, has been appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for his services to the ‘global antislavery movement’.
As a passionate advocate for the arts Shona has engaged with children and families, as well as hard to reach communities, and ensured the programme of activities around productions and exhibitions at Nottingham Lakeside Arts is underpinned by learning.
Her belief in the importance of the youth audience has led her to campaign artists to recognize that any work made for children should be made with the same rigour, commitment and passion shown when creating for an adult audience.
Shona said: “I am thrilled to receive this honour. However, no individual is solely responsible for the success of any arts initiative, and this also recognises the incredibly talented team – past and present – that I have been lucky to work with at Lakeside, my previous colleagues at The Lemon Tree, and all my colleagues and terrific artists across the regional and national initiatives of which we are part.”
There are more slaves alive today than in any point in human history. Around the world, 46 million people are forced to work for no pay. But a new anti-slavery movement has responded to this challenge and shown that a world without slavery is possible.
Professor Bales is a leading figure in the anti-slavery movement and has advised numerous governments and UN on trafficking and slavery policy. He has worked closely with public, private, and voluntary sectors to put forward specific policy recommendations, many of them tested in the field or enacted as law.
He said: “I am thrilled to be receiving this honour. I am especially thrilled that the global anti-slavery movement is getting this kind of recognition. This is not an honour for me alone, but for all the people who are working towards wiping out slavery.”
Read the full release on Shona’s OBE and comments from Professor Sir David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor.
Read the full release on Professor Bales’ honour and comments from Professor Sir David Greenaway and Professor Todd Landman, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Tags: arts, David Greenaway, Kevin Bales, New Year Honours, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, politics, School of Politics and International Relations, Shona Powell
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Moodle will be unavailable on two occasions in January 2017 [Updated Jan 17]
December 20th, 2016
Moodle will be unavailable on two separate occasions during January 2017 – Thursday 5 January and Friday 27 January until Sunday 29 January inclusive.
[Update, Jan 2017: It has now been confirmed that both Moodle and Rogo will be down from Friday 27 January until Sunday 29 January. During this period, a version of Moodle for student revision purposes only will be available. Students will be able to look at documents and resources, but staff or students will not be able to make changes to Moodle during this period. However, the version of Moodle for revision purposes only will be available from 7pm on the 27 January, which means there will be no Moodle service at all from 6pm to 7pm on that day. As an extra precaution, we would recommend that you download any resources that you may need during this period prior to 6pm on Friday 27 January.]
The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus will be adopting additional Campus Solutions functionalities throughout January. Campus Solutions is the new software being implemented as part of Project Transform.
In order to implement these functionalities, both Moodle and Rogo will need to come offline to allow for data migration. Since we operate one environment of these systems across all three campuses, this means that the systems will also be unavailable to staff and students in the UK and China during this period.
The dates are as follows:
- Thursday 5 January, 5.30-7.00pm UK time, Moodle will be unavailable
- Friday 27 January, 6pm until Sunday 29 January, 8pm UK time, Moodle and Rogo will be unavailable.
The latter of these outages will be confirmed in January.
Staff who have coursework deadlines that fall within this period have been contacted separately. This message has also been communicated via student channels, but please pass on the message at any appropriate opportunity.
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