Campus News
Curriculum Transformation Programme update
March 6th, 2023
The Curriculum Transformation Programme (CTP) has been working with staff and students to redesign programmes of study, ensuring they function as a whole and empower students with the knowledge, skills and experiences necessary to succeed in an ever-changing world.
Since our last update, the CTP has made significant progress. The team is currently working with eight schools across the university on redesigning their programmes; input from employers and alumni has been gathered along with market insights – design workshops will take place in the next few months.
Before the launch of the CTP a pre-pilot took place in the School of Mathematical Sciences and the redesigned programmes are due to be launched in 2023. The pre-pilot involved a co-creation exercise, in which staff and students designed learning activities and assessment tasks to align with evidence-informed graduate attributes.
Watch the video below to find out more about the co-creation process and the outcomes.
Upcoming workshops
The CTP team is running taster workshops which are available to all staff. These two-hour workshops provide an overview of CTP, contextualise the design principles, and present some of the activities carried out during the Curriculum Vision Workshops.
One attendee recently said, “I can’t express how rare it is to have an event like this where I walked out feeling like I got proper value from the time invested”.
The next workshop will take place on Wednesday 29 March, 2pm-4pm on Jubilee Campus. Sign up here.
To find out more about the Curriculum Transformation Programme, view the CTP Toolkit.
Tags: CTP, curriculum transformation programme, Curriculum Transformation Project, programme design
Posted in News | Comments Off on Curriculum Transformation Programme update
HR recruitment campaign photography – last call for volunteers
March 6th, 2023
The university is seeking staff volunteers to be featured in a portfolio of photographic images to support our staff recruitment campaigns and build our recruitment brand.
We aspire to create an environment which celebrates and values diversity and are committed to attracting, recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce.
Our aim is to gather imagery that will best represent the university, promote our benefits, spaces, and support our attraction and inclusion aims to encourage applications from all sections of the local and global community.
To support this aspiration we are looking to produce a bank of images which will show the diversity of roles and careers available at the university, and to attract a wide and diverse range of applicants to come and work with us.
Shots will be natural and feature a range of working environments and locations, including University Park, Jubilee campus and Sutton Bonington.
We intend to cover all job families across three days of photography in the spring.
This will require between one and two hours of a staff member’s time on the day of shooting, and we will work with individuals to plan time slots and locations once we have details of interested parties.
Please complete the form below to register your interest and confirm your availability to appear in our recruitment campaign photos.
Fill in this form to register your interest
If you have any questions, please reach out to megan.garner@nottingham.ac.uk.
Your answers will be treated in the strictest confidence, and all data disclosed will comply with GDPR 2018.
Tags: HR Staff photos, photo volunteers, staff volunteers
Posted in Announcements, News | Comments Off on HR recruitment campaign photography – last call for volunteers
Personal Tutor Project – your input needed
March 3rd, 2023
A new Personal Tutor Project aims to challenge the current personal tutoring paradigm and more strategically match staff skillsets to student needs.
The project, led by University Senior Tutor Professor Andy Fisher, is progressing in collaboration with Getting in Shape and the UX Research Team, and will aim to enhance existing areas of excellence in this field.
The team aims to pilot a new tutoring approach in a number of schools/departments from September. The aim of the approach is to challenge the default position that all academic staff are assigned tutees, allowing us to better match skill with need and improve the experience of both staff and students.
To inform evidence-based changes, the project is seeking input from academic staff, students and Professional Services colleagues, as well as consulting other institutions.
If you are able to spare five minutes, please do complete our staff questionnaire.
If you have any further questions, please contact personal-tutoring-project@nottingham.ac.uk.
Tags: andy fisher, personal tutor, personal tutor project, staff experience, student experience, university senior tutor
Posted in News | Comments Off on Personal Tutor Project – your input needed
Food Waste Action Week 2023
March 3rd, 2023
Save money and the planet with Food Waste Action Week, taking place Monday 6 March – Sunday 12 March.
Every year 4.5 million tonnes of food is thrown away in the UK. This costs households £3.5 billion and has a huge environmental impact – if food waste were a country, it would be the fourth largest carbon emitter in the world.
Food Waste Action Week aims to change this. This year the theme is ‘Win. Don’t Bin.’ and focusses on how using up everything we buy saves money, time and the planet.
Get involved:
‘How to reduce your food waste’ webinar and Q&A
To mark the week, at 12pm on Wednesday 8 March, the university’s waste contractor Enva are hosting an online webinar and Q&A covering:
- How food contributes to our carbon footprints
- Why correctly disposing of food ultimately lessens climate change
- Tips to save money and reduce food waste, from leftover recipes to understanding use-by dates and storing food.
Too Good To Go
Download To Good to Go to get discounted food that would otherwise go to waste. Several cafes on University Park offer ‘Magic Bags’ of fresh, unsold food for £4 at the end of the day.
For every bag of food rescued through the Too Good to Go app, we are helping save 2.5kg CO2e.
Further resources
- Read our blogs for more tips on how to reduce food waste both on and off campus.
- The university’s Sustainability Action Week follows swiftly from 13-17 March with a range of activities and events promoting sustainable living. There’s lots to get involved in including themed talks, litter picks, information on sustainable careers, travel and nature.
- Our Sustainable Living Guide has a whole section on food. The guide aims to show you easy ways to save money and the planet by adopting more sustainable behaviours.
Tags: food waste, Food waste action week, Too good to go
Posted in News | Comments Off on Food Waste Action Week 2023
Research Integrity Week 2023
March 1st, 2023
Research Integrity Week will return for its third year from 19-23 June with a programme of sessions for researchers, staff and students.
The university is celebrating its commitment to the concordat to support research integrity and its values through which trust and confidence in research stem, and from which the value and benefits of research flow.
Research is the professional commitment to conduct all research according to the appropriate legal, ethical and professional frameworks, obligations and standards. There are five core elements: honesty, rigour, transparency and open communication, care and respect, and accountability.
It helps protect and value individual researchers, research participants/organisations, and contributes to the quality and excellence of research. Researchers all have a responsibility to ensure that all research is subject to appropriate consideration of professional, ethical, and legal issues.
The University of Nottingham Research Integrity and Research Ethics Committee is inviting all staff and students to take part in Research Integrity Week.
The sessions can be found below, with more details available on the Research Integrity and Ethics SharePoint.
If you’d like to register for any of the sessions, please complete this form.
Monday 19 June
10am-12pm: Introduction to the Code of Research Conduct and Research Ethics
1pm-3.30pm: Introduction to Research Ethics at UoN
Tuesday 20 June
11am-12.30pm: Good Research Practice and a Healthy Research Culture (UKRIO)
1pm-2.30pm: Trusted Research and Expert Controls
Wednesday 21 June
10am-12.30am: Reproductivity in Research
1.30pm-3pm: Introduction to Research Contracts – Tips and Advice
Thursday 22 June
10am-11.30am: Open or Closed? Finding the Right Balance with UoN Libraries and Digital Research
2pm-3.30pm: Running the Publication Ethics Gauntlet (UKRIO)
Friday 23 June
10am-11.30am: Research Post Award – Financial Management and Compliance
12pm-1.30pm: What does it Mean to be Ethical and Socially Just in ‘Decolonial’ Times?
Tags: academic research, ethics, research, research integrity week
Posted in News | Comments Off on Research Integrity Week 2023
The latest University commitments towards becoming a slavery-free campus
March 1st, 2023
The UoN Modern Slavery Working Group continues to take action following its published and nationally recognised Blueprint to become a slavery-free campus.
The Slavery-Free Campus Blueprint
The University launched a pioneering 38-step Blueprint to achieving a slavery-free campus in July 2021, at an event chaired by our Chancellor, Baroness Lola Young. This ambitious, transformational approach was the first of its kind globally and is aligned with the principles of the Modern Slavery Act (MSA) 2015. Founded on research led by the University’s Rights Lab, the Blueprint acts as a guide for all universities to take action towards becoming slavery-free.
Our latest statement is now live
You can find our new annual Modern Slavery Statement with 2021/22 progress and our commitments for 2022/23.
The statement includes examples of activity during 2021/22 such as:
- Monitoring of whistle blowing and confirmation of no modern slavery issues being reported.
- Running multiple training sessions for front-line staff on campus, delivered by the national Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).
- The inclusion of modern slavery training and education in the curriculum of front-line/professional degree programmes led by the School of Health Sciences.
- The launch of a modern slavery risk tool for Procurement to standardise how modern slavery mitigation is incorporated into how we award contracts and the application of this tool to the large-scale refurbishment of Florence Boot Hall to make it a slavery-free building project.
- Being approached by local UK Councils and multiple universities to seek support on adapting our slavery-free process for other contexts.
During the 2022/23 year we are underway with (amongst other commitments):
- Expanding our membership to extend our reach with a focus on the SU and student-facing roles at the University.
- Continuing to identify training and awareness opportunities, including supporting professional degree programmes to enhance student education and training on modern slavery.
- Investigating how to incorporate requirements into the development of our new Digital Core (HR, Finance and Procurement system) that will support our anti-slavery work.
- Continuing to engage with our strategically important suppliers (categorised as Tier 1) on modern slavery mitigation work as they are onboarded onto our Supplier Relationship Management programme.
- Continuing our involvement and support via our Rights Lab for the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Modern Slavery Partnership, including work to share learnings between local and campus approaches to becoming slavery-free communities.
- Inputting to a new national report on university action to tackle modern slavery, produced by the Cabinet Office-hosted UK Modern Slavery Training Delivery Group, that will integrate our University Blueprint and Slavery-Free Campus report findings.
Prof David Park, recently appointed chair of the working group, commented: ‘We are continuing with our ambitious work to lead the HE Sector on modern slavery risk mitigation, guided by our Blueprint and actively disseminating findings to accelerate action towards becoming a slavery-free campus. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our previous Chair, Prof Lisa Carroll, who led the University’s Modern Slavery Act Working Group from 2019. She expanded the group’s membership, developed its first action plan and tracker, and led the group’s work to develop a great ambition and vision for the University: becoming the world’s first slavery-free campus. She led on the development of a multi-part Slavery-Free Campus blueprint to structure this progress, embraced this work as an area where the University could really lead in our sector, and empowered and included a wide range of people to lead and participate in our whole-campus effort. An inspiring colleague who deserves our collective gratitude.’
If you have any comments or questions on this work, please contact MSA@nottingham.ac.uk.
Tags: Modern Slavery Statement, MSA, slavery-free campus
Posted in News | Comments Off on The latest University commitments towards becoming a slavery-free campus
EU deal over Northern Ireland raises hopes for Europe research funding breakthrough
March 1st, 2023
Hope of a protocol between the UK and the EU to resolve deadlocked trade issues in Northern Ireland has been welcomed by the University of Nottingham as our researchers continue to seek funding and collaboration opportunities with European partners.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said work on associating the UK to the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme will start “immediately” once the Windsor Framework is implemented.
It is hoped this will give UK researchers access to the European Commission’s flagship €95 billion programme for funding research and innovation.
Representatives of the UK, Irish and wider European research, innovation and business communities have signed a joint statement urging rapid progress on UK association to EU programmes, including Horizon Europe, Copernicus and Euratom.
Interim Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange Professor Neil Crout cautiously welcomed the news and added: “The university will carefully monitor the situation and contribute to ongoing lobbying efforts to help get association over the line.
“These have been challenging times and the terms of any outcome are still to be decided. However, our research community’s tenacity and continued efforts to keep working with European partners has borne fruit, such as the Institute of Aerospace Technology receiving a share of £10m from the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking, the EU’s leading research and innovation programme to fund research into the future of net zero aviation.
“Access to the considerable pot of Horizon Europe funding is now looking much more likely and I would encourage our researchers to pursue opportunities that are relevant for them.”
The university’s Research and Innovation teams will continue to administer the UKRI Guarantee, which has been used for awarded Horizon Europe projects unable to access funding from Brussels. Whatever the outcome of negotiations between the UK and EU, this ‘safety net’ will remain in effect for the full duration of projects already signed up to receive funding from the guarantee.
Support is also available to academics interested in applying to Horizon Europe, including multi-partner, collaborative efforts under thematically led ‘Clusters’; grants for excellent, ground-breaking research to individuals and their teams from the European Research Council; and the prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions promoting mobility and ‘training through research’.
Please contact Matt Rackley in R&I’s Research and KE Development team, who is working with school and faculty-based research development professionals to support collaborations with Europe.
The university is determined to ensure that our researchers are able to continue to work with researchers across the world to further raise the international profile of our research excellence and commitment to tackling global challenges.
Our relaunched International Research Collaboration Fund (IRCF) is inviting applications from colleagues seeking to establish or grow links with world-leading research groups and institutions in Europe and beyond. This Academic Year (2022-23), there will be at least £300,000 available to support international research collaboration, including the goal of winning Horizon Europe funding.
The university is also developing, with input from faculties, a new International Research and Knowledge Exchange Strategy which will accommodate the hoped-for association to Horizon Europe as well as the potential elements of the UK’s Government’s ‘Plan B’, which may endure to provide opportunities beyond Europe.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West, who announced the relaunched ICRF at an event exploring the future of the university’s engagement with Europe, recently signed a strategic partnership agreement with the University of Tübingen in Germany, which will expand cooperation on cutting-edge research.
To support this growing partnership, a new networking funding call for seed/basic research with the University of Tübingen is offering awards up €50,000, with a total pot of €250,000.
The deadline for applications is 19 March 2023, with awards to be confirmed by the end of March.
Posted in News | Comments Off on EU deal over Northern Ireland raises hopes for Europe research funding breakthrough
Education and Student Experience: university leadership updates
February 28th, 2023
We are pleased to announce a number of recent additions to the education and student experience senior leadership team.
From Wednesday 1 March 2023, Professor Andy Fisher (School of Humanities) has been appointed as Deputy Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Curriculum Leadership for an initial period of six months.
He will support Professor Mark Bradley, who is taking on some of the responsibilities of Professor Sarah Speight while she serves on the national Teaching Excellence Framework Panel. Andy will continue as University Senior Tutor alongside this new role, which concentrates on promoting student voice, EDI and accessibility priorities across the organisation.
Earlier this academic year, Professor Kim Edwards (School of Medicine) took over from Professor Jonathan Tallant as Chair of Quality and Standards Committee, and is assisted by Associate Professor Harriet Allen (School of Psychology) as Deputy Chair of QSC, who took over from Associate Professor Keith Benedict.
From Thursday 23 February 2023, Jonathan has taken on the role of Academic Director of Degree Apprenticeships in succession to Associate Professor Emma Weston, who has led this area across the last two years.
There are a number of other important university-wide roles: Associate Professor Fiona McCullough is in her second term as Academic Director of The Nottingham Advantage Award, and Associate Professor Mo Elmaghrbi continues as Academic Director of Foundation Degrees.
Collectively, alongside all the academic Faculty Digital Learning Directors, Faculty Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellors, and professional services leads, these new appointments put us in very capable hands, and in a strong position to drive forward our education and student experience strategic delivery plan.
Posted in Announcements, News | Comments Off on Education and Student Experience: university leadership updates
Reduced capacity in visitor car park from March
February 27th, 2023
Work to resurface and improve the drainage in the visitor car park on University Park is due to commence from Monday 13 March and for a duration of three months.
During these works the capacity of the car park will be reduced by around half. Where possible, staff, students and visitors should consider alternative parking options or utilising public transport for travel to and from University Park campus.
The visitor car park on Cut Through Lane (circled in red on the map below), behind Keighton Auditorium (F3*) and adjacent to Sir Clive Granger Building (E3) and Sir Peter Mansfield MRI Building (E2) will be closed from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 March (inclusive) in preparation for the works and will reopen on Monday 20 March with a reduced number of spaces available.
During the works the entire car park will be resurfaced and new drainage solutions will be introduced to address issues we have previously faced with flooding affecting the George Green Library.
Throughout the works, access to Sir Peter Mansfield MRI Building will be maintained.
In addition to the impact on the visitor car park, the flood alleviation work will result in the permanent removal of 10 parking spaced outside of the Life Sciences Building (F3 – circled in yellow on the map).
Once all the work is complete, larger parking spaces will be introduced making it easier to park along with the provision of additional electric vehicle charging points. Overall, there will be fewer car park spaces available, in support of our ongoing strategy to reduce the number of parking spaces on campus and encourage greener, more sustainable travel options.
We have delayed the start of these works as much as has been feasible to minimise the disruption in addition to the Cadent Gas works on A52 which are planned to end 31 March 2023.
As well as public transport discounts, the Government is still running the ‘Get around for £2’ campaign where most single fares on public transport are capped at £2 until June.
If you still need to drive to campus, you can find someone else to share your commuting costs with by using the university’s Liftshare platform.
If you’re still not sure the best way to travel to campus, use our Personalised Travel Plan tool or visit our webpage on sustainable transport.
* Grid reference on University Park Campus map
Tags: Cut through lane, parking, parking on campus, University Park car parks, Visitor car park
Posted in Announcements, News | Comments Off on Reduced capacity in visitor car park from March
University of Nottingham jobs fair: 17 May 2023
February 27th, 2023
The university is hosting a jobs fair at Lakeside Arts on University Park campus on Wednesday 17 May 2023 between 12pm-6pm.
This is the first university led jobs fair that we are hosting on campus, and we looking to invite a wide range of representatives from APM, Technical, Operational & Facilities and Apprenticeship job families to demonstrate the diverse employment options at our university.
The HR Team and colleagues are working to continue to build on the university’s commitment to infuse equality, diversity and inclusion throughout our local community and promote the University of Nottingham as a great and welcoming place to work.
We are looking to promote the benefits, share our values and raise awareness of the varied roles we support here at the university.
This is a great opportunity to get involved and share how amazing it is to work here. You will be asked to hold your own stall to represent your area (we will provide the tables!) and talk with prospective employees sharing positive experiences and raising awareness of your roles and areas.
You might also want to bring a colleague/s with you to share their own journey as a positive example of what it is like to work here.
If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Emilia Moroz to discuss in more detail by close of play on Thursday 9 March 2023.
Posted in Announcements, News | Comments Off on University of Nottingham jobs fair: 17 May 2023