Campus News
New Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research & Knowledge Exchange appointed
January 17th, 2023
Professor Tom Rodden has been appointed as the University’s new Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange, taking up the role from 1 October 2023.
He is a Professor of Computing at the University and has been working at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as its Chief Scientific Adviser since January 2019.
Professor Rodden will sit on the University Executive Board and have responsibility for the University’s research portfolio, in particular implementing the Research Strategy, which aims to transform our research quality, performance and culture over the next five years and ensure it is robust and truly reflective of our whole community.
Professor Rodden will also chair the University’s REF Steering Group, leading its post-REF2021 review to lay the foundations in preparing for the next exercise, as well as chairing the Research and Knowledge Exchange Committees and Nottingham Technology Ventures.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West congratulated Professor Rodden on his appointment:
“I am delighted that Tom will be our next Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Research and Knowledge Exchange portfolio. His many roles in research leadership across his impressive career, alongside his work in, and knowledge of, government will prove invaluable as we navigate the new research funding landscape.
“Following the achievement of the University’s excellent REF2021 results, which placed us 7th in the UK for Research Power, I look forward to Tom implementing the Research Strategy which represents the ideas of many colleagues across our research community to enhance our research quality and performance”
Professor Rodden looked forward to the new role, saying:
“I look forward to working with colleagues across the University’s research community to ensure Nottingham helps them realise their research ambitions and to continue to grow our reputation for research excellence and leadership. I shall be working particularly to support the careers, endeavours and welfare of all those involved in research across the institution and ensuring it promotes an adventurous, exciting and supportive research culture.”
As well as his roles as Professor of Computing and Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Rodden was also the Deputy Executive Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) where we was responsible for research strategy, acting as the UK Research and Innovation lead in both Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital research Infrastructure.
Tom also founded and co-directed the RCUK Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute, a university-wide interdisciplinary research centre that explored the use of personal data. He has acted as technical advisor to companies including the Microsoft Research Lab in Cambridge, Mobile Life (a Swedish centre of excellence) and been a visiting scientist at Xerox PARC and the Swedish Institute of Computer Science (SICS).
Professor Neil Crout will continue as interim Pro Vice-Chancellor until his retirement in March 2023, when the role will be covered by Professor Sam Kingman until Professor Rodden arrives.
Professor Robert Mokaya will continue to embed aspects of international research strategy within his current portfolio and represent the University in the continuing discussions on association with Horizon Europe or the UK government’s ‘Plan B’ alternative. The University is now advertising for the recruitment of Neil’s replacement in the newly-titled role of Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research & Knowledge Exchange.
Tags: Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange, Professor Tom Rodden, PVC, PVC Research and Knowledge Exchange, Tom Rodden
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Call for Nominations: the Institute for Policy and Engagement Awards
January 16th, 2023
Do you know someone who’s doing great work on policy impact or public engagement? Have you been doing work yourself that you think deserves recognition? If yes, this is an opportunity to nominate yourself or a colleague.
The Institute for Policy and Engagement is delighted to announce the fourth Policy Impact and Public Engagement Awards.
These awards aim to recognise the excellent work by staff on all University of Nottingham campuses in achieving policy impact and engaging the public with current UoN research.
Visit our website to see previous winners.
We invite both self-nominations and nominations made on behalf of peers and colleagues. This year, we’re expanding recognition of excellence by adding a new award category, the Best School Engagement Initiative, which recognizes successful public engagement activities or initiatives involving pupils at school or college.
There are six award categories:
- Best Policy Impact Initiative
- Best Public Engagement Initiative
- Rising Star Award – Policy Impact (for early career researchers)
- Rising Star Award – Public Engagement (for early career researchers)
- The Institute Director’s Award (for non-academic staff who have played a key role in the success of policy impact or public engagement work)
- Best School Engagement Initiative
Nominations are open- please use the links below to nominate as many colleagues in as many categories as you choose. Use a separate form for each nomination.
Click here to nominate for the Policy Impact and Public Engagement Awards (UK)
You can read the guidance on the awards categories and criteria here and FAQ pages before completing the forms.
For any further questions, please email us.
Tags: Policy impact and Public Engagement Awards, staff awards
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University Volunteer Awards 2023 – submit your nomination
January 16th, 2023
The university’s annual Volunteer Awards – run by the Campaign and Alumni Relations Office (CARO) – are back for 2023 and the team is looking for your nominations.
The awards, which have been running since 2016, celebrate our inspirational volunteer community and recognise people who have made outstanding contributions to the university and its community, showing exceptional dedication, creativity, innovation or leadership.
Staff across the university are now encouraged to nominate a deserving candidate in one of the following three categories by the deadline on Sunday 26 February 2023:
- Alumni Volunteer of the Year Award
To recognise an alumnus or alumna of the University of Nottingham who has gone above and beyond the expected role of a volunteer. It will be awarded to someone who has contributed to the university or the student experience with outstanding enthusiasm and commitment, who has inspired others or who has acted as an ambassador to promote the university and its values.
- Community Volunteer of the Year Award (Individual or Group)
To recognise the sustained commitment and outstanding enthusiasm of a volunteer who is not a student, staff, or alumnus. They will have gone above and beyond their expected role and will be an inspiration in their dedication to their contributions to the university.
- International Volunteer of the Year Award
This award will recognise an individual who volunteers for the university overseas and goes above and beyond as an advocate, volunteer, and representative of Nottingham across the globe. It can be awarded to an individual volunteering in any country other than the UK.
The winners will be presented with their awards at the annual Volunteer Awards ceremony at Lakeside Arts, held during National Volunteers’ Week in June.
For any questions about the awards email Rebekah Spencer, Volunteering and Advocacy Offer, CARO.
Tags: University Volunteer Awards, Volunteer Awards
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Funding call for International Women’s Day 2023 and central event registration
January 13th, 2023
As part of the university’s ongoing commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, we are inviting applications to celebrate International Women’s Day and to register for the central event on 22 March 2023 from 1.15pm-2.45pm.
Applying for local funding
International Women’s Day (IWD) takes place each year on 8 March and at the University of Nottingham we will be celebrating IWD throughout the month of March.
This year’s theme is Embrace Equity and you can find out more about this international campaign on the IWD website.
We are inviting the entire university to be part of this conversation and show how you are breaking gender stereotypes.
Why not share a photo and caption on the 8 March using #EmbraceEquity, #WeAreUoN, #IWD_UoN.
Funding will be awarded to host local events or activities to a maximum of £200.
Applications will be assessed according to how closely the proposed activity or event align with one or more of: the Embrace Equity theme; the EDI Strategic Plan; and our EDI Priorities for 2022/23. We will also prioritise applications likely to have the widest impact.
For applications, please complete this form by Wednesday 8 February 2023.
Everyone who applies will be notified of whether they have been awarded funding by Monday 13 February 2023.
For guidance on running EDI events, please see the EDI events toolkit.
You can find inspiration from the highlights of 2022 IWD events including a recording of the central event A Focus on Women’s Health and Wellbeing.
Not all events and projects celebrating International Women’s Day will require funding. However, we are asking anyone who wants to host an event or deliver a project to complete the application form so we can promote the event wider to the university community.
This is so that the team know about all the great activities that are taking place and can offer any other support and advice and to promote the event wider.
Register for the International Women’s Day 2023 Central event
Wednesday 22 March, 1:15-2.45pm Let’s Talk Periods and Menopause
Online via Microsoft Teams.
Register your attendance
(PLEASE NOTE: If you registered your attendance prior to Thursday 16 March, you will need to re-register due to a technical fault with the event page.)
Join us for an exciting interactive session open to all staff and students. This workshop, led by two guest facilitators and experts in this field, will help increase your understanding and awareness of the impact of menstruation and menopause and period poverty, and encourage you to speak up and tackle stigma. We are particularly keen for those who don’t menstruate to attend and find out more about these, often stigmatised, subjects.
Our speakers include:
Laura Coryton, Director of SexEdMatters
Laura led the petition against tampon tax, gaining 300,000 signatures which ended the “luxury” tax once applied to all period products. She also successfully lobbied the Government to establish the Tampon Tax Fund, which gave almost £100m to female-focused charities across the UK. Finally, her activism is set to change EU tampon tax legislation early next year. Laura is a published author, and wrote ‘Speak Up!’, a campaign guide for rebel girls.
Dr Claire Mann, owner of ChangeXtra
Claire created ChangeXtra in 2021 in response to her peri-menopause experience. It led to the development of a PauseTrack app which monitors menopause symptoms to help users make informed choices for their health. Claire and ChangeXtra has won Ingenuity – Female Entrepreneur of the year, Health Champion of the Year, National Health Impact Entrepreneur, NTU Enterprise, and Engineers in Business Champion of Champions. Claire has been featured on BBC News, Central News, Nottingham TV and in the printed press talking about menopause and health tracking.
Professor Chris Denning, Professor Stem Cell Biology
Chris Denning is a Professor for Stem Cell Biology at the University. He has led Project Period, an initiative that aims to end period poverty by enabling the distribution of free period products across the institution. Chris is a great advocate for allyship and creating safe spaces demystify and educate those who have not menstruated or experienced menopause.
For any queries, please contact the EDI Coordinators.
Tags: International Women's Day, International Women's Day 2023, IWD, IWD 2023
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New guidance on effective Apple Mac management
January 12th, 2023
Do you use a university owned Mac? If so, please read our guidance on effective Mac Management.
As part of ongoing security remediation across the university, colleagues from Digital and Technology Services (DTS) are responsible for ensuring university owned devices are kept secure by pushing out regular updates and patches.
Whilst this is easy to do with Window devices, there are Apple Mac devices available to staff and students across each of our campuses as well, so it is important that all Mac users know how to keep devices safe and secure.
Keeping university devices safe and up to date through effective Mac management
Mac management is simply the process of monitoring and managing Mac devices to maintain a high level of security and to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks.
Mac devices, just like other university owned devices need to be updated regularly, ensuring they are running on the latest Operating System (OS).
Updating your Mac’s OS ensures that you have the latest functionality and removes known security vulnerabilities to help shield our networks and critical data. Keeping your device up to date is especially important if you access any sensitive or research data where contract requirements often mandate this.
DTS cannot currently, automatically push updates out and so it’s important that updates are checked for regularly and installed manually by the Mac owner. If prompted to install an update when using a Mac, please do so.
Mac devices, just like Windows, come to a point where they are just not able to upgrade to the latest OS level. When this happens, the Mac has reached its end of life and needs to be replaced and disposed of appropriately.
It should not be used in an unsupported state as it will no longer receive important security updates and therefore poses a risk to the university.
If you’re using or are aware of a university owned Mac device that can no longer be upgraded to the latest OS, contact DTS who will advise on what actions should be taken.
If you have any questions regarding university owned Mac devices, please get in touch with the Mac Support Team via ui-macadmins@exmail.nottingham.ac.uk.
Tags: Apple Mac, Mac, Mac device, Mac support, MacOs
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Widening Participation in Postgraduate Education for British Muslim Students
January 12th, 2023
A new partnership will see the University of Nottingham offer postgraduate scholarships for exceptional students from British Muslim backgrounds.
By working with the Aziz Foundation, the university will contribute directly to the widening participation of British Muslim students at postgraduate level in UK Higher Education, demonstrating a continued commitment to widening participation.
The partnership focusses on Nottingham’s core values in advancing equality, diversity and inclusion at all levels. It also builds on multiple initiatives to increase access to postgraduate taught study for graduates and students from underrepresented backgrounds.
As a university, we have also set ourselves the goal of eradicating the degree-awarding gap by 2030. Furthermore, initiatives such as the Black Industry Connections and Empowerment Programme (BICEP) support minoritised students to acquire social capital.
Katherine Linehan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and People, said: “As a university, we recognise the importance of intersectionality, and our role in fostering a campus-wide culture of inclusion, to actively role model and advance race equality and equality of opportunity.
“We know that British Muslim students are underrepresented at this level and our work with the Aziz Foundation is crucial in beginning to address this.”
The scholarships are for students starting a Masters degree (excluding MRes, MPhil and MBAs) in September 2023 with career aspirations in; media and journalism, technology, sustainability/environment, law, policy and creative content creation. Find out more and apply here.
Tags: Aziz foundation, British Muslim students
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Eleven-year partnership improves outcomes for young people in Nottingham
January 12th, 2023
Almost 17,000 young people in Nottingham have been helped to aim higher and achieve their potential thanks to a partnership that breaks down the barriers to higher education.
The University of Nottingham joined forces with IntoUniversity in 2011, building on an existing programme of outreach work. In that time, this partnership has enabled 16,942 local young people to receive support and encouragement to do well at school and go on to university.
The three community learning centres set up in Nottingham provide 7-18-year-olds with after-school support, university-student mentors, workshops and direct experience of university life.
They help to address the fact that young people facing disadvantages face considerable educational barriers and are far less likely to aspire to or attend university than their more advantaged peers.
Professor Sarah Speight, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience at the university, said: “By working in partnership with IntoUniversity, we have more opportunities to inspire children and show them what can result from their hard work and commitment.
IntoUniversity plays such a crucial role in helping to transform the lives of so many local young people through its innovative programme of Academic Support, school workshops, university visits and mentoring. We are delighted to play a part in supporting this great work and we look forward to many more years of partnership to come.”
Dr Rachel Carr OBE, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of IntoUniversity, said: “We are delighted to be able to support so many young people in Nottingham through our three centres thanks to the continued support of The University of Nottingham.
It’s now over a decade since we began our partnership in the city and this type of long-term investment in communities represents the ideal of how IntoUniversity aims to operate in all of our locations. Some of the young people we first started working with are now adults who are achieving their full potential, while others are just starting their journeys with us. We’re proud of the impact that our centres continue to have and thankful to the University of Nottingham for making it possible.”
Achievements in the last year alone have seen 407 students being seen for Academic Support – structured sessions after school in an IntoUniversity centre. Students receive help with homework, coursework or university applications with access to resources such as computers and books they may not have at home.
Also in the 21/22 academic year a further 289 young people were linked up with a university student for IntoUniversity’s Buddy and Mentoring sessions and 3,973 students were supported through the Primary and Secondary FOCUS programmes.
Primary FOCUS Weeks involve Year 6 classes attending a centre for a week to learn around a curriculum-related topic, from electricity to Macbeth, as well as finding out what university is. It involves input from students and academic volunteers, a trip and ends with a visit to the University of Nottingham for a ‘graduation’ ceremony complete with gown and mortar board.
Greg McEnaney, a Year 6 teacher at William Booth Primary and Nursery School in Sneinton shared some of his highlights of working with the organisation: “IntoUniversity helps students to develop a variety of skills, such as confidence and communication.
“What IntoUniversity does best, is that it gets the conversation started early. Children as young as seven are already thinking about university and what the future could hold for them. It raises their aspirations and ensures they are planning their futures with specific goals in mind.”
The IntoUniversity centres in Nottingham Central, Nottingham West and Nottingham East, are part of the University of Nottingham’s Nottingham Potential programme, which represents a major investment in the future of primary and secondary-age school students.
Nottingham Potential builds on the university’s successful work since 2001 within less privileged communities, and aims to provide earlier, broader interventions for young people to raise aspirations and encourage progression to university. It has quadrupled the level of the university’s outreach provided — particularly work with primary and lower-secondary school pupils.
Tags: academic support, community, community learning, IntoUniversity, Primary FOCUS
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PVC EDI blog: Driving forward the EDI agenda
January 11th, 2023
In her first EDI blog of the year, Professor Katherine Linehan talks about the various initiatives going on throughout the university in 2023 and beyond as well as introducing two new EDI Staff Networks for people to join.
Tags: edi, Professor Katherine Linehan, PVC EDI, PVC EDI Blog, staff networks
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Lunar New Year 2023 – university e-card now available
January 10th, 2023
Chinese New Year, which will be celebrated on Sunday 22 January 2023, marks the year of the Rabbit. The rabbit is known to be the luckiest of all the twelve animals and symbolises mercy, elegance and beauty.
You can share a digital card to celebrate.
The cards are available on our website to download and send via Outlook.
There’s an animated and static version to choose from.
By sending an e-card you will be contributing to the university’s sustainability goal and supporting our commitment to being a leading green university.
Happy Lunar New Year to all at the University of Nottingham!
Tags: Lunar New Year, Lunar New Year 2023
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VC staff surgeries: Tuesday 24 January, 3pm – 4.30pm
January 10th, 2023
The next set of ‘staff surgery’ sessions are now available for colleagues to discuss any issue with Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West, on Tuesday 24 January 2023, from 3pm – 4.30pm.
Booking your session
To register for a session, please email BA-VC-Surgery@exmail.nottingham.ac.uk with your preferred date from the list below and a brief agenda for the meeting.
Places are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, so colleagues are encouraged to book early.
You will be contacted within two working days of your request confirming the date and time.
Further surgery sessions are available on:
- Tuesday 21 February, 3pm-4.30pm
- Wednesday 22 March, 1pm-2pm
- Tuesday 18 April, 10.30am-12noon
Further information is available at VC Staff Surgery.
Conversations will usually be held in-person, although can be arranged via Teams if preferred.
Tags: Staff surgeries, VC Staff Surgeries, VC Surgeries, Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West, Vice-Chancellor Surgeries
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