RESEARCH AND ENTERPRISE COMMITTEE
Draft Minutes for the fifth meeting of the Research & Enterprise Committee in the 2011/12 Academic Session, held on Wednesday 30th May 2012, 2.15pm, B028, Medway Campus
PRESENT:
Prof T Barnes / ChairProf A Reed / Vice-Chair and Director of Postgraduate Research (PGR)
Ms T Banton / Research Support Manager (GRE)
Prof A Benati / Director of Research & Enterprise (HSS)
Dr M Davies / Director of Research & Enterprise (GRE)
Prof D Isaac / Director of Research & Enterprise (A&C)
Dr J Jameson / Director of Enterprise (EDU)
Prof A Lambirth / Director of Research (EDU)
Prof P Maras / ECR Director
Ms C Nyandoro-Kunzvi / Secretary (GRE)
Dr J Orchard / Director of Research (NRI)
Mr J Wallace / Administrative Secretary (Vice Chancellors Office)
Prof E West / Director of Research & Enterprise (HSC)
Dr S Woodhead / Director of Research & Enterprise (ENG)
Dr D Wray / Director of Enterprise (SCI)
1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Prof C Bailey / Director of Enterprise (CMS)Prof C Birch / Director of Enterprise (BUS)
Mrs W Curran / Finance Manager (Finance)
Prof E Galea / Director of Research (CMS)
Prof J Morton / Director of Enterprise (NRI)
Prof S Thomas / Director of Research (BUS)
Prof S Wicks / Director of Research (SCI)
2. ITEMS FROM THE CHAIR
2.1 The Chair welcomed the members to the fifth Research & Enterprise Committee meeting of the 2011/12 academic calendar session.
3. MINUTES OF THE FOURTH MEETING OF THE RESEARCH AND ENTERPRISE COMMITTEE HELD IN 2010/12 ON THE 18TH APRIL 2012.
The minutes of the Research and Enterprise Committee held on 18th April 2012 were agreed by the Committee as a true and accurate record of the meeting.
4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
5.3 The ECR Director informed members that a small number of proposals had been received and reviewed by the Peer Review College. The pilot scheme was working well and it was envisaged that the college would be rolled out to all schools soon after the pilot schools had reported to the Committee on the progress of the system. Recommendations made at the last meeting were being addressed regarding the process of reviewing funding applications.
5.4 The Chair informed members that the matters arising from agenda item 5.4 would be covered under agenda item 5.3 of the meeting’s agenda.
5.5 The Chair reported that the REF2014 Codes of Practice had been modified in accordance with the recommendations made by Committee at the last meeting. The Research Support Manager (GRE) was working on adding more detail to the code and an updated code would be presented to Academic Council for. The code would be submitted to HEFCE in July.
The Chair noted that all Deans would receive an updated copy via the Executive Committee meeting and the Chair welcomed the opportunity to speak about REF2014 at School Research & Enterprise Committee Meetings.
7.2 The Director (PGR) informed members that Sharon Lawson had distributed to all Directors a list of students (that required minor modifications to complete their PhD) in order to assist supervisors in reaching the target of 60 doctoral completions for the institution.
7.2 The Director (PGR) reported that it was not possible to present the PRES data by school as it was an anonymous survey. A copy of the PRES report would be circulated to members after the meeting.
7.3 The Director (PGR) informed members that a report on the effect of the UKBA recent announcement on current and future international students was in progress and would be presented to VCG and Academic Council.
5. GREENWICH RESEARCH AND ENTERPRISE
5.1 Research and Enterprise Financial Activity Reports
The Chair presented the Research and Enterprise Financial Activity report to the month ending 30th April 2012.
Revenues to the end of April 2012 were £9.7m (including NRI). NRI revenue figures were at £5.4m and schools were at £4.3m. This figure showed an increase of 15% in comparison to the same period last year mainly due to increased activity in NRI. The predicted forecast for the 2011/12 academic calendar year was £15.4m of which schools were estimated at £6.7m and NRI £8.7m.
Contracting to the end of April 2012 was at £10.6m of which NRI was at £6.6m and the schools at £4m, an overall increase of 6% (£573k) in comparison to the same period last year. New contracting for this period included the European COST project for the School of Architecture Design & Construction at £100kpa, Subsea Cable with Heriot-Watt at £82k and RODENT IeMRC at £191k for the School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences as well as some smaller consultancy projects from the Schools of Science, Engineering and Business.
Cumulative revenues and contracting were on the rise and the Chair was pleased to note that figures were now in line with the trend analysis reported in 2009/10. This momentum would need to be maintained in order to ensure that research would be sustained over the next few years. Contracting compared to money burn showed an improvement compared with previous years thus providing a better pipeline for contracts. The GUEL figure to the end of April 2012 was £1.2m.
5.2 Research and Enterprise Bidding Activity Report
The Research Support Manager (GRE) presented the Research and Enterprise Bidding Activity report to the month ending 30th April 2012. Bidding totals to the end of April 2012 (incl NRI) were £20m for a total of 236 bids. Quarterly figures from August to October were £4.3m, November to January was £8.6m and February to April was at £6.9m.
Bidding status showed that 83% of the overall bids at £16.6m were pending an outcome, 6% of bids valued at £1.1m were rejected and 11% of the overall bids worth £2.2m were awarded. This was a decrease of 19% in comparison with the same period last year. Bidding by funding source showed that 58% of the total number of bids had been submitted to the EU, 9% to overseas funders, 6% to UK Central Government & TSB, 14% to Research Councils, and 10% of the bids had been submitted to Charities.
Awarded totals to the end April 2012 were recorded at £4.4m (incl NRI) with a value of £1.4k submitted in 2010/11 and announced in 2011/12. Awards by funding source were 44% from the EU, 25% from the overseas funders, 12% from the UK Centre Government & TSB, 11% from the UK Industry, and 4% of awards were from Charities.
The Research Support Manager (GRE) informed members that Deans and Directors of Research & Enterprise would soon receive reports on the breakdown of success rates by funder. The Chair expressed concern over the bidding figures as they seemed to suggest a decline in bidding value. It was therefore proposed that Directors of Research & Enterprise work on a strategy (over the next two years) to increase bidding with their respective School Research & Enterprise Committees. The Directors of Research & Enterprise would present these reports to the main Research & Enterprise Committee in the autumn. The Research Support Manager (GRE) would meet with Director of Research (NRI) and Mrs Amy Guyatt to discuss the discrepancies in contracting statistics.
Action:- GRE to circulate a report on the breakdown of success rates by funder to School Deans and Directors of Research & Enterprise.
Action:- Directors of Research & Enterprise work on a strategy (over the next two years) to increase bidding with their respective School Research & Enterprise Committees. These reports will be presented to the main Research & Enterprise Committee in the autumn.
Action:- The Research Support Manager (GRE) would meet with Director of Research (NRI) and Mrs Amy Guyatt to discuss the discrepancies in contracting statistics.
5.3 GREAT 2012 & REF2014 Update
The Chair updated the Committee with regards to the GREAT 2012 exercise. Members were informed that the timetable for the next GREAT exercise had been revised to take into account the summer period. It was proposed that the exercise would start in June with results reported in the autumn. Schools had identified reviewers and associated estimated costs. The Chair asked members to inform the Director (GRE) on whom the assessors/reviewers would be and how much it would cost to commission them to do the work. It was noted that schools should negotiate with prospective reviewers what the total price would be as opposed to the daily rate.
The Research Support Manager (GRE) recommended that a series of impact workshops be run during this exercise so as to aid the Schools in the preparation of their impact case studies. The Chair welcomed the suggestion and asked members to look at the HEFCE website for examples of case studies. It was noted that the case studies would need to show that research took place at the institution and that it was 2 star or better, showing a clear link between the impact and research that was being claimed. The impact should be outside the research field and show that it benefited the wider community.
The Research Support Manager (GRE) informed members that in the REF2012 exercise, each school should have an Equality & Diversity Champion to champion and advise on taking forward the equality and diversity policies and practices. Directors of Research & Enterprise were asked to forward on nominations to the Research Support Manager (GRE).
Action:- Directors of Research & Enterprise to forward on nominations of School Equality & Diversity Champions to the Research Support Manager (GRE).
5.4 University of Greenwich Inaugural Research Conference
The Director of Research & Enterprise (GRE) invited members to the University Research and Enterprise conference, to be held on 25th June in rooms QA063 and QA080. The conference, which will become an annual event, is aimed at giving academic staff the opportunity to hear about the latest research funding and policy developments, share good practice and experience of research and enterprise, and network with one another and with external speakers.
5.5 EU Excellence in Research Badge
The Director (PGR) informed members of the EU Excellence in Research award, a UK-wide process enabling UK HEIs to gain the European Commission's HR Excellence in Research Award, which acknowledges their alignment with the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for their Recruitment.
The University will be applying for the excellence badge and a working group has been setup by the University to conduct an internal analysis, and compare policies and practices against the Charter & Code principles and develop an HR strategy for researcher’s career development. The analysis and action plan will then be reviewed and acknowledged by the European Commission and if successful the University will be awarded the HR Excellence in Research badge.
The Director (PGR) was seeking support from the Committee to inform the working group on how the institution was developing our researchers wider career development. It is expected that ECRs have an input into policy & practice and this could be achieved by having ECR representation at staff meetings, the Central and School Research & Enterprise Committees. It was therefore proposed that up to 2 ECRs would attend the Research & Enterprise Committee as observers on a rotating basis by school. There would be reserved business if necessary, for which ECRs would not attend. Members welcomed this proposal and were happy to endorse it. The Terms of Reference would be updated and presented to Academic Council for consideration. It was proposed that on approval of the proposal at Academic Council, there would be ECR representation at the Research & Enterprise Committee meeting in October 2012.
Directors of Research & Enterprise were asked to identify and nominate up to two ECRs from their schools to attend both the School and University Research & Enterprise Committee. The Secretary (GRE) would circulate a list of all ECRs to the Directors of Research & Enterprise.
Action:- Directors of Research & Enterprise were asked to identify and nominate up to two ECRs from their schools to attend both the School and University Research & Enterprise Committee.
Action:- The Secretary (GRE) would circulate a list of all ECRs to the Directors of Research & Enterprise.
6. ITEMS FROM SCHOOLS
6.1 Directors of Research and Enterprise Presentations on Successes, Opportunities and Challenges in Research and Enterprise activities in each School
6.1.1.SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & CONSTRUCTION REPORT
Name: David Isaac
School: Architecture and Construction
SUCCESSES
Design Research
AVATAR (Advanced Virtual & Technological Architectural Research)
· AVATAR organised a ‘Future Cities, Design as Research’ conference on 19 & 20 April. A number of corporations such as Autodesk and WSP attended and also the founder of the Katerva Awards, CEO Terry Waghorn. The conference was a great success and attendance exceeded expectations.
· Rachel Armstrong have been involved in an EcoBuild talk with Carlo Ratti (http://twitpic.com/8zrcod) and is currently writing an essay 'Organs Everywhere' with Simone Ferrancina (http://organseverywhere.com/). She will be speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival on 12 June on Living Buildings with Mark Miodownik and Dave Worsley. (http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/find-events/science/s5-future-buildings)
· The group received the award of a PhD Scholarship under the recent round.
Architectural History and Theory Group
· Alan Powers has written the following:
· Companion Guide: City of London, edited by Nicholas Kenyon, Thames and Hudson
· ‘Review of Green Cities’, Architectural Review, April
· ‘Review of Sir Basil Spence’, Country Life,
· Article on ‘architecture in relation to the Royal Jubilee’, Country Life
· ‘Flying Angels and Solid Walls’, AA Files, 64, pp.48-58
· ‘Blueprint’, leading feature on post-war conservation, May
· ‘From downturn to diversity’ in The Seventies: rediscovering a lost decade of British Architecture, Twentieth Century Architecture 10, 2012 (jointly with Elain Harwood), pp.8-35
· ‘Thoughtful Brutalism: Dunelm House and Kingsgate Bridge’, Durham, Twentieth Century Magazine, May
· Teresa Stoppani is an invited speaker at London Metropolitan University, Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Design, 9th International Architectural Humanities Research Association Conference ‘Architecture and the Paradox of Dissidence’, 15–17 November.