ACADEMIC COUNCIL
RESEARCH AND ENTERPRISE COMMITTEE
Draft minutes for the third meeting of the Research & Enterprise Committee in the 2010/11 Academic Session, held on Wednesday 16th February, 2.15pm, B028, Medway Campus
PRESENT:
Prof T Barnes (Chair)
Prof A Reed (Vice-Chair)
Prof C Bailey (Computing & Mathematical Sciences)
Ms T Banton (Research & Enterprise)
Dr A Benati (Humanities & Social Sciences)
Ms W Curran (Finance)
Dr M Davies (Research & Enterprise)
Ms M Hackett (Secretary)
Prof D Isaac (Architecture & Construction)
Dr J Jameson (Education & Training)
Prof P Maras (Health & Social Care)
Prof J Orchard (Natural Resources Institute)
Prof S Thomas (Business)
Prof E West (Health & Social Care)
Dr S Woodhead (Engineering)
Dr D Wray (Science)
Guest speaker: Dr Linda Hyder (KTP Manager, Research & Enterprise)
1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Prof C Bellamy (Greenwich Maritime Institute)
Prof E Galea (Computing & Mathematical Sciences)
Prof S Golding (Research Ethics)
Prof J Morton (Natural Resources Institute)
John Wallace (University Secretary)
2. ITEMS FROM THE CHAIR
Prof Barnes welcomed members to the third meeting of the 2010/11 academic calendar session.
Prof Barnes updated the Committee on latest government legislation following the Browne Review. All universities charging tuition fees above the basic fee of £6k per year will be regulated through the Office for Fair Access and must use a proportion of that money to support access activities (including scholarships and outreach). Prof Barnes informed the Committee that a decision regarding the University’s undergraduate fees for 2011/12 will be made by Court in March.
Prof Barnes noted that R&E activities had shown a 60% revenue increase over the past two years and thanked the Schools for their efforts in achieving this. Prof Barnes emphasised that it is important that this trend continues, particularly with reference to the proposed changes to RAE and HEIF funding.
Prof Barnes concluded by informing the Committee that Prof Frank Pullen has stepped down as Director of Research for the School of Science. Prof Barnes thanked Prof Pullen for his service to the Committee and wished him well in the future. A new appointee will be announced in due course.
3. MINUTES OF THE SECOND MEETING OF THE RESEARCH AND ENTERPRISE COMMITTEE HELD IN 2010/11 ON THE 15th DECEMBER 2010.
The minutes of the Research and Enterprise Committee held on 15th December were agreed by the Committee as a true and accurate record of the last meeting.
4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
4.1 University website: Improved Listing of Research Degrees (8.1)
Prof Reed confirmed that he had received generic subject headings from all Schools except one. He is currently in discussion with that School.
Prof Reed also informed the Committee that the updated, postgraduate research web pages will go live in the next few weeks.
4.2 Collaborative application for Research Council funded Postgraduate Training studentships (9.1.1)
Prof Maras reported that the consortium application to the ESRC for a Doctoral Training Unit (DTU) was not successful. The application had met criteria and was recommended for funding in June 2010 when the Board had first met. However, following cuts in income as part of the CSR, ESRC had subsequently decided not to fund any DTUs. Prof Maras commented that the consortium will continue and is currently identifying key areas for co-operation across the universities. A Consortium bid to the AHRC for a Capacity Building Block Grant Partnership (CP BGP) was made in January and a decision is expected in April 2011.
4.3 Update on Early Career Researchers (9.1.2)
The Final Report of the ECR survey findings was circulated to members prior to the Committee meeting. Prof Maras commented that the Early Career Researcher Survey will be run again in April 2011.
5. GREENWICH RESEARCH AND ENTERPRISE
5.1 Research and Enterprise Financial Activity Reports
Prof Barnes presented the Research and Enterprise financial activity report to the end of January 2011.
Revenues for the current reporting period (1st Aug-31st Jan) stand at £5.6m. Prof Barnes noted that, 6 months into the financial year, this is currently down in comparison to 2009/10 figures when total revenues were £15.4m. Prof Barnes noted that NRI had been awarded £9.5m last year. It is not expected that the Institute will do as well this year due to the cycle of bidding for funding and awarded project delivery.
Committee members commented that they had a number of significant bids coming up in the next quarter. It was also noted that CMS and Engineering expected additional revenue to come through from ongoing contracts and software sales.
Total cumulative revenues have increased month on month throughout this quarter (Nov’10-Jan’11). This is also mirrored across School cumulative revenues. Prof Barnes commented that this was encouraging and urged Schools to do as much as they can to ensure that this trend continues.
5.2 Research and Enterprise Bidding Activity Report
Ms Banton presented the Research & Enterprise bidding activity report for the current academic session, from 1st August 2010 to end of January 2011.
In the latest quarter 28 bids were submitted in November, 24 bids in December and 32 bids were submitted in January, with a total number of bids this quarter of 84. The total value of bids submitted this quarter is £13.9m. In the last quarter (Aug-Oct 2010) 62 bids were submitted with a total value of £3.7m.
In 2010/11 146 bids were submitted with a total value of £17.6m. During the same reporting period in 2009/10 (1st Aug-31st Jan) 137 bids were submitted with a total value of £14.8m.
Data on bidding activity by funding source for the reporting period (1st Aug-31st Jan) shows that an increasing number of bids are being made to European funders. 39% of the research bids were submitted to European Union funders, 10% to overseas funders, 11% to the UK Central Government, 21% to the Research Councils, 3% to UK industry and 17% to UK charity.
Ms Banton commented that, based on figures from the previous financial year, the University can expect to receive at least 20% of the pending bids value, in addition to the current awarded value of £2.4m.
5.3 The KTP Scheme - update on funding and approach
Dr Linda Hyder (KTP Manager, GRE) provided an overview of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership Scheme.
The University currently has 14 active KTPs, with CMS developing a proposal for a new KTP. Since 2000 the University has run 45 KTPs and received £2.66m government funding. With additional company funding the University has received £3.8m through KTPs.
Dr Hyder reported that TSB has recently amended its KTP funding criteria with an increased focus on SME and third sector organisations. TSB will direct 75% of its KTP funds to technology-based projects within its priority areas, with the remaining 25% going to projects that address underpinning or enabling capabilities (such as marketing, business processes etc). ‘Mini’ KTPs will no longer be funded.
In the future TSB will only fund KTP projects that can demonstrate ‘Innovation, Impact and Challenge’. Dr Hyder commented that under TSB’s new criteria approximately one third of the University’s existing KTP projects would not have been funded.
Dr Hyder also informed the Committee that Research Councils were expected to announce changes to their own funding criteria for KTPs. Exact details of these changes are not yet known.
The Committee requested that the strategic priorities of the Research Councils and other significant funders be mapped against areas of University research expertise, and overlaps identified. It was agreed that the resulting document should be available online to ensure that it is kept up-to-date.
ACTION: Prof Barnes and Dr Davies to develop a mapping document capturing the strategic priorities of key funding bodies.
5.4 GREAT 2011 – update
Prof Barnes provided the Committee with a GREAT 2011 Process document. This provides a timeline for all the tasks that will be completed as part of GREAT 2011.
Neil Cormack-Bissett, (GRE Strategy, Research and Information Officer) will act as the central coordinator for the GREAT 2011 database, and will issue Schools with a workbook in which to record their information.
Prof Barnes asked Committee members to ensure that their Schools identify the following by 28 February:
· REF Coordinator for the School
· School REF sub group members
· Nominal list of UoAs that they plan to submit to (this may be changed later)
· Coordinator for each UoA and colleagues to write impact and environment statements.
Prof Barnes also asked Committee members to ensure that all outputs to be included in GREAT 2011 are uploaded to GALA by 28 February. Any documents uploaded after this date may not be considered for inclusion in GREAT 2011.
Committee members commented that some outputs uploaded to GALA are currently marked as ‘Pending ILS Review’. Ms Banton reassured the Committee that all ‘live’ and ‘under review’ outputs will be included in the database provided by Neil Cormack-Bissett.
The Committee asked if any guidelines will be provided for deciding which Schools certain members of staff should report for. Prof Barnes commented that the performance of the University as a whole should be the main factor in deciding this. Whilst GREAT 2011 will work on a School by School basis, the University will only be allowed one submission per UoA under REF 2014.
A GREAT 2011 web page, including FAQs and a dummy workbook, will be available soon.
Prof Barnes thanked the Committee in advance for their work on GREAT 2011.
ACTION: All information required for workbooks (detailed above) to be emailed to Tracy Banton () by 28 February 2011.
ACTION: Schools to ensure that all outputs have been deposited into GALA by 28 February 2011.
5.5 Themes for future R&E Committee meetings
The Committee agreed that the theme for the next meeting will be Technology Innovation Centres (TICs), including how they will work and how the University will engage with them.
ACTION: Prof Barnes to invite a relevant speaker to the next Committee meeting (20th April).
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
The research group AVATAR (Advanced Virtual & Technological Architectural Research) has had recent meetings with IBM in the UK and in Zurich, they are involved in discussions related to the concepts of a ‘smart house’ and others concerning a joint conference on the ‘augmented city’ which dovetails into existing work on the ‘smart city’. A recent joint exhibition was organised with the Cronin Laboratory of the University of Glasgow involving 3d protocell application systems.
In the Sustainable Built Environments Group, the following recent activities have been reported:
1. EPSRC – Bid on Enrolling Science in Decision Making: Achieving a Low Carbon Social Housing Sector with Kings College and Leeds Metropolitan (£1.44M)
2. FLASH project (Facilitation, learning and Sharing) – dissemination with institution for Sustainability.
3. Three bids to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for £67K, 57K and 5K.
4. A project: Development of advanced sensor technology to support the maintenance of pipeline distribution systems was shortlisted by the Energy Institute under the ‘Technology Awards’ category of the Energy Awards 2010.
Keith Jones has been appointed to the REF panel in Architecture, Built Environment and Planning. Recent publications in the group include a major text on property Investment (David Isaac and John O’Leary) and a chapter on dissertation learning outcomes in a major reach text (Greg Bull).
In the Design group, Mehrdad Shokoohy has published further papers in the Mediaeval History Journal and South Asian Studies, a journal of the British Academy. Alan Powers has had a series of articles and reviews published, his ongoing work includes a committee convened by the Stephen Spender Trust to discuss a future exhibition on the 1930s in Britain, a working group convened by the Museum of the Bible in Art (New York) on the Arts and Crafts Movement and a group of the Art and Architecture Committee, Westminster Cathedral, to discuss commissioning mosaics (said to be the largest new mosaic scheme for 1500 years). Ed Frith presented a paper at the International Conference of the Architectural Humanities Research Association at the University of Kent, his project 'Healing the Wall' was shortlisted for the Architects 2011 Small Projects Award to be exhibited at the Building Centre and published in the Architects Journal.
Noha Nasser of the Urban Renaissance Institute (URI) is developing the role of URI in Localism and organised a successful recent inter-school symposium on it.
In the Sustainable Landscape Group, Benz Kotzen’s dew research was accepted for review towards publication by the 'Journal of Hydrology', two papers were presented at the 3rd International Conference on Drylands, Deserts and Desertification. He has received an ECR travel grant for his work in aquaponics to set up new systems in the Negev desert. His book 'Environmental Noise Barriers' is to be translated into Czech. The group are working on a research project involving a Green Roof for the new School of Architecture and Construction in Greenwich. Tom Turner has just completed a major text: European Gardens: History, Philosophy and Design.
OPPORTUNITIES
Advanced Virtual & Technological Architectural Research Group (AVATAR) has met with Climate Change Capital, a venture capitalist keen to develop joint discussion on protocell cladding. A collaboration between molecular biologists at the University of Southampton and the architectural practice A Studio is being used as a platform for development of research in the same area.
The Urban Renaissance Institute (URI) is involved in discussion with the Peabody Trust to conduct research into issues affecting its processes, services, or housing stock e.g. carbon efficiency and retrofitting, community-led design/space standards etc. and offering course on skills and training around the Localism agenda.
CHALLENGES
As for the previous report, although there is a School-wide initiative to encourage additional research activity, but it still has not had enough impact and so, in recent recruitment activity emphasis is being put on employing new staff with research output/potential.