The THE Awards are a bit like the Oscars of the higher education sector. Each year there are hundreds of entries that showcase the talent, dedication and innovation of teams and individuals across all aspects of university life. The judging panel selects the shortlisted candidates and the winners in each of the categories. This year, there were 19 categories, many of which were sponsored by different agencies. We were one of the six institutions shortlisted for the award of ‘Excellence and Innovation in the Arts’. Our nomination was based on the pioneering MA in Inclusive Arts Practice, which was founded by Dr Alice Fox. The MA is based on a radical form of collaboration between students and often excluded community groups from around the world. Past students have worked with a range of individuals and participant groups, including people with learning disabilities, children, young people, the elderly, those experiencing homelessness, asylum seekers and youth offending teams.

In 2016, Alice authored a ‘critical manifesto’ – Inclusive Arts and Research and Practice  – that was launched at the Tate Modern in London. Alice has a long-established collaboration with the learning-disabled Rocket Artist group to challenge prejudice and make the case for diversity through symposia, performance and exhibitions. She has worked with many international partners (including Cambodia, Nepal and Ukraine) and brings this international experience to her work at Brighton. Apart from the unusual content, the course breaks new ground in pedagogy, as artists with learning disabilities teach alongside academics as a way of expanding the boundaries of inclusion and challenging conventional notions of who holds knowledge.

On Thursday night, it was an honour for me to be one of Alice’s guests and attend the awards ceremony. Just before the announcement of the winners began, Debra told the table how wonderful it was to be there and to have been shortlisted, thanked Alice and her colleagues for their work and she said, regardless of who wins the category, she was our winner. I could not agree more.

So, when the winner for the category was announced and University of Brighton was named as the winner we were over the moon!

This is what they had to say:

‘The University of Brighton’s Alice Fox has worked collaboratively with non-governmental organisations and museums and galleries, such as Tate Modern and the National Gallery, to develop an inclusive and innovative approach to arts practice. Her work has supported marginalised and under-represented communities to engage with the arts in a variety of creative ways’.

Naturally, we had a wonderful journey back to Brighton, primarily because of her win, but the odd drop of high-quality whisky supplied by Dr Bullen helped as well!

Graduation Magic

Towards the end of an undergraduate degree things start to fall in place: they did for me anyway. I learned how to study and how to learn, and I even dedicated a reasonable chunk of time to my studies, and loved it so much that I decided to continue my studies and registered for a PhD. My undergraduate graduation was in July 1985. I was an international student from a war torn country and so there was absolutely no way any family member could travel the thousands of miles to attend my graduation. They were too busy avoiding air raids and had become war refugees in their own country. And, if I am honest, I only attended it because my parents were keen for me to do so.

Once I joined academia, I witnessed many graduation ceremonies and have always been curious about local practices at different universities. Earlier last week, I had a meal with a friend from another institution and we were comparing notes on our universities graduation traditions. She told me that their VC’s speech lasts for one hour – can you imagine!! I thought Debra’s speech was one of the best VC speeches I have heard and it was just shy of 10 minutes, which was ideal.

Reflecting on all the graduations I have attended, it was not until my PhD students started to graduate that I realised the significance of this occasion and, by the time my son graduated in 2015, I was a fully-fledged graduation fan.

As you know, last week was our university’s graduation and my first graduation attendance here. I attended all but two of the ceremonies and I felt very proud about how we do our graduations. There is always a good atmosphere at graduations but I felt we had the perfect balance between creating a good celebratory atmosphere and not forgetting that we were there to celebrate the academic achievements of our graduates. A personal favourite of Maya Angelou quotes is: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”, and, last week, our university made all our graduates feel good about themselves, their experience with us and their achievements.

Brighton Centre was an excellent venue and the team worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make it all go smoothly. Over 3500 graduates, ranging in age between 19 and 79 and from 90 countries, became alumni of the University of Brighton. I had the privilege of doing an oration for one of our honorary graduates, Miranda Brawn, and meeting her was a real highlight for me.

My favourite part of the celebrations was meeting the students and their families afterwards. I tried to share some of these moments with others through Twitter and there were times when I felt that perhaps I could have had a career in marketing after all!!

On Friday evening I was tired but joyous. Of course, I will share a few suggestions on how we can improve the ceremonies further but they were all very special.

It was an excellent week and I wish the very best for the Class of 2017. I would like to leave them with this lovely phrase:

“Behind you, all your memories. Before you, all your dreams. Around you, all those who love you. Within you, all you need”.

Research and Enterprise Strategic plan 2016-2017

I am hoping that, by the time you read this blog post, you will have received a draft of the new strategic plan for Research and Enterprise. I knew from Day 1 that leading on the development of the strategic plan was of the highest priority and that it needed to be done in a relatively short period of time; not only to tie in with the University’s Strategy, but also because we have not had a plan for R&E for some time, and the sooner we have a clear plan, the better.

Like many others, I have been on leadership courses on developing strategic plans, and I have read widely on the subject. Let me digress and tell you about a book which is quite illuminating when it comes to strategic planning. The book is Good Strategy/Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt. What I like about this book is the breakdown of what makes a bad strategy and, as you read it, you realise how many bad ones you have encountered!! The book also provided me with many real examples of bad and good strategic planning. Apart from reading about it and going on a course, I had the opportunity to lead on the development of a strategic plan for research and innovation at my previous institution. The difference with that plan was that I knew the institution very well and had already been working there for a number of years. So, I knew the first step in developing the plan here would be to ‘immerse myself’, and to get to know the organisation by speaking and listening to as many people as I could. I soon realised that the more people I spoke with, the more I heard the same sorts of things, and this was enormously helpful in identifying the issues that the plan needed to tackle. When developing a plan, many organisations become totally inward-focussed, but I believe it is essential to also seek out external perspectives, and we are indeed doing this as part of the exercise. The other key point which helped whilst working on the plan was the commitment made by myself and my immediate team made to stay focused and pragmatic.

As you read the draft plan, you will note that we have identified a number of principles that underpin the plan itself, and its implementation. The power of these principles is in the living of them, not the writing of them. We need to organise our R&E activities around these principles and ensure we create a culture where these principles can thrive. Culture begins with beliefs and finds expression in behaviours. So, when it comes to creating a culture of excellence in R&E, we need to ask ourselves “what do we mean by excellence, and what behaviour reflects this”?

Excellence is all about the pursuit of better. There is a very large global organisation with the motto ‘We make the best better’!! To me, any organisation (be it a university or any other type of organisation) that isn’t getting better is getting worse. Another aspect of excellence is a commitment to building strong partnerships and relationships. Isolation is the enemy of excellence. Another aspect of excellence is a dedication to transparency: during my meetings with staff, I was overwhelmed by how hungry they were in their pursuit of transparency within the organisation. Lack of transparency distracts and weakens organisations. Excellence also requires responsibility, and the personal pursuit of excellence is the first responsible step toward organisational excellence.

I hope that, as you read the plan, you will see it as road map in pursuit of excellence. You have an opportunity to engage with this plan as it is developed further, and I encourage you to be part of this journey.

British Science Festival 2017 comes to Brighton

The British Science Association (BSA) provides opportunities for all people to enjoy, explore, investigate and discuss science and it has a wonderful new mission: ‘A society where science is a part of, not set apart from, society and culture’. Historically, going back to 1831, the BSA used to hold annual meetings and it was at these meetings that the major scientific advances were announced. In 2005, these annual meetings became ‘Festivals’, spanning a number of days and open to anyone who is interested to learn about cutting-edge research in science, engineering and technology. Alongside the main Festival programme, there are events aimed at families and schools.

The annual Festival is, indeed, the BSA’s premier programme and is one of Europe’s largest celebration of science, engineering and technology. It has been held in many cities around the UK, including York, Liverpool, Birmingham, Aberdeen and Swansea, the most southerly of these being held in Surrey in 2009. So, it is very pleasing that, in 2017, the British Science Association Festival is coming to the south coast, co-hosted by our University and University of Sussex!

The Festival will provide a fantastic opportunity for the scientists in our two institutions to highlight the amazing research happening in Brighton. There will also be Nobel Prize winners, TV personalities, top researchers, family-friendly presenters and entertainers from around the country who will share their passion for science with the public.

Professor Andrew Lloyd has led our bid and I, for one, know how competitive the bidding process and selection is. I know because my previous institution also applied to host it with what was regarded as a strong bid. So, many congratulations to Andrew and others who supported him! Of course, just like a research bid, the joy of securing the award is almost immediately followed by a realisation of the enormity of what needs to be done to deliver the project! As a University, we are committed to public and community engagement, and this commitment is recognised through such awards, through our performance in REF, and through the fact that many institutions from across the globe regularly visit us to see how we do it. So, I have absolutely no doubt that Andrew will be supported by everyone as he starts planning for this event in collaboration with the University of Sussex.

You can be involved in number of ways and, naturally, I will expect our researchers to nominate themselves to present their research. But, whether presenting or attending, the 5-9th of September 2017 will be a very special week!

On a final note, I am delighted that Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell will be the next president of BSA. With 185 presidents to date and only 9 female presidents, there is some serious catching up to do on that front!