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Report of the Council on the construction of new laboratories and offices at Strangeways Research Laboratory: Notice

3 June 2002

The Council have considered the remarks made by Professor A. W. F. Edwards at the Discussion on 12 March 2002 on the above Report (Reporter, p. 624). They have consulted the General Board and have agreed to comment as follows.

In his remarks Professor Edwards referred to his proposal, raised in Discussion on 1 May 2001, that the University should adopt an arm's-length approach to contract research staff, through the formation of a separate organization, which would be responsible for the administration and management of its contract research staff, and for the related assets. The Council and the General Board would not support this suggestion since it would run counter to the aim of drawing research staff more closely into the mainstream teaching and research activities of the University, and of aligning their terms and conditions of service more closely with the tenured academic staff.

Indeed, the University's proposed Human Resources Strategy emphasizes the importance of creating a more inclusive culture for all staff groups. A priority area for the Personnel Committee is the development and implementation of more structured arrangements for the career management and development of contract research staff in accordance with national policy developed through the Research Careers Initiative: formal separation could also raise further difficulties in areas such as the management of intellectual property rights.

With regard to the proposed building at the Strangeways Research Laboratory, the Council and the General Board agree with Professor Edwards about the potential of genetic epidemiology to improve scientific understanding and human health. The Clinical School has already established itself as an international leader in molecular and genetic epidemiology, by a strategy of establishing a critical mass of research staff in cognate disciplines, of building up externally funded research programmes, and of accommodating this activity in an appropriate space. The new facilities at the Strangeways Site, funded by the HEFCE's Strategic Research Investment Fund and private donations, further this strategy in providing enlarged accommodation at the Clinical School for further research groups that are already involved in such work, as well as by providing potential for new initiatives related to large-scale blood-based epidemiology, such as Biobank UK, a £60m project jointly funded by the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, and the Department of Health. In due course, when the Clinical School and its regional partners submit a bid to participate in this study (the sponsors have not yet invited expressions of interest from potential partners), then this will, of course, be subject to appropriate terms and conditions of academic partnership representative of the parties concerned. The expansion at the Strangeways Laboratory Site will substantially enhance the University's ability through such initiatives to contribute to scientific and medical advances in the post-genome era.

The Council are submitting a Grace (Grace 1, p. 906) to the Regent House for the approval of the recommendations of the Report.


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Cambridge University Reporter, 12 June 2002
Copyright © 2002 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.