REPORTS

Report of the General Board on the establishment of Professorships of Applied Mathematics, Physics, and Veterinary Science

The GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. The Report of the Council on the financial position of the Chest, recommending allocations for 2005-06 (Reporter, 2004-05, p. 699) made provision to set aside £2m to facilitate staff restructuring, including positioning for the next Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in 2008. An assumption was also included in the Report that an additional amount would be allocated in 2006-07 in respect of steps that the University might wish to take in preparation for the RAE. The Report's recommendations were approved by Grace 2 of 6 July 2005. These non-recurrent allocations will enable a limited number of offices to be established, from 1 October 2006, or as soon as possible thereafter, in anticipation of vacancies which will occur through retirement, mostly in 2007 and 2008 but not later than 30 September 2009. The census date for the 2008 RAE is 31 October 2007. Following their consideration of detailed cases submitted by the Councils of the Schools to support succession planning and to enhance Departmental research profiles in anticipation of the RAE, the General Board have agreed to recommend the establishment of the three Professorships, as proposed in this Report.

Professorship of Applied Mathematics

2. The Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics is recognized internationally for the excellence of its teaching and research. It collaborates with other research groups, both nationally and internationally, participates in numerous interdisciplinary projects and programmes, and produces annually a large and highly skilled cohort of doctoral students. Research activities in the Department have traditionally covered three broad areas; fluid and solid mechanics; astrophysics, relativity, and cosmology; and high energy quantum physics. However, the Department has identified certain fields in which it has considerable strengths but where there is a need to broaden and enhance existing activities if it is to sustain its international standing. These include mathematics applied to environmental or geophysical systems, to biology or medicine, or to industrial problems. To take this forward, the General Board agreed to a proposal from the Faculty Board of Mathematics that, in order to attract the best possible field of candidates, the Professorship of Theoretical Mechanics that is due to become vacant on 1 October 2007 on the retirement of Professor J. R. Willis, be re-titled as the Professorship of Applied Mathematics. The title was amended, with effect from 1 October 2007, by Grace 2 of 15 June 2005. The Faculty Board have now made the case to the General Board that it would be advantageous for the Professorship to be filled in advance of Professor Willis's retirement and certainly before the RAE census date. The General Board accordingly recommend that a Professorship of Applied Mathematics be established in the Department, with effect from 1 October 2006, permanently replacing the Professorship that will become vacant on 30 September 2007 on the retirement of Professor Willis.

Professorship of Physics

3. The Department of Physics, jointly with the Institute of Astronomy, has achieved the highest possible rating in all previous RAEs. In order to retain its pre-eminent position at a time of significant change for the discipline as a whole, the Department intends to engage in substantial, and revitalizing, developments in two major areas of activity. Initiatives are already under way in the field of physics of medicine but there is an immediate need to consolidate research strengths in a number of areas relating to quantum manipulation of matter, including semiconductor physics, which constitutes a major research grouping in the Department. Research in the field of semiconductor physics is led by Professor Sir Michael Pepper, who is due to retire on 30 September 2009. In order to ensure continuity of leadership, and to take forward a substantial new effort in quantum physics, the Faculty Board of Physics and Chemistry have advised the General Board that a senior academic of high international renown should be appointed in advance of Professor Pepper's retirement. The General Board have accepted the Faculty Board's case and propose that a Professorship of Physics be established in the Department of Physics from 1 October 2006, permanently replacing the Professorship of Physics (1966) that will fall vacant on 1 October 2009 on Professor Pepper's retirement.

Professorship of Veterinary Science

4. Professor I. McConnell took up appointment as Professor of Veterinary Science in the Department of Veterinary Medicine on 1 January 1994 and, since that date, has played a major part both in enhancing the Department's research profile and in forging stronger research links with research groups in relevant fields elsewhere in the University. This has resulted in a consequential improvement in the Department's performance in the RAE which has risen from a 3 rating in 1989 to 5 in 2001. Professor McConnell is due to retire on 30 September 2008. The Head of the Department considers an overlap with Professor McConnell to be essential to maintaining research momentum since this Professorship is one of only three permanent Professorships established in the Department. Furthermore, one other, the Professorship of Veterinary Clinical Studies, which became vacant on 1 February 2005 on the resignation of Professor L. B. Jeffcott, has yet to be filled and the three single-tenure Professorships presently held in the Department will lapse on the retirement of the current holders, one in 2007 and two in 2009. Accordingly, the Faculty Board of Veterinary Medicine have proposed to the General Board that Professor McConnell's successor should take up appointment in advance of his retirement and preferably by 1 October 2006. The General Board accordingly propose that a Professorship of Veterinary Science be established in the Department of Veterinary Medicine from 1 October 2006, permanently replacing the Professorship of Veterinary Science that will fall vacant on 30 September 2008 on Professor McConnell's retirement.

5. These proposals have the support of the Councils of the relevant Schools and the General Board have accordingly agreed to support the establishment of these three Professorships. Until the existing Professorships are suppressed, the additional, non-recurrent costs of the stipends of the new Professors will be met from the allocation for RAE preparations, as detailed in paragraph 1 above. The Board are assured that these appointments at the professorial level will be likely to attract strong fields of well-qualified candidates and that any set-up costs for the new Professors will be met by the School or Department concerned.

6. The General Board accordingly propose that a Professorship of Applied Mathematics, a Professorship of Physics, and a Professorship of Veterinary Science should be established in the University from 1 October 2006 and assigned to the Departments of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Physics, and Veterinary Medicine, respectively. They have agreed in each case to concur in the view of the Faculty Board concerned that election to the Professorship should be made by an ad hoc Board of Electors and that candidature for each Professorship should be open without limitation or preference to all candidates whose work falls within the general title of the particular office.

7. The General Board recommend:

I. That a Professorship of Applied Mathematics be established in the University from 1 October 2006, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, on condition that the Professorship of Theoretical Solid Mechanics (retitled the Professorship of Applied Mathematics with effect from 1 October 2007 by Grace 2 of 15 June 2005) be suppressed on the retirement of the current holder.

II. That a Professorship of Physics be established in the University from 1 October 2006, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Physics, on condition that the Professorship of Physics (1966) be suppressed on the retirement of the current holder.

III. That a Professorship of Veterinary Science be established in the University from 1 October 2006, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Veterinary Medicine, on condition that the Professorship of Veterinary Science (1991) be suppressed on the retirement of the current holder.