A Discussion was held in the Senate-House. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Anthony Minson was presiding, with the Senior Proctor, the Junior Proctor, two Pro-Proctors, the Registrary's deputy, and eleven other persons present.
The following Reports were discussed:
Report of the General Board, dated 9 January 2008, on the establishment of a Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (p. 440).
Professor C. R. LOWE:
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, as Director of the Institute of Biotechnology, I am pleased and privileged to support with great enthusiasm the proposal for the establishment of a Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. This development has arisen out of a desire for a voluntary merger between the Institute of Biotechnology and the Department of Chemical Engineering and aims to create a new Department with nationally and internationally unique teaching and science-based research skills. This development is particularly timely in view of pressing global challenges such as healthcare, food, energy, and transport to service a burgeoning population with dwindling resources and where the combination of bioscience, biotechnology, and chemical engineering will contribute to sustainable solutions. The merger is aided by the fact that both existing Departments are highly multi-disciplinary with activities spanning bioscience, chemistry, physics, materials science, modelling, informatics, and engineering and already have substantial areas of complementarity within our existing activities. We believe that bringing bioscience to chemical engineering will encourage new cross-disciplinary interactions and unlock new research directions particularly in fundamental bioscience, multi-scale (bio)reaction engineering, biopharmaceutical expression and purification, imaging, proteomics, drug targeting, sensors and diagnostics, and 'smart' materials. Furthermore, by bringing chemical engineering to bioscience we will also imbue a more quantitative approach to biological and clinical problems and take advantage of the extensive numerical simulation and modelling skills within chemical engineering. We also see the merged organization as creating new opportunities in commercial translation and spin-off company formation via our Research-to-Commercialization (R2C) concept and the opportunity to evolve our postgraduate Master's courses in Bioscience Enterprise and Advanced Chemical Engineering. The Heads of both current institutions believe that these interactions will evolve naturally as the merged Departments begin to work together and will accelerate as soon as the new Department is housed in a purpose-built building on the West Cambridge site. We wish to develop a world-class institution which Cambridge should be proud of.
Professor L. F. GLADDEN:
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, as Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, it gives me great pleasure to speak in support of the proposed formation of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. This is an exciting and challenging time for the discipline of chemical engineering, with respect to both teaching and research. Traditionally, chemical engineering has been associated with the large-scale chemicals and petrochemical industries which, to some extent, might have been seen as mature and somewhat conservative industries. The rise in importance of 'energy', 'environment', and 'healthcare' as drivers for scientific research has opened up significant opportunities for chemical engineering departments who are in a position to respond to these new challenges. I believe that by merging the Department of Chemical Engineering with the Institute of Biotechnology, Cambridge will host a new Department which will be uniquely placed to become an international leader in the chemical and bio-technologies of the future and the science that underpins them. In identifying these opportunities, I should stress that it remains the right of individual academics within the new Department to define their own research activities; intellectual freedom is the key to the development of new ideas.
How did the proposed merger come about? In short, it became obvious that there was increasing overlap of research interests, in addition to existing collaborations, between the two institutions. The Department of Chemical Engineering recognized that it did not have sufficient expertise in relevant biological subjects to capitalize on research opportunities in bio-energy, biopharmaceuticals, and bioproduct engineering; areas in which it was otherwise well positioned to participate. Similarly, the Institute of Biotechnology recognized that it would be better positioned to achieve its goals by, for example, closer engagement with the theoretical and numerical skills related to transport and reaction processes which lie at the core of the chemical engineering discipline. The two immediate advantages of the merger are: first, we bring together established experts in their fields so that the new Department can respond quickly to become a leader in the emerging research areas which lie at the interface of chemical engineering and biotechnology; second, we will be able to do this without reducing our activities in the traditional areas of chemical engineering research and teaching.
The Cambridge Department of Chemical Engineering differentiates itself from many other UK departments in taking a science-based approach to chemical engineering. This makes the Institute of Biotechnology a natural partner for us. It is our vision that the new Department will bring to the University a unique teaching and research contribution, and at the same time complement the wider activities in bioscience, energy, chemistry, physics, nanotechnology, and medicine, that exist within Cambridge. It is both appropriate and timely that Cambridge has a Department which takes a lead nationally and internationally, in both teaching and research, in fields that will define many of the industries of the future.
Professor I. H. WHITE:
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, as Chair of the Council of the School of Technology, I am pleased to support the proposal that the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Institute of Biotechnology merge to form a single new Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.
The Council of the School of Technology was first approached in Easter Term 2007 by the Department and the Institute, and it strongly supported the vision for drawing the two fields of research together. It also recognized that associated benefits could be expected in learning and teaching, not least as existing joint teaching activities have been so successful.
Since then, the School has followed the consultations within the two Departments involving staff, students, and unions, and has been supportive of their outcomes. It has also noted the discussions that have been held with the School of the Biological Sciences, and is very grateful for the help and support of Professor Sir Tom Blundell.
I therefore agree with my colleagues that this is an initiative that allows two successful Departments to move ahead and build a new form of academic endeavour which will be internationally leading. I support this Report strongly.
Report of the Faculty Board of Engineering, dated 11 December 2007, on a student exchange programme with Ecole Centrale Paris (p. 442).
Ms R. L. TULEY:
Mr Deputy Vice-Chancellor, I speak today in my capacity as Secretary of the Faculty Board of Engineering. Members of the Regent House may be familiar with the excellent exchange arrangement that the University has been running with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology over the last six years. The Department of Engineering has been an enthusiastic participant in this initiative and there have been considerable benefits, both in terms of the academic enrichment the students gain and in terms of the valuable contribution that they make to the Department on returning from an institution where educational excellence is achieved within a different framework.
In the current proposal, the Board seeks to extend this arrangement to include another prestigious engineering institution, with an educational style that complements our own: Ecole Centrale Paris. We anticipate that this exchange will also prove to be valuable, both for those involved and for the Department, and very much hope that this Report will meet with the approval of the Regent House.