Skip to main contentCambridge University Reporter

No 6166

Wednesday 11 November 2009

Vol cxl No 7

pp. 205–228

Reports

Report of the General Board on the establishment of a British Heart Foundation Professorship of Cardiovascular Medicine

The General Board beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. In their Report on certain fixed-term Professorships and Readerships and future arrangements for awarding the title of Honorary Professor or Reader (Reporter, 2000–01, p. 814), the Board, in accordance with policy and procedure outlined in paragraph 6 of their Notice on appointments to unestablished posts at the level of Professor and Reader (Reporter, 2000–01, p. 552), proposed, inter alia, the establishment of a number of fixed-term Professorships and Readerships, in place of unestablished Research Professorships and Readerships. The Board, in their Notice, also stated their intention to recommend the establishment of fixed-term Professorships on future occasions when an individual had been successful in a prestigious and external competition, for example, Royal Society and MRC Research Professorships. In a further Report, dated 22 January 2003 (Reporter, 2002–03, p. 519), the Board proposed the establishment of fixed-term Professorships for the holders of Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowships.

2. The Board have recently considered the position of individuals holding an offer of a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Professorship. Under this scheme, the BHF agree to fund a Professorship for a named individual in a specified university, subject to the agreement of the university concerned to establish a Professorship for the individual. The Board note that such awards are made only after very extensive peer review, to individuals of the highest academic distinction. In the light of these considerations the Board agree that there are strong grounds for treating the holders of these awards in the same way as the holders of Royal Society and MRC Research Professorships, and Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowships.

3. The Board have now considered a proposal for the establishment of a British Heart Foundation Professorship of Cardiovascular Medicine for Professor Ziad Mallat, currently Research Professor at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, France. The award from the BHF is for a period of five years from the date of appointment, is renewable, and as well as covering the full cost of the appointment provides substantial start up funding and a programme grant. The Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine have agreed to meet the costs of the Professorship from the expiry of the BHF award, for the remainder of Professor Mallat’s tenure.

4. The General Board recommend:

That a British Heart Foundation Professorship of Cardiovascular Medicine be established from 1 January 2010 for the tenure of Professor Ziad Mallat, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Medicine.

7 October 2009

Alison Richard, Vice-Chancellor

Simon Franklin

J. Rallison

N. Bampos

Andrew Gamble

Jeremy Sanders

William Brown

Christopher Gilligan

J. G. P. Sissons

Philip Ford

Rachael Padman

I. H. White

Report of the General Board on the establishment of a Professorship of Pure Mathematics

The General Board beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. The Board are pleased to announce that the Royal Society have awarded a 2010 Anniversary Research Professorship to Professor W. T. Gowers of the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, tenable from 1 October 2009 for ten years, and renewable, subject to review, for a further five years. Professor Gowers will be discharged from undertaking his current duties under the Rouse Ball Professorship until the expiry of Royal Society funding.

2. As it is a condition of the Royal Society award that it is not used as substitutional funding, the Board propose the establishment, for one tenure, of a Professorship of Pure Mathematics in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics. The study of Pure Mathematics is concerned with the understanding of mathematical phenomena in themselves. The Department seeks to reinforce existing strengths in Geometry and Number Theory and develop new directions in Analysis. The Department’s research supports and informs its successful programme of teaching within the Faculty of Mathematics.

3. The case for the establishment, for one tenure, of a Professorship of Pure Mathematics has been endorsed by the Council of the School of the Physical Sciences. The person appointed will be expected to offer leadership in an area or areas of pure mathematics, and to participate in the teaching and research in the Department.

4. The cost of the Professorship will be met from savings released while Professor Gowers holds the Royal Society award and, thereafter, from the suppression of a University Lectureship identified for this purpose. Any additional costs will be met from funds available to the School. This has been endorsed by the Council of the School of the Physical Sciences and the General Board have accepted the Department’s proposal for the establishment of the Professorship on this basis.

5. The Board are satisfied that an appointment at this level will be likely to attract a strong field of applicants. They are assured that suitable accommodation for the Professor is available in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, which has undertaken to provide the necessary support and facilities. The Board have agreed to concur with the view of the Department that election to the Professorship should be made by an ad hoc Board of Electors and that candidature should be open to all persons whose work falls within the title of the Professorship.

6. The General Board recommend:

That a Professorship of Pure Mathematics be established for a single tenure from 1 October 2009, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics.

4 November 2009

Alison Richard, Vice-Chancellor

Andrew Gamble

J. G. P. Sissons

N. Bampos

Christopher Gilligan

Sam Wakeford

William Brown

Rachael Padman

I. H. White

Philip Ford

J. Rallison

Yang Xia

Simon Franklin

Jeremy Sanders

Report of the General Board on the establishment of a Sir Arthur Marshall Visiting Professorship of Sustainable Urban Design and related matters

The General Board beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. Sustainable urban design considers the environmental performance of buildings, integrating skilled designing of the cityscape and the planning of urban spaces with resource efficiency. The Department of Architecture has recently engaged with several exciting new ventures in this pioneering field, focusing on sustainable design in China and Africa, a four-year project on sustainable urban environments, and an interdisciplinary partnership on energy-efficient cities.

2. The Faculty Board of Architecture and History of Art and the Council of the School of Arts and Humanities now recommend the establishment of a Visiting Professorship of Sustainable Urban Design. This has been made possible following a grant of £900,000 from the D. G. Marshall of Cambridge Trust, to form a permanent endowment for a Sir Arthur Marshall Visiting Professorship of Sustainable Urban Design in the Department of Architecture. The General Board are proposing regulations to govern the donation and, as requested by the Trust, it is proposed that the Managers of the Fund should include a person nominated by Jesus College. The Trust is also funding a Fellowship at this College, in recognition of Sir Arthur Marshall’s connections with the College, into which the Sir Arthur Marshall Visiting Professor may be elected if the Professor and College so wish.

3. The Visiting Professorship will attract to Cambridge a succession of experts in urban design, supplementing academic excellence with practical knowledge of the realities of sustainable urban planning. The post offers the scope to contribute to the Department’s studio and research projects on urban design, with the flexibility to develop interdisciplinary approaches on sustainability initiatives across the University and beyond. The post-holder will have the opportunity to collaborate not only with the University’s students and researchers, but also with practitioners and the local development community, and to contribute to high quality, sustainable design projects. The Visiting Professor will be expected to participate in teaching, research, and outreach programmes in various ways, such as: giving a prestigious public lecture; conducting studio projects for students; and leading a seminar on the future development of the Cambridge region and beyond.

4. The continued vitality of all the teaching programmes in architecture requires the kind of guidance, external vision, and excitement that can be provided by visiting world-class practitioners. For a number of years now, teaching and research in the Department have flourished through a fluid partnership of permanent academics and exceptional visitors. It is clear that this approach, combining as it does the insight of academics and practitioners, and theory and practice, gives students extraordinary inspiration and opportun­ities to learn. As a result, the Department wishes to embed a programme of senior visitors to help guide and influence the next generations of Cambridge trained architects. The General Board have accordingly agreed to recommend the establishment of a Visiting Professorship of Architecture supported from a fund formed initially from an anonymous benefaction and support from discretionary income available to the Vice-Chancellor amounting to £240,000. It is expected that further funds will be raised to sustain the scheme of Visiting Professorships which is a high priority for the Department.

5. To attract the widest possible field of candidates the General Board recommend that the Visiting Professorships should be open to persons of any age. The Board accordingly recommend an amendment to Statute D, XIV, 14 to include the Sir Arthur Marshall Visiting Professorship of Sustainable Urban Design and the Visiting Professorship of Architecture in the list of Professorships which may be held by persons over the age of 67 years.

6. The General Board recommend:

I. That a Sir Arthur Marshall Visiting Professorship of Sustainable Urban Design be established, assigned to the Department of Architecture, and governed by the regulations set out in Annex 1 to this Report.

II. That a Visiting Professorship of Architecture be established, assigned to the Department of Architecture, and governed by the regulations set out in Annex 2 to this Report.

III. That, subject to the approval of Her Majesty in Council, the Statutes of the University be amended as set out below and that these amendments be submitted under the Common Seal of the University to Her Majesty in Council for approval:

Statute D

THE UNIVERSITY OFFICERS

Chapter XIV

THE PROFESSORS

Section 14.

By inserting at the end of the section after the words ‘the Arthur Goodhart Visiting Professorship of Legal Science’ the words ‘, the Sir Arthur Marshall Visiting Professorship of Sustainable Urban Design, and the Visiting Professorship of Architecture’.

4 November 2009

Alison Richard, Vice-Chancellor

Andrew Gamble

J. G. P. Sissons

N. Bampos

Christopher Gilligan

Sam Wakeford

William Brown

Rachael Padman

I. H. White

Philip Ford

J. Rallison

Yang Xia

Simon Franklin

Jeremy Sanders

ANNEX 1

Sir Arthur Marshall Visiting Professor of Sustainable Urban Design          2010.      Architecture

1. The sum of £900,000 donated by the D. G. Marshall of Cambridge Trust shall constitute a fund called the Sir Arthur Marshall Visiting Professorship of Sustainable Urban Design Fund.

2. The Managers of the Fund shall be the Head of the Department of Architecture, three persons appointed by the Faculty Board of Architecture and History of Art for periods of five years at a time, one of whom shall be on the nomination of the D. G. Marshall of Cambridge Trust, and one person appointed by Jesus College for periods of five years at a time.

3. A Visiting Professor shall from time to time be elected by the General Board under the authority of Statute D, XV, 1(c)(iii), on the advice of the Managers. The tenure of the Visiting Professor, during which he or she shall be in residence in Cambridge unless granted leave of absence by the General Board, shall be determined by the General Board on the recommendation of the Managers.

4. If and whenever the income of the Fund shall exceed the amount required for the payment of the accommodation and travelling expenses incurred by the Visiting Professor on her or his appointment, such emoluments as the General Board, on the recommendation of the Managers, shall determine at the time of the election, and the indirect costs to the University of the appointment, the excess of income over that amount may be applied in support of research or teaching in the field of sustainable urban design in such manner as may be approved by the General Board on the recommendation of the Managers.

5. Any unexpended income in a financial year may in any subsequent year or years be expended in accordance with Regulation 4.

ANNEX 2

Visiting Professor of Architecture.     2010.    Architecture

1. Grants and other funds made available from time to time to support a Visiting Professorship of Architecture, shall constitute a fund called the Visiting Professorships of Architecture Fund.

2. The Managers of the Fund shall be the Head of the Department of Architecture, the Head of the School of Arts and Humanities, and three persons appointed by the Faculty Board of Architecture and History of Art to serve for periods of five years.

3. A Visiting Professor of Architecture shall from time to time be elected under the authority of Statute, D, XV, 1(c)(iii) by the General Board on the recommendation of the Managers of the Fund. The tenure of the Visiting Professor, during which he or she shall be in residence in Cambridge, shall be determined by the General Board on the recommendation of the Managers.

4. The capital and income of the Fund shall be applied to meet the emoluments of the Visiting Professor, as determined by the General Board at the time of election, the Professor’s travelling expenses, and the indirect costs to the University of the appointment.

5. Any unexpended income in a financial year may in any subsequent year or years be expended in accordance with Regulation 4.