No 6443
Wednesday 9 November 2016
Vol cxlvii No 9
pp. 94–102
9 November, Wednesday. Michaelmas Term divides.
21 November, Monday. Leslie Stephen Lecture at 5.30 p.m. in the Senate-House, Professor R. Monk, FRSL, Professor of Philosophy, University of Southampton.
22 November, Tuesday. Discussion at 2 p.m. in the Senate-House (see below).
26 November, Saturday. Congregation of the Regent House at 2 p.m.
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Discussions (at 2 p.m.) |
Congregations |
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22 November |
26 November, Saturday at 2 p.m. |
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6 December |
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20 December |
The Vice-Chancellor invites those qualified under the regulations for Discussions (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 103) to attend a Discussion in the Senate-House on Tuesday, 22 November 2016, at 2 p.m. for the discussion of the following:
1. Topic of concern to the University: That the Regent House, as the governing body of the University, consider the report of the ACBELA Working Group on Investment Responsibility published in June 2016,1 and in particular consider a policy of divestment from fossil fuels (Reporter, 6441, 2016–17, p. 64).
2. Report of the General Board, dated 2 November 2016, on the establishment and re-establishment of certain Professorships (p. 98).
The Vice-Chancellor gives notice of an additional Discussion on Tuesday, 20 December 2016, at 2 p.m., in the Senate-House. This Discussion has been added to the schedule of meetings in order to make it possible for the recommendations of a Report to be approved in time to meet a deadline. Those who wish to speak at a Discussion but are unable to attend in person can ask the Proctors to read their remarks on their behalf; remarks should ideally be sent to the Senior Proctor (email: senior.proctor@cam.ac.uk) by 2 p.m. on the Monday before the Discussion.
The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that he has accepted with gratitude the following benefactions, of which both the capital and the income may be used:
(i)a benefaction of £3m from The Monument Trust to support projects to improve the Fitzwilliam Museum;
(ii)philanthropic grants of £700,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and of £200,000 from the Art Fund towards the purchase of the Castle Howard Cabinets, to be added to the Fitzwilliam Museum’s collection;
(iii)philanthropic grants amounting to £570,476 from the Evelyn Trust to support research projects in the School of Clinical Medicine (role of brain inflammation in early Parkinson’s dementia, £207,985; personalized prostrate risk prediction, £42,376; mitochondria and immune signalling, £33,333; mechanisms of kidney preservation by warm perfusion, £100,000; role of pressure slope in preterm baby ventilation, £26,800; early identification of perinatal ischaemic stroke, £98,502) and in the School of the Biological Sciences (cellular energetics and human disease, £61,480);
(iv)benefactions of US$500,000 from Arcadia and of £250,000 from The Rothschild Foundation, the latter payable over five years, to support the Cambridge Conservation Initiative’s Collaborative Fund for Conservation, which provides grants for projects undertaken by CCI partners that address high priority biodiversity conservation issues;
(v)a benefaction of £250,000 from the Frances and Augustus Newman Foundation, payable over two years, to support the refurbishment and operation of the Microfabrication Laboratory in the Department of Chemistry, to be named the Sir Rodney Sweetnam Laboratory for Micro- and Nanoscale Biomedical Science;
(vi)a benefaction of a further £214,070 from Ms Claire Barnes to support two additional studentships in the Department of Zoology, to be named the Claire Barnes 150th Anniversary Studentship in the Biology and Ecology of Asia, and the Claire Barnes 150th Anniversary Studentship in Marine Biology (Reporter, 6419, 2015–16, p. 420);
(vii)a benefaction of US$200,000 from Cambridge in America, following a donation from the Tony and Elizabeth Tanke Donor Advised Fund at the InFaith Community Foundation, to support the Centre for English Legal History in the Faculty of Law;
(viii)a benefaction of CA$100,000 from the Horne Family Charitable Foundation to support research into multiple sclerosis undertaken by the research group of Professor Alasdair Coles in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences.
The Vice-Chancellor also gives notice that he has accepted with gratitude a benefaction of £1.5m from the Hatton Trust to support a Hatton Lectureship in the Philosophy of Public Health in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science. The Council is publishing a Grace for the approval of the regulations to govern the fund (Grace 1, p. 101).
The Vice-Chancellor gives notice of an election to fill an additional casual vacancy on the Board of Scrutiny in class (c)(ii) (a member of the Regent House), to serve with immediate effect until 30 September 2017. Following consultation with the Chair of the Board, it has been agreed that this election will be run in accordance with the timetable for the elections for the other vacancies on the Council and the Board of Scrutiny in November 2016. Nominations should therefore be received by the Registrary not later than 12 noon on Friday, 18 November 2016.
For further information about the nomination procedure and election timetable, see the Notice of 3 October 2016, republished on 26 October 2016 (Reporter, 6441, 2016–17, p. 61).
The Council and the General Board wish to report to the Regent House that they have approved a strategic framework for the development of the University estate, which has been published here: http://www.em.admin.cam.ac.uk/strategic-framework.1 The framework has been prepared by the University’s Estates Strategy Committee, which was established (by Grace 5 of 21 May 2014) as a sub-committee of the Planning and Resources Committee (PRC). The Committee is chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning and Resources) and includes representatives from the Council and from among the Heads of Schools, as well as the Chairs of the Buildings Committee and the West and North West Cambridge Estates Board (formerly the West and North West Cambridge Estates Syndicate). The work of the Estates Strategy Committee has been informed by direction received since 2014 from both the Council and the General Board, and specifically by contributions from Heads of Schools and Pro-Vice-Chancellors at a workshop convened for that purpose in November 2015. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise and Regional Affairs) has led a limited set of external meetings with the local planning authorities.
A University estate strategy was previously requested and approved by PRC in 2012 in order to provide strategic context for the emerging Capital Plan. That document focussed narrowly on the physical estate at an operational level, and within relatively short-term horizons. The document prepared by the Estates Strategy Committee seeks to ensure that the University estate supports the University’s mission by developing and managing the estate so that it will:
•be an expression of the University’s academic excellence, with high quality places and services, in order to contribute to the University’s and the City’s competitive advantage;
•support productivity by delivering a positive experience for students and staff;
•be developed sustainably;
•deliver value for money, and generate additional income, to improve the University’s financial position.
A number of estate-specific goals are identified for these four performance areas, and strategies are articulated to achieve each goal. Some of these are novel within the University; others draw on examples of current good practice and seek to apply them more widely and systematically. Rather than specifying targets and actions to be applied uniformly across the University, the intention is to establish a framework for future decision-making and articulate proposals for further work that will inform plans for improvement. To this end, presentations will be scheduled with Councils of the Schools and other University bodies concerned with academic, financial, and infrastructure planning. Some of this work is expected to generate outputs that will require scrutiny and formal approval by University committees and, where appropriate, the Regent House. The framework will be reviewed after an initial period of two years.
1As the version available on the Estate Management website will change over time, a copy of the version approved by the Council and the General Board in the Michaelmas Term 2016 is available (to those within the Cam-domain) at http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/cam-only/reporter/2016-17/weekly/6443/strategic-framework-Michaelmas16.pdf.
The following Annual Reports have been received by the General Board and are available on the websites indicated:
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Institute of Continuing Education, Annual Report 2015–16 |
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Sainsbury Laboratory Management Board, Annual Report 2016 |
To be confirmed |
The Digital Teaching and Learning Sub-committee is pleased to announce that the Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund is now accepting bids for 2016–17, for the purpose of implementing innovative practice in any area of learning and teaching provision. The Fund has been developed specifically to provide start-up funding for creative or exploratory projects ineligible for other sources of funding; bids should focus on new approaches or initiatives that enhance learning and teaching. The Sub-committee expects to be able to support up to ten projects in 2016–17.
Any innovative project will be considered and need not necessarily be IT-focused; however, bids in support of technology to enhance teaching and learning are particularly welcome. Requests for funding primarily or solely for the purchase of equipment will not be accepted.
Application forms and examples of successful bids are available at: http://www.cctl.cam.ac.uk/support-and-training/funding.
Note that normally grants will be between £10,000–£20,000 but exceptionally requests for smaller grants will be considered. The Fund is only available for internal members of the University of Cambridge, and external bids will not be considered.
Successful applicants will report back to the Sub-committee within a year of funds being allocated, including evaluation of the project’s success. Projects should therefore be realistic and take these time constraints into account when submitting a bid. Successful applicants will be asked to contribute to activities sponsored by the Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning
Application forms should be submitted to Melissa Rielly, Educational and Student Policy, Academic Division, 17 Mill Lane, Cambridge (email: melissa.rielly@admin.cam.ac.uk), by Monday, 23 January 2017. Ms Rielly may be contacted with queries or requests for further details about the Fund.