Reports

Report of the General Board on the establishment of certain Professorships

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

1. The General Board recommends the establishment of a Professorship of Geophysics, a Nanjing Professorship of Technology and Innovation and a Professorship of Neuroendocrinology. The funding arrangements for these Professorships, as set out in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 below, were scrutinised by the Resource Management Committee at its meeting held on 23 January 2019.

2. The Board has accepted an academic case from the Council of the School of the Physical Sciences for the establishment for a single tenure, from 1 October 2019, of a Professorship of Geophysics in the Department of Earth Sciences for one year. The holder of this Professorship will be the person elected to the Professorship of Geophysics (1966), an office currently held by Professor Robert White, who will retire on 30 September 2020. The full salary costs of the one-year prolepsis will be met from resources available to the Department and the School. As one of only three Professorships in the Department of Earth Sciences, an early appointment is essential before the REF July 2020 census date and also vital to the succession planning of the academic leadership of the Bullard Laboratory. The Department would like to have both Professor White and his successor in place to maintain continuity and strengthen the significant research interests in geophysics, as well as maintain the Bullard Group’s invaluable contribution to undergraduate teaching.

3. The Board has accepted an academic case from the Council of the School of Technology for the establishment for a single tenure, from 1 April 2019, of a Nanjing Professorship of Technology and Innovation in the Department of Engineering. The full salary costs of the Professorship will be met from a £10 million capital payment under an agreement between the University of Cambridge, its subsidiary Cambridge University International Holdings (CUIH) and the Nanjing Healthcare Investment Area and Development Company (NIHA). The establishment of the Professorship will cement the flourishing academic links with commercial and academic research groups in the Nanjing area of China. The office‑holder will also be appointed as the Academic Director of the Cambridge University – Nanjing Centre of Technology and Innovation based in Nanjing. Under the agreement with the funders, the office‑holder will spend a minimum of three months in any one year at the Centre outside Full Term.

4. The Board has accepted an academic case from the Council of the School of the Biological Sciences for the establishment for a single tenure, from 2 September 2019, of a Professorship of Neuroendocrinology in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience. Half of the salary costs of the Professorship will be met from existing resources available to the Department and the other half will be provided by the Wellcome Trust. The holder of the Professorship of Neuroendocrinology will be Professor Allan Herbison from the University of Otago, New Zealand. Professor Herbison has recently been awarded a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship for five years from 2 September 2019 with an accompanying Wellcome Trust research grant of £2.25m. The Department has agreed to underwrite the full salary costs of the Professorship until retirement in the event that the Wellcome Trust grant is not renewed.

5.The General Board recommends:

I.That a Professorship of Geophysics be established in the University from 1 October 2019 for one year, placed in the Schedule to Special Ordinance C (vii) 1, and assigned to the Department of Earth Sciences.

II.That a Nanjing Professorship of Technology and Innovation be established in the University from 1 April 2019, placed in the Schedule to Special Ordinance C (vii) 1, and assigned to the Department of Engineering.

III.That a Professorship of Neuroendocrinology be established in the University for Professor Allan Herbison, from 2 September 2019, placed in the Schedule to Special Ordinance C (vii) 1, and assigned to the Department of Physiology, Development, and Neuroscience.

 

15 February 2019	Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor	A. L. Greer	Graham Virgo
	Philip Allmendinger	Nicholas Holmes	Mark Wormald
	Abigail Brundin	Patrick Maxwell	Chris Young
	John Dennis	Richard Rex
	Abigail Fowden	Helen Thompson