Notices by the General Board

Establishment of a Professorship (Grade 11) of Probability

2 August 2024

The General Board, on the recommendation of the Council of the School of the Physical Sciences, has approved the establishment of a Professorship (Grade 11) of Probability for a single tenure from 1 September 2025, assigned to the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics. The Professorship will be fully funded from existing Chest resources available to the Department. The Chair of the Resource Management Committee approved the funding arrangements for the office under delegated authority on 19 July 2024.

The competition for world-class pure mathematicians, including in the area of Probability, has never been more intense. Difficulties in comparative salary scales with institutions in the US, EU and China present a significant challenge. The Department has a large number of positions to fill over the next 2–3 years following recent resignations and retirements. In order to be competitive, it is important to try and attract as wide a diversity of candidates as possible, including being attractive to both early career researchers and those currently holding lectureship-level positions elsewhere. The Department has an acute teaching need for additional academic officers to deliver the undergraduate Mathematics Tripos as well as Part III-level teaching (M.Math./M.A.St.). Pure Mathematics and Probability courses remain extremely attractive for undergraduate and postgraduate students, exemplified in part by applications and admissions for the Pure Mathematics and Statistics streams within the subject of Mathematics for the M.A.St. Degree increasing significantly over the last few years.

Hamilton Kerr Institute

2 August 2024

The General Board, on the recommendation of the Fitzwilliam Museum Syndicate, has approved the following amendment to the General Board Regulations for the Hamilton Kerr Institute (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 654). This change removes the reference to the location of the Hamilton Kerr Institute. The text now reads as follows:

1. The Hamilton Kerr Institute shall be devoted to the conservation, and training in the conservation, of paintings.

Establishment of a Professorship (Grade 11) of Curatorial Practice

26 August 2024

The General Board, on the recommendation of the Fitzwilliam Museum, has approved the establishment of a Professorship (Grade 11) of Curatorial Practice for a single tenure from 1 September 2024, assigned to the Fitzwilliam Museum. The Professorship will be fully funded from existing Chest resources available to the Fitzwilliam Museum, by using funding available for vacant offices at the Museum, which will be held in abeyance for the duration of the appointment. The Chair of the Resource Management Committee approved the funding arrangements for the office under delegated authority on 1 August 2024.

This is believed to be the first time that the Board has established a generic office eligible for sabbatical leave at a General Board institution which is not within a School.1

The Museum’s Collections and Research Division includes a curatorial team of Keepers (held as an academic office at Grade 10), Senior Curators (academic, Grade 9), Curators (academic-related, Grade 8) and Research Associates (research, Grade 7). The team undertakes internationally significant research in specific areas of the Museum’s collection as recognised in the REF2021 submission to Unit of Assessment 32 (Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory), alongside work on displays, public programming, acquisitions, exhibitions and interpretation. The current structure – with the Deputy Director, Collections and Research (academic-related, Grade 11), managing the Keepers and Curators – is unsustainable. The Deputy Director must spend considerable time managing and solving problems with curators at all grades, limiting capacity to manage strategic work on University partnerships (for example, with Collections Connections Communities, Cambridge Visual Culture, and within the University on collaborations in support of the University’s REF submissions, and the pathway towards a Global Collections Study Centre). In addition, there is limited ability to dedicate time to capturing new grants within the curatorial team.

The recent resignations of curatorial staff present an opportunity to appoint a Professor (Grade 11) of Curatorial Practice with expertise to work on major exhibitions and displays, document and develop the collection, further grow the Museum’s research portfolio, develop collaborations inside the University and beyond, and support income generation (including research and philanthropic funding). The Museum will seek appropriate Faculty membership for the officeholder on appointment, once their specialism is known.

Title of Honorary Professor

In accordance with the regulations for the title of Honorary Professor (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 675), and on the recommendation of the Faculty Boards concerned, the General Board has conferred on the persons named the following titles:

For five years with effect from 1 October 2024:

Honorary Professor of Molecular Neuroscience:
Professor Giovanna Mallucci, Principal Investigator, Altos Labs, Cambridge Institute of Science, in the School of School of Clinical Medicine.

Honorary Professor of Politics:
Professor David Runciman, Department of Politics and International Studies, in the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Renewals:

For three years with effect from 1 October 2024:

Honorary Professor of Communications:
Professor Ian White, in the School of Technology.

For five years with effect from 1 October 2024:

Honorary Professor of Bioinformatics:
Professor Ewan Birney, in the School of Clinical Medicine.

Honorary Professor of Cancer Genomics:
Dr Peter Campbell, in the School of Clinical Medicine.