Notices by the General Board

Staff of the Judge Institute of Management (Judge Business School)

The General Board, on the recommendation of the Faculty Board of Business and Management, has agreed to rescind the office of Director of the M.B.A. course. The change will take effect from the expiry date of the current Director’s appointment, or the date of the end of the tenure of the current Director if sooner. All other Directors of degree programmes offered by the Judge Institute of Management (Judge Business School) do not hold offices and therefore this change is to provide equity of treatment for those holding these similar positions. The General Board has therefore agreed to delete Regulation 3 of the General Board Regulations for the Staff of the Institute (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 634) and renumber the remaining regulations.

Establishment of a Professorship (Grade 11) of Developmental Plasticity and Robustness

The General Board, on the recommendation of the Faculty Board of Biology and the Council of the School of the Biological Sciences, has approved the establishment of a Professorship (Grade 11) of Developmental Plasticity and Robustness for a single tenure from 1 October 2025. The Board has agreed that the Faculty Board will assign the office to a Department within the Faculty of Biology to align with the appointee’s field and experience. The Professorship will be fully funded from existing Chest resources available to the School. The Chair of the Resource Management Committee approved the funding arrangements for the office under delegated authority on 12 September 2024.

This appointment is strategically important for the School’s Reproduction, Development and Lifelong Health research theme. The broader research field has long been one in which Cambridge has been a global leader, but its position is now at risk owing to recent and impending retirements. Recruiting to this office will help sustain Cambridge’s reputation as a world leader in this critical research strand. The recruitment of a Professor (Grade 11) with strong research interests within the broad remit of ‘Developmental Plasticity and Robustness’ will capture multiple research areas of strategic importance to the School and will be of potentially special relevance for the School’s recently established Human Developmental Biology Initiative. This field is an important component within the Triposes for Natural Sciences, Medical Sciences and Veterinary Sciences, and the officeholder will be expected to contribute to a broad range of undergraduate lectures and modules including Human Reproduction, Cell and Developmental Biology, and Biology of Cells. In addition, the person appointed will be expected to contribute to two M.Phil. Degree pathways in Biological Sciences covering Developmental biology, and/or Reproduction and embryogenesis.

The officeholder will be expected to support the running of the Reproduction, Development and Lifelong Health research theme. The research focus of the appointee will be well aligned with various MRC and BBSRC strategic priorities, and also with funding opportunities under the Wellcome Discovery Awards programme. In addition, the new Professor (Grade 11) will be expected to take an active role in the host Department’s committee membership and contribute to the leadership and steering of various interdisciplinary research initiatives across the University.

This office is one of seven new Professorships (Grade 11) to be recruited across the School’s six research themes (see also p. 38): Molecules and Cells; Reproduction, Development and Lifelong Health; Infection and Immunity; Functional and Evolutionary Genomics; Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour; and Organisms, Evolution and Ecology (Reporter, 2023–24: 6736, p. 475; 6739, p. 545).

Establishment of a Professorship (Grade 11) of Immunity and Infection

The General Board, on the recommendation of the Faculty Board of Biology and the Council of the School of the Biological Sciences, has approved the establishment of a Professorship (Grade 11) of Immunity and Infection for a single tenure from 1 January 2025, which the Board has agreed that the Faculty Board will assign to a Department within the Faculty of Biology to align with the appointee’s field and experience. The Professorship will be fully funded from existing Chest resources available to the School. The Chair of the Resource Management Committee approved the funding arrangements for the office under delegated authority on 9 August 2024.

The Professorship fits within the School’s Infection and Immunity (I&I) theme and aligns with the School’s strategic vision and theme goals, promoting collaboration at the intersection of I&I research across the School’s departments. The officeholder will be a current or future global research leader who applies innovative and broadly applicable new techniques to the study of infection and immunity or the intersection of these disciplines. Their research will be applicable to at least one of the Grand Challenge areas within the I&I theme (Changing pathogens in a changing world, Seeing infection through a new lens, and Harnessing the immune system to fight disease). The officeholder could be a strong candidate for EPSRC, Leverhulme Trust or Royal Society Faraday Discovery Fellowships, or ERC consolidator grants, in addition to BBSRC and MRC funding.

The person appointed will be expected to contribute to teaching, examining, and administration of existing or new undergraduate or postgraduate courses. In Part Ib of the Natural Sciences Tripos, relevant courses include Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mathematical and Computational Biology, and Cell and Developmental Biology. For the Part II courses, the appointee would be expected to contribute to teaching across relevant host Department(s), with a potential focus on immunology, host:pathogen interactions and pathogen biology. The appointee would also be expected to contribute to the new Master of Philosophy (by Advanced Study) Degree in Biological Sciences, for example within the Infection Biology and Molecular Immunology (IBaMI) and Biomolecular Science pathways.

It is anticipated that the appointee would be a strong candidate for taking a leadership position in one of the School’s research themes (e.g. Infection and Immunity). Their innovative and collaborative research will ideally position them to advance the theme vision of bringing together researchers from across the School for collaborative research projects, funding proposals and to implement new technologies.