Notices by the General Board

Establishment of a Dawson Professorship of Young People’s Mental Health

The General Board has agreed to propose the establishment in perpetuity of a Dawson Professorship of Young People’s Mental Health from 1 October 2025, assigned to the Department of Psychology and linked to a Fellowship at St Catharine’s College. The salary costs of the Professorship will be fully funded by a gift of £4,122,000 as an endowment to be held on trust by the University, together with £378,000 donated as endowment to St Catharine’s College to meet the costs of the associated Fellowship.

As reports of mental health issues among school and university students continue to rise globally, there is a pressing need to bolster existing support systems and ensure that Cambridge not only provides the best support to its students, but also leads the way globally in advancing the science and practice of student mental health. The Dawson Professorship of Young People’s Mental Health will greatly enhance the School of the Biological Sciences’ Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour research theme. The officeholder will be expected to provide research and teaching leadership in young people’s mental health within the Department of Psychology and across the University more broadly. It is also envisaged that the Dawson Professor will collaborate with Student Services to further improve the quality of mental health support provided for the University’s students. Further, through a Fellowship at St Catharine’s College, the officeholder will provide leadership for the implementation of mental health initiatives across the University and the Colleges. While it is entirely possible that the officeholder will have clinical qualifications, this will not be a requirement, and the Professorship will be open to those from a more translational science background.

The Dawson Professor is expected to play a full role in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. In particular, the officeholder will be expected to contribute to lectures and courses in mental health at undergraduate level in the Psychological and Behavioural Sciences Tripos, with occasional additional contributions to other relevant undergraduate and postgraduate courses. A full role with graduate research students will also be expected.

The General Board has agreed, on the recommendation of the Council of the School of the Biological Sciences and the Faculty Board of Biology, that appointments shall be made by an ad hoc Board of Electors and that candidature shall be open without limitation or preference to all persons whose work falls within the general field of the title of the office.

The Council is submitting Graces (Graces 2 and 3, p. 119) for the approval of the establishment of the Professorship in perpetuity and regulations to govern the related endowment fund.

Establishment of a Professorship (Grade 11) of Molecular and Cellular Biology

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 Molecular and Cellular Biology for a single tenure from 1 January 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 office 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 October 2024.

The officeholder’s research interests will be driven by new technologies using cross-disciplinary approaches – including advanced imaging, machine learning, sequencing/genomics and structural biology – allowing integration of new technologies to interrogate molecular and cellular information. An appointment in this area will promote stronger engagement across partner institutes outside of SBS (e.g. at CIMR, MRC-LMB). The recruitment of a Molecular Cell Biologist with strong interests in both the adoption and development of new technology to further advance research in this area is central to the strategic themes of many funders both in Biology and across related disciplines. This research area also fits within the remit of UKRI Physics of Life programme and the ongoing Engineering Biology funding call, and associated UKRI strategies. The officeholder will contribute to teaching, examining, and administration of existing or new undergraduate and postgraduate courses at all levels. In Part Ib of the Natural Sciences Tripos, relevant courses include Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pathology, Cell and Developmental Biology, and Pharmacology. The appointee will also be expected to contribute to the teaching of Part II courses in Pathology, Genetics, Biochemistry or Pharmacology and to the M.Phil. Degree course in Therapeutic Sciences or the new pathways in Biomolecular science and Cell science offered as part of the M.Phil. Degree course in Biological Sciences.

It is anticipated that the officeholder will take a leadership role in the School’s Molecules and Cells research theme, and there will also be an opportunity for the individual to play a key role in the development of an MRC Centre of Research Excellence.

This office is the seventh of seven new Professorships (Grade 11) to be recruited across the School’s six research themes: 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; and 2024–25, 6754: p. 37 and p. 38).

Kettle’s Yard Committee

The General Board, on the recommendation of the Kettle’s Yard Committee, has agreed to make changes to the membership of the Committee and the consequential amendments to General Board Regulations noted below. These changes:

•revise the Committee’s membership so that there are six (instead of five) members appointed by the General Board and six (instead of five) co-opted members, with the latter to be appointed for three years and reappointable for a further three years, instead of until 31 December of the year in which they are co-opted or of the following year as the Committee shall determine at the time of their co-optation;

•make one further minor change to the membership, to update the description of the experience required of at least one of the co-opted members;

•remove the provision requiring the Registrary to appoint a Secretary to the Committee, now that this appointment is made from among the staff at Kettle’s Yard;

•update the titles of the ‘Assistant to the Director’ to the ‘Assistant Director’ and the ‘Music Secretary’ to the ‘Music Associate’ and the duties of the latter;

•remove the provision for an Honorary Curator, as this is no longer used;

•remove the requirement for the Appointments Committee to be a standing committee, instead enabling it to be constituted when there is a vacancy.

In the General Board Regulations for the Committee (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 657), by amending Regulations 2(b) and (g), 3, 6, 8, 11(b) and the last sentence of Regulation 9 to read as follows, removing Regulation 7 and renumbering the remaining regulations:

[2.] (b)    six members appointed by the General Board, one on the nomination of the Director of Finance and one from among the senior staff of the University’s museums and collections;

        (g)    not more than six persons co-opted by the Committee, at least one of whom shall have expertise within the contemporary visual arts.

3. Members in class (b) shall be appointed in the Michaelmas Term to serve for three years from 1 January following their appointment, followed by the option of reappointment for an additional three-year period. Co-opted members shall serve for three years, followed by the option of reappointment for an additional three-year period.

6. There shall be a person appointed to the post of Music Associate, who shall act as secretary of the Music Sub-committee and undertake such other duties as the Kettle’s Yard Committee shall determine.

8. There shall be the University offices of Director of Kettle’s Yard and Assistant Director of Kettle’s Yard. The Director shall be a member of the Faculty of Architecture and History of Art.

[9.] Members in classes (c) and (d) shall be appointed when there is notice of a vacancy.

[11.]  (b)     to provide oversight of the Kettle’s Yard accounts;