June 2018
Director's Update
The Times, They Are A-Changing
In the months before I joined N8, in my previous job at EPSRC, I used a slide in my presentations which asked the question - what connects Sir Mark Walport and Bob Dylan? The answer is, of course, “the times, they are a-changing”. While the higher education landscape is evolving rapidly at present, with the creation of UK Research and Innovation, and the Office for Students, Brexit, REF 2021 and son on, it is essential for us also to lift our eyes to the horizon and anticipate, so far as we can, the next wave of disruptions which will lead to change.
I attended two workshops on consecutive days this month, with very different audiences and subjects. A couple of recurring themes emerged in both; the need to evolve our university cultures for research in the 21st century and the need to incentivise and reward the behaviours and environments that will allow our investigators to flourish now and in the future.
For me, this has to include some hard thinking on:
• the impact of digital technologies, including virtual reality and artificial intelligence, on how universities go about their business of research and education;
• developing an investigative body for the 21st century, where the role of academic, research, technical and administrative staff is properly and equitably recognised and rewarded with career structures that reflect the crucial roles all of these people play in delivering high quality research and teaching;
• how might we better involve local communities and those with lived experience in determining our research directions, to deliver impacts that are meaningful to them?
These are non-trivial issues that require real leadership to address; I believe that by working together and pooling ideas, perspectives and good practice the universities of the N8 research partnership can lead the way to an even stronger, more effective research and innovation system in the North of England.
Enjoy the newsletter.
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