VC's Introduction
May is upon us and it’s now that critical part of the academic year where we prepare our students for the main examination and assessment period. After the disruption of the pandemic, and the cyber attack in April last year, it feels as though we are entering this year's examination period in a more stable position. I want to thank everyone for their hard work, be that teaching our students or providing other vital support at what can be a very anxious time.
In this bulletin I have, unfortunately, an update on the continued delay to the opening of Ravelin Sports Centre. I know we are all looking forward to finally being able to use this fantastic facility and the delays are incredibly frustrating.
In better news we continue to make fantastic progress within our research areas. In this bulletin I share an update on the launch this month of the Centre for Creative and Immersive Extended Reality and the Centre for Enzyme Innovation. These centres support our strategic imperatives demonstrating the strength and depth of our research as we seek to address some of the world’s most pressing problems.
I am also pleased to provide a brief update on our approach to analysing and sharing our REF results as I know we are anxious to find out how well we have performed benchmarked against others in the UK. The results of this exercise reset our research ranking and QR funding for at least the next five years and as such are extremely important for us.
I also talk about my recent visits to schools within the University of Portsmouth Academy Trust. We have a fantastic opportunity with our Trust to support the growth and development of our local children. I am incredibly proud of the work we are doing and the role we are taking as an educational leader in our City.
Finally, I’m thrilled that we will be able to see the return of the Staff Sports Day and Staff Party on 28 July. Do put the date in your diaries, it has been a real miss over the last few years being unable to be together as a community for events like this.
Sports Centre Update
I wrote to you at the beginning of the year to let you know that the opening of the new Ravelin Sports Centre had been delayed to enable some further works to be properly completed.
I am disappointed to have to let you know that the opening of the centre is still delayed.
The contractor is continuing to work through a number of issues in order to ensure they are all resolved to the standard we expect before we take possession of the building. The situation has been compounded by supply chain problems that are being experienced across the construction sector at this time and this has slowed down the completion of some activities.
We now hope to welcome staff, students, and the community to Ravelin in the summer.
This is a deeply frustrating situation. So many of us have been looking forward to being able to access and use what will be a first class facility. We will not however, compromise on quality, and we won’t open the centre until we are assured that all the issues have been addressed.
We will keep you updated on progress and let you know our detailed opening plan as soon as we can.
REF Communications and Analysis
Next week’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) results are extremely important. They will benchmark our research and innovation (R&I) progress, will form the basis for future direct funding allocations by the Government and will be a strong statement of progress towards our ambitions.
On the morning of 9 May 2022, the Research England team will release each individual institution's results to the head of each university, in confidence and under strict embargo. On 10 May 2022, the Research England team will then provide universities with all the REF results, under embargo. During 9-11 May, Portsmouth staff working on the REF will be collating and analysing data ready for wider communication and press releases on 12 May when the embargo will be lifted. On the morning of 12 May therefore, I will be sending an email in the morning to all staff communicating the high level overview of REF results for Portsmouth and an indication of how we have performed relative to other institutions. The Executive Deans will then email all their Faculty staff later that morning outlining more specific profiles of REF performances by Unit of Assessment (UoAs) and also providing further commentary.
This will be followed later in the summer with further REF details and analysis. This includes a report by each main panel confirming its working methods and providing an overview of its observations about the state of research (strengths, weaknesses, vitality of activity and scope of impacts achieved) in the panel area, plus a section provided by each sub-panel. Reports by the main REF Equality and Diversity Panel (EDAP), the REF Interdisciplinary Research Advisory Panel (IDAP), the Institutional-level Environment Pilot Panel (ILEPP) will also be made available at this time.
The REF results will undoubtedly stimulate wide discussion and analysis with, I am sure, some very positive stories for us to share. But whatever the outcomes of REF, we must continue to build on our research and innovation successes and develop our research culture towards even more world-class research for the next REF. Our research and innovation activities are what mark us out as being a university rather than a community college and provide the foundation for our future success in so many areas from student recruitment to societal impact locally and internationally.
Research and the launch of CCIXR and CEI
You may have read about the Mission Space launch in my last bulletin. I had the privilege of seeing first hand the excitement in the room about our world-leading astronomy research and innovation in space technology and the significant potential for us as a university to be a catalyst of significant growth of space activities in our region. We are ranked 9th in the UK and 70th globally for our Space Science Research, which provides a fantastic platform for growth.
Two more significant centres are launching at the University this month. The Centre for Creative and Immersive Extended Reality (CCIXR) launched on 4 May. It is the UK’s first integrated facility to support innovation in the creative and digital technologies of virtual, augmented and extended realities. Funded by £5.2 million investment – including £3.6 million from Solent LEP – CCIXR will deliver immersive and creative extended reality (XR) facilities and build on the University's recognised expertise and excellence in digital innovation and the application of emerging technologies. Through innovation and the application of XR technology, CCIXR will support economic growth and enhanced productivity in a variety of sectors locally, nationally and globally.
On 27 May, the Centre for Enzyme Innovation (CEI) will launch a new Industrial Engagement Hub (IEH). Made possible by £1.7 million investment from the HM Government Getting Building Fund through the Solent LEP and the University. The IEH provides the CEI with new state-of-the-art polymer analysis, polymer synthesis and biorecycling laboratories, alongside an innovation space and expanded postgraduate suite. This aims to bridge the gap between current fundamental research, through knowledge exchange and the creation of practical and scalable enzyme-enabled technologies for the recycling and upcycling of plastic waste, with the potential to reduce environmental plastic pollution.
Global research like this will help us achieve our ten-year vision of becoming one of the top 100 young universities.
Staff Party and Sports Day
I'm really looking forward to seeing the return of the staff party this year. Over the last two years we have all become skilled at connecting with colleagues virtually, but celebrations and social interaction are so much better in person. After the challenging times we have all experienced it feels right that we come together at the end of the academic year, reflect on our achievements, and relax with colleagues as well as celebrate 30 years as a university. We'll also be able to celebrate the victors and commiserate with the losers from the staff sports day. I do hope as many colleagues as possible will be able to join us on 28 July.
Visit to Academy Trust Schools
During April I had the pleasure of visiting the schools in our University of Portsmouth Academy Trust (UPAT) with Chris Chang, Mark Cooper and Catherine Carroll-Meehan. You will recall that the Trust launched in January of this year with three primary schools: Milton Park and Cottage Grove in Portsmouth and Woodcot in Gosport.
I was blown away with the commitment of the staff and the politeness of the children at each of the schools and all are very unique with distinct challenges.
Cottage Grove has lots of children from the University community with many of our own staff and students’ children attending. A diverse cohort of children speak 36 different languages and enjoy good outcomes which are to be celebrated.
Milton Park is also an inclusive school that values the contributions made by each child, their families and they too are proud of their cultural and linguistic diversity. I visited the school with Stephen Morgan MP, who was keen to see how the University is playing a key role in supporting the education of our young people in the City. He also has the Labour brief as Shadow Minister for Schools and he was interested to learn how our newly established Education and Research, Innovation and Consultancy (ERIC) unit is acting as the cornerstone of our school improvement support for UPAT and how University departments are able to become involved in school-based research to improve outcomes for learners. I would encourage any member of the University to explore the ERIC webpages to see how you might get involved.
Woodcot Primary School based in Gosport, although in a technically deprived area, has an abundance of outdoor space in which the children can explore their surroundings and nature. They also have a fully functioning outdoor swimming pool complex that the children and the community make use of and hopefully the other UPAT schools will have access to.
The purpose of the Academy Trust is to bring together all the communities and professionals in the schools to develop a unique approach to learning and teaching by utilising the available resources and skills of the staff, children and their families. The University of Portsmouth is proud to have these three schools as founding members of UPAT and part of the UoP family and I encourage you to engage and support these and other schools in the Trust as it grows and welcomes new schools into UPAT.
Thank you to VC Awards nominators
I would like to thank nominators who have put forward colleagues, students, alumni and community members for a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence. I’m aware it’s been an incredibly busy period coming out of a pandemic to new (and old) challenges of a very full academic year on campus. I appreciate the time taken by nominators to help recognise people who have made exceptional contributions to the University and the community.
Over the coming weeks an awards panel of staff and students will assess the nominations with winners announced later in the summer. We will celebrate our award winners at an event on campus on 14 September - which is always one of my highlights of the year.