Vice-Chancellor's Introduction
Our bold vision is to be the top modern university in the UK and one of the top 100 young universities in the world by 2030. Research and Innovation is integral to achieving that vision - particularly as our international reputation is largely determined by our globally recognised research.
Following a preview of the Education Strategy last month, in this bulletin I will be focusing on the new Research and Innovation Strategy (R&I), with an update to come on the new Global Strategy in the next few weeks. R&I is core to who we are as a university and the new strategy will help us achieve our fourth strategic imperative to increase our globally recognised research and innovation.
The next stage of the digital transformation of our HR services is previewed, introducing changes which will significantly modernise the process for recruiting staff. This bulletin also includes a further reminder about the importance of cyber security, with all of us having a critical part to play.
There’s also much to look forward to in the world of sport and I’ll be reflecting on the value of more in-depth conversations over a cup of coffee.
Research and Innovation Strategy preview
A new Research and Innovation Strategy has been launched to help us achieve our fourth strategic imperative to increase our globally recognised research and innovation based on thematic areas, prioritising collaboration and international engagement.
Led by Jeremy Howells, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Innovation & External Engagement), the strategy focuses on four priorities:
- Generating World Leading Research
- Integrating Research, Innovation, Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise
- Creating the Right Structures and Processes
- Building Better Relationships
The strategy includes a number of detailed objectives such as how we incentivise world leading research and how we put in the right support structures to help this happen. For example, there are plans to implement a university‐wide workload planning model (WPM) that incentivises top quality 4-star outputs, impact and research income generation. This will include mapping expectations and targets for research active staff, in conjunction with HR and aligned with the WPM. This will mean providing effective support and mentoring to staff to achieve these goals, to foster a research culture that focuses on providing ‘fewer but higher quality’ outputs.
Five of the six Taskforces have been formed and will report at a Research & Innovation Awayday on 10 March that will address these key cross‐cutting issues ahead of publishing a more detailed strategic plan. The sixth, centred on the proposed Medical School and our research collaboration with Portsmouth Hospitals University Trust (PHUT) is being set up now. A big thanks to all the members of the Taskforces who have put so much energy, time and support in developing a more detailed plan for R&I activities at the University with many great ideas and suggestions. These Taskforces will, in turn, provide input into the wider strategic plan for the University Research and Innovation Strategy being supported by the Faculty Associate Deans for Research and Innovation (ADR&Is), Theme Directors, Planning and HR.
HR Digital Transformation
In February we launched the PeopleHub - phase 1 of our HR Digital Transformation, which provides a one-stop-shop to access our People Operations team (formerly called HR Services) and supports colleagues through better and more effective access to support.
Since then, we have been working hard on Phase 2, a significant change with automation to reduce manual processes further. We will shortly be launching three new upgrades to iTrent which is the system you use for Employee and Manager Self Service:
- Staff Recruitment & Applicant Tracking System (ATS) - this will give the hiring manager control over the recruitment process with support from HR Operations. It will remove any manual processes currently in place and automate approval for the role through to the generation of employment contracts. There will be a high level of applicant self-service, including allowing applicants to book their interview slots.
- On-boarding - this will enable new staff, who have yet to start, to undertake training and complete their on-boarding tasks via a portal which will provide a consistent and welcoming experience, removing manual processes and ensuring they feel part of the UoP team at the earliest stage.
- Off-boarding - this process supports existing UoP colleagues and ensures a smooth experience allowing leavers to have self-service access to important documents such as a final payslip P45 and P60 before and after they have left for a limited period. The process also has an exit survey enabling us to gather insight into why staff are leaving and to support future workforce planning.
Our commitment to providing colleagues with an innovative, future-focused, high-performing and easy-to-access People Operations team continues. Please look out for further launch communications over the next few weeks. Of course, changing how we do things will require adjustment, with all of us having to operate differently and learn new ways of working. At the start this does require changing habits but it will reap many benefits once we are familiar with the new approaches. I am therefore grateful for the support of colleagues as we transform the way we operate, ultimately to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and make all our lives easier.
Cyber Security
You will remember the disruption that was caused by the cyber incident the University suffered back in April 2021. We needed to close the campus for 10 days, take over two months to restore the majority of our main systems (over 6 months for some systems), and face a significant financial cost to become fully operational once again.
Every week, we block thousands of cyber threats, receive reports of numerous phishing attempts, some of which are successful and sadly impact the recipient. We continue to invest heavily to improve and maintain our cyber security to help prevent further attacks from succeeding. But this can all be undone by one person ignoring the advice given in our Security Awareness Training.
Staff should have received invitations to complete cyber security training modules on our specialist training partner’s platform, MetaCompliance. These modules centre around Cyber Security Core Concepts, Common Cyber Threats and Phishing Awareness, with future courses on topics such as Social Engineering and Media, and Device Security. I have learnt something new from each of these courses and it is important for all staff to complete them to ensure we are all aware of the risks and how to protect ourselves and the University.
We are also introducing a number of new cyber security policies to help reduce our vulnerabilities and protect our University from cyber security threats. Please look out for these in the coming weeks and ensure you familiarise yourself with them.
This is an incredibly important priority, and it is everyone’s responsibility to protect the University from cyber threats. The training courses are also beneficial to protecting your information in your personal life from falling victim to cyber criminals. If you have any concerns about cyber security, or want to report any cyber security breaches, please contact the IT Service Desk.
Special guest to officially open our sports centre
We will welcome back Lauren Steadman MBE, our gold-winning Paralympian and alumnus, to officially open our Ravelin Sports Centre later this week. A plaque will be unveiled to mark the occasion along with invited guests and prominent community figures.
The popularity of the centre continues to grow. Since its opening in September there has been over 12,900 users and over 440,000 uses of the centre. There are also over 600 children involved in swimming lessons, and a further 15 schools across the city that are learning to swim in our pool.
Customer feedback continues to be very positive. For example, competitors at a recent regional jiu-jitsu event hosted at the sports centre said it was the best venue they had experienced. There are challenges to meet the high demand from our students, staff and the community, but in many ways it’s better to manage high rather than low demand.
As well as the sports centre's official opening, we can also look forward to Varsity which will take place in Southampton on 19 March. Spectator tickets are still available to show your support for Team UoP!
Café Conversations
I enjoyed our first Café Conversations last month - an informal face-to-face session providing you with an opportunity to ask questions and discuss ideas with me and our Deputy Vice-Chancellors. While the larger all-staff briefings and Q&As are an important way for us to provide answers to many questions, we wanted to provide additional time for more in-depth conversations in a relaxed setting at The Hub in Dennis Sciama.
The discussion flowed and topics ranged from landscaping to apprenticeships, providing us with a fuller understanding of the opportunities and challenges, and how we as senior leaders can help address them. We will hold more Cafe Conversations on 26 April and we will share further details of how you can get involved nearer the time.