Author: Shaun Williams, Executive Director Engagement and Advancement
- In its first meeting of 2024, UEB warmly welcomed Professor Miguel Mera to his first meeting as our new Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and wished him every success in his new role.
- The Vice-Chancellor thanked all those who had worked during the closure period to support our students and look after our campuses, and UEB also noted the successful completion of the Data Centre remedial work, and thanked all those involved.
- UEB congratulated a number of our University community who had received awards in the New Year Honours for 2024. This included one of our fourth-year students, Michael Penston, who was awarded a British Empire Medal after helping start a COVID-19 vaccination programme at the Southampton University Health Centre during the pandemic. UEB also congratulated Professor Penny Endersby, Chief Executive of the Met Office and a Visiting Professor in ECS, on the award of a CBE for services to meteorology, defence science and technology; and Dr Jahangir Alom, an alumnus of the Medical School, on the award of a British Empire Medal for services to tackling health inequalities.
- UEB noted the encouraging news that shortly before Christmas the Government rowed back on plans announced a few weeks earlier to hike the salary needed to bring family members to the UK under a family visa to £38,700 in the spring, a very significant increase on the current level of £18,600. The new threshold will initially be set at £29,000, with further increases at unspecified dates thereafter. This is an issue on which the Russell Group had made strong representations to Government.
- UEB were advised of a number of leadership changes: Julie Fielder, Executive Director Finance & Planning (Interim), has announced that she will be leaving the University at the end of February, after 10 years at Southampton, and taking a six-month career break before embarking on new career opportunities. Tamsin Dickinson, Director of Finance – Business Support, will step into the interim role until we are joined in May by Alison Jarvis, our new Executive Director of Finance. It was announced in December that Shaun Williams, Executive Director of Engagement and Advancement, will be retiring from the University at the end of June.
- UEB also heard that 1 January also saw the formal establishment of the new Strategy Office, under Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer Dr Giles Carden, comprising the existing Change Portfolio Office, combined with the Planning and Analytics team previously within Finance. This new strengthened team will provide a range of high-quality strategic planning, strategy delivery and transformation services, across the Triple Helix, to help the University achieve its strategic goals. An early priority, in partnership with the Finance Department, will be to start the process of reviewing and reforming the strategic business planning process. More details will be shared in due course.
- UEB had been delighted to see our University so prominently featured in the New Year’s Day BBC 1 special with Sir David Attenborough – Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster. Filmed in great secrecy seven months ago, and facilitated by our media team, the programme featured interviews with Dr Neil Gostling and Dr Katy Rankin. UEB congratulated all those involved.
- Finally, there was the regular review of the University Risk Register.