Susan Gourvenec presents to UKRI CEO Dame Otteline Leyser and UKRI delegation

The University of Southampton hosted Dame Otteline Leyser, Chief Executive of UKRI and a delegation from UKRI for a 2 day visit, May 19th and 20th for a programme of events covering topics relevant across the research councils of UKRI remit and involving participants from local industry and universities across the Solent region.

On the morning of May 20th, Dame Otteline presented the new UKRI 5-year strategy to an invited audience of industry representatives and academics across the region – attending in person in the University of Southampton’s Centenary building or joining online for the live stream.

Mark Spearing, Vice President of Research and Enterprise at the University of Southampton opened the event, welcoming Dame Ottoline Leyser and her team to the University of Southampton and touching on the importance of the new UKRI strategy.

Dame Ottoline then presented the UKRI strategy 2022-2027, which was launched in March this year. The ‘shifts’ ncessary to drive the necessary changes in research and innovation in a changing world were highlighted - Diversity, Connectivity, Resilience and Engagement, alongside six strategic objectives centred on People, Places, Ideas, Innovation, Impacts and Organisation.

Following Dame Otteline’s presentation were two invited presentations from University of Southampton academics. Dr Nisreen Alwan MBE, from Medicine, who talked about her leading role in the Southampton Saliva Testing Programme and long covid research. Professor Susan Gourvenec, Chair in Emerging Technologies for Intelligent & Resilient Ocean Engineering (IROE) and Deputy Director of the pan-university Southampton Marine & Maritime Institute then shared some of the University of Southampton’s marine & maritime research, partnerships and knowledge exchange for a sustainable future.

Following the presentations there was a wide ranging Q&A session exploring aspects of the new UKRI strategy particularly with emphasis on enabling early career researchers and facilitating multidisciplinary research.

You can find out more about the UKRI strategy here.

You can view Susan’s slides here.