Category: College Announcements

Honorary titles for distinguished clinicians

The Management Board considered a paper outlining options for conferring titles on NHS consultants who do not meet the academic requirements for the title of Professor or Reader, but whose significant contribution the College wishes to recognise. The Board agreed that these individuals could be given the honorary title of Adjunct Professor or Adjunct Reader as appropriate. This title is already in use in the College to recognise eminent business leaders who act in a teaching capacity. The same process for awarding the title will be used, with applications from Heads of Department and endorsed by the relevant Faculty Principal considered by an Adjunct Appointments Panel led by the Deputy Rector. Titles will be awarded for five years.

Funding the Academic Health Science Centre Office

The Management Board approved a proposal that the anticipated costs for the next stage of the Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) delivery programme be equally split between the College and the Imperial College Healthcare Trust. The budget is required to fund a small central AHSC Office, and the delivery of a core programme of administration and events.

New President’s PhD Scholarship Scheme and changes to allocation of Rector’s Scholarships

The Management Board considered a paper which summarised the recommendations of the newly-formed Scholarships Panel, announced in Staff Briefing #65.

The Panel agreed that the goal of scholarships was to attract and retain the best students and recommended that a number of changes be made to the provision and criteria, including:

  • Undergraduate scholarships will be open to home, EU and international students.
  • Applicants for undergraduate scholarships should no longer be means tested, since home and EU students from household incomes of less than £60,000 per year are eligible for cash in hand and/or a partial accommodation fee waiver via the College’s Financial Support Package.
  • Departments should be pre-allocated undergraduate scholarship numbers to ensure an appropriate spread.
  • Scholarships for Taught Master’s students should no longer be offered since the College has little difficulty attracting applications from outstanding students for these programmes.
  • An enlarged and more generous President’s PhD Scholarship scheme should be established that will be open to home, EU and international students across the Faculties and Business School. The scheme will use funds raised from alumni annual appeals, income from the Endowment, existing doctoral schemes and funds from other sources (e.g. industry).

The Management Board approved these recommendations. Adverts will appear shortly for fifty PhD scholarships which will be awarded to individuals demonstrating exceptional potential, to begin at the College in October 2013.

 

 

Imperial’s withdrawal from the IDEA League

The College has confirmed its decision to withdraw from the IDEA League, a network of universities in Europe with a focus on science and technology, with effect from December 2012. The decision follows a review and refocusing of Imperial’s top-level multi-institutional partnerships in line with the College’s current mission and its future development.

The IDEA League was founded in 1999 to establish joint activities in education, research and quality assurance and participate jointly in EU programmes. Current members are TU Delft, ETH Zurich, RWTH Aachen, ParisTech and Imperial. Joint activities for students have included summer school programmes and an annual sports event. Other achievements of the IDEA League include the development of the EIT Climate Change Knowledge Innovation Community (Climate KIC), and a collaborative Doctoral pilot programme focused on research relating to ageing, both of which will continue to involve the College.

The College has advised IDEA League partners that it remains committed to fostering strong collaborations with them and other leading European universities.

Do you write about the College in your work?

Using agreed language when you’re describing Imperial and its activities across the many platforms that we publish to – online, email, print, advertising, labelling, etc., – is a professional and effective way of communicating. The latest update to the Imperial College London house style includes current disabilities terminology, so that you can make absolutely sure you are saying the right thing. See the latest version online or download a PDF.

For general information about communicating about the College and about brand and graphic identity, see the graphic identity webpages or email your specific queries to graphicidentity@imperial.ac.uk

Research Excellence Framework Code of Practice

The College’s Code of Practice on the fair and transparent selection of staff for submission to REF2014 is now awaiting approval by HEFCE. All higher education institutions making submissions to REF2014 are required to have and implement such a Code. Its purpose is to govern the decision-making processes about which staff to submit.  It outlines who will make these decisions, the criteria that may be used, and describes how decisions will be communicated to staff. Other important components include the appeals process and the procedures to ensure that the College’s approach is consistent and inclusive and complies with current equalities legislation.

The Code was informed by consultation with key College staff and developed with the benefit of input from representatives from established forums such as the University and College Union (UCU), the Equality and Diversity Committee, Staff Advisory Groups, the Academic Opportunities Committee, HR, Faculty Principals and REF Leads. A draft of the Code was published internally on the College’s REF website inviting comment from all staff. The final version of the Code was approved for submission to HEFCE by the REF Steering Group.

The College’s Code of Practice can be downloaded here: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/ref/equality

Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering

Professor Peter Cawley FREng, FRS, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has accepted appointment as Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering with effect from 1 October 2012. He will succeed Professor Tony Kinloch FREng, FRS who retires after 28 years of service to Imperial and becomes a Senior Research Investigator.

Professor Cawley joined the College in 1981 as a Lecturer and after a series of promotions was appointed Professor in 1996. He has served as Deputy Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering since October 2007. Professor Cawley’s research focuses on non-destructive evaluation (NDE), with the aim to solve problems in industrial inspection and monitoring, particularly through the application of sonic and ultrasonic techniques. He is a director of two spin-out companies that commercialise work from his research group and holds a Diploma with Distinction in Teaching and Course Development in Higher Education from the Institute of Education. Professor Cawley was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2006 and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2010.

Pay Award for 2012-13

The College will be applying an increase to all Imperial College local pay scales on 1 August 2012.  The pay rates for all staff will increase by £800 or 1% – whichever is greater.  The pay award has been structured as a flat sum to provide most benefit to those on the starting and middle range salaries. The College local pay offer is twice the value of the national final pay offer of 1% in recognition of the particular pressures of living and working in London.  All staff earning below £80,000 will receive increases greater than the national pay offer. For those staff due to progress through the College’s incremental pay scales on 1 October, increases in pay will range from 4.26% to 6.46%.

The Joint Trades Unions, representing UCU, Unite and Unison, were not able to agree to this pay award. Further information on the pay negotiations is available on the Human Resources website.

The College has also reviewed the pay and benefits for those who work regularly on College sites but through contract services rather than as direct employees. As a result of this review, carried out in conjunction with the Joint Trades Unions, a College worker minimum pay rate will be introduced that contractors must apply to workers permanently assigned to work at the College. The College has been able to arrange for this rate to apply to the current cleaning contract in advance of the retender process next year. The College worker minimum pay rate of £7.25 per hour will take effect from 1 August 2012.

Academic Health Science Centre Director

Professor David Taube, Professor of Transplant Medicine at Imperial College London and medical director at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, has accepted appointment as Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) Director with effect from 1 September 2012.

The creation of the new position of AHSC Director was one of the recommendations of the review of the AHSC led by Professor Lord Darzi, commissioned in 2011 to evaluate the success of the AHSC since its foundation and to advise on its future direction (see College Notice 2010/11 – 18). The College and the Trust have considered the findings and jointly developed an action plan to renew and strengthen collaboration within the AHSC, which will be a major responsibility of the AHSC Director.

Professor Taube, reporting jointly to the Principal of the College’s Faculty of Medicine and the Chief Executive of the Trust, will drive the development of the AHSC and play a pivotal role in fully realising its aspiration to transform healthcare by translating research discoveries into medical advances in as fast a timeframe as is possible. He will strengthen the interface between clinical and academic activities, build on the innovation culture and implement strategies for channeling research excellence to deliver world class healthcare to local, national and global populations.

Professor Taube trained in renal medicine and transplantation at Guy’s Hospital before becoming a consultant nephrologist at King’s College Hospital in 1985. He became Clinical Director of the Renal and Transplant Unit at St Mary’s Hospital in 1990 and subsequently led the development of the Imperial Renal and Transplant Centre on the Hammersmith site which opened in 2005. He was appointed Professor of Transplant Medicine in Imperial’s Department of Medicine in 2006 and has been medical director at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust since its formation in 2007.