Blog posts

Olympic preparations

Due to the expected impact on College activities of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the following changes to services will be in place over the coming months.

  • Post

Royal Mail will be collecting mail two hours earlier than normal. In order to meet these pickup times the Post Room will collect mail at the following times from 23 July to 7 September:

  • St Mary’s and Royal Brompton: 13.00
  • Hammersmith and Charing Cross: 15.00
  • South Kensington: 09.30 – 11.00, 13.00 – 13.45, 15.00 – 16.00 (the latter collection will be picked up by the Royal Mail the following day)
  • Silwood Park and Northwick Park will not be affected

Any questions should be directed to Hussein Abdi by email.

  • Catering bookings

The Events team are implementing a 72 hour notice period for all catering bookings, amendments and cancellations between 25 July and 7 September 2012 in order to ensure customers receive a consistently high level of service. Questions regarding any catering booking throughout this time should be directed to the Events team by email, or on 020 7594 9220.

  • Deliveries

The Purchasing Department is advising that freight deliveries will take longer than usual, and have set up a webpage with advice for staff, including:

  • Guidance on how to minimise the impact of the Games when ordering
  • Links to statements from the College’s main suppliers and couriers on their plans to fulfil deliveries during the Games
  • A timeline of the events affecting College sites

Questions can be directed to the PO helpdesk either by email, or on 020 7594 8593.

  • Revised SCR opening times

The Japanese Olympic Team will be using the catering facilities in the Senior Common Room while staying on the South Kensington Campus during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Consequently from 23 July to 14 August, the Senior Common Room Cafe will open to staff and students at 11.00. The Junior Common Room Cafe will be open from 08.00 to 11.00, and will serve a selection of barista coffees and pastries.

More information on the College’s response to the Olympics can be found here.

More information on changes to roads and public transport is available on the Get Ahead of the Games website

Olympic preparations affecting four London rail stations on Tuesday 10 July

Simulated queuing and passenger diversions will be in place at London Bridge, Cannon Street, Charing Cross and Victoria on Tuesday 10 July in preparation for the Olympic Games. Passengers are encouraged to plan their journeys as usual, but should be aware that they may experience delays.

See the Evening Standard article for further details.

Pro Rector (Education)

Professor Debra Humphris, currently the Pro Vice Chancellor (Education & Student Experience) and Professor of Health Care Development at the University of Southampton, has accepted appointment as Pro Rector (Education), with effect from 15 October 2012. She will succeed Professor Julia Buckingham, who has been Pro Rector (Education and Academic Affairs) since 2007.

Appointed Pro Vice Chancellor (Education and Student Experience) in 2008, Professor Humphris was responsible for the creation, leadership and delivery of the University’s education strategic plan, which emphasised enhancing the student experience and the importance of graduate employability.

In 2003 she was appointed Director, Health Care Innovation Unit at the University of Southampton, which focused on education innovation in health and social care. She first joined the university in 2000 as Director of the New Generation Project, which explored inter-professional education in health care programmes.

Originally qualifying as a Registered Nurse, she later held positions as Senior Research Fellow at the South Thames Regional Health Authority, and at St George’s Hospital Medical School. Professor Humphris achieved her PhD in 1999, which considered the implementation of policy into clinical practice.

Among her many external roles, Professor Humphris is a member of the Executive Committee, National HE STEM Programme, and Chair of the Employment & Skills Board, Solent Local Enterprise Partnership.

Head of the Department of Bioengineering

Professor Anthony Bull, Professor of Musculoskeletal Mechanics, has accepted appointment as Head of the Department of Bioengineering with effect from 1 August 2012. He will succeed Professor Ross Ethier who has been appointed to a Chair in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech Institute of Technology, USA.

Professor Bull joined the College as an undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering in 1989 and was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Biological and Medical Systems in 2000.  He became Professor of Musculoskeletal Mechanics in 2009 and has additionally held the positions of Director of Courses and Deputy Head of Department within the Department of Bioengineering. His research focuses on the area of the mechanics of muscles, bones and joints and he leads the Royal British Legion Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial.

Anthony represents his discipline externally as Chair of the Engineering in Medicine and Health Division Board of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and is a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Biomedical Engineering Panel and the Bioengineering Society Main Committee.

Catering deadline change during the Olympics

Road restrictions in operation throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games are expected to hinder the ability of suppliers to deliver goods to Imperial’s London campuses. As a result, the Events team are implementing a 72 hour notice period for all catering bookings, amendments and cancellations between 25 July and 7 September 2012, in order to ensure a consistently high level of service.

Questions regarding any catering booking throughout this time should be directed to the Events team by email, or on 020 7594 9220.

Advice on the Olympic Route Network and Paralympic Route Network (ORN/PRN)

Transport for London (TfL) is creating the Olympic Route Network and Paralympic Route Network, to link venues and accommodation being used by athletes, officials, media and sponsors for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Stretches of the A4 and the A40 constitute significant parts of the ORN, so there will be an impact on transport to and from Imperial’s central London campuses.

The Network will be created over a four day period beginning on 20 July, and will be operating from 25 July to 14 August for the Olympic Games. The Network will be rebuilt on 27 August to be operational from 29 August to 11 September for the Paralympic Games.

Roads that form part of the ORN will have a reduced number of pedestrian crossings, restrictions for vehicles wishing to make right turns and, in some cases, lanes that will be used by Olympic vehicles only.

The Guidance the College has received from TfL is available on Imperial’s 2012 website . Alternatively, staff can visit TfL’s Get Ahead of the Games website to plan their journeys.

Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur Visa

The Management Board approved a pilot scheme for selecting students to receive College endorsement of their applications for a new post-study work visa, The Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur visa.

This new visa follows the withdrawal of the Post Study Work visa, which many of Imperial’s international students have applied for in the past.  There will be 1,000 Graduate Entrepreneur visas granted each year, and Imperial is one of 89 institutions able to endorse applications. The College has been granted an allocation of up to 10 endorsements, to be used by 5 April 2013.

In order to select students for visa endorsement, the College will incorporate existing formal forms of academic assessment into the process, for example performance in Entrepreneurship modules that feature in some Business School courses, and the results of business-focused challenges organised by other departments. A College panel, including academic staff with expertise in innovation, will review applications and make the final selection. The scheme, which will be managed by the International Office, will be piloted over 2012-13.

Applications will open to students this Friday 29 June, and more information can be found on the International Office’s website.

Change to number of ceremonies on graduation days

The Management Board approved recommendations that the College increase the number of ceremonies held at the Royal Albert Hall on Imperial’s graduation days from two to three in order to maintain the quality of the graduation experience. The changes will affect both the annual undergraduate Commemoration Day in October and the annual Postgraduate Graduation in May.

The driver for the change is that the number of graduates has continued to rise in recent years, as has the number of graduates choosing to attend the official ceremonies. This has put increased pressure on venue space on the South Kensington Campus, which in turn has impacted on the College’s ability to create an enjoyable experience for graduates. For example, waiting times for official photography have in some cases exceeded an hour, and reception venues have felt cramped due to the numbers being accommodated.

The new timetable (ceremonies at 11.00, 14.30, and 18.00) will be used for the first time on Commemoration Day on Wednesday 24 October.

New Corporate Telephone Preference Service for unsolicited sales and marketing calls

Following consultation across the College, the Information Systems Security Group within ICT has recently registered all staff telephone extensions for the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (TPS), the UK’s central opt-out registration service for unsolicited sales and marketing calls.

This service will be fully activated on 9 July, at which point it will be a legal requirement that companies do not make unsolicited sales and marketing calls to College extensions. Members of staff who experience such phone calls can make a complaint to TPS via this website.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Corporate TPS can be found here.

Questions should be directed to Stuart Kerr, Telephone Services Manager, by email.

Central listing of research seminars

Staff are invited to advertise research seminars in a new events listing, hosted by the Graduate School. The resource has been introduced in response to students’ comments that it is difficult to find information about the full range of seminars on offer at Imperial, and covers research seminars open to all students and staff from across the College.

The listing can be found on the Graduate Schools website.

Advice for staff on listing their seminar using the College’s central events system can be found in the Website Owners’ guide.