Blog posts

Support for staff considering retirement plans

Following removal of the Default Retirement Age on 1 October 2011, the College will no longer set a date when members of staff retire.  Members of staff will be able to choose when they enter retirement on a full or part-time basis. Where a member of staff is considering retirement they should discuss their intentions with their line manager in good time.

Support is available for staff intending to enter retirement in the next 12 months through the workshop organised by the Learning and Development Centre, ‘Preparing for Retirement’. The workshop is run annually and will take place on 6 July in 2012.

For further details and to book a place, visit: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/staffdevelopment/ldc/workshops/prof_dev/retirement

Nominations sought for Royal Society medals, awards and prize lectureships – deadline 6 February

The Royal Society invites nominations for 2012 medals, awards and prize lectureships. The awards recognise excellence in science and technology, with categories including:

  • Premier Awards
  • Biological Sciences
  • Physical Sciences
  • Interdisciplinary Sciences
  • Science communication
  • Promoting women in science
  • Philosophy, history and social function of science
  • Science in Africa
  • Science and mathematics education

Anyone is able to nominate a candidate for a Royal Society medal, award or prize lectureship. Completed nomination forms must be returned by 6 February 2012.

For full details, visit: http://royalsociety.org/awards/nominations/

Proposed changes to SAUL pension scheme – employer consultation

Members of the Superannuation Arrangements of the University of London (SAUL) and staff eligible to join this pension scheme are invited to offer their views on proposed changes to the scheme. The changes aim to ensure that SAUL continues to offer high quality, affordable and sustainable benefits. During the period 10 January to 9 March the College, along with all other SAUL employers, is seeking input to the consultation. There are minimal changes proposed for current members. For new members changes include earning a pension on a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) basis and the introduction of the normal pension age of 65. Member contribution rates will remain at 6% for current and new members; employer contribution rates remain at 13%.

For full details and to offer your views, visit: http://www.saul.org.uk/changes.html

Imperial Festival – 11-12 May 2012

The Imperial Festival, due to become an annual event, will offer staff the opportunity to showcase their work to the public through hands-on demonstrations, mass experiments, lectures, debates, competitions, installations and a range of other activities. A marquee will be available with dedicated space for each department to engage with visitors including family, friends, colleagues, alumni, funders, policy makers and the media.

Please save the dates 11-12 May in your 2012 diary. For further details, visit: www.imperial.ac.uk/festival

Feedback invited on catering and amenity offer on South Kensington Campus

Feasibility study reviewing space on Level 0 Sherfield Building including Holland Club

Staff and students are invited to offer input to a feasibility study, which will consider how the space on Level 0 at the western end of the Sherfield Building could be optimised to provide social facilities and amenities to members of the Imperial College community.

Portfolio Review Board (PRB) took this decision in order to address a growing concern over our ability to deliver a good experience on campus for all staff and students.   Alongside outstanding facilities for academic activities, the College aims to provide high-quality services and social spaces to meet the needs of the community, for example common rooms and catering outlets.   On the South Kensington Campus, these have reached saturation point.   In 2010-11, the College provided catering services to a footfall of 2.5 million and was still unable to meet demand.   Student feedback has also highlighted that taught postgraduates would welcome more appropriate common room provision on campus.

The feasibility study will explore how the space on Level 0 of Sherfield could be used to help address the issues above.   The study will include a review of the space currently occupied by the Holland Club, which has a floor area comparable to that of the Senior Common Room, and will consider:

–       what additional catering and amenities would best serve the needs of staff and students on the South Kensington Campus;

–       whether any new facilities should be open to all members of the community or to just a segment;

–       how the ethos of the Holland Club might be maintained within any new facilities.

The feasibility study will be led by the Director of Commercial Services, Jane Neary, working with Building Projects.

To offer input, please email catering.projects@imperial.ac.uk or post a comment below.

The Portfolio Review Board will review the results in Q2 2012 and determine next steps for the project.

Principal of the Faculty of Medicine

Professor Dermot Kelleher, currently the Vice-Provost for Medical Affairs and Head of the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin, has accepted appointment as Principal of the Faculty of Medicine, with effect from 1 October 2012. He will join the Faculty as of 1 July 2012. He will succeed Professor Sir Anthony Newman Taylor who has been Principal since December 2010.

Professor Kelleher graduated in medicine from Trinity College Dublin in 1978, and subsequently completed specialist training in gastroenterology. In 1986 he received a Fogarty Scholarship funding a research fellowship at University of California San Diego. Professor Kelleher returned to Trinity in 1989 as the Wellcome Senior Fellow in Clinical Science and was appointed Professor of Clinical Medicine in 2001. In 2006 he was appointed to his current position as Head of the School of Medicine and Vice-Provost for Medical Affairs.

His research has considered the immune response to many of the leading causes of infectious disease worldwide, and he is the author of over 200 publications and 14 patents. A Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Royal College of Physicians, Trinity College Dublin, and the American Gastroenterology Association, he was awarded the 2011 Conway Medal by the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.

Crick Newsletter

For the latest news on the Crick Institute, of which Imperial is a Founder Member, read the first issue of the regular briefing for staff here.

Stories this issue include:

  • Discussions among a distinguished group of scientists and clinicians about how the Crick should pursue its clinical translation objectives.
  • New faces on the project team including Professor Maggie Dallman and Professor Jonathan Weber from Imperial.
  • The removal of 6,500 tonnes of soil and concrete from the site to make way for the foundations of the Institute’s building.
  • Choosing the benching, sinks, storage and other equipment to be used in the Institute’s new labs.

Carbon Management Strategy

The Management Board considered a paper by Facilities Management, which outlined successes and challenges for the College’s carbon management strategy.

The successes noted include the ‘hit the button’ campaign, encouraging staff to switch off their computers when not in use, and the Student Switch Off initiative which promotes sustainable behaviour among students in halls of residence. The paper also reported the positive results of trials to reduce the energy usage of buildings, which have included reviewing and optimising the operation of central heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Challenges faced include the difficulty in progressing energy-saving actions quickly due to the amount of consultation required, as well as the ongoing need to engage staff and students in steps they can take to reduce energy usage, as highlighted through the StepChange campaign.

The report noted future plans for carbon management at Imperial, including new processes to review building projects and influence sustainable options in design, and the development of further awareness and publicity campaigns.

To read more about Facilities Management’s approach to sustainability, visit the website; http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/sustainability

Student System on ICIS – upcoming change to its online location

Staff who use the Student System (SAMS) on ICIS are advised that from early December access will be via a new URL

At 17.00 on 9 December 2011, ICT will be transferring all the responsibilities within ICIS associated with the Student System to a new online location.  This change, which means ICIS will be unavailable over the weekend of 10-11 December, will enable the upgrade of the Finance, HR and Grants systems within ICIS, and should impact only those staff members who use the Student System.

From the morning of Monday 12 December onwards, those wishing to access the Student System will need to do so via a new link, which will be signposted on the following webpage: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/ict/services/businesssystems/icis/icissplit. The login details required to gain access will remain the same.

Staff wishing to access the responsibilities remaining within ICIS (HR, Finance, Grants) will continue to use the same ICIS login and URL as before.

More information about the project is available at the link above. Any queries should be directed to the ICT Service Desk, either by email service.desk@imperial.ac.uk, phone (ext. 49000) or via their website: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/ict/servicedesk

Applying for job vacancies at Imperial – new online functionality

Staff searching and applying for job vacancies at the College from December will be able to use new functionality within the Employment webpages and ICIS aimed at streamlining the process. Staff will be able to access vacancies either by clicking on the ‘Job Search for current Imperial College staff’ button on the Employment website or by logging into ICIS and selecting the ‘My Opportunities’ responsibility.

Staff will able to set up ‘job alerts’ to receive emails when new vacancies become available which match their pre-selected criteria.  If a member of staff chooses to apply for a vacancy via the new facility, personal information will be extracted from ICIS to automatically populate a number of fields in the online recruitment system. To ensure your personal details are up to date, use the ICIS Self Service facility: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/hr/icis

Once the new functionality has gone live, links to guidance, online demonstrations and FAQ’s will be publicised in Staff briefing.

This is the first in a series of improvements to streamline the application process, and further developments to the system will be implemented as part of the College’s upgrade of Oracle next year.