Professor Dave Robertson welcomes you and gives an overview of how the College of Science and Engineering functions and its ethos. Image Professor Dave Robertson, Vice-Principal & Head of the College of Science and Engineering Thanks for your interest in joining the senior leadership team in College of Science and Engineering. We are one of the largest academic groupings of its kind in the UK and, through our seven Schools, are consistently placed in the top echelon for research excellence worldwide. Schools in our College have a high level of autonomy and we encourage Heads of School to take a strategic view of their discipline, while also engaging with the practicalities of running a large organisation. Schools are the engines of our success in research, education and technology transfer so Heads of School must want, benevolently, to lead. However, we don’t want parochialism; our strength depends on collaboration between Schools and we operate as a unified College, not as a simple set of disciplinary fiefdoms. This collaborative ethos has been responsible for our interdisciplinary advances in areas such as data science, biotechnology, healthcare, energy and environment, which make our foundational research vibrant and relevant. We aim to have the broadest view possible and we encourage our people to forage beyond traditional academic circles. Similarly, we encourage people with deep talent in industry and the public sector to come and work with us – a good recent example of this is our Bayes Centre for data science which was opened recently as a convenor and amplifier for data intensive research and development across the University and is full of companies, startups and new activities that were beyond our imaginings when we first decided to build. As a Head of School you would have access to pools of talent that are well beyond the confines of your School, College and University. We’re looking for leaders who recognise the opportunities this provides while also having deep loyalty to their peers and to their own foundational discipline. We are research led in our educational activities and strongly believe that research and teaching are symbiotic. We are elite, because we try to attract the most talented students and work with them to make the most of those talents, but we are not elitist, and we actively encourage diversity of staff and students. As in all universities, we have been part of the global “experiment” in hybrid education precipitated by Covid. I’m proud of the way that staff and students worked together to keep our teaching excellent and I anticipate that this spirit will continue as we re-focus on campus with the benefit of experience gained by everyone on-line. We will see further curriculum change and also opportunities for new physical space, with our “Nucleus” building opening in the coming year to provide a massive new facility for innovative teaching at the heart of our King’s Buildings campus. As a Head of School you will have many opportunities to influence changes to our teaching that will have consequences for the decade to come. If all of this excites you then I hope you will be motivated to join us. Professor Dave Robertson, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Science & Engineering This article was published on 2024-05-20
