ACADEMIC COUNCIL

RESEARCH AND ENTERPRISE COMMITTEE

Minutes for the third meeting of the Research & Enterprise Committee in the 2011/12 Academic Session, held on Wednesday 15th February 2012, 2.15pm, B028, Medway

campus

PRESENT:

Prof T Barnes ChairProf A Reed Vice-Chair and Director of Postgraduate Research

(PGR) Ms T Banton Research Support Manager (GRE) Prof A Benati Director of Research & Enterprise (HSS)Mrs W Curran Finance Manager (Finance)Dr M Davies Director of Research & Enterprise (GRE)Prof D Isaac Director of Research & Enterprise (A&C)Prof E GaleaMiss S Griffiths

Director of Research (CMS)Repository Administrator (ILS)

Dr J Jameson Director of Enterprise (EDU)Prof Andrew Lambirth Director of Research (EDU)Prof J Orchard Director of Research (NRI)Prof S Thomas Director of Research (BUS)Dr S Woodhead Director of Research & Enterprise (ENG)Dr D Wray Director of Enterprise (SCI)

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Prof C Birch Director of Enterprise (BUS)Prof C Bellamy Director of Research & Enterprise (GMI)Prof C Bailey Director of Enterprise (CMS) Prof S Golding Research Ethics Chair (HSS)Prof P Maras ECR Director (HSC)Ms C Nyandoro-Kunzvi Secretary (GRE)Prof J Morton Director of Enterprise (NRI)Mr J Wallace Administrative Secretary (Vice Chancellors Office)Prof E West Director of Research & Enterprise (HSC)Prof S Wicks Director of Research (SCI)

2. ITEMS FROM THE CHAIR

2.1 The Chair welcomed Miss Sarah Griffiths, Repository Administrator from Information Services.

3. MINUTES OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE RESEARCH AND ENTERPRISE COMMITTEE HELD IN 2010/12 ON THE 14th DECEMBER 2011.

The minutes of the Research and Enterprise Committee held on 14 th December 2011 were agreed by the Committee as a true and accurate record of the last meeting.

4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

5.1 The Finance Manager confirmed the submission of late invoices had reduced during the last month.

5.2 The Research Support Manager confirmed that the submission of Form 1 and 2 was increasing with new staff members keen to submit, however it was a little difficult to gauge whether there were any outstanding completions, as a proportion of submitted bids remained unknown until receipt of the Form 1. The Chair urged members to contract GRE if any assistance with completion of these forms was required. Members were also advised that colleagues should seek assistance from GRE with more complex bids such as Interreg bids at the earliest stage of bid preparation, as the University must aim to optimise project resources whilst demonstrating equal match-funding to income. Such proposals must be approved by the School Dean prior to sign off by the DVC.

5.3 Members confirmed that information on the Every Researcher Counts training resources was received from the ECR Director and circulated to colleagues within respective schools.

7.1 The abolition of ‘write up’ fees for existing students was discussed under item 7.1 of the current agenda.

7.2 The update on waiving of tuition fees was discussed under item 7.1 of the current agenda.

5. GREENWICH RESEARCH AND ENTERPRISE

5.1 Research and Enterprise Financial Activity ReportsThe Chair presented the annual Research and Enterprise financial activity report to the month ending 31st December 2011.

Revenues to the end of December 2011 were £4.4m (including NRI), this figure is down compared to the target for this month. Five months into the financial year should show that the University’s revenues should be at least £6m. The dip could potentially be due to late submission of invoices. However, the Chair was pleased that the catch up of invoices in January should contribute to a rise in revenues across all schools. Contracting to the end December 2011 was also £4.4m (including NRI) down by £61k on average compared to December 2010. CMS’ activity was showing a marginal

increase, whilst NRI was down by £471k, December’s figure did not include a £1.9m contract recently award to the Institute. Contracting within Engineering had also fell in comparison to last year, the Director of Research & Enterprise (ENG) informed the Chair that a number of contracts were due to be announced during the next few weeks. Science had exceeded its target for December by £378k, in addition to the Business School also increased activity by an average of 30%.

Figures presented for contracting compared to money burn showed an improvement to a few years ago, providing a better pipeline of contracts, however the Chair encouraged colleagues to increase the number of staff applying for bids.

5.2 Research and Enterprise Bidding Activity ReportThe Research Support Manager (GRE) presented the annual Research & Enterprise bidding activity report for the period ending 31st December 2011.

Bidding totals to the end of December 2011 (incl NRI) were £8.2m. Bidding between August – October was at £4.1m and the same figure between November - December.  The monthly breakdown for August to December the bidding totals and values was as follows:

Aug 2011                   23 bids with a value of £1.7m Sep 2011                    25 bids with a value of £1.4m Oct 2011                    16 bids with a value of £939K Nov 2011 42 bids with a value of £3.5m Dec 2011 19 bids with a value of £600K

Bidding status showed that 70 bids at £6.2m were pending an outcome, 19 bids at £704K were rejected and 36 bids worth £1.2m were awarded. Looking at the same period over a three year trend showed that overall the schools bidding activity had increased in value during 2010/11 compared to 2009/2010, but had dropped this academic year compared to last by approx. £4m. The number of bids had increased from 116 to 125 for August to December 2011/12 compared to last year. Bidding by funding source showed that 51% of the total number of bids had been submitted to the EU, 14% to overseas funders, 10% to UK Centre Government & TSB, 13% to Research Councils, and 8% of the bids had been submitted to Charities.

Awarded totals to the end December 2011 were recorded at £2m (incl NRI) with a value of £967K submitted in 2010/11 and announced in 2011/12. Awards by funding source were 67% from the EU, 10% from the overseas funders, 6% from the UK Centre Government & TSB, 11% from the UK Industry, and 6% of award were from Charities.

The Research Support Manager (GRE) reminded the Committee that data presented was based on the submission of Form 1 and Form 2, and encouraged members to communicate to colleagues the importance of completing such forms.

5.3 Institutional Repository and Publications DataThe Repository Administrator presented the status of publications uploaded on to the research repository GALA. To the end of January, 2012 a total of 5,828 ‘Live’ and ‘Under Review’ items were deposited, this was a 5% increase on September 2011.

All (eligible) deposits are actively encouraged, especially from those staff that self deposit, however priority is given for those items which are research outputs published from 2008 to date to support the REF submission, pre-2008 items may need to wait a little longer to be checked.

To the end of January 2012 there are 2244 live items on GALA, a 16% uplift on items since September 2011. 74% of the total items on GALA for 2008 and later are now checked and visible both internally and externally. 1033 items currently still ‘Under Review’ as of Jan-12. An investment by GRE for additional staff support to help clear the ‘Under Review’ backlog has had significant impact on total (now down 23% on Sep-11). The Repository Administrator advised members that items under review’ is a moving target as it also includes duplicate records, deposits by more than one co-author, records with incomplete data, insufficient evidence of publication, unpublished outputs, etc.

The Repository Administrator introduced members to Scopus Sciverse providing a quick demonstration on how to use the system. This system was recently acquired to assist researchers with access to e-journals and analytical tools whilst also providing meta-data for GALA. Scopus will help to streamline the process of checking and validation of outputs and is now visible on GALA which provides a link to Scopus and any external citations captured by Scopus. The Chair informed members that Scopus will be used by HEFCE to provide baseline reporting for the REF2014. Scopus can be found on the Research tab of the portal and is open for all academic staff to use.

The Chair thanked the Repository Administrator for the presentation and urged members to contact ILS or GRE with any queries in relation to Scopus or GALA.

5.4 Peer Review of Research Funding ApplicationsThis item was deferred to the next meeting of the Research & Enterprise Committee in the absence of the ECR Director (HSC).

The Chair encouraged members to extend to current list of nominations and with their experience would be beneficial to themselves forward as members to the peer review college. The Director of Research & Enterprise (ENG) raised the question of demonstrable experience which was stated in the email circulated on behalf of the ECR Director. This has caused the response from Engineering to be limited and requested as to whether the flexibility of criteria could be broadened. This was agreed by the Chair.

5.5 GREAT 2012 & REF2014 UpdateThe Chair thanked all members and their schools for taking part in the University’s first REF pilot; GREAT 2011, and reported an overview of the analysis conducted. The report showed that 438 staff were submitted to 23 identified units of assessment.

The Chair presented data using Publish or Perish, a software program that retrieves and analyses academic citations which showed that the H- indices for some colleagues were probably below what could be expected for someone publishing consistently at three star level. On a number of current outputs could be considered below 3* standard.

Members discussed the fact that there will b some of units of assessment that will not use citations directly. None the less analyses like those provided by p or p often provide useful and informative performance comparisons.

The Chair announced that a Code of Practice will be developed that focuses on t the University’s processes for the selection of staff. Members discussed the importance of managing expectations as there is a need for colleagues to understand that not all research active staff will be submitted to the REF2014. The Chair made it clear that it is of great importance that those staff not returned in the REF2014 submission, understand that their contributions to the research and enterprise portfolio are valued and whilst they may not able to be a part of the first REF submission the University will do all it can to support them with the aim of possible inclusion to the next assessment.

The Director of Research (CMS) suggested to the chair that a short written report be produced concerning the outcome of the GREAT exercise and circulated to the Schools. Prof Galea felt that this was essential to provide feedback to the staff. The report need not contain sensitive or confidential information but should convey the key findings and recommended way forward.

5.6 REF2014: Institutional Codes of PracticeThis item was deferred to the next meeting of the Research & Enterprise Committee.

6. ITEMS FROM SCHOOLS

6.1 Directors of Research and Enterprise Presentations on Successes, Opportunities and Challenges in Research and Enterprise activities in each School

6.1.1. School of Architecture & Construction Report

SUCCESSES

Design ResearchThe research group AVATAR (Advanced Virtual & Technological Architectural Research), have produced a book on ‘Living Architecture’ (Rachel Armstrong). Rachel has also hosted an on-line forum on the ‘Ecological Human’ and submitted an article to the Artificial Life Journal.

In the Architectural History and Theory Group, Alan Powers has published reviews in Country Life and the Times Literary Supplement as well as a critical narrative of Robin Hood Gardens published in Barcelona. He has chaired and given addresses at the Eric Ravilious symposium and the RIBA Art Deco debate. Teresa Stoppani participated at the Biennial of the Canary Islands and has given public lectures at Nottingham Trent University, the University of Kent and the Barbican Art Gallery; she has published several reviews and articles recently and was a member of the judging panel for the RIBA President’s Medal Student Awards.

Mark Titman has edited an issue of Architectural Design; The new pastoralists, this year he won the RIBA international competition for the Royal Parks drinking fountains. Mark Ingham’s video installation won prizes in New York and in Miami; his work will be appearing in an exhibition in Beijing. Duncan Berntsen has been selected for interview for the Digital Plaza Project (Birmingham Science Park), a multi-million pound development. Anastasios Margiannis has presented at conferences in Shanghai, Istanbul and Rome, he has two recent publications and his PhD is funded by the Greek State Scholarship Foundation (£35,000).

Sustainable Built Environments ResearchIn the Sustainable Built Environments Group, the following recent activities have been reported:1. Keith Jones and Fuad Ali spoke at a CREW (Community Resilience to Extreme Weather) dissemination event at the RICS. 2. Fuad Ali spoke additionally to policy makers and academics on extreme weather and was reported on BBC radio (‘You and Yours’).3. Noha Nasser has 2 bids to the Qatar Research Fund, the larger being for $US900k in collaboration with the University of Qatar; she has a joint project for an I-phone application which has proof of concept funding.4. Boniface Umeadi is developing his research in remote sensors attached to pipelines and has had recent meetings with the MOD.5. The group is collaborating with the Institute of Sustainability and initial income of £35,000 has been secured from FLASH projects.6. Keith Jones is revising a COST proposal with partners to the EU on Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility.7. Keith Jones is continuing his work on the REF Unit of Assessment Panel for Architecture, Built Environment and Planning.8. Gesche Huebner has been selected by the University for the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship awards; she has received a bursary from the British Psychological Society for conference attendance.

In the Sustainable Landscapes Group, Benz Kotzen’s role as a Management Committee Member for the European Science Foundation COST project European Soundscapes continues, his COST project related to arid lands restoration is in the final stages of the application process and will result in EU funding of £420,000 if successful. He has commenced organising a series of key lectures by international landscape architects. Tom Turner and students have won a national competition to design a garden/event space at Wood Wharf near Canary Wharf.

OPPORTUNITIESMore staff are becoming research active and putting in bids for funding. The level of bidding has increased this year along with greater potential for contracting.

CHALLENGESAs for the previous report, although there is a School-wide initiative to encourage additional research activity, this still has to create the funding and outputs necessary for further progress and so, in recent recruitment activity, emphasis is being put on employing new staff with research output/potential.

6.1.2. Business School Report

SUCCESSESTwo more learning modules for Actavis (Chris Birch and Rob Robson). Value to Greenwich £6000

OPPORTUNITIESBid submitted by Ioannis Manikas to DEFRA jointly with Brunel, Cardiff and a South African partner for work on ‘Opportunities for the supply chain to drive a reduction in Greenhouse  Gas (GHG) emissions in agriculture’. Total value £100k, value to Greenwich £15k

BIDS IN PREPARATION Switch Asia Call led by Li Zhou Leverhulme Trust application by Emanuele Lobina Training for Numark company

6.1.3. School of Education Report

SUCCESSES 2011-12 has continued to be strong for Education bidding activity. The School is on track

to exceed the Form 1s submitted in the years 2009-10 and 2010-11. Dr Jill Jameson was invited by Professor Jeroen Huisman, University of Bath, and the

Editors of Higher Education Quarterly to collaborate in a special issue of the journal on the future of higher education in the UK, based on her successful paper at the SRHE Conference.

Dr Jill Jameson was invited by Professor Patricia Randolph Leigh of Iowa State University to present on The Digital Abyss in Zimbabwe at a Panel on International Explorations of Technology Equity and the Digital Divide for SITE AACE 2012 in Austin, Texas.

Dr Jill Jameson was invited by UCL to present on Academic Leadership in HE at a leadership training event in Dubai for senior university leaders from Saudi Arabia and Oman.

HEIF funded project ‘Poetry Champions’ that involves local primary school teachers and School of Education academics has had their proposal accepted to give three presentations at the United Kingdom Literacy Association’s International Conference in July: two workshops taken by the teachers and one academic seminar.

Professor Andrew Lambirth has signed contracts with Continuum books for two books which document the work of the ESRC funded Poetry seminar series being run with colleagues from the University of Leicester and the University of Exeter.

OPPORTUNITIES The Enterprise Associates Steering Group is planning the new Education Partners in

Practice scheme: the first event (April, 2012) will target particular partners and market CPD.

A UKIERI UK-India bid on Academic Leadership in HE by Dr Priti Chopra, led by Dr Jameson, Centre for Leadership and Enterprise has reached final stage for 50:50 selection.

EU lifelong learning, British Council, JISC and charity funding opportunities for numerous areas of research are being investigated by James Lambert, Business Development Manager.

A UK-China CPD initiative for Continuing Professional Development for Chinese teachers is being explored by the School in collaboration with the University International Office.

Senior Saudi Arabian University leaders have approached Dr Jameson of CLE to investigate potentials for executive leadership training for higher education leaders in Saudi Arabia.

Longer-term continuance of the contracts for the two new School Research Fellows provides an opportunity to enhance the complement of research-active staff and bids.

Two newly recruited Research Fellows in the School of Education are now active with a clear brief to generate more bids for the School. They are working alongside colleagues from centres which have targets to bid for grants.

Bids are currently being prepared in collaboration with other HE institutions – Sheffield and Hallam University and Canterbury Christ Church University

Dr Gordon Ade-Ojo is preparing a bid in collaboration with a Nigerian University for the British Academy for submission this month.

Research and scholarship support sessions for all members of staff will begin in February

Research group leaders are currently being recruited from the school. The groups will be launched on a Research day on 9th July. All members of staff will be invited to join one of the seven research groups being started.

CHALLENGES Key issues continue to be to accelerate the quantity, quality and range of School bids. Staff overloads and lack of admin staff remain the most significant barrier to time for

R&E. REF 3* and 4* potential cut-off for REF submission will be a challenge for the School.

6.1.4. School of Engineering Report

SUCCESSES Wolfson Centre consultancy work invoiced so far this FY - £123k, with work

valued at £172k in progress – Mike Bradley / Richard Farnish; Civil Engineering consultancy work invoiced to date this FY - £62k - Amir

Alani; EPSRC grant in buried sewer systems retained following departure of original

PI - £270k – Amir Alani; ISRL secured new consultancy contract £8k - Steve Woodhead / Jodie

Wetherall; ISRL secured new KTP with NIC Instruments Ltd - £130k – Steve

Woodhead / Jodie Wetherall;

OPPORTUNITIES Two FP7 bids submitted with a total value of £1.33M to UoG – Ree Wu.

CHALLENGES A number of significant issues with progressing work through the Marketing

Department; Lack of clarity with regard to PGR student tuition fee exemptions.

6.1.5. School of Health & Social Care Report

SUCCESSES1. Metrocentre KTP report evaluated as “outstanding”. 2. Dr Omo Ojo has been invited to deliver a keynote address at the annual National

Nurses Nutrition Group Conference in Manchester this year. 3. NHS London contract to investigate nurses’ Readiness for Work secured (£50K)4. Gail Gilchrist PhD student visiting from Barcelona will obtain a European PhD.5. Liz West interview on workplace violence on Radio Lincolnshire6. Training days in systematic reviews provided by University of York—well attended7. Lesley Hoggart and Victoria Newton to present findings from contraceptive implant

study to London LARC network conference 10th march8. Lesley Hoggart, Sandra Gulyurtlu, Jan Webb and Gail Gilchrist secured £12k to

evaluate a multi-agency safeguarding intervention in Bromley9. John Foster has signed a small contract with Greenwich BSU to support patient and

public involvement.

OPPORTUNITIES1. Prof. Schofield is developing a service users group to collaborate on research.2. Meeting with Bernadette Oakenfull has led to a statement of intent to promote

collaborative work between H&SC and Science.3. Meeting with KentHealth—Linda Burke and Liz West will meet Peter Jeffries4. Presentation at Medway Foundation Trust to interest more nurses in PhD provision5. Sexual Health Research and Practice Conference 28th March 2012 attracting leading

academics and practitioners6. Harry Chumun and Paul Newton are working on the Diabetes Research Day with the

School of Science7. Gail Gilchrist’s bid to BUPA for an international study has gone into second round8. Workshops on questionnaire design and proposal writing planned.

CHALLENGES1. We would like to provide PhD students with more space to work on campus. 2. Responding to the research student survey is challenging in period of limited

resources3. Definition of ECRs—does it preclude practice based disciplines?4. Pressure on research active staff for REF and also MPhil/PhD supervisions. Definition

of research active is ambiguous: if it remains ‘entered into REF’ we will have fewer research active staff shortly and also therefore fewer supervisors.

5. Although it may seem rather negative it may be worth raising the 'challenge' for those staff with high teaching commitments and additional responsibilities - delivering provision over 45 week teaching years across 2 intake points - and the limitations this

places on their capacity to engage with research activity as much as they would like. This is causing concern in the light of the '5 yr' targets set by the VC.

6.1.6. School of Humanities & Social Sciences Report

SUCCESSES Research contracts/enterprise activities Alessandro Benati: project on Arabic language in collaboration with Dubai University/University of Edinburgh – 26K

Steve Kennedy: Film project with the University of Heidelberg in Germany- 5K 

PublicationsAlessandro Benati & James Lee (2012). Processing Instruction and Discourse. London Continuum.

Gavin Rand (2012): ‘Transnational dialogues: Antoinette Burton and the rewritings of British imperial history’ published in the Journal of Victorian Culture

Jim Urpeth (2012): Reviving 'Natural Religion': Nietzsche and Bergson on Religious Life in Andrea Rehberg (ed): Nietzsche and Phenomenology (Cambridge Scholars Publication)

OPPORTUNITIES Update on external bidding

Alessandro Benati submitted a bid (International Partnership and Mobility Scheme (British Academy) – collaborative project on Japanese Language with Sayoko Yamashita (Meikai University) - around 7K

Steve Kennedy: collaborative Media Project University of Heidelberg (Germany) and AHRC Translating Cultures AHRC network – work in progress

Gavin Rand submitted a bid (International Partnership and Mobility Scheme (British Academy) – Kaushik Roy (Jadavpur University/ Peace Research Institute, Oslo) –History project on colonial military- 10K

Rosamund Davies secured a small grant to attend the HERA JRP Cultural Encounters 'matchmaking' event in Berlin to facilitate the development of international research teams for the HERA Joint Research Programme on Cultural Encounters, in preparation for the bid deadline in May.

CHALLENGES Supporting enterprise activities

6.1.7. Natural Resources Institute Report

No report.

6.1.8. School of Science Report

SUCCESSES Professor John Nicholson has had the third edition of his book, The Chemistry of

Polymers published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

In January we hosted an open Research Poster Showcase event in the Pilkington open space. 45 posters were presented by academics, post docs and postgraduate students. External contacts from a range of businesses including Syngenta Research, Fort Halsted (MOD) and the Waters Corporation

Professor John Nicholson has been awarded a Partnership Grant by the Royal Society to work with South Rise Primary School, Plumstead on a junior school science project.

Dr Andrew Haggart is to examine some samples from near to Paddington Station linked to the Crossrail project. He has been commissioned by Oxford Archaeology

Dr Birthe Nielsen received an RSC Research Fund Grant of £2k to improve the detection of human peptide biomarkers by mass spectrometry.

We have 312 items under review for GALA, 72 items in GALA for 2011 and 8 items in GALA for 2012

OPPORTUNITIES Prof Pat Harvey has been seconded as a Research Fellow for three months to the

Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University in order to develop further her biofuel work.

Dr Lauren Pecorino has been interviewed for the Word on Health educational radio feature broadcast by 75 independent local radio stations across the UK, reaching a combined audience of 6.5 million listeners.

Prof Jeremy Everett has bid for £110k from Diabetes UK to support the project Pharmacometabonomic investigation of the effects of sedentary lifestyle versus different exercise modalities on type II diabetic patients (£15.6k to UoG).

Prof Alfonso Jimenez has bid for £19k from Sport England to conduct a review into driving up participation in sport and improving health.

Dr Tim Acott was interviewed on Radio Kent about the Geography of Inshore Fishing and Sustainability which he is leading and the project itself had its preliminary meeting in January.

CHALLENGES No specific

6.1.9. School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences Report

SUCCESSESCMRG:1) RODENT: bid submitted to IeMRC/EPSRC successful (£226,000 to Greenwich). 2) Consultancy with Scottish & Southern Electric (£85,000 to Greenwich). 3) DSTL/MBDA consultancy (£30,000 to Greenwich). 4) KTP – Medway Queen (£56,000 to Greenwich).

5) DMEA (DoD USA) – £70,000 to Greenwich

CSEG:1) EXOMET: FP7 4-year IP project led by European Space Agency; Start April 2012, (€400,000 to Greenwich)2) ArcelorMittal annual user support extension to U0858 – Converter project (€10,000)3) Royal Society China Collaboration grant (£9,600)4) MHD-VALDIS software support/sales (£8,500)

FSEG:1) Fujitsu (Tsunami Modelling) proof of concept grant - £17,0002) EU FP7 GETAWAY project (€572,000 to UOG) starts 1 Nov 2011.3) 8 PhD and 1 MSc by Research completions.

SORG1) HEA funded project, “Enhancing Employability Skills through Advanced Skills Workshops”, Dr Ramesh, 15 month project, value to UoG, £30K

OPPORTUNITIES CMRG:1) Bid (Pocketfactory) submitted to FP7 (Value to Greenwich 540,000 euros)2) Bid submitted to EU/TSB OLAE+ call (Value to Greenwich 325,000 euros)3) Partner in Global Centre for Microsystems (Wuhan, China). Funded by Chinese Government. Contract to Greenwich being discussed.4) Preparing a submission with Lancaster, Southampton and Warwick to the EPSRC call for new Centres in Innovative Manufacturing.5) Preparing a new bid for DMEA (US DoD) worth £100,000.

CSEG: 1) EPSRC ‘TECalloy’ proposal preparation in collaboration with Manchester University and the Diamond Synchrotron Centre at Harwell – final stages (value £350,000) 2) EPSRC ‘UltraMelt’ proposal preparation in collaboration with Brunel University (value £250,000)

FSEG:1) EU FP7 bid, project HEFAESTUS, FSEG share €1,155K2) EU FP7 bid, project BIE, FSEG share €50K3) EU FP7 bid, project RESONATE, FSEG share €415K4) EU FP7 bid, project SESAME, FSEG share €1,147K5) Bombardier Canada, aircraft evacuation analysis, in discussion, FSEG value £20K6) Battelle/US DoD, continuation of Pentagon project in discussion, FSEG value £10K7) Thales/BAe Systems, analysis for Royal Navy new aircraft carriers, in discussion.8) USFRA/Volpe, in discussion for continuation of rail evacuation research project.9) RAN/Aust DoD, in discussion for collaborative research into naval personnel behaviour modelling for surface combatants.

CHALLENGES 1) Maintaining funding levels in the worst recession in 60 years.2) Maintaining PhD student numbers within CMS following the imposition of PhD student fees by the University for internally funded bursary students effective from 1st Sept 2012.3) 2 week time span to make strategic plans on how to wisely invest University research funding for PhD students and new Professors.

7. POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH MATTERS

7.1 Thesis Completion and Presentation/Write-up FeesThis item was previously discussed by members of this committee and has returned to this Committee with approval from Academic Council in January 2012, to the recommendations made by the Vice Chancellors Group that:

1. Unless a fee waiver is in place, the practice of charging a thesis presentation and completion fee be continued for MPhil, PhD and EdD students who registered for their programme of study prior to 1 September 2010 and who have entered their 4th year of study (for full-time students) or 6th year of study (for part-time study).

2. The practice of charging a thesis presentation and completion fee applied under (a) above continue until the student has reached the normal maximum period of registration for the degree they are undertaking under University regulations (Academic Regulations for Research Awards). A full fee should be charged thereafter.

The write up fee for the current year has been proposed at £500 which will be considered at Fees & Financial Support Committee on the 16 th February, 2012. Any student that has overpaid will be entitled to a refund. Those students with approved extenuating circumstances will have an interruption placed on their studies and therefore exempt from this fee for the duration of any such interruption.

7.2 New Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship SchemeThe Chair presented to members the recently announced scholarship scheme for PhD students initiated by the Vice Chancellor. This scheme aims to attract high –performing students by providing an annual stipend, similar to that provided by research councils to support 40 full-time scholarships per year, leading to up to 120 students at any one time, plus fees at the home or overseas rate implemented as a waiver. The stipend will be pro-rata for part-time students. Staff members are exempt from the applying to the scheme as this should be funded by the School/Office central budget. In order to support this initiative, each School and NRI (excluding GMI, due to the small size of the institute), will be expected to contribute by matching one new full-time scholarship to the pool of 120, from their central budgets. Additional funding will be taken from top slicing the RAE competitive fund.

Other institutions which offer a similar scheme are; City University - 70 scholarships not clear whether is this per year or over 3

years Kingston University – offers 50 scholarships per year Kent University – £1.5m to support up to 100 students

Sussex University – £700K per year to support scholarships

Recipients of a scholarship will be required to undertake up to 6 hours teaching per week, and attend the necessary teacher training programmes. The Chair responded to a concern over a 6 hour contact time plus preparation, by clearly stating that teaching must not be detrimental to studies and duties must be reasonable. In such, it is unreasonable to expect a student to deliver a lecture to a large theatre of students including preparation time to do so. However, what would be considered as reasonable for example, is assistance to small groups of students, tutorials, lab assistance etc.

Members queried whether the scheme would support activities such as travel or equipment. The Chair informed members that such items will need to be funded by the School/Office budget or applied for through the RAE or HEIF funds.

Overall members agreed that the scheme is of importance and supported the scheme with a number of colleagues stating that the deadline of the 27th February for applications was very short considering the additional call for the appointment of Research Professors is on the same day. Some members called for schemes such as this to be placed on the agenda of this committee for consideration prior to announcement. The Chair confirmed that future timing of this scheme is expected to be announced in September and operational between November and December. The Chair confirmed that member’s views will be referred to the Vice Chancellor.

The Chair also spoke of the University’s commitment of approx £1m per year to support the appointment of 10 Research Professors over 3 years to be funded from central budgets, as a competitive scheme with the aim of attracting high-performing individuals as to make a substantial contribution to the research environment of the University. Each Professorial appointment is expected provide a significant contribution to the research and enterprise activities of the University by building and mentoring a research cluster, with a 3-year studentship – these placements will be in addition to the New Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship Scheme.

Members discussed the benefits of the Professional appointments to the University with reference to the forthcoming REF. It was considered that with the direct expectations of the new appointments in the building of a strong research group and a strong publication track record, this will take some time and may not have any short term impact to the REF2014, but longer term towards the next exercise in 2020. Members also gave consideration to the existing culture of research environment in a ‘post 92’ university and urged that the appointment panel be cognisant that appointments must be adaptable to any environment.

The current internal Professor appointments process was called into question as the 3 year disqualification was considered to be severe. The Chair confirmed that this criterion was to be reviewed.

7.3 PhD Completions – REFDirector of (PGR) presented a report produced by the Postgraduate Research Office to assist with identifying the progress of PhD completions; including students on the EdD programme, in preparation for the REF2014 assessment.

It is proposed that the information provided will take two forms; High level information in the form of a bar chart, where the status of the

research student population for each School and Institute, as well as completions.

Secondary level information issued directly to the Directors of Research by PGRO that contains the status of each research student in the School or Institute in working towards their research degree.

Members agreed this information will be helpful in determining which students will be returnable in the REF.

Action : Director of (PGR) to arrange the circulation of data with consideration for the inclusion of year of study.

7.4 PhD Completions – 2011/12The Director of (PGR) presented to members an additional report based on the outcome of examiners decisions, which also included the various phases of modifications that take place during the final stages of study.

The report suggests information in two forms; Information on the outcome of examinations undertaken in an academic year.

As such, the various classifications of outcome are a measure of the standard of our submissions as judged by our examiners.

Information on the numbers of awards recommended by the Research Degrees Committee in an academic year. It should be noted that such information will not necessarily relate directly to the first set of information, because of the lag in time between the examination (which may happen in a previous year), and the time taken by the student to make any required corrections, sign-off by the examiners before final consideration and approval by the Research Degrees Committee.

Members agreed this information is also helpful.

Action : Director of (PGR) to arrange the circulation of PhD Completions – 2011/12 data to all Directors of Research & Enterprise.

8. ITEMS FOR INFORMATION

8.1 Early Career Researcher Matters

8.1.1. Update on the Early Career Researchers

This item was deferred until the next meeting of the Research & Enterprise Committee.

8.2 Research and Enterprise Funding OpportunitiesThe Committee noted the following funding calls for information:

8.2.1 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 8.2.2 Higher Education Academy (HEA)

8.2.3 Waterloo Foundation 8.2.4 Fisheries Society of the British Isles

9. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

9.1 None to report.

9.2 Dates of 2011/12 Research & Enterprise Committee Meetings

Meeting Papers Received byWednesday 18th April, 2.15pm, S311, Avery Hill

Wednesday 30th May, 2.15pm, B028, Medway

Wednesday 11th July, 2.15pm, QA075, Greenwich

30th March 2012

11th May 2012

22nd June 2012