Leadership Foundation

Research Leadership

Thursday 9 February 2012

Overview

Much of the current discussion around UK higher education is focused on changes to the funding of teaching. The equally significant shifts in the research landscape have largely been missing from recent policy discourse, yet their implications are potentially far-wider reaching, posing challenges and opportunities at individual, institutional, national and international levels.

The Leadership Foundation’s annual Summit offered space for learning, discussion and debate and the opportunity to participate in a dialogue on the growing complexities of research policies in the UK and more widely, and of leading and managing research in a changing environment.

The Summit offered opportunities for participants with an interest in research, to consider the following questions:

• Are you and your institution prepared for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014?
• What impact on research management, recruitment and promotion will the European ‘Structural change in research institutions’ report have?
• Do you understand the implications – legal, financial, human - of the UK Research Councils’ data management policies?
• How is your institution performing compared to your peers?
• Are you engaged in strategic business, community and international partnerships as effectively as you can?

Our distinguished group of speakers included:

• Professor Jonathan Gosling, Professor of Leadership Studies, University of Exeter
• Paul Manners, Director of the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement
• Professor Guy Orpen, pro vice-chancellor (research), University of Bristol
• Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell FRS, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Manchester
• Dr David Sweeney, Director, Research, Innovation and Skills, Hefce
• Sir Mark Walport, Director, The Wellcome Trust