Little did I know what was to come when I was appointed as Associate Dean for Education in January of this year! These are very difficult and perilous times, but I have been overwhelmed by the positive response from staff
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Last Thursday, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading invited me to a public lecture entitled: “Self-Delusion”. Thinking that this might be a less-than-subtle message for me, I attended. The lecture was enjoyable with plenty of beautiful slides and
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One of the highlights in the Faculty last week was hearing the Chief Medical Officer, Christopher Whitty informing us how best to lobby politicians. Politicians, he said were intelligent, financially driven, time-poor, had transient roles in government and were only
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The start of each year is peak season for many aspects of medical training and recruitment. After the academic foundation doctor interviews just before Christmas, many of us have been interviewing potential medical students at Highfield. However, for the Southampton
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As luck would have it, my turn to blog falls in the week the UK withdrew from the European Union. Like most scientists I think this was a bad idea, given what the European project has enabled in terms of
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At a recent breakfast meeting on Highfield campus, I had an interesting discussion with Associate Deans (Research) from across the University and our Vice-President for Research and Enterprise, Professor Mark Spearing, about the research culture of the University. This was
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I can’t imagine any of you are unaware that we have a new Vice Chancellor. Mark Smith joined the University on 1st October 2019, he finds much at this University that is world class but is aware of the key
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As the nights draw in, the bad weather persists and Brexit looms, I feel the need to seek out the positive side of life. I spoke to new staff coming to work at the University a few weeks ago and
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We are the culture of the University of Southampton. That means that you are the culture of the University of Southampton. Culture is not delivered by the Vice-Chancellor or the Dean (yes, they have a role to play in creating
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100 years ago at 11 am on the 11th November 1919 the first Service of Remembrance (Poppy Day) post World War One was carried out with due reverence at The Cenotaph in Whitehall, London, remembering the many thousands of UK
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Last week was Open Access Week. I think this passed with little, perhaps no, attention from within the Faculty which is a shame, since, as my blog Plan S and You of April 2019 highlighted, everyone in the Faculty is
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As the newly appointed Head of School of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, it has been a challenging few months. The role is a double-edged sword as inevitably it leaves less time for research, which I remain passionate about, but on
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