Each day, I am grateful to take my exercise in the beautiful grounds of our Edinburgh campus. I was very proud this week to receive a letter sent on behalf of residents in the local community thanking the University for continuing to allow public access to our green spaces. I know many colleagues who usually work here are missing the place terribly and I hope it gives some comfort to know the walkways, flowers and blossom pictured here are being enjoyed by others during lockdown. It’s good to see this crisis period is engendering a stronger sense of belonging across our local community, a process that is also being experienced in every campus location.
This disruption continues to be a very difficult time for students, colleagues and loved ones. The uncertainty of when this may end and what will come next is hard to deal with. We have adapted rapidly to online work and study, but this brings its own technological challenges, finding the right space to work achieving a balance with home life. This week we have launched two surveys to gather feedback to help us understand how people are coping. Our Staff Pulse Survey, in partnership with our recognised Trade Unions, will give the opportunity for colleagues to highlight issues and identify areas where more support is needed. For students, the Staying Well, Studying Remotely survey is being run in collaboration with our three student representative bodies and will help us provide the best possible learning experience and support for all our students. I hope you will take time to fill in whichever survey applies to you and encourage others to do so too.
Thank you to colleagues who have responded to the message about considering voluntary salary reductions to support our current serious financial situation. I will be writing in more detail early next week about our future financial plans and the approach we will be taking to deal with the expected challenges ahead.
Our University values are particularly important in these times of adversity and I am encouraged to see many examples of people remaining true to our values in their actions and attitude. I am not alone because we have received a record 161 nominations for our values awards, many of which are for groups of people, so the actual number of staff represented is far greater. There is still time to make a nomination until June 4 and I am looking forward to seeing everyone at our global online Celebrating our Values event on 25 June.
I have travelled a great deal in China over the years as a Visiting Professor at the Chinese Academy of Science and editor of a Chinese journal in my own discipline area. China remains a primary and critical partner for us in education and research. One of my highlights in the last few days has been enjoying a video call with Zhongyi Wang, who is Head of our East Asia Office based in Beijing. Zhongyi and his team have already been through lockdown and are now adjusting to the changes in daily living required to keep the virus at bay. You can watch our video call and hear Zhongyi’s perspective on what life is like now, how they are answering questions from students about studying in the UK and what advice he has for maintaining wellbeing through lockdown. It’s clear how much Zhongyi has valued being part of our #OneWatt community in recent months and I hope you are feeling the benefit of that support too.
Professor Richard A. Williams
Principal and Vice-Chancellor