I was listening this morning to our Chief Scientist, Professor Michel Kaiser, talking on BBC Radio 4 about evidence-based decision making relating to improving the marine impact of scallop fishing. It reminded me again of the importance of using evidence to support rational decision making, particularly in a world where perceptions and political views can become detached from reality. Secondly, it reminded me of the importance of ensuring that much needed technological innovations work hand-in-hand in a dialogue with society and those invested communities involved. The same will be true for many of our research areas at the University where, as part of shaping the future, change is involved and sometimes radical change. You can listen to Professor Kaiser online here.
Technological innovation in itself will never be sufficient to deliver change and that is why socio-technological approaches involving psychology and business finance remain vital components to our future mission at the University in areas such as robotics, deployment of artificial intelligence, marine sciences and geo-engineering, delivering net-zero etc. As we continue to develop our ideas for Global Research Institutes the three perspectives of ‘research & innovation’, ‘education’ and ‘policy’ need to be core components in our approach. This theme has also been picked up last week with the formal announcement of the Panmure House Prize for radical innovation in finance funded by Baillie Gifford. You can read about it here and watch the video with Professor McGregor here. This is another example of the University leading out to shape the future in a very distinctive manner that is gaining global attention.
Finally, a core ingredient to everything we do is the regular support we all receive from so many professional services colleagues. A few days ago, I had the chance to talk to Lisa Atkinson-Brown and Lorraine Russell about their work in supporting the safety and cleaning of campuses. We considered what life has been like in recent months for those supporting students and staff on the ground in the roller-coaster of recent months. Please listen to their experiences and join me in acknowledging and thanking the teams in all our locations for their dedication and service, we are truly grateful.
Professor Richard A. Williams
Principal and Vice-Chancellor