Last week we asked your opinion about Heriot-Watt’s rich heritage. As an institution nearing our 200th birthday, there are many aspects of our past that we might want to retain. More people are getting engaged and we’ve had an increase in the number of votes and the numbers of comments that we’ve received. Thank you. It is vital that we continue to hear a range of voices and views as we work together to define our new strategy.
In week one there was a clear gap between our most popular and least popular suggested ideas for “number 1 in the world” status. This week’s discussion of heritage was a closer contest. A practical focus came out top (with 22% of the total vote) by a small margin and there was least traction for continuing to be pioneers in widening access but even this attracted 15% of the vote.
Once again, some really useful comments were offered. These included a suggestion to use our 200th anniversary to engage with the many other “institutes of mechanics” around the world which followed in our footsteps and making sure that we continue to put students at the heart of everything that we do. We also saw a theme around retaining our specialist focus in those areas where we have expertise and close relationships with industry. These suggestions are invaluable and all of the comments are being fed into the process of developing and refining our Strategy 2025.
This week, our Deputy Principal for Research and Innovation is looking for feedback on the characteristics of our research communities. Please continue to support the process by reading the short blog below and by voting again.
Professor Richard A. Williams
Principal and Vice-Chancellor
Our Global Research Communities
Given our university’s position as a global organisation it is appropriate that any future strategy should consider what “global” means in terms of our research. At our recent University Committee for Research and Innovation (UCRI) strategy day a group of us spent time pondering this issue.
An unsurprising but essential conclusion was that we first need to define the attributes of a global research community. We also need to think about the ways in which we link our research into our local and regional communities.
The list we arrived at is provided as a poll and we would now like further input from the wider research community to cross check these suggestions, we’d also welcome your ideas on other attributes that we might need to consider.
Professor Garry Pender
Deputy Principal for Research and Innovation
Submit your ideas in the poll displayed to the top right on a desktop or below on a mobile device.