Today, 12 February, the Vice-Chancellor wrote to all staff. You can read his email in full below:
Dear colleagues,
I was reminded, when compiling notes for the open staff forum this week, that this time last year we had the first suspected case of Covid-19 (then still called coronavirus) on campus.
The case turned out to be negative, which came as a relief at the time. However, few people imagined what was to come. I certainly didn’t and, to my embarrassment – as I’ve mentioned in an earlier ‘View’ – I distinctly remember downplaying the suggestion from Melissa Leach (the Director of the IDS) that this was going to be ‘the big one’.
We’ve now had more than 1,000 positive cases among our community, thankfully mostly with mild symptoms. Sadly, however, that has not always been the case, and we have all felt the impact of the virus.
The latest national and local figures show that cases are rapidly dropping. We currently have (as of today) only two cases reported amongst our staff and student community. But, as new variants continue to give concern, this is not a time for complacency.
We know our students are keen to return to campus – indeed, many are returning – and also that many of you may also be hoping to get back to some sort of working normality. We’ll hear more from the Government soon on what a lifting of the current lockdown will look like, and any decisions we make will be based on what’s in the best interests of the University – our staff and our students.
While we are keen to welcome everyone back, we need to ensure our campus remains as safe a place to work as possible. At the present time our onsite testing continues and, if you’re someone who is coming onto campus, please remember you can get tested up to twice a week. I’m obviously following with interest the Government’s new border protection measures on testing and quarantine, as this will obviously have implications for our international students and staff.
I’ve also been reflecting on the adaptions we’ve made to our learning and working environment, and what that means for our future. I hope that, out of this, we’ll find some positives. Certainly, blended learning has proved workable (although not always easy) – and for many, very successful. For many students, there have been some advantages and there is strong appreciation of the work that academic staff have put in to create interactive classes.
As well as updating attendees on Covid measures at the open forum, I also shared more detail on the Size and Shape programme, which I’ve covered several times in my weekly emails. You can read one from a couple of weeks ago.
As a reminder, the Size and Shape programme is essentially the work we need to do now, to achieve our vision as set out in Sussex 2025 and address our financial challenges.
Firstly, we are committed to creating the best environment for research and scholarship, and ensuring that our education is both outstanding and responsive to what people want to study. And secondly, we need to generate a sufficient financial surplus to invest in our physical and digital infrastructures, and our people, to ensure that we get as close as we can to our goals.
We must continue to aspire to become once again a top 25 university by 2025, and to be recognised as a beacon of sustainability. Our priorities are to deliver an exceptional student experience, to produce excellent research, to foster an inclusive culture, and to deliver an estates and IT infrastructure that enables success.
We will be presenting the Size and Shape proposals to Council at the end of March. Before then I’ll be holding another staff forum on 1 March, where you will have the opportunity to ask any further questions. This is a complex picture, and I want to ensure that you have the opportunity to understand what we are proposing to do, and why, to make the University the best it can be.
You can read about the programme on the staff webpages, which will be continuously updated as we go along this journey together. I’ll also hold another forum soon after the Council meeting, so you are kept informed – at all stages.
As an example of how our researchers are making a real-world impact, we can’t do better than look at the work of doctoral researcher Cassandra Wiener in the School of Law, Politics and Sociology. Her research, a particular form of domestic abuse – coercive control – has revealed a gap in the law for those who are in the process of leaving or who are no longer living with their abusive ex-partners. She's been working with campaigners, including the charity Surviving Economic Abuse – supported by our communications division and particularly the University’s public affairs team – to ask the government to amend the Domestic Abuse Bill to close the gap.
Cassandra has been quoted in two news pieces this week, in the Times and the i news, and her research was cited twice by peers in the House of Lords when they discussed the proposed amendment this week. Later this month she'll join a roundtable with peers to discuss the issue.
After last week’s warm valediction from lab technician Dave Shiers, who took voluntary severance, I heard from maths lecturer Dr Roger Luther, who wrote that, “with a very heavy heart”, he was also taking VS. He came to Sussex in 2001 to study for a PhD, after working as a school teacher for 26 years, and found that being in higher education gave him “a renewed energy”, especially working with so many motivated students over the years. They included former student Rosie Barnard, who he heard interviewed recently on BBC Radio 4. Rosie is now on the disease modelling team for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine that reports to the Government’s emergency response committee SAGE. Roger, whose many roles included heading up the Maths Foundation Year, said: “It gave me a very warm feeling to have been part of her mathematical education.”
It’s messages like this that help to remind us why we work in higher education. The emotional reward of seeing our students succeed is immeasurable.
For those who haven’t had time yet, today is the deadline for completing our staff survey. You will have been sent an invite if you haven’t completed it. It takes just a few minutes, and is a valuable way for us to know about and find ways to improve our working environment. All the answers are completely anonymous and confidential.
I do hope you’re able to enjoy the weekend and take time to relax.
All the very best,
Adam