An update from the Vice-Chancellor
Posted on behalf of: Internal Communications
Last updated: Thursday, 24 February 2022

Interim Vice-Chancellor, David Maguire

Retailers for the new Student Centre arches will include international grocer, Taj
Today (21 February 2022), Interim Vice-Chancellor David Maguire wrote to all staff. You can read the message below:
Dear colleague,
After a stormy period, blue skies are on the horizon.
The recovery from Covid-19 and other challenges will be more than financial, it will be mental and cultural. Fortunately, working for a university – especially one as forward-thinking as Sussex – gives us more opportunity than most to anticipate things that we would have once taken for granted.
The return, in full, of the Brighton Festival this year is a very welcome tonic. Sussex has a very proud history of supporting this major arts festival and, this year, we have taken our partnership to a whole new level. The Festival will provide research and learning opportunities for staff and students, as well as contribute to the local culture. The Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts and the School of Media, Arts and Humanities are heavily involved in some of the big-ticket items in this year’s festival, including a UK premiere and a Festival of Ideas. Although not until May, the programme was published last week. I encourage you to check it out, if you haven’t already.
Recently we learnt details of major University of Sussex involvement in the UK Government-funded UNBOXED festival in May. Consciousness scientists at the University have worked with award-winning artists and musicians to create a unique, immersive experience, called Dreammachine, based on our scientific understanding of the mind and human perception. The Sussex team is led by Professor Anil Seth, whose new book, Being You, continues to pick up excellent reviews and whose two TED Talks have amassed 13.5 million views online. Completing the team are Dr David Schwartzman, Dr Reny Baykova, and Trevor Hewitt. Congratulations and good luck to them all.
Back on campus, there is exciting news about new developments in our new Student Centre. Four retailers for the arches at the front of the building have been announced. These include the international grocer, Taj, and a new social enterprise called Liberty Glasses, which sells affordable eyecare and retrains prisoners to help prepare them to re-join society.
They will be joined in the space by Union, a new proposition from our Students’ Union, and an expanded University pharmacy. We expect the new retailers to be up-and-running from the end of April.
The University has a long history of partnering with organisations and individuals who are bringing about positive change in the world. I was saddened, therefore, to learn of the death over the weekend of Jamal Edwards, one of our founding Entrepreneurs in Residence. I didn’t know Jamal personally but we were greatly honoured that he chose to give some of his busy time to inspire our students. The University has paid tribute to him on our social media channels this morning and our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time.
I hope you have a good week.
Warm regards,
David Maguire
Interim Vice-Chancellor