Vice-Chancellor Sasha Roseneil
Today (2 December) Vice-Chancellor Sasha Roseneil emailed all staff. You can read the full message below:
It has now been four months since I arrived at Sussex, and I am hugely grateful for the warm welcome and generous support I have received, as well as the patience and grace with which my many questions about how things are done here have been answered.
One of my main aims during my first term has been to meet as many members of the University as possible, in order to learn about life at Sussex from different perspectives and to find out about urgent priorities and long-term concerns, as well as about what makes Sussex such an intellectually exciting place to be. In both formal meetings and committees, one-to-ones, and small group gatherings, and through a range of specially organised events, I have met hundreds of highly engaged, purposeful, and passionate staff and students.
In October, I held an all-staff forum in the ACCA auditorium. It was important for me not just to offer my vision for Sussex and my early analysis of the challenges that we face, but to also hear directly from you, and many colleagues took the opportunity to share their views both there and subsequently by email, and in chance encounters around campus. I have also been on a ‘listening tour’ of Schools – at which I ended up talking rather more than I had intended – and I have started visiting Professional Services divisions, labs and research groups. In addition, I have attended a series of ‘themed lunches’ organised by our Pro-Vice-Chancellors – on research and enterprise, education and student experience, and equality, diversity, and inclusion - at each of which several dozen members of the University with leadership roles in these areas gathered to discuss current issues in the sector and developments at Sussex. This gave me hugely valuable insight into our work and served to bring colleagues together for lively pan-University conversations, often for the first time since before the start of the pandemic.
Next term, I will continue with an agenda of engagement meetings – holding another all-staff forum, visiting more Professional Services groups, and having themed lunches about sustainability, postgraduate research, and mental health and wellbeing – as I seek to deepen my understanding of Sussex, and broaden out the discussions about pressing issues within the University and beyond.
Sussex has been running a twice-yearly staff survey for a couple of years now, and Robin Banerjee recently shared the headline results of the October survey with you. Given when the survey took place, it might be that the results did not register some of the recent positive steps we have taken, including UCU agreement, and the £6.6m cost-of-living package of support for staff and students. Whether or not this was the case, the results are a sobering reminder of the work that needs to be done in many areas if we are to make the University a place of which everyone is proud, where everyone feels truly supported, respected, and included, and able to do their best work. It is now the responsibility of all of us on the University Leadership Team (Heads of Schools, PS Division leads, Pro-Vice-Chancellors, Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellors, and, above all, me) to review the survey results in more detail and to work out how to turn feedback into concrete and meaningful actions to improve working life at Sussex.
The new round of UCU industrial action about sector-wide issues of pay, working conditions, and pensions further underlines the importance of both continuing to move forward with the local changes and work that were agreed as part of the 16 weeks of negotiation over the summer, and seeking fair and sustainable resolution to long-standing concerns that can only be tackled at a national level.
A spirit of open-minded collaboration that explores new ways of working together - across Schools and Professional Services, with the campus trade unions and with our students, and in meaningful partnerships with universities and organisations locally and globally – is, I believe, at the heart of how we will make the changes that are needed for the whole University to flourish in challenging times. I will be hosting another in-person all-staff forum on 7 February 2023, between 1.30pm and 3pm, and I invite you all to book your place to attend – in person, if possible, or virtually.
As the autumn term draws to a close, I would like to acknowledge the hard work that it has been for the University to recover from the disruptions of COVID, and so I am announcing that Thursday 22 December will be an additional minimum service day. For those able to take the day itself off, I hope that it brings forward the start of a relaxing and joyful holiday period, and for those who aren’t, I hope you can take another day off soon afterwards – please do discuss this with your local manager soon!
With my very best wishes for the last days of term.
Sasha Roseneil
Vice-Chancellor