̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Vice-Chancellor

Raring to return | Vice-Chancellor’s blog

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Over a year since the United Kingdom went into its first lockdown, and even as some of the national restrictions are loosened, we continue to suffer from disruption to our core activities of teaching, learning and research.

̽��ֱ��latest review of the government’s road map offered little detail – and scant hope – to many university students wondering when they may be able to return to in-person teaching. ̽��ֱ��frustration and the bewilderment among teachers, students and their families is palpable – and wholly understandable. It is not unreasonable to wonder why students are now able to get their hair cut at a salon, or go shopping, or drink in a pub garden, but are still told by government that they cannot take part in small-group teaching, even under COVID-safe conditions.

Like many other universities, Cambridge has at every opportunity been making a strong case to the government for why students should be allowed back for in-person teaching. Over the past few months we have repeatedly provided the government with compelling reasons to move towards the easing of restrictions.

One of those compelling reasons is the personal care and attention Colleges are able to provide to students who are already here – over half of our students, according to a recent survey, with many more still expected back because they will qualify under government exceptions. With support from the Colleges, and in line with the public health guidance, many students already in residence are currently able to enjoy some of the advantages of collegiate life, including pastoral care, outdoor sports, and carefully managed social activities.

Another compelling reason is the success of our asymptomatic screening programme, which for the sixth consecutive week has registered zero positive cases among the students already in residence. ̽��ֱ��latter is, to me, proof that our student community can be trusted to do the right thing and participate in a programme that has been conceived to keep our collegiate and city communities safe. It shows that, in considering future steps out of lockdown, our students should be neither scapegoated nor patronised. They have had a hard enough time already.

What we know at the moment is that, as regards in-person university teaching, nothing will change until at least 17 May, at which point the examination period will be about to start. Even then, it is not clear that the position will be different, as any new guidance will be entirely dependent on national levels of transmission. I encourage students who believe themselves to meet one of the government’s exceptions, and who wish to return to Cambridge to get in touch with their College to obtain permission to return.

̽��ֱ��pandemic has not been easy for anyone. It feels to me, however, like this has been a particularly difficult time to be a university student. ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� and the Colleges are making every effort to ensure that students continue to receive an exceptional education, and to provide students with the best possible student experience. We will continue to do so. I look forward to the time when all our students can return to Cambridge to enjoy the fullness of the collegiate university experience.

̽��ֱ��Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen J Toope, writes about the return of students and continued disruption to our teaching, learning and research.

Sir Cam

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Collaboration Award 2023

zs332 — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 08:32:38 +0000

̽��ֱ��2023 Collaboration Awards goes to UK Citizens' Jury on Human Embryo Editing, led by Professor Anna Middleton, Director Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science, and the Public.

People, climate and a national role for Cambridge are a focus of Vice-Chancellor’s first Annual Address

bjb42 — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 08:44:48 +0000

Having come into office in July, she used the opportunity to share her evolving understanding of the Collegiate ̽��ֱ�� and how it works. “I have found it useful to think of Cambridge as three separable entities, distinct in their goals, cultures, and modes of conduct and interrelated in their pursuit of Cambridge’s overarching mission.”

̽��ֱ��first of these entities is Cambridge as a community of scholars, which she described as a “vibrant ecosystem”, and which she found to be “alive and well – indeed, more alive and more well here than in any other research-intensive university I know”.

̽��ֱ��second is Cambridge as a public institution: “This Cambridge contributes around £30 billion a year to the British economy. Only last week it was ranked top in Research England’s Knowledge Exchange Framework, which measures universities’ impact on the economy and society, in terms of the revenue generated by its spinouts. It generates research discoveries that shape policy and practice in every sector.”

“This is the Cambridge that, through its Press and Assessment, reaches over 100 million learners around the globe. This Cambridge welcomed the King immediately after his Coronation to the ground-breaking for the new Whittle Lab. This Cambridge is partnering to build two new hospitals on the biomedical campus and is working to define an innovation strategy for Greater Cambridge.”

̽��ֱ��third face of Cambridge, she said, is the ̽��ֱ�� as a modern organisation “that employs staff, manages the estate and the finances, runs the IT systems, staffs the committees, represents the ̽��ֱ�� in professional organisations, raises funds for ̽��ֱ�� endeavours, and communicates on the ̽��ֱ��’s behalf.”

“Cambridge’s sweet spot,” she concluded, “is where the aims of the scholars, the needs of society, and the capacities of the organisation align. Alignment is the key, and it cannot to be taken for granted.”

Reflecting on the year ahead, Professor Prentice was upbeat. She celebrated the UK’s readmission into the Horizon Europe, the world’s largest collaborative research programme. But much of the work of the ̽��ֱ�� in the next twelve months, she said, would focus on people. “Our people are the means and the ends of the work of a university… It is people who animate the community of scholars, and people whose imaginations and ambitions fuel the impact of the public institution.”

Acknowledging that the past few years have been challenging, she said: “We are aiming to improve pay and conditions in ways that respond to what we have been hearing from staff and are fair and equitable across the ̽��ֱ��, competitive with our peers, and financially sustainable. That’s a tall order, and it will take a multi-year plan to get there.”

Another priority in the year ahead, she said, will be “Cambridge’s contribution to the health of the planet”. ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� is “aligned around a desire to make a difference in this critical domain. I hope to build on that alignment in the coming year and beyond, with the help of colleagues throughout the ̽��ֱ��… that have brought us this far. Greater alignment simply means that the ̽��ֱ�� will build capacity to support the community of scholars working in this area, enable their interactions and cross-fertilisation, and position their work for greatest impact.”

In her closing remarks, the Vice-Chancellor reiterated her commitment to creating a forum for public dialogue on difficult topics, enhancing the role of the ̽��ֱ�� as an environment in which free speech is actively fostered. She concluded by expressing an aspiration for the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge to take on a leading role as a national institution.

“I’m convinced that Cambridge cannot be a great global university without being a great national and a great regional university too. Our impact on the world starts at home. I want to learn more about Cambridge’s opportunities and obligations in the East of England and the United Kingdom.”

“I look forward to seeing more of this beautiful country – especially the parts to the north and west that I have not seen before. I look forward to visiting areas with many Cambridge applicants and alumni, and areas with very few. I look forward to meeting partners and potential partners throughout the UK. And I look forward to engaging meaningfully with current and future development plans for our city, our county, and the wider region.”

Delivered at the Senate House, the Annual Address followed the ceremony for the election of the Proctors and the swearing-in of the Constables, and was open to all members of the ̽��ֱ�� community.

Read the full address

Watch the full address

Speaking at the Senate House, Professor Deborah Prentice marked the start of the academic year by delivering her first October address to the ̽��ֱ��.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Debbie Prentice's annual address to the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge – 2023

Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor's inaugural speech

bjb42 — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 15:15:14 +0000

Having been admitted, the Vice-Chancellor delivered her inaugural address to the ̽��ֱ�� at the Senate House in Cambridge.

Read the full transcript of the Vice-Chancellor's speech

Professor Deborah Prentice is the Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. An eminent psychologist, her academic expertise is in the study of social norms that govern human behaviour – particularly the impact and development of unwritten rules and conventions, and how people respond to breaches of those rules. She has edited three academic volumes and published more than 50 articles and chapters, and she has specialised in the study of domestic violence, alcohol abuse and gender stereotypes. As Vice-Chancellor, Professor Prentice provides academic and administrative leadership to the whole ̽��ֱ�� community, and represents the ̽��ֱ�� externally, within the UK and internationally.

Professor Deborah Prentice was formally admitted to the office of Vice-Chancellor yesterday afternoon.

VC's Address 1

Yes

̽��ֱ�� delivers Loyal Address to King Charles III

bjb42 — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 14:10:22 +0000

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge was one of 27 Privileged Bodies – institutions and corporations that enjoy the historic right to present these to the Sovereign – presenting an Address. ̽��ֱ��Acting Vice-Chancellor introduced and delivered the text of the ̽��ֱ��’s Address to His Majesty, highlighting the role of the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as the ̽��ֱ��'s Chancellor for thirty-five years, and mentioning members of the Royal Family who are alumni, including the King.

In accordance with ̽��ֱ�� regulations, the Acting Vice-Chancellor was accompanied by the Registrary and the Proctors. He was joined by other members of the ̽��ֱ�� specially nominated for this occasion: the Master of Jesus College, the President of the Postdocs of Cambridge Society and the Presidents (Postgraduate and Undergraduate) of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Students’ Union. ̽��ֱ��Esquire Bedells and the ̽��ֱ�� Marshal also attended.

Responding to the Privileged Bodies, HM ̽��ֱ��King remarked: “Whether in the fields of education, science, or the arts, or whether as representatives of the faith communities or of civic organisations, you advance our knowledge and our understanding of how we relate to each other and the world about us. You underpin the very foundations upon which our country is built and help to construct a framework of excellence and achievement within which our civil society functions and our national narrative can be formed.”

̽��ֱ��last time the ̽��ֱ�� was invited to deliver a Loyal Address was in 2012, on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

A delegation, led by the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Dr Anthony Freeling, was at Buckingham Palace on Thursday, 9 March to deliver a Loyal Address to HM the King.

Yes

Acting Vice-Chancellor stresses drive for academic excellence

ps748 — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 09:00:54 +0000

Professor Deborah Prentice, currently Provost of Princeton in the United States, has been nominated for the role. Dr Freeling, formerly President of Hughes Hall, is the first acting vice-chancellor in the ̽��ֱ��’s history. In his speech he used the analogy of running a relay race and said it was his role to ensure the baton was passed smoothly to his successor. He paid a heartfelt tribute to Professor Toope for steering Cambridge through some its most challenging times ever and making the ̽��ֱ�� even more open to diverse talent, more financially transparent, and more collegial. He noted that the ̽��ֱ�� “is about to begin an exciting new partnership to bring more than 1,000 young African scholars to Cambridge.”

Dr Freeling also stressed the importance of the ̽��ֱ��’s mission, describing academic excellence as the touchstone: “Whether addressing climate change, the cost of living or student wellbeing, the central ̽��ֱ��, the academic departments, and the colleges must work more closely than ever, and we must collaborate more effectively than ever. In short, working collaboratively to enhance Cambridge’s academic excellence will be the guiding principle of my time in office, and my unrelenting focus, before handing over the baton to my successor.”

He acknowledged that the months ahead will be challenging, “not least as we make the necessary adjustments to help our communities cope with the country’s cost of living crisis”, but vowed to “work across collegiate Cambridge to help us pull together and achieve this shared purpose.”

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ��, he said, could only achieve its aims by working together: “We are united in our aspirations, and in our collective enterprise. Together, we form an extraordinary community who come together for the greater benefit of the whole.”

Dr Freeling emphasised the ̽��ֱ��’s commitment to freedom of speech: “We take great pride in being a self-governing community of scholars. We place great stock in protecting academic freedom. And we make great efforts to embed freedom of expression.” “ ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ��’s governance”, he added, “relies ultimately on members of its Regent House engaging, discussing and voting on the issues that matter most to them.”

He ended his Address by urging members of the Regent House – the ̽��ֱ��’s governing body – to fully participate in the decision-making processes of the ̽��ֱ�� saying it was “a democratic right, and democratic duty”.

̽��ֱ��acting Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, Dr Anthony Freeling, has been outlining his vision for the next nine months in the traditional Annual Address at the Senate House. Dr Freeling has taken over from Professor Stephen Toope and will lead the ̽��ֱ�� until the new Vice-Chancellor takes office.

Together we form an extraordinary community who come together for the greater benefit of the whole

Dr Anthony Freeling

Yes

Next Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge appointed

bjb42 — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 10:27:22 +0000

An eminent psychologist, Professor Prentice has been Provost at Princeton since 2017 with primary responsibility for all academic, budgetary and long-term planning issues.

Professor Prentice joined Princeton as a lecturer in psychology in 1988 and was appointed assistant professor of psychology the following year, after completing a PhD at Yale. She was appointed associate professor in 1995 and professor of psychology in 2000. She became the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs in 2012 and chaired the Department of Psychology for 12 years until her appointment as Dean of Faculty in 2014.

Her academic expertise is the study of social norms which govern human behaviour – the impact and development of unwritten rules and conventions and how people respond to breaches of those rules. She has edited three academic volumes and authored more than 50 articles and chapters and she has specialised in the study of domestic violence, alcohol abuse and gender stereotypes.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� Council has formally appointed Professor Prentice following approval by the Regent House, the body comprising academic and senior administrative staff of the ̽��ֱ�� and Colleges. Professor Prentice will begin as Vice-Chancellor on 1 July 2023.

Former Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen J Toope, departed on 1 October and in the meantime the Acting Vice-Chancellor will be Dr Anthony Freeling, formerly President of Hughes Hall, Cambridge.

Professor Prentice said: "It is a huge honour to be nominated to lead such a renowned institution. I welcome the challenge of helping Cambridge write the next chapter of its long and proud history. Higher education around the world faces many challenges but I firmly believe there are also great opportunities to demonstrate how our leading universities can together harness their expertise to solve global problems. I hope that I can play some part in leading that dialogue."

Professor Pippa Rogerson, Master of Gonville & Caius College, who chaired the advisory committee on the Vice-Chancellor’s recruitment, said: "We were privileged to be able to meet and consider an exceptionally strong field of applicants from around the world. Professor Prentice was an outstanding candidate from the start and we had no hesitation in putting her forward for consideration by the ̽��ֱ�� Council."

̽��ֱ��Council interviewed three candidates in person on 20 September 2022 before agreeing to nominate Professor Prentice. Mark Lewisohn, deputy chair of Council, said: "In making its nomination, Council is confident that the ̽��ֱ�� will be gaining a highly experienced and formidably talented academic and leader who will be able to guide Cambridge through the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead."

Professor Toope said: "As I step down as Vice-Chancellor, I am delighted to know the ̽��ֱ�� is appointing a successor of such academic distinction, and with an experience of leadership at all levels of university life that will stand her in good stead at Cambridge. I am confident that Professor Prentice will bring fresh perspectives and new ideas to Cambridge, and I look forward to seeing our world-leading university continue to flourish under her guidance."

Dr Freeling said: "I look forward to passing on the baton from Professor Toope to Professor Prentice, and to working closely with Professor Prentice as she prepares to take on the leadership of our ̽��ֱ�� later this academic year."

Professor Deborah Prentice, the Provost of Princeton ̽��ֱ��, has been formally appointed as the next Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge.

It is a huge honour to be nominated to lead such a renowned institution. I welcome the challenge of helping Cambridge write the next chapter of its long and proud history.

Professor Deborah Prentice

̽��ֱ��importance of international partnerships for universities

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 17:30:00 +0000

You’ve spoken recently about the need to think carefully about how and why a university engages with the world. What brought about this reflection?

If you look at the tectonic shifts taking place in geopolitics, and their profound implications for interstate relations, you have to start asking serious questions about your partnerships around the world. For example, how do we make sure we are attuned to potential risks, and then find ways to address them? It’s not about retreating into silos of national academic culture – I think that would be disastrous. But we do need to make sure we are on the front foot, so that we don’t get pressured by political forces into taking decisions that would be profoundly negative for international academic collaboration.

Are you thinking of a particular political situation?

Obviously, the US–China relationship, and frankly the UK–China relationship, have been very much called into question. But it isn’t just about China. If you look around the world, there are risks in relationships in the Middle East, in India, in Brazil, and dare I say it in parts of Europe, in Hungary and Poland.

What kind of risks are universities experiencing?

One is the basic physical security of students and researchers. We had the horrible circumstance of one of our PhD students, Giulio Regeni, being murdered in Egypt. He was working on questions that many other people, from many countries, had worked on for many years, yet all of a sudden it became a heightened political risk. So, we have to consider situations like that very carefully.

Are there also broader threats to research?

Not everywhere we work in the world has the same commitment to academic freedom as do we, so we have to ask how we manage relationships when the partnership is based on quite different values. There is also the potential for the theft or hostile use of intellectual property, or gaining access to security-sensitive data. This is clearly an issue that governments are very preoccupied with, all around the world.

Does this make some partnerships impossible?

It’s not that we want to say that we cannot collaborate, but there have to be fences around certain areas of collaboration, so that we don’t get ourselves into damaging circumstances.

How can European universities approach this challenge?

We have to be clear with both political and public actors, and the media, that we are not naïve – although we are often accused of that – and that we are thinking very carefully about these issues. We must keep our minds open, but also show people that our eyes are open, as we engage in these partnerships.

What practical steps can you take?

̽��ֱ��most important thing we can do is help develop a more risk-literate culture in our universities. A lot of partnerships are discussed at the level of departments, or even individual professors or researchers, so I think we have a duty to help our colleagues understand that there are real risks, and that they have to attend to them. At Cambridge, we’ve established a set of international principles, which we are using to develop educational opportunities and online resources so that staff across the university think about these questions when they are discussing and negotiating potential partnerships.

Companies are also increasingly powerful global actors, for example controlling the circulation of data and knowledge...

This is complicated, because we are highly dependent on legal structures created by governments and through intergovernmental negotiation. So, the most obvious thing we can do is try to influence the policy and legal framework around how those companies operate. Some of that has to do with trying to resist the overweening power of single publishing companies, for example, and a lot of work has been done through LERU and other organisations on that issue. But we also have technology platforms that potentially can be the source of both disinformation and abuse of information produced by universities. We can’t easily attack that directly, as institutions, but I think we can do so obliquely by trying to influence public policy.

Do all these risks affect the rationale for international collaboration?

Why we collaborate has not changed in any profound way: we collaborate because it is essential to knowledge creation. There are so many areas that cannot be addressed, even including fundamental scientific discovery, if you don’t have proper international collaboration.

For example?

Universities have a fundamental role to play in helping to create resilient, sustainable societies, and I think we’ve seen that clearly in the COVID crisis. Politically, there’s been rather weak international collaboration, in my view. If you look at access to vaccines, for example, in low-income countries less than 5% of populations are inoculated, even with one dose. But at the university level we’ve done remarkably well, working together and rapidly sharing knowledge. That kind of collaboration is crucial to generating social resilience in relation to the pandemic. And if we are going to have resilience around climate change, we absolutely need to be sharing the best knowledge we can.

Universities also have an influence on sustainability as investors. Is that role changing?

There is now much more expectation that we will be active social actors in relation to sustainability. At Cambridge, we are moving towards the lowest possible carbon relationships in our endowment fund, but that’s not enough. We’ve also promised to use the endowment fund as an educational mechanism for other investors, with whom we partner, around questions of sustainability, to help them understand why it is so important that they too make the transition. I think that shows the kind of expectations that universities will be under: it’s not enough to just declare things, we’re increasingly going to be asked to show, through our own actions, how we promote sustainability.

Cambridge is hosting the LERU Rectors’ Assembly this month. What does this occasion mean to the ̽��ֱ��?

I see it as a great moment to be able to reaffirm our very strong links with European partners. That’s really important in the post-Brexit environment. It’s also an opportunity to say thank you, because LERU and the extended university network have been forceful in working with the EU to try to affirm our future participation in Horizon Europe. I’m very grateful for that.

***

This interview first appeared on the League of European Research Universities' (LERU) website on 16 November 2021. Reproduced by permission.

Universities need international partnerships to advance knowledge, but they must also be alert to the risks involved. So says Professor Stephen J Toope, Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and host of the League of European Research Universities’ autumn online Rectors’ Assembly.