December 29, 2016 9.00 am
This story is over 64 months old
Reflections 2016: Mary Stuart – A momentous year for the University of Lincoln
It’s been another momentous year for the University of Lincoln – in many ways our most successful yet. One of our proudest achievements was being placed in the top 10 nationally for student experience and teaching quality out of more than 120 universities listed in the prestigious Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017.…
Proffessor Mary Stuart, Vice Chancellor at the University of Lincoln, is delighted to be placed so highly in the rankings.
By Mary StuartUniversity of Lincoln Vice Chancellor
It’s been another momentous year for the University of Lincoln – in many ways our most successful yet.
One of our proudest achievements was being placed in the top 10 nationally for student experience and teaching quality out of more than 120 universities listed in the prestigious Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017. This stemmed from our success in the latest National Student Survey, where we also ranked in the top 10 for overall student satisfaction with several of our courses number one for their subject areas.
These are indicators that the people whose opinion matters most – our own students – appreciate the quality of teaching we deliver here at Lincoln. It’s a tribute to the talents and hard work of our staff and also speaks volumes about what a fabulous place this city is to live, work and study.
Our strong record on student satisfaction has helped us establish Lincoln as a top 50 UK university in the Complete University Guide.
Work continues as ever to create the environment for our academic community to continue to flourish. We understand the importance of giving our staff and students the infrastructure – physical and virtual – they need for excellent teaching and research to take place. This was one of the priorities we set out in our new strategic plan for 2016-2021.
This year marked 20 years since Her Majesty The Queen opened the first building on the Brayford Pool Campus and more than £200 million has been invested since.
Much of the £100m+ programme of capital investment we embarked on in 2015 will reach completion in the next twelve months.
Perhaps the most eye-catching of these is the Isaac Newton Building, taking shape on the southern edge of the campus near Tritton Road. It will be home to our schools of mathematics, physics, computer science and engineering for the start of the 2017/18 academic year.
Mary Stuart with Juergen Maier at the opening of the engineering hub expansion. Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
It was a celebration of how this award-winning collaboration between the University and Siemens has gone from strength to strength and its important role supplying skills and research capacity for our region’s manufacturing industries.
Having introduced a range of new science disciplines over the past five years, we have again added to our mix of subjects, introducing a new School of Geography. The Royal Geographical Society called its creation “one of the most significant investments in UK university Geography for a generation”.
Our geographers are already working on studies of direct relevance to Lincolnshire, collaborating with scientists from our Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology (LIAT) on innovative research.
They have launched a wide-ranging new study examining the true economic impact of coastal flooding on England’s east coast, working with farmers around The Wash to consider new methods for bringing saltwater damaged soils back into use.
The University of Lincoln has launched its new research and development programme
This project is a fine example of what LIAT is all about: bringing together specialisms from across the University and applying them to solving practical problems in partnership with our food and farming industries.
It is fair to say our agri-food specialism has flourished this year – LIAT researchers showcased their work at some of the UK’s most influential agri-tech industry events in 2016 and joined a UK Government trade delegation to India. There was even a cameo for our Thorvald agricultural robot roaming a Lincolnshire broccoli field on BBC Countryfile. So it was a great privilege to officially launch LIAT in an event at our Riseholme Campus a few weeks ago.
Alongside research innovations, we are striving to equip our agri-food industries with relevant skills too. We announced the introduction of a new postgraduate course in Agri-food Technologies this autumn and were selected with our partners Sheffield Hallam University to deliver the UK’s first degree apprenticeships designed specifically for the food industry, beginning in 2017.
Yet again so much has happened in the past 12 months and the arrival of the New Year presents a timely opportunity to stop for a moment and reflect. Once the new term begins our focus by necessity moves back to what’s coming next – and without giving away too many spoilers I can predict that 2017 is set to be equally exciting.
Professor Mary Stuart is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lincoln. She is a graduate of the University of Cape Town and the Open University, where she obtained her Doctorate in Social Policy in 1998. Her research interests are focused on life histories, social mobility, higher education students and community development.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
Officers were called to reports of a burglary in progress at a premises on Harlow Street, Grimsby at 5:20am this morning (Thursday 26 May).
Following a prompt response from officers five men (from London, Essex and Loughborough) have been arrested on suspicion of burglary.
Whilst carrying out a search of the area and property officers also discovered a cannabis grow at the premises alongside equipment often used when growing cannabis.
Electricity had also been abstracted dangerously.
If you have any information that may assist us with our enquiries, please contact us on our non-emergency number 101 quoting log 46 of 26 May.
A man from Crowland has been fined more than £21,000 for storing waste illegally after pleading guilty to operating a waste site without permission and allowing others to fly-tip there.
Raymond Wortley, 75, of The Streddars, Hundreds Road, accepted and stored waste illegally at his home without a permit. While some of the waste was burned, he also left his gate open which allowed fly-tippers to deposit other waste on his site.
Wortley was sentenced at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on May 24, 2022. He pleaded guilty to operating a waste facility without a permit and knowingly permitting others to deposit waste.
In mitigation, it was explained Wortley had misunderstood the scope of the regulations and had made efforts to comply. He had recently cleared the site and was in the process of making an application for planning permission.
He was fined £21,693.50 which included the avoided permit costs and financial benefit Wortley had gained by running the illegal site. He was ordered to pay a contribution to prosecution costs of £10,000 and a victim surcharge of £181.
A man from Lincolnshire stored waste illegally at his home without a permit. | Photo: Environment Agency
Waste including tree cuttings, plastics, treated wood and construction waste was kept on land at Wortley’s home between October 23, 2019 and June 2, 2021.
Officers visited the site in October 2019 after reports of material being burnt at the site. Smoke from the fire was so thick the officers were unable to see each other.
Metal sheeting, aerosols, ceramic pots and plastic were all found on the burn pile. At the time, Wortley only had permission to burn green waste produced at his site.
Surveillance was then carried out at the site during February 2020, and June to July 2020. Officers noted tipper trucks bringing waste to the site on numerous occasions during this time.
They were told by drivers a fee of £20 was being charged per load to bring waste to the site.
Smoke from the fire was so thick that the officers were unable to see each other. | Photo: Environment Agency
Wortley was told verbally and in writing on several occasions he was not allowed to run the site in the way he was doing. Despite this, he continued to do so.
Further visits were made to the site in July 2020. An attempt to regularise some of the activities had been made with the green waste now being shredded, but this still required a permit.
Additional visits were made in February 2021 and again in October last year. Despite further warnings telling him to stop, Wortley continued to operate from the site with mixed waste including carpets, plastic and household waste being found.
In, November 2021, the site was inspected via drone and found to still be operating as a waste transfer station without any permits.
Peter Stark, enforcement team leader at the Environment Agency, said: “We take illegal waste activity very seriously and will take the necessary action to disrupt criminal activity and prosecute those responsible.
“Wortley was advised to stop on numerous occasions but continued to disregard environmental law. He is now receiving the consequences of those actions.”
Members of the public can report waste crime report on 0800 807060. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Whatsapp
