Mary Stuart

By Mary Stuart University 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.

Earlier this year I was honoured to welcome Juergen Maier, CEO of Siemens in the UK, at a ceremony marking the official opening of the extended Engineering Hub.

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.

By Mary Stuart University of Lincoln Vice Chancellor

The last year has been one of great significance for the city and for the University of Lincoln.

In 2015 people in democratic countries all over the world commemorated the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta and, as holder of one of only four originals of the 1215 charter, Lincoln was central to those celebrations.

Here at the University of Lincoln we enjoyed the chance to celebrate the ‘great charter’ which enshrined the rule of law in England and laid the foundation for the civil liberties we enjoy today.

Magna Carta is a story about the power of ideas – many of which were born in our great city – and as a university community we take great pride and inspiration from this.

Our Magna Carta celebrations took many different forms, but one of the key ways we chose to mark this moment in history was through a vibrant arts and cultural programme.

On June 14, on the eve of the anniversary, we launched a unique digital platform exploring the global significance of Magna Carta through art. Through the innovative 1215.today project, supported by funding from the National Lottery through an Exceptional Award from Arts Council England, young people from around the world are collaborating with leading contemporary artists to discover, experience and participate in debating humanitarian ideals across borders, religion and race.

This year’s Frequency Festival of Digital Culture also embodied the spirit of Magna Carta with its over-arching theme of ‘liberation’. As the third biennial contemporary arts festival transformed Lincoln’s iconic venues and medieval architecture, we were delighted to once again work with Threshold Studios and other partners to showcase the talents of global, national and local artists.

Supporting local talent and providing new opportunities for people across Lincolnshire is something we are extremely passionate about.

We recently launched the Lincolnshire Outreach Network – a collaboration led by the University and involving a number of the region’s higher education providers to provide independent advice and guidance on higher education for pupils in in local state-funded schools.

We also continue to invest in the region at what is a very exciting time for Lincolnshire. In June 2015 we revealed how new capital investment of £130 million will transform our campus, providing world class facilities to support education and growth across the region.

In an area which is one of the worst in the UK for cold spots for access to higher education, the University of Lincoln aims to be a beacon of learning, supporting opportunity and innovation for individuals and for industry.

Made possible thanks to funding from the Government through HEFCE, the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Siemens and the European Investment Bank, our capital investments are designed to drive economic growth in the region and help address skills gaps in key industries.

This project is already supporting the expansion of our Engineering Hub, which will soon become the new Isaac Newton Building – a landmark centre of excellence for teaching and research that will support our growth in engineering, computer science, mathematics and physics.

It will also add to the facilities of our National Centre for Food Manufacturing in Holbeach, where we recently launched the Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology. This new research centre is developing science and technologies to improve efficiency, sustainability, and reduce waste throughout the food pipeline, from farm to retailer.

The University of Lincoln was recognised for its achievements in this research area in the national Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014. More than half of the research we submitted was judged to be internationally excellent or world-leading and as a result, it was announced in March this year that our share of national ‘quality-related’ research funding will almost double.

We therefore look to the future with great excitement and anticipation. With a fascinating programme of public talks already in place for our flagship Great Minds series, we also look forward to welcoming many more visitors onto campus in 2016, whether they are familiar faces returning or new acquaintances setting foot in Lincoln for the first time.

Following in the footsteps of 2015’s leading lights, including the Rt Hon John Bercow MP as well as our own visiting academics Chris Packham and Jason Bradbury, the New Year will bring opportunities to hear from poet laureate Dame Carol Ann Duffy, award-winning British crime writer Ann Cleeves and science broadcaster Dallas Campbell.

Thanks to stimulating events such as this, our unique Future Fest science and technology showpiece, and our University Open Days, we have this year shown exactly what the University and the city of Lincoln have to offer to more people than ever before. We look forward continuing this exciting work into 2016 and beyond.

Professor Mary Stuart is the Vice Chancellor at the University of Lincoln.

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.