[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”4″][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”3.17.6″ featured_placement=”above” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n
Professor Ian Bruce, Director at the Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and chair of the COVID-19 Research Rapid Response Group (RRRG) at the University, talks about his experiences since the pandemic broke.<\/strong><\/p>\n It is hard to find superlatives to describe the past few weeks. The COVID-19 emergency is an historic event and one has to go back exactly a century to the \u2018flu pandemic post World War I to see anything like this on a global scale. <\/p>\n In mid-March just before the national lockdown, the University closed its buildings to all but essential activities. This has profoundly affected teaching, research and social responsibility activities across the whole university. Like many, our group\u2019s research projects<\/a>, whether in set-up, mid-cycle or in the analysis phases all have been paused or delayed; in the Trust, our whole pattern of clinical work has changed. <\/p>\n In the middle of such a crisis, certain research activities do however need to continue. We are a world-leading university with strengths in many areas of direct relevance to COVID-19. This is a viral illness that primarily targets the respiratory tract. The multi-organ effects often result from over activation of the immune system, driving hyperinflammation and excess clotting that some patients experience as serious consequences of the infection. It is also a major global public health emergency and whilst it is described as a “great leveller”, there is no doubt that COVID-19 disproportionately affects those from our most disadvantaged communities as well as societies with underdeveloped healthcare systems. <\/p>\n It was therefore vital that the University responded and supported researchers to develop, plan and execute work that would have an impact on the COVID crisis. We also need to balance that against the importance of respecting physical distancing and the health and safety aspects of working at the University. As Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), Graham Lord Dean of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health invited me to chair a COVID-19 Research Rapid Response Group (RRRG). We agreed that we would have a clear focus to coordinate research and innovation activity to:<\/p>\n 1) Minimise lives lost<\/p>\n 2) Minimise the impact of this crisis on our health and care systems and on our citizens.<\/p>\n We also agreed to focus on work that would have an immediate early impact while the lockdown continued, in the knowledge that, in time, University activities will gradually re-emerge beyond this initial phase. In Manchester, we have the huge advantage of already having well integrated structures with strategic plans in place. These included Health Innovation Manchester, a system wide research and innovation organisation that incorporates all the GM HEIs linked to the Trusts, Community and Care providers. Our recently re-designated Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC) strategically focuses on the rapid translation of basic discovery to patient impact. MAHSC\u2019s strategic plan, written in autumn of 2019, was immediately relevant to address this crisis. Similarly, inflammation biology and respiratory disease are major themes in our BRC and we were therefore able to move rapidly to address many of the key questions. Through this, we have identified a number of key areas to focus on:<\/p>\n a.\tNew Treatments, clinical trials Our other priority was to link Manchester’s work to national priorities. Again, many structures established over the past 10-15 years, particularly the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has been pivotal in developing a research agenda for COVID-19. Many of Manchester\u2019s key researchers are centrally involved in prioritising and leading COVID-19 research at a national level. <\/p>\n Collaboration<\/strong> It is difficult in the middle of a crisis to look to the future. Phrases like the “new normal” and \u201c\u2018no going back\u201d are being used as we emerge from this first peak. The post-COVID-19 world will be very different and we do need to prepare and think through how these changes will play themselves out. Our higher education and health and care sectors will never fully return to our pre-COVID state. Many of the changes were driven primarily by the need to flatten the curve of the pandemic however, even as we have been focusing on that, we are all noticing \u2018enforced\u2019 changes that actually work well. These are likely to continue in some shape or form, in the long term. As we emerge from the first wave, we need to seize opportunities to reshape how we go about our business at the University, in hospitals and at a civic level. For example, there is likely to be a convergence of ideas to improve our daily working practices with those that support our green impact ambitions. These deserve detailed thought and planning. <\/p>\n The reality is that we are still in the early stages of the pandemic. The way in which the University family has played its full part at a city level but also in the wider national and global response has been impressive to witness. The next few months will continue to present major challenges to our University and civic life but the teams we have established have shown a high level of skill, determination and leadership in getting our research response moving at pace and scale. Such work is a testament to the partnership and core values of our organisation.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.17.6″ prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” in_same_term=”off” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=”Subscribe” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”et_pb_widget_area_3″ locked=”on” \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”sidebar-1″ show_border=”off” locked=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is hard to find superlatives to describe the past few weeks. The COVID-19 emergency is an historic event and one has to go back exactly a century to the \u2018flu pandemic post World War I to see anything like this on a global scale. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":3370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" [et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\" fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"][et_pb_column type=\"2_3\" specialty_columns=\"4\"][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=\"Row\"][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\" saved_specialty_column_type=\"2_3\"][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" featured_placement=\"above\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"]<\/p> When I\u2019m out and about meeting staff I hear much debate about the why, what, when and how of change in our University. I wanted to share my thoughts on this often contentious topic \u2013 and hear your views too.<\/p> Early in 2020 we will launch our University\u2019s new vision and strategic plan \u2013 Our future. In order to fulfil Our future we need to ensure that we are in a financially sustainable position so that we have the funds to invest in the new staff, facilities and infrastructure which will be needed to bring our plans to life.<\/p> Our Financial Statements<\/a> for 2018\/19, which have been published following approval by the Board of Governors, confirm that more than 95% of our \u00a31.1bn income is spent on our core goals - on our staff and our students - to deliver research, education and social responsibility; with the remainder invested in the long term sustainability of our University. You can find a summary<\/a> of the Financial Statements on StaffNet.<\/p> However, this is a testing time for UK universities, due to the many external factors that have an impact on us - current home tuition fees are falling in real terms, whilst our costs (not just pay but non-pay too) are increasing. There are further and even greater tuition fee funding risks outlined in General Election manifestos as well as a range of Brexit-related risks that could affect our operations. The Office for Students (OfS) demands that we demonstrate both value for money for our students and our financial sustainability (in the sense of being able to invest to deliver our ambitious strategy, rather than survival). There are, of course, also ongoing unresolved national issues around pay and the continuing challenges around funding pensions in the higher education sector.<\/p> Our Financial Statements show an improved operating surplus (3.7% of income compared to \u00a324.7m (2.3%) in 2017\/18), with a rise in income from tuition fees, education contracts and research. As I mentioned earlier, we re-invest the surplus we achieve each year in activity in line with our strategy. Recently our funds have been used to create some new academic and Professional Services posts; to invest in key infrastructure including IT; to invest in some new buildings like our student accommodation at Unsworth Park; to improve the student experience by funding more full-time Residential Life staff and to upgrade a range of buildings and research and teaching spaces and resources. Increasingly it is also invested in environmental sustainability and meeting our ambitious carbon targets. So even when we are making difficult decisions in some parts of the University we continue to invest our surplus.<\/p> Whilst we have reported an operating surplus, our Board of Governors expects us to deliver a much larger surplus than this (at least 5%) if we are to be sustainable in the long-term. Our strategic change programme (including IT Modernisation<\/a>, the Student Experience Programme<\/a>, and the Research Lifecycle Programme<\/a>), alongside our continuous improvement plans, will ensure that we create the financial headroom to invest in people and facilities. The strategic change programme will also enable us to embrace new technologies and new ways of doing things that better support all our staff and students to be the best that they can be.<\/p> Yes, this means that some individual roles will change. New roles (some that we haven\u2019t yet identified) will be created and some roles will no longer be required. I appreciate that this will cause some uncertainty and where that is the case we will do everything we can to support staff, but the alternative is that we never change anything. If we fail to take advantage of advances in technology and develop more joined-up ways of working we will ultimately find ourselves outdated in the eyes of future students, funders and other stakeholders. Staff want to work for a progressive and successful institution, of which they can be proud. This means we cannot stand still.<\/p> When I talk to staff and students I often hear their frustrations about how difficult it be can be to get some straightforward things done, grappling with paper-based, manual and repetitive processes, on outdated systems and infrastructure, all of which serves to increase staff workloads. Everyone wants to do a good job, but regularly feel that our world-class status is earned in spite of our internal systems and processes, not because of them.<\/p> To deliver our new vision and strategic plan we will need to embrace new opportunities and face challenges with courage and determination. That will sometimes mean we have to make tough decisions and no-one is claiming it will be easy or that mistakes will not be made along the way. But where we do have tough choices to make we will commit to implementing changes fairly and with compassion to support the wellbeing of all our colleagues.<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" prev_text=\"Previous\" next_text=\"Next\" in_same_term=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" custom_button=\"on\" button_text_color=\"#ffffff\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Related posts\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" locked=\"on\"]<\/p> [related-posts-thumbnails]<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_3\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Subscribe\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"et_pb_widget_area_3\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"sidebar-1\" show_border=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-of-biology-medicine-and-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3240"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3368,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3240\/revisions\/3368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nb.\tDisease Mechanisms
\nc.\tPredictive Modelling
\nd.\tPublic Health \/ Social Care Impact
\ne.\tPatients with Existing Health Conditions
\nf.\tDiagnostics
\ng.\tPrevention\/Vaccination
\nh.\tOrganisational Development <\/p>\n
\nOne incredibly satisfying aspect of working with the RRRG has been the huge buy-in and support we have had across the entire University from all Faculties, as well as the collaborative and cooperative culture evident across our partner Trusts and other HEIs. We have been overwhelmed by the number of people who volunteered to provide their services, time and expertise to support front-line researchers and clinicians. The University of Manchester has a strong emphasis on social responsibility and this has shone through very clearly over the past few weeks. <\/p>\nRelated<\/h1>\n
Related posts:<\/h3>
Colette Fagan and Sarah Sharples: Making the Leap: Accelerating the path from research excellence to...<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Melissa Westwood: Impactful research and \u2013 importantly \u2013 how we get there<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Vikki Goddard: Under-representation, does it matter?<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
Improving our financial performance will help to deliver our ambitious future plans, but we must also increase our capacity to create the funds and time to invest in our core goals. One of the ways we can do this is by changing what we do and how we do things.<\/p>Related<\/h1>