[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
Almost 25 years ago, when I was a young clinician-researcher, the EU introduced its Clinical Trials Directive. Not long after, the UK followed with new legislation to regulate trials of medicines for human use.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the time, the research community had real concerns. Would these new rules slow down our work? Would they add bureaucracy? Would they make it harder to innovate?<\/p>\n
And yet, as many of us came to realise, these changes were not only necessary but\u00a0ultimately positive. They helped protect the rights and wellbeing of our research participants. They brought clarity, consistency, and greater public trust. And over time, they simply became part of what it means to be a responsible and effective researcher.<\/p>\n
Today, we find ourselves facing a similar\u00a0shift,\u00a0this time around research security.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A rapidly changing world<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n The world around us is changing fast, technologically, politically, and geopolitically. Universities like ours are at the forefront of discovery, often working internationally and across disciplines to tackle global challenges. But this also means\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0more exposed to risks: from cyber threats and IP theft to potential misuse of research in ways we never intended.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Put simply, protecting your research and our shared reputation has never been more important.\u00a0<\/p>\n This\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0about red tape or suspicion.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0about trust, academic freedom, and ensuring that Manchester\u00a0remains\u00a0a place where world-class research can thrive safely and ethically.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n So,\u00a0what are we doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n At Manchester,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0absolutely committed to supporting our research community to navigate these challenges.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s\u00a0why\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0developed the\u00a0Research Security Hub<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a dedicated space with practical guidance, resources, and direct access to expert teams. Whether\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0working on sensitive data, international collaborations, or\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0technology, the Hub is here to help you feel confident, informed, and supported.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is about empowering you, not policing you.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0about ensuring that you can continue to work openly,\u00a0ambitiously\u00a0and internationally \u2014 while also meeting the requirements we all now face.\u00a0<\/p>\n How can you help?<\/strong><\/p>\n We want to get this right and that means hearing from you.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, I have two quick questions:<\/p>\n Working together, globally<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019re\u00a0part of a global research community. As our President, Duncan Ivison, put it so well: \u201cUniversities do their best work when ideas meet across cultures, disciplines and lived experiences.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n To keep doing that and to keep making a positive difference through research and innovation we must also take care of our institutions, our partnerships, and each other.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n This is where the concept of \u2018soft diplomacy\u2019 comes in. Universities have a unique and powerful role to play in building trust and tackling shared global problems. But we can only do that if we protect our own house first.\u00a0<\/p>\n Thank you for your time, your work, and your continued dedication to responsible research. I really do welcome your thoughts.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n .<\/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":" Today we face a complex international environment and therefore new and changing potential risks. We all have a part to play in safeguarding our work here at Manchester. As we launch our new Research Security Hub, I want to recount my experience of changes at work and ask you, my colleagues two questions: what is your experience and what can we do better?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":4199,"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":[32],"tags":[46,45,47,35,44,48],"class_list":["post-4082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-academics","tag-professional-services","tag-pslt","tag-research","tag-security","tag-ue"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082","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=4082"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4203,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082\/revisions\/4203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Related<\/h1>\n
Related posts:<\/h3>
From Manchester, For the World: turning our research ambition into action\u00a0<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Melissa Westwood: Impactful research and \u2013 importantly \u2013 how we get there<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Professor John Holden and Carol Prokopyszyn: Making the Leap: A Powerhouse of Innovation<\/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>