14 April 2011
Professor Philip Kocienski's generous donation to support research - April 2010
One of the most significant donations the University has ever received has been made by a member of our own staff.
Professor of organic chemistry Philip Kocienski came to Leeds in 1976 after graduating from Northeastern and Brown⁞ universities. He took a
chair at Southampton and was regius professor at Glasgow before
returning to Leeds in 2000.
His outstanding research achievements, which include developing new ways of synthesising 'biologically active' natural products, have been exploited for a range of industrial processes, and he is much in demand as a consultant.
Professor Kocienski chose to set aside this consultancy income
rather than benefit from it personally, and he is now able to donate
£250,000 to the University's Institute of Process Research and
Development.
Supported by our transformation fund, this interdisciplinary
institute is carrying out fundamental research to help industry produce
better pharmaceuticals and other fine chemicals by cutting cos⁞ts, energy
and waste. Its work is highly strategic and world class (and is also
supported by the EU and Yorkshire Forward).
Professor Kocienski could have done anything he wished with these
funds; his decision to invest in his own University's research
excellence is absolutely fantastic, and we can be very pleased and proud
at this incredibly generous expression of confidence in our
institution.
I am pleased, also, that he has allowed us to make his donation public. This tradition of philanthropy is more commonplace in
American universities, but we have other members of staff donating
regularly to the University in different ways; they all deserve our
thanks.
This is a great start to the term, and a great boost for our
campaign fund. There is good news too across the range of data we use to
measure success. We've won new awards worth some £91m so far this year -
that's 30 per cent up on last year - and research turnover this year is
up 11 per cent.
Staff right across the campus have responded to ever-increasing
financial pressures and taken to heart the need to generate more income.
Applications for new research projects totalling some £300m were
submitted in the first half of the year - that's 30 per cent up on last
year, and a tremendous achievement. Greater confidence is also reflected
in double the number of European Research Council fellowship
applications this year on last.
News about Leeds for Life, and its huge popularity with students
in helping them make the most of their time here by integrating their
whole university experience, has travelled far and wide, and we've even
had requests to buy 'the system'. As we've explained, institutions are
very welcome to replicate the tools, but the underpinning philosophy
they will have to develop for themselves.
Leeds for Life's success is particularly pleasing because it
sprang out of our strategy, via a transformational project, and so
provides a very good example of how we can benefit our staff and
students and improve our performance through strategic focus (and a lot
of hard work).
Last October we took the decision to anticipate and begin
planning for the likely effect of public expenditure cuts on our income.
Our overriding concern, as I have explained on these pages and
elsewhere, was to protect our staff and students from the funding axe.
These preparations included a total overhaul of our
organisational change and employment policies and, as you will know, we
now have a sector-leading agreement on jobs and restructuring.
The financial climate remains uncertain, but I am confident that
all the work we have done means we are past the most difficult point.
Through teamwork, mutual respect and professionalism we can turn again
to building the confident, integrated collegial culture that brought us
such success and fulfilment.
The outcome of the General Election is uncertain, although all
parties seem to be agreed on the need not to be clear about how and
where they will cut public spending. I hope it isn't true, incidentally,
as has been claimed, that the leader of the Conservative Party has
failed to mention the s-word - science - in any campaign speech.
As other countries invest in maintaining their international
competitiveness, ploughing money into higher education - 2.9 per cent of
GDP (gross domestic product) in the US and rising to 4 per cent in
China, compared with an OECD* average of 1.5 per cent and just 1.3 per
cent in the UK - we will continue to make the case to all parties that
higher education is not just a fantastic investment, but absolutely key
to our international standing and to the future of our country.
* (countries in the) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
