Professional services evolving to respond to University needs
Several professional services are undergoing some realignment to provide greater flexibility and help the University achieve academic goals.
The relevant professional services involved in this change are:
Communications, Facilities Management, Finance, HR, Health and Safety, IT, Marketing, Research and Innovation Service, and Student Education Service.
Heads of these professional services are in the process of assuming responsibility for all appropriate activity in their fields, regardless of the geographical location or the department in the University that they support. They are working with academic and services colleagues to achieve this in the best possible way.
The realignment will help to achieve a more consistent, yet flexible approach to professional services across the University. Colleagues taking part in the realignment should benefit from being part of a wider professional network, bringing them greater opportunity for development and peer-to-peer learning.
Each service has its distinct purpose, activities and expertise, and this will continue. The scale and pace of realignment varies, as appropriate for each service, although most individual changes took effect on 1 August 2017.
If you regularly collaborate with people from these services, your existing contacts will update you with any changes as appropriate.
If you believe you, or a member of your team, should be considered as part of this change, and have not yet heard from the relevant head(s) of professional service, please contact them directly (details below) or your HR manager.
Summary of changes and who to contact to find out more
Where reporting lines are changing, these have mostly taken effect. Direct reporting lines into heads of professional service are complemented by indirect, or ‘dotted’ reported lines into relevant executive deans/heads of school or service.
Communications
Mark Devane, Director of Communications.
Some faculty-based reporting lines have moved to align with Communications. Further work is ongoing to clarify and finalise reporting arrangements for Communications colleagues in academic and service areas.
Facilities Management
Steve Gilley, Director of Estates.
Senior facilities management colleagues across faculties and services now report directly into the Facilities Directorate. This team will now consider the most effective way to arrange activities to deliver the very best service to the University.
Finance
Alan Thomson, Director of Finance.
The six Faculty Finance Leads and Head of Finance for the Facilities Directorate now report into Finance, which brings almost all Finance and Research Operations staff into one reporting structure.
The current Faculty Finance, Service Finance, and Faculty Research Managers remain responsible for the local function delivery, so points of contact remain as before.
Human Resources (HR)
Linda Mortimer Pine, Deputy Director of Human Resources.
There has been very little change, as reporting lines were already to HR, rather than the academic or service lead.
New roles have been made available to existing members of the HR team and a small number of staff who weren’t previously part of the team now report into HR directly.
Health and Safety
Paul Veevers, Director of Health and Safety Services.
A first phase of realignment has taken place with all Health and Safety Managers and Officers now reporting into Wellbeing, Safety and Health and an interim structure is in place. A second phase will begin in September 2017, with a full consultation across the service. Discussions with executive deans and service leads will consider future needs at faculty, school and service levels.
Information Technology (IT)
Jim Slack, Director of IT.
The alignment of IT staff into a single IT Service became effective on 1 August. The priority has been to maintain the existing services for students, staff and researchers and work is ongoing to embed IT strategy of being effective, efficient, consistent and future-proofed.
Marketing
Karen Innis, Director of Marketing Services.
All marketing staff are now aligned into a single service. In addition to the University-wide marketing teams covering student recruitment, and research and innovation, there are four faculty-based teams:
- Arts, Humanities and Cultures
- Business and ESSL
- Engineering, Environment and MAPS
- Biological Sciences and Medicine & Health
Research and Innovation Service (RIS)
Dr Ceri Williams, Director of Research and Innovation Development.
Senior faculty, theme and platform R&I Development colleagues started reporting into RIS in January. The R&I support team are now working together as a single integrated team to support academic development. Wider professional development plans are in place for the autumn.
Student Education Service (SES)
Catherine Lorigan, Director of Student Operations.
The SES has completed its evolution into a single service. All faculty SES teams now report into the Service. SES managers are considering how this development will enable them to provide more consistent and equitable support for students and academics, and better career development opportunities for colleagues.
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