eNews 29 November
eNews: Leeds at COP28, Staff Festival 2024, Leeds United surprise for colleague and more.
Leeds at COP28
“It’s now up to world leaders to take up this knowledge and help make impactful decisions towards limiting the global temperature rise to below two degrees.”
PhD Intern Vanessa Ternes and Shona Smith, Head of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures at Leeds, talk about the role researchers and students from the University will play as they join world leaders and campaigners to negotiate steps to tackle the climate crisis.
They will converge on Dubai from tomorrow (30 November) at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28).
See the full programme of University events and watch a video from Dr Nicole Nisbett explaining what COP28 is and why it’s so important.
Last chance to book | Taking action to achieve net zero by 2030: a deeper delve into our plan
4.30-5.40pm, 4 December
Continue the conversation around climate change at our panel discussion. Director of Campus Innovation and Development, Ann Allen, will share our recently approved Net Zero Delivery Plan. You’ll also have the opportunity to raise topics for discussion with our panel of experts, including James Dixon-Gough, Dr Cat Scott, Professor Fleur Loveridge, Rosa Foster and Shaun Scholey. Emily Tabern, LUU Union Affairs and Communications Officer, will bring a student perspective to the panel. The event is open to staff and students and refreshments will be provided afterwards.
Celebrate
Leading our strategic planning, performance and impact
“I am keen on driving performance and impact and am excited to be part of a team that collaborates with all areas across the University.”
Aash Khadia, appointed as the University’s new Director of Strategic Planning and Performance, talks about his priorities and aspirations for the University.
Major award for healthy consumer habits team
A team of Leeds researchers from the Consumer Data Research Centre have been awarded a major research impact prize for their work supporting healthier consumer habits. Professor Michelle Morris and her team won the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Celebrating Impact Prize for their collaboration with major retailers to improve access to healthy and sustainable diets for customers.
Save the date | Staff Festival 2024
Save the date for next year’s instalment of the hugely popular Staff Festival. Organisers have pencilled in the afternoon of 28 June for next year’s celebration, which is an opportunity to say thank you to every member of our community for all the hard work they do. We’ll keep you updated as the full programme develops, including your chance to nominate a charity to benefit from fundraising on the day.
Partnership with Santander Universities renewed
“Our well-established successful partnership with Santander Universities enables students to receive business support and fantastic networking opportunities.”
The partnership with Santander Universities removes barriers to higher education, benefiting students, staff and the local community.
Watch | Leeds United celebrate community hero Adel
Adel Chermiti, who works in University House, has been surprised by Leeds United’s Jermaine Beckford in recognition of his dedication to grassroots football. Adel founded Leeds Hyde Park FC for boys and girls of all ages in 2017, and the club now has over 400 members. He was treated with a trip to the club’s training ground and a chance to meet some of its stars.
Community
Learn more about the EDI Implementation Plan
“The good thing about having a plan is that we have the action piece that actually supports our strategy.”
Listen to the conversation between Fiona McClement, Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), and Dr Kendi Guantai, Dean of EDI and Associate Professor, about the University’s EDI Implementation Plan.
Estranged Students Solidarity Week
Until 1 December
As part of Estranged Students Solidarity Week, colleagues can access the free Go Higher West Yorkshire (GHWY) e-learning module for an understanding of students who come from a care-experienced background or who are estranged from their families and have unique challenges when they enter University. Watch this video to find out more about the module.
UK Disability History Month
Hearing from those in the know
16 November to 16 December
Want to know more about working in disability support? Interested to hear about navigating the world as a disabled person? Join Disability Services for its series of events during UK Disability History Month.
Did you know?
Disability Services supports about 7,000 students, which is almost 18% of the student body.
Celebrating Christmas at Leeds
Finance guidance for festive celebration
If you are planning team celebrations in the run up to the Christmas break, the University’s staff entertaining policy provides a contribution of up to £25 per person per annum towards the cost of these. This can include one alcoholic drink with dinner. There are rules and conditions on how this works so please check these out on the Finance site.
Bring joy by giving back this winter
Until 1 December
The University Sustainability team is looking to support communities across Leeds by collecting donations in the run up to Christmas. Donated coats, toys and clothes can be given at the pop-up donation point in the Parkinson Building.
University carol service
5.15pm, 5 December
Join colleagues in the Great Hall to sing traditional Christmas carols accompanied by the LUU Music Society brass band. Everyone is welcome to this free event with no booking required. Email chaplaincy@leeds.ac.uk for further information. Please contact Robin Fishwick on r.fishwick@leeds.ac.uk if you enjoy singing and would like to help lead the carols by becoming part of a scratch choir for the evening.
DARE Little Listeners | Cinderella
11am to 12.10pm and 1-2.10pm, 16 December
Enjoy the much-loved fairy tale but not quite as you know it. Led by a cast of professional opera singers and musicians, sign up for this interactive, family-friendly concert of Cinderella and experience the magic of music and storytelling. Tickets include a voucher for a hot or soft drink, a ‘make a wand’ craft activity and a 40-minute performance.
Campus life
Are we there yet? A journey into monetary policy and medium-term factors
4-5.30pm, 30 November
The University’s Accounting and Finance department is hosting a talk by Megan Greene, a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which makes decisions on UK interest rate. Open to staff and students, the event is taking place in LT1.01 in the Esther Simpson Building, with no registration necessary. The event is also being streamed online for those who cannot attend in person.
International Day of People with Disabilities
The Parkinson building will be lit up in purple to mark International Day of People with Disabilities on 3 December.
Students
Register | Student Education Conference (SEC) 2024
11-12 January
Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence (LITE) is pleased to announce that SEC2024 is open for registration. Check out the full programme showcasing the breadth of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research activity across our institution, and register for the sessions you would like to attend.
Research
HPS Visiting Speaker Seminar Series: Don't Use Machine Learning To Evaluate Grants
3.15-5pm, today (29 November)
Funding science is a chancy business. Join Kathleen Creel of Northeastern University in Boston and Liam Kofi Bright from the London School of Economics in room 1.03 of Botany House as they look at possible scenarios for the deployment of algorithmic decision-making tools in grant evaluation and recommend solutions to grant-making agencies to avoid machine learning reducing the diversity of scientific approaches.
Register | Bragg Exchange 2024
23-24 January, Bragg Centre for Materials Research
Book tickets to attend the Bragg Exchange 2024, with engaging presentations from distinguished experts in materials science, poster sessions for you to shine a light on your research and networking opportunities with fellow researchers, students and industry professionals.
Apply | Leeds Creative Labs
Leeds Creative Labs is looking for applications from academics with research interests in health and wellbeing. The programme is an opportunity for academics and artists to collaborate without the expectation of producing results. Attend the online session ‘What is Leeds Creative Labs’ on 10 January if you are interested. The deadline to apply is 12 February.
Research policy
Research, development and innovation (RDI) organisational landscape: an independent review
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has published the government’s response to the Nurse review of the research landscape.
Independent review of university spin-out companies
The government has responded to an independent report of university spin-out companies.
Feedback
Library Survey | Last chance to enter prize draw
4 December
Tell us how you feel about Library support for your research, teaching and professional development to be entered into a prize draw. There’s a top prize of £300 with a further five £25 vouchers up for grabs – just in time for Christmas! The survey closes at midnight on 4 December.
Digital developments
Join | Digital Education Network
2.30-4pm, today (29 November)
The Digital Education Network (DEN), which launches later this month, is a new institution-wide forum open to all colleagues interested in exploring opportunities and sharing best practice in digital education. Register your interest to attend the first in-person DEN meeting and join the new DEN MS Teams group to keep up to date with future developments.
Getting Started with Minerva
11am to 12.30pm, 5 December
Staff can sign up for the Getting Started with Minerva online training session, which is aimed at staff and postgraduates who are new to Minerva and will use the platform to deliver or support learning and teaching.
Introduction to Blackboard Test in Minerva
10.30-11.30am, 6 December
Book your place on the Introduction to Blackboard Test training. Blackboard Test can be used for formative and summative assessment, accessed by both staff and students. This in-person training is tailored towards staff new to the tool.
Identity and Access Management (IDAM) project update
As part of the Identity and Access Management (IDAM) project, the new student joiner and account creation process will go live next week. In future, students will be sent a link to set their initial password to their personal email account rather than going to mypassword.leeds.ac.uk to retrieve it. Information on how the IDAM changes will impact you can be found on the IT website.
M and N drive migration paused
After consulting with colleagues across the University and listening to feedback, we are pausing the migration of M and N drives to the cloud (OneDrive and SharePoint). Instead, they will be moved to new hardware on campus. This means you will still be able to access the M and N drives as you do now and the way applications access files on them will remain the same.
Learning and development
Keep up to date with the latest learning and development opportunities from the University on our For Staff website, including:
- Policy Engagement Kickstart programme
- Beginner’s guide to LinkedIn Learning
- Academic personal tutoring (APT) discussion group
- Pedagogical Power of PebblePad workshop
- Exploring academic personal tutoring (APT) at Leeds
- Establishing your Leadership programme
Events
Book launch | How to Save the City
5.30-7.30pm, today (29 November)
‘How to Save the City’ from Agenda Publishing is a new book by author and campaigner Professor Paul Chatterton, from the School of Geography. A ‘call to arms’ for city teams taking action on the converging and accelerating emergencies of our age, Professor Chatterton will be launching the book at Imagine Leeds.
Take part | Brightside immersive performance
6.30-8pm, 1 December
A part dance theatre, part spin class performance, ‘Brightside’ by Leeds-based creative practice SLAP Collective is coming to The Edge. Building a fleeting community around the common goal of ‘work out, work hard, work on yourself’, colleagues are invited to join this immersive event, taking place as part of LEEDS 2023.
Visting Artist’s Talk: Michelle Duxbury
2-4pm, 4 December
Hear from Michelle Duxbury, an artist who works across a range of media, including embroidery, film and sound, exploring how we exist in our bodies, spaces and places and considering the intrinsic link between landscape, body and identity, in individual and collective connection to landscape. The event is taking place in Conference Auditorium 2.
Register | Archival correspondence in Special Collections
3-4pm, 4 December
Discover more about recent projects in the University’s Special Collections to scope new approaches to archival correspondence, including cataloguing work and mass-digitisation. Special Collections would like to work with academics to develop new interdisciplinary projects in this area, and to help identify the collections that will most benefit current research.
You’re invited | Developing a Sustainable Health and Social Care Workforce
5.45pm, 18 January
With the UK’s health and social care workforce under unprecedented strain, join a panel discussion focused on innovative solutions. Panellists including Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin and Lord Nigel Crisp, former NHS Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health, will explore how we can ensure a sustainable health and social care workforce for the future. Register to attend in person or join the event online.
Editions
eNews deadlines
Due to the Christmas University closure, eNews will be taking a break over the festive period. The final edition of 2023 will be on Wednesday 13 December, with the deadline for submissions on Friday 8 December. The first eNews edition of 2024 will be on Wednesday 10 January.
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Keeping up to date
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With best wishes,
The Internal Communications and Engagement team
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