In my last newsletter of 2021: a major funding announcement for mathematics research, recruitment soon begins for two of our Pro Vice-Chancellor posts, and a reflection on some of our achievements from 2021.

New Centre for Early Mathematics Learning

The Economic and Social Research Council has announced that Loughborough is being awarded more than £8m funding to establish a new Centre for Early Mathematics Learning (CEML). It will be led by Loughborough’s Professor Camilla Gilmore, in partnership with the universities of Bristol, Ulster, Edinburgh, Oxford, York, and University College London.

Research has shown that mathematics skills are associated with improved employment prospects, positive health outcomes and a better quality of life. However, one in five children leave primary school without grasping basic mathematical foundations. For children from a disadvantaged background the outcomes are even more concerning, and the Covid pandemic has exacerbated the problem.

The CEML will help us to reverse the decline in children’s maths skills, and ensure that all children, regardless of their background, have the knowledge they need to succeed and flourish in society. 

The new Centre consolidates our position as a global leader in mathematics education. We are already home to the Centre for Mathematical Cognition (CMC), one of the largest groups of mathematics education researchers in the UK, which conducts research on the learning of mathematics, to design appropriate teaching materials. Together, the CMC and the CEML will ensure that Loughborough is able to improve the life outcomes for countless children, not just in the UK but around the world.

Graduate’s business success

I was delighted to read recently that Alcuris, a telecare company founded by Loughborough graduate Alex Nash, has been acquired by The Access Group, whose new global headquarters on Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park (LUSEP) were completed last month.

Alex founded Alcuris in 2015, while he was studying Product Design Engineering at Loughborough, after his grandfather was diagnosed with dementia. The Alcuris technology helps address a key, smart technology gap within the current social care system, allowing caregivers to take pre-emptive action faster and enabling people to live independently for longer.

The acquisition is, of course, excellent news for Alex, Alcuris and The Access Group. But it also underlines the crucial role that LUSEP plays, both in supporting our graduates with their business start-ups and enabling co-located companies to work together – Alcuris and The Access Group have both been based on LUSEP for a number of years.

Pro Vice-Chancellor recruitment

Soon, we will begin the recruitment process for two of our Pro Vice-Chancellor (PVC) roles: the PVC for Research and Innovation and the new PVC post focusing on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).

The PVC for Research and Innovation role will bring together research and significant parts of the enterprise agenda held by the former PVC for Enterprise. This will allow us to integrate two strategically important areas and strengthen our global performance across both. 

I will say more about the synergies between these two areas, and the future direction of research and innovation at Loughborough, next month in a feature in VOLUME, the University’s online magazine. Loughborough has so much to be proud of, but we cannot be complacent. To achieve our potential we must ensure we have the right culture and structures in place to evolve and thrive. The new PVC for Research and Innovation will help us to do that.

The PVC for EDI will provide senior strategic leadership to our EDI agenda. As I said at the Race Equity Town Hall event, held in October to mark our application to theRace Equality Charter, our journey to be an anti-racist, equitable and inclusive university will require us all to have open, honest conversations and to dismantle unfair structures and processes. The PVC for EDI will work closely with me, and alongside you all, to change the University for the better.

Consent campaign

At the end of November, the University began a campaign to inform and support staff and students about the issue of consent. The campaign was launched to coincide with White Ribbon’s 16 Days of Action to End Violence Against Women. This is an important matter for us all to engage with. Understanding consent, learning about the impact of sexual violence and knowing what support is available is a key building block in the fight to end violence against women. 

The resources and information made available through the campaign have been gathered together on a new website. If you haven’t already done so, I would encourage you to take a look. Through campaigns and events such as this, I hope we can all work together to create the inclusive and safe environment that we want Loughborough to be.

Team England immersion camp

We were delighted to announce earlier this month that the athletes, coaches and practitioners from Team England will use Loughborough University as an immersion camp ahead of next summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Immersion camps enable athletes and support staff from different sports to unite as ‘Team England’, in advance of the Games, as part of their preparation plans. A number of sports will also use our training facilities and the whole of Team England will use West Park Teaching Hub for their kitting out event, when the team will receive their official kit ahead of the Games. 

This is such an exciting development for us and reinforces the important role we play in elite-level, international sport. 

Of course, many of Team England’s athletes and staff are already very familiar with our world-class facilities, but this presents us with an opportunity to showcase our sporting environment to an even wider audience. It is also a chance for us all on campus to share, even in just a small way, in Team England’s Games preparations.

The Commonwealth Games are always a wonderful opportunity for our Loughborough-linked athletes. For some, the Games will, I hope, enable them to build on their successes at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer; for others the Games will be their first experience of a multi-sport, international event. I am sure you will join me in wishing Team England – and all Loughborough-linked athletes – the very best.

And finally

I think many of us would agree that 2021 has been another challenging year, with the ongoing Covid pandemic continuing to impact so many aspects of our lives. Against that backdrop, however, we have made some real achievements.

In March, we submitted our return to the Research Excellence Framework (REF), the process by which the research in all UK universities is peer reviewed. The submission was a huge team effort, involving more than 200 colleagues in Schools and Professional Services. Thank you to everyone who had a role in making this happen.

In the summer, our students, graduates and Loughborough-hosted athletes brought home an amazing 35 medals – 9 Gold, 12 Silver and 14 Bronze – from the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. We should all feel a tremendous sense of pride in the achievements of our athletes, their coaches and wider support teams, which are all the more remarkable given the impact that the pandemic had on their final preparations.

Our athletes’ performance at the Tokyo Games was also the reason for being named Sports University of the Year by the Sunday Times and Times Good University Guide in September, with editor Alastair McCall saying Loughborough is “a fully-functioning medal factory when it comes to international sporting competition”. The accolade underlines the role we play on the global stage, the unique opportunities we provide for our students and athletes to pursue their ambitions at sport’s elite levels, and the top-class staff who support them.

Of course, these are just a handful of the highlights. Since I arrived at Loughborough at the beginning of October I have been hugely impressed by the positive, can-do attitude right across the University. Staff have a real desire to do their very best whatever the challenge, and I want to thank you for everything that you do.

All that remains now is for me to wish you all a very happy, peaceful Christmas and I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.