Over the course of the 2024/25 academic year we have made further good progress against the aims and themes of our strategy, Creating Better Futures. Together. Year on year, the word ‘together’ becomes ever more important. Loughborough has a real team ethos that pervades our approach to everything we do. It’s the beating heart of the way in which we work and the key to much of our achievement. By working together, with each other and with organisations around the world, we can achieve so much more.

This was underlined in the spring by the award of £16m of funding for the Forging Ahead initiative. Forging Ahead is led by Loughborough and will bring together a coalition of 15 Midlands university partners to reshape the region’s innovation ecosystems, unlock our collective research strengths and turn them into commercial success stories.

The Midlands has huge potential. It has a strong university knowledge base. It has growing investment initiatives, such as Midlands Mindforge, which is a patient capital investment company launched by the Midlands Innovation universities. And it is home to 11% of the UK’s high-growth companies.  

But a lack of historic investment has meant that the region hasn’t always been able to attract and retain the leadership talent that is critical for scaling innovative businesses. With almost 40% of Midlands university spinouts founded outside the region, we’ve been an exporter of high-value jobs and R&D-driven enterprises. 

Initiatives such as Forging Ahead will begin to turn that tide. As will our further investment in Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park.

This year we unveiled our ambitious vision for the next phase of the Park’s development. Over the coming years LUSEP will become a vibrant park, housing a mix of advanced manufacturing, office accommodation, and research and development facilities. It will support new business ventures, be a space to nurture our own University spinouts and student start-ups, and a place for collaborative partnerships with global companies and organisations.

LUSEP is already home to more than 90 organisations, and a workforce of more than 2500. When fully developed it will be one of the biggest science and enterprise parks of its kind, employing as many as 7500 people.

The Park is an important part of the University’s economic impact. A recent analysis valued our total gross economic impact on the UK economy at £2.6 billionper annum and the number of jobs directly and indirectly supported by our activities at more than 35,000.

These are big numbers that clearly show our position as an economic powerhouse bringing substantial positive benefits to the region.

That’s an ethos also echoed by the Co-laboratory programme which began this year. Co-laboratory is a community research initiative under the Universities Partnership umbrella, which involves Loughborough, Leicester and De Montfort universities and the county’s local authorities. The project will offer 27 fully-funded PhD studentships to students from non-traditional academic backgrounds who will shape and participate in research that will directly impact those in the communities around us.

Much of Loughborough’s research makes a real difference to people’s lives. For example, work this year by the University’s Design Ergonomics Research Group has strengthened the legislation around the direct vision standard for heavy goods vehicles. The new standard will require significant changes to HGV designs to improve the ability of drivers to see cyclists and pedestrians directly, instead of relying on mirrors. An EU impact assessment estimates that these changes will save over 500 lives per year across Europe.

The Loughborough Aftrak project is also having a positive impact globally. The team is working to provide rural communities across Africa with access to clean, green electricity to increase crop yields and the incomes of smallholder farmers. After a successful initial trial in Malawi, the team is now planning to undertake a more extensive field trial. Ultimately their aim is to roll the project out throughout Malawi and into neighbouring countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. 

Aftrak also spotlights the collective effort required to foster sustainability practices and make meaningful change. The climate crisis is one of the most pressing challenges facing us all today. We must work together to change what we do and how we do it, whether that’s our teaching and research, our sports activity, or the way we manage our campuses.

That premise is central to our new Sustainability Strategy, which underpins the delivery of our research, education and operational practices under the Climate Change and Net Zero strategic theme.

There is much to do, but we have started making progress.

• This year we were awarded a £1.1m grant to establish the Wolfson X-Lab Extreme, which will be pivotal in advancing our clean energy research. The Lab will house a specialist piece of kit that can replicate the effects of heat and mechanical force on metal processing. It’s the first of its kind anywhere in the UK and Europe.
• In March we joined the University of Nottingham in opening the Zero Carbon Innovation Centre to deliver innovation in transport technology, green hydrogen production, and power solutions for industry.
• And on our campus we have partnered with Carbon Jacked to launch the Climate Cup, which will see our sports clubs compete to be the most sustainable.

We also now have a sustainable approach to our food and drink offering on campus. We’re working with local suppliers to reduce our carbon footprint and support the local economy.

While good food and exercise are some of the key components for our wellbeing, research and education to date has not allowed us to fully understand the unique challenges that women in particular face in living an active and healthy life. Our pioneering Women in Sport Research and Innovation Hub will seek to address this. It was launched in March by Stephanie Peacock, the Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth, and has garnered support from high profile athletes such as former England footballer Karen Carney, our University Ambassador for Sport, Health and Wellbeing, and Olympic champion Dame Denise Lewis, who is now the President of UK Athletics.

The Hub will bring together academics with industry partners, national governing bodies and athletes to break down the barriers that women face to being active. It will drive positive change at every level of the women’s sporting ecosystem, from participation to elite performance.

Of course, I can’t mention elite sport without reference to our athletes’ fantastic performance at the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. They brought home a total of 35 medals across both games. If Loughborough were a country, we would have finished in the top 20 of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games medal tables. This success now means that Loughborough athletes have won a staggering 186 medalsat the Olympics and Paralympics.

We must also celebrate the coaches, practitioners and support staff across the University who help our students, alumni and Loughborough-based athletes to achieve their Olympic and Paralympic goals, as well as those who ensure our sports facilities remain in peak condition for our athletes. Their dedication, day in day out, is truly outstanding. 

While some of our athletes were making headlines on the international stage, others were setting new records at BUCS. Last summer the Loughborough team retained the Championship title for the 43^rd consecutive year, with a points total of almost 9,500 – a new sector-leading score.

And our 2025 season is in flying form. It was given a boost by BUCS Big Wednesday on campus in March when around 2000 athletes, coaches and support staff contested finals across 16 different sports. We secured 14 of the 20 possible pieces of silverware, with victories in sports from basketball to volleyball. Without wishing to put too much pressure our students, I’m hoping for more good news later this month when the 2025 championship results are announced!

An important part of hosting events and running so many teams are the efforts of the student volunteers from our Coach and Volunteer Academy. So far this year they have contributed more than 100,000 hours of volunteering – a truly amazing effort and an essential part of our success.

But it’s not only our Loughborough teams who enjoy sporting success. In March, Physics student Zara Lachlan rowed the 3600 nautical-mile journey from Europe to South America, spending 97 days, 9 hours and 20 minutes crossing the Atlantic Ocean. In doing so, she has made history as the first female to row this crossing solo and unsupported, the youngest person to complete this crossing in any boat, and the youngest female to go from any mainland to mainland across the Atlantic Ocean in any boat. A phenomenal achievement, I’m sure you agree.

Wherever I go in the University, I see the dedication of our students and staff to be their very best. Throughout the whole organisation there is a positivity, a can-do approach and a drive to make a difference. Dr Manuela Pacella is a great example.

This year Manuela became the first person from Loughborough to join the prestigious Global Young Academy. The Academy is an international network of around 200 scientists who are united by scientific excellence and their commitment to engage society in their work. Manuela’s research in advanced manufacturing technologies and advanced materials has had a global impact in the automotive, aerospace, and biomedical fields. 

And for the third consecutive year, Loughborough academics were chosen to become members of the UK Young Academy of early career researchers. Together, the Academy members find innovative solutions to the challenges facing societies both now and in the future. This year’s appointment of Dr Haitao He and Dr David Maidment brings the total number of Loughborough members of the UK Young Academy to eight – more than any other institution.

Our new Research Academy will help to underpin projects such as these. It will enable us to create a more connected and supported research community, who will push boundaries and deliver work with global impact. The Academy will drive the transformative culture change required for us to become a global research powerhouse, and its establishment has been made possible thanks to the incredibly generous philanthropic gift from alumnus Chris Gill.

At Loughborough we’re proud to offer a nurturing environment that supports both our staff and students on their journey to success. This year the first two of our sector-leading DigiLab Hubs were opened and are now being used to the full by Schools in their teaching. The DigiLabs Hubs enable our students to develop the skills and knowledge to become future fit for a world of work where digital skills, data analytics, virtual and augmented reality play a key part. Feedback from the students has been terrific, with many calling them a game-changer in their preparations for the rapidly evolving digital job market.

Ensuring that our students are well placed for the world of work is at the heart of our education and student experience goals – and Loughborough’s graduates continue to perform well. In the most recent graduate data, 89% of Loughborough graduates were in employment or undertaking higher-level study within 15 months of graduating, placing us in the ten of UK universities. And within five years, Loughborough students were earning almost a fifth above the average median value of salaries for the sector as a whole, placing Loughborough in the top 20 of universities.

A key part of this great employability outcome, is our comprehensive placement programme. Around two thirds of our students go on placements, with more than 1,250 organisations worldwide. This is more than any other UK university.

Despite these many positives, there are many challenges in the world that impact us as a university.

The significant unrest in the world at the moment means there are many students and academics around the globe who face discrimination, persecution, violence and conflict.

As a member of the Council for At-Risk Academics, Loughborough offers sanctuary to those who need urgent help to escape, and support to academics who choose to continue working in their home countries despite serious dangers. This year we were formally recognised as a University of Sanctuary, joining a network of UK institutions that support refugees and people seeking asylum. Through our membership we have committed to initiatives such as the provision of Loughborough University Sanctuary Scholarships, the expansion of our collaboration with the Loughborough Town of Sanctuary partnership and broadening our involvement with the Council for At Risk Academics.

We also face threats to freedom of expression, cuts to funding, and challenges to our very raison d’etre. Right now, the world feels like a very uncertain place.

Over the last year we’ve had to make some difficult decisions in order to save costs. As we move ahead, we will continue to seek further efficiencies and maximise new opportunities where they arise.

Fortunately, however, we do so from a position of relative strength.

We continue to be highly ranked in the league tables that are so important to our student recruitment. Just last month, we celebrated a decade in the top ten of the Complete University Guide, a feat shared only by the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, St Andrews, Durham and Imperial.

Loughborough was also named in the top quartile of the new Inspire HE Rankings, which is based on data from staff engagement surveys. This recognises our commitment to create an exceptional employee experience and to be one of the best employers in the sector. 

And at Loughborough, we’re growing our academic community. We have appointed professorial staff to deliver our new masters programme in Law, which will commence this autumn. Loughborough Law will allow us to capitalise on one of the largest educational markets globally.

We’re also seeking talent from around the world to build, join and shape the research teams that will tackle the most pressing challenges of our time. By complementing and enhancing the excellent work our staff are already doing, and working together, we will strengthen the University still further to ensure its long-term success.

Of course, these are only a few of our successes and developments from the last 12 months. But I hope you feel proud of everything we’ve achieved and, perhaps most importantly of all, I hope it has inspired you for the next phase of our journey towards Creating Better Futures, Together.