VC Surgery sessions: share your ideas
Wednesday, 16 September 2020
If you have an idea that you would like to put forward to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Robert Van de Noort, you may want to book a place at one of our upcoming VC Surgery sessions.
In these Surgery sessions, Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert Van de Noort invites colleagues to share practical ideas on how life at the University could be enhanced. Ideally, suggestions should be linked to one of the four strategic principles of our new University Strategy - Community, Excellence, Sustainability and an Engaged University.
Three sessions have been scheduled for the autumn term:
- Friday 25 September, 14:00-15:30
- Wednesday 21 October, 10:30-12:00
- Wednesday 2 December, 14:00-15:30
Each meeting will last 15 minutes and will take place via Microsoft Teams in the first instance. As and when circumstances allow, we will look to hosting them in the Library café
Places must be booked in advance - please use this form to register your place. Discussions would ideally take place on a one-to-one basis, but small groups are also welcome.
Surgery sessions are different to the Vice-Chancellor's all-staff briefings - in those discussions, Professor Van de Noort updates all colleagues on major University news, and responds to questions based on the topics discussed. Instead, Surgery sessions offer the chance for a one-to-one discussion on a topic of your choice and are focused on practical ideas to improve life at the University.
The Vice-Chancellor commented, "After a successful pilot in the last academic year, these meetings are a great way for me to connect with a range of colleagues and hear about what really matters in everyday working lives. Over the past year I have been very impressed with the creativity and commitment of our colleagues to improving our working lives. The covid pandemic has shown how we can all adapt and change to new ways of working and colleagues will no doubt have new ideas to for the challenging period ahead. Many of the ideas are not about investing huge sums of money but small changes to policies and ways of working which free up time or enhance our community"
Topics discussed in previous Surgery sessions include:
- University Volunteering and the local community
- Colleague recognition and business improvement schemes
- Expanding coaching opportunities to students
- Supporting colleagues on maternity leave, and their line managers
If you have any questions, please contact vc@reading.ac.uk.