I was at a Newcastle University strategy event a few days ago and the discussion was all about how we need to develop unique selling points for Newcastle. There are certainly things we do well, but this poses a challenge because many universities would say they are just as good at those same things.  In addition, we are a long way from London, so we can easily be overlooked if we don’t get out there, network effectively with the people and organisations who make key decisions, and make Newcastle University and our own School count in that process.  That’s always been how I have operated myself in my professional life.  I learnt very early on that nobody is going to come looking for you to do you any favours; rather you have to make your own opportunities – your own luck if you like.  Personally I have been blessed – or possibly cursed – with a rather restless energy so perhaps the travelling and networking involved come reasonably easily to me.  That doesn’t mean I’m not exhausted at the end of a frantically busy week, but I can see the benefits and I know it is part of the job.

The past two or three weeks have been particularly frenetic. As I mentioned in my last blog, I have been in London meeting with a Canadian Government agri-technology and science mission, which provided a lot of interest, I’ve hosted a BBSRC visit here in Newcastle and attended a Bioscience Knowledge Transfer Network meeting, again in London.  Last week I was in Lincoln meeting with Frontier Agriculture – a large crop production and marketing business, then back to Newcastle, and on Wednesday I headed down to London yet again for a dinner at the House of Lords.

That makes for a packed programme and it means a lot of early mornings and late nights. It also means there is no way I can be in the office all day and every day, so if you wanted to talk to me and I wasn’t here, let me know and we can arrange to catch up.  But I am afraid it is inevitable that I’m not here 24/7, and if we are going to influence the future and move developments in the direction we want, we all need to get out and be seen beyond Newcastle and North East England.

Increasingly, as I do these kinds of trips and events, I am aware of wearing three different hats. On a personal level, as leader of a research group myself, I’m always looking for those opportunities for collaboration, funding and impact that come up all the time, sometimes unexpectedly, when we network.  Most importantly now, I’m also representing the new School of Natural and Environmental Sciences – promoting our expertise and seeking to influence our future.  Plus, I now need to promote the disciplines within the School, and move beyond my own research interests – which up until now have been largely within agriculture – to encompass the wider panorama of biosciences and the interests of our whole sector.  It’s particularly vital at this time for us, and the sectors we work in, to be visible, as there is intense competition going on for Research Council awards and BEIS funding and decisions are being taken about which industrial sectors will be prioritised by the UK Government.  It has never been more important to keep these issues in mind, and to work together to ensure Newcastle and the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences gets the opportunities it deserves.

So, if you don’t see me in the office every day, I’m probably at a meeting or an event or panel representing your interests, or on board a train or aircraft on my way to do just that. But I can’t do it all myself.  If we sit in our offices and let events overtake us we could all find ourselves out of business.  It’s up to all senior staff to take on the job of promoting and influencing as part of the role they play.  More junior staff too, if you have ambitions to build up your own portfolio of research and be recognised in your chosen field, you should be thinking of how you can incorporate responsibilities beyond the School and the University into your personal career plan.  If you don’t push yourself, nobody is going to offer you rewards on a plate.  But, if you are passionate about your work, the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences will support you in your ambition, I can assure you of that.

With the summer holidays over, it is time to look forward to a new academic year, which was marked by the first School Conference last Friday (8th September). For those of you who were able to come along, thank you for making it such a great day. For those who weren’t able to attend, you did miss a good occasion but I hope there will be more to come over the next few months and we will be putting the slides from the presentations on the new staff intranet when that is available.

It’s always good to be part of something where academics involved in different kinds of research are hearing about each other’s work and there was a real buzz in the room. For me personally, there were several really notable aspects to the research being shared and the discussion generated. First, I was struck by the diversity in the scales of investigation – from examining individual molecules in chemistry to mapping the ecology of oceans in marine science, involving experiments that may take a few seconds or many years. These differences in scale and perspective are always good places to build new ideas.

It was inspiring to see such a rich combination of what the Americans now call “foundational science” and the application of this type of basic, curiosity-driven research to real world problems. In the new school we have both fantastic basic science assets in our campus labs, and unique resources for translation, including the Princess Royal research vessel, our farms and the research outstations that can help us to take just that kind of approach. Curiously, earlier in the week I had been at a UK-Canadian research workshop in agri-technology at Canada house in London, where exactly this combination of basic scientific research and its application at a practical level to benefit industry and society were the focus for forward plans.

Another asset that we enjoy within our new School is being able to work across both natural and social sciences. We all know of examples of technological advances that are never taken up but we don’t know why. An integrated approach that brings natural and social sciences together, designs and addresses research questions in a way that helps to ensure that scientific advances actually do benefit people. Many of you are also working with industry and the scientific problems they bring to us are seldom solved by one discipline alone. We are unusual in being able to respond by harnessing not only a wide range of natural sciences but social sciences as well. This is another bonus point that put us ahead of our competitors and builds in added value to our School.

There are going to be a lot of opportunities coming up to provide advice for the UK Government following our departure from the European Union. With that European source of expertise removed, policymakers will turn to the domestic academic sector and we need to ensure we are well placed to respond – we have the expertise, we need to ensure we are well linked in to the policymaking process.

As you will gather, I came away from the event feeling positive and excited about the future, and I hope you did too. But it’s worth saying that we are still in a phase of transition and we want to hear more about your ideas. The ways we do things at the moment aren’t set in stone. You may feel that you want to develop new research groupings, or tweak the current ones and draw in expertise from different parts of the School, based on what you heard at the conference. Or maybe the name of the research grouping needs to change to reflect better what you are doing? The Directors of Expertise will be meeting with the Research Groups over the next few weeks and that will provide an opportunity for those kinds of discussions. It’s important that the groupings provide the support everyone needs to do effective research, so if you have ideas about that please let us know.

Finally, I want to emphasise that your disciplines and the expertise you have built up within your discipline will underpin all these developments. That will not be devalued. On the contrary, by working in a more complementary way, by building our links with industry and by engagement with policy and increasing our international links, we will add value to what everyone is doing. Science is going to be critical to the future of the UK, after Brexit and beyond.

In choosing a header image for my new blog, I’ve tried to use images that reflect the breadth of activity from across our School. I hope to change these images on occasion so that, over time, all aspects of our School are highlighted and celebrated.

I’ll write an inaugural post about the School soon but for now, I’ll say a little about each of the images (left to right):

Not only are we one of the few universities that operate a farm, but we operate two: Nafferton and Cockle Park. Working together as NU Farms, they give us a unique platform for research and teaching. Whilst Agriculture-focused, the farms can and do support a wide range of University activities across science and engineering. The farms not only have a very long and proud history but a very exciting future and we recently held a very successful event celebrating the farms and our role in two of the Government’s Centres for Agriculture Innovation.

A key feature of Biology is the first class facilities and excellent resources we have to support students’ study. As in many of the degrees our School offers, laboratory work is also supported by significant levels of fieldwork. Field and practical work is an essential component of our offering to students across our School and something I hope we can grow and celebrate as our new organisation matures.

The beautiful image in the centre comes from the work of Dr Mike Probert (Chemistry) on Crystallography.  It was taken by photographer, Max Alexander, who showed it at the Royal Albert Hall as part of his ‘Illuminating Atoms’ exhibition. The image shows a single grain of salt held between two diamonds. This arrangement of using opposing diamond anvils allows the controlled generation of extremely high pressures in a laboratory environment. Our work and expertise in this field made the front cover of Science in 2014.

The fourth image shows Earth Science students undertaking fieldwork in the Lake District. Colleagues from Earth and Environmental Sciences are already exploring ways to work more collaboratively to improve both the student and staff experience.

The fifth image was taken on our research vessel, Princess Royal. Like the farms, we are one of the few universities to operate our own vessel for teaching and research. Along with the, Dove Marine Laboratory we have fantastic facilities to support research, teaching and outreach work across the School.

If anybody would like to suggest and forward any images, please do.