Changes are indeed coming, says President Brady

On Tuesday, President Hugh Brady gave his inaugural President’s Address in CAGB LT 200. It was attended by a variety of staff from all branches of Imperial, with 182 in-person sign ups in total. At the time of writing, the livestream (available on YouTube) had been watched just under 800 times.

President Brady was introduced by Imperial College Union President Hayley Wong, who stated that “staff student collaboration is an integral part of the College’s identity”. She welcomed Professor Brady as “[bringing] a fresh new perspective”, and “look[ed] forward to working with [the President] … in shaping the College’s strategic direction”.

The President’s address started with Imperial’s response and contribution to the government’s Covid strategy. He described that an elective course at our very own Hammersmith hospital in 1981 had inspired him to consider academic medicine as a career. Brady was “grateful for the warm welcome”, and said he had been attracted to Imperial because of its impressive track record. He referred to the Research Excellence Framework results from May this year, which found that Imperial conducts the greatest proportion of “world-leading” research when compared with other UK universities.

The President acknowledged that staff had “made it clear that work need[ed] to be done with regards to our culture and values”

He went on to propose that it was “now time to carve out time to refresh Imperial’s vision and strategy”, stating that although “performance has been remarkable”, many successful departments had failed as a result of not having considered the impacts of medium to long term issues.

The President acknowledged that staff had “made it clear that work need[ed] to be done with regards to our culture and values”, and wished to reassure staff that their concerns will continue to be heard. Following on from our report in last week’s issue of Felix, President Brady has not made direct mention of the open letter. However, since the letter, a joint email from College Council Chair John Allan and President Hugh Brady was sent to all staff and students. In this email, they stated: “Bullying and harassment are unacceptable and must not be tolerated anywhere within our community”, and shared a full report titled “Council Effectiveness Review” by a higher education consultancy, Halpin Partnership. This report made 18 recommendations and eight suggestions, including increasing student and staff representation on College Council, introducing 1:1 annual appraisals, that Council holds a meeting to discuss recent events, and that “learning from [this] meeting should be communicated to the College community with as little redaction as possible.”

This shift was supported further by the President, who confirmed that a People and Culture subcommittee was being set up, as per the recommendations.

He then turned to students, citing three main focuses: student hardship, assessment and feedback, and the student experience. President Brady wished to assure students that the size and eligibility of student hardship funds will be monitored closely, and that it will be ensured they are fit for purpose.

The President reiterated the importance of a “whole-institution mental health strategy”, to be delivered by partnering with both staff and students, citing, as he did during an interview with Felix “we are not the NHS, but we can help [them] transition to the NHS”.

The President rounded up with looking forward, stating he was “confident that Imperial can continue to compete successfully.”