Dear Colleague,  

I’m writing as a follow-up to our most recent In conversation with the President and to brief you on some important decisions by Imperial’s Council aimed at increasing its diversity. 

Thank you to the thousands of staff who took the time to join our In conversation with the President events during my first year. Our most recent event focused on the topic of sustainability. One of Imperial’s strongest assets is our community’s determination to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. Safeguarding our planet and the health of future generations requires us to look not just at a single problem, but to take a coordinated holistic approach. Our aim is to embed a consistent commitment to sustainability into all our work – not just our world-leading research, education and enterprise activities, but also how we run our campuses.   

I’d like to thank Professor Tim Green (Academic Leader for Sustainability), Harriet Wallace (Sustainability Strategy Director) and Allison Hunter (soon to be our new Laboratory Resource Efficiency Advisor) for joining me for the event and to Professor Liz Lightstone for chairing our Q&A session. You can watch a recording online.  

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to explore more about Imperial Zero Pollution on our website – and please do take time to fill in our sustainability survey and feedback on our proposed travel policy. 

This was the last In conversation with the President of this academic year. It was therefore fitting that we also spent time celebrating some of our achievements through the year. In particular, the recipients of the President’s Awards for Excellence at our annual staff awards. Congratulations again to all involved.  

I look forward to talking with you at our next In conversation with the President, which returns in September.  

With regard to Imperial’s Council, our governing body, the following decisions were taken at its meeting on Friday 14 July with the aim of diversifying Council’s membership in line with the recommendations of the Halpin Report commissioned by Council last year: 

  • Karen Briggs and Katherine Coates were appointed as independent members of Council with Karen also serving as Chair of our Audit and Risk Committee. Karen has held a range of senior roles at KPMG, FTI Consulting and the Bank of England, as well as serving on the boards of KPMG, the Invictus Games Foundation and Elevate City, a women’s leadership network. Katherine is an experienced lawyer who was a leading corporate partner at Clifford Chance LLP, where she was also Chair of its Audit and Risk Committee. She holds three non-executive Director roles in the financial services sector and is a member of the UK Endorsement Board. Karen and Katherine will initially join the Audit and Risk Committee and will become full Council members in due course. 

  • Professor Liz Lightstone was appointed as an academic staff member through the established professorial staff election process. 

  • Dr Liz Elvidge was appointed to the new membership position drawn from Imperial’s academic job family. Liz is currently Head of Postdoc and Fellows Development. 

  • Alice Ashley-Smith and Rasha Dabagh will fill the new Professional, Technical and Operational (PTO) positions. Alice is currently Department Operations Manager for the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Rasha is Senior Manager (People, Policy, Risk) in the Commercial and Investment Activities Group. 

  • Nathalie Podder, postgraduate student and ICU Deputy President (Welfare) for the past two years, will serve as our new second student member – joining Camille Boutrolle, our new ICU President.  

Thank you to Professor Jonathan Mestel, our Senior Consul, and his panel of academic and PTO colleagues for managing the appointment process for the new staff roles, and to Imperial College Union for managing the student appointment process. The standard of the applications for these appointments was extremely high so congratulations to all who engaged. I look forward to serving on Council alongside all our new appointees. They will bring fresh insights and expert advice as we enter an exciting new period in our history.   

Council was briefed on the search for its new Chair of Council which is underway. It agreed that John Allan should carry out his activities as Chair until the end of his term on 31 December this year, after which he will step down.  

I hope you have the opportunity to take a break from work over the summer. Thank you for welcoming me so warmly to Imperial and for making my first year so enjoyable!  

Best wishes,  
Hugh, President