3.1 The RC will meet typically every 3 months. The dates of RC meetings will be set in the summer before the start of the new academic year
3.2 The RC acts as an advisory and consultation board; decisions at meetings will be reached through consensus, with any substantive dissent noted, and without recourse to the introduction of a voting system
3.3 Minutes and actions will be recorded by the Communications Officer, approved by the RC Chair, passed to the rest of the RC for review before being released to the rest of the Department for information, normally within 15 days of the date of the RC meeting. At each meeting, items for discussion at the next RC meeting will also be noted. The minutes shall be considered as accepted by all members if no member has objected in writing to the Chair
3.4 To encourage free flow of information, all discussion in the meetings of the RC will be held to be confidential within the RC. Information presented in the meeting, and that is not publicly accessible, will not be communicated to any third party, or be used by anyone for any purpose, except with the express written consent of the party that presented the information
3.5 The RC and all staff will have password-protected access to a site where they can find copies of all the committees’ meeting minutes, presentations, and papers.
3.6 Whenever the RC is asked to prioritise equipment (experimental or computing) for purchasing, the following criteria will be used:
- Have a multi-theme focus
- Support new staff
- Support new research (though see below regarding UG)
- Strengthen departmental infrastructure
- Support use for UG labs
- Replacement of well-used but ageing equipment
- Have a contribution by proposers
- Overall quality of bid