Professor Richard Thompson sheds light on the role of Consuls at Imperial

Imperial has announced its College Consuls for the forthcoming academic year.

Consuls, formerly known as Deans, are elected by professors, readers and senior lecturers from three Faculty constituencies to represent the views of the College’s academic community.

The three constituencies comprise of the Faculty of Engineering and the Imperial College Business School; the Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Centre for Co-Curricular Studies and the Faculty of Medicine.

Professor Richard Thompson, who is based in the Department of Physics, has been elected by his six fellow Consuls to succeed Nigel Gooderham as Senior College Consul, following three years as a Consul for the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Centre for Co-Curricular studies.

Professor John Seddon, from the Department of Chemistry, has also been newly elected to follow Professor Thompson in his previous Consul position.

We caught up with Professor Thompson to find out more about the role of Consuls at the College.

What is a Consul?

Consuls essentially act as spokespeople for Imperial’s academic community. We are elected by Faculty constituencies, and work to complement and broaden the expertise of senior College management by lending the perspective of teaching and research staff. Consuls deliberately sit outside of the usual management structure to enable us to speak freely and provide impartial and independent viewpoints on a range of issues.

What kinds of activities are the Consuls involved in?

It’s a bit of a mixed bag! Much of what we do involves ensuring that academic standards of excellence are upheld consistently across the College. For instance we serve as members of academic promotion and recruitment panels to ensure that things are handled fairly across all Faculties and that appropriate processes are followed. Consuls are trusted to act fairly and with integrity, and we are often also parachuted in to help with tasks that require an impartial judgement, such as disciplinary issues or student appeals.

What does your new role as Senior Consul entail?

It’s not substantially different to that of my fellow Consuls, actually! I’m here to serve a representative function for the group as a whole when required, but am involved in much the same activities as the others.

Why did you decide to put yourself forward as a Consul?

I was attracted to the prospect of doing something that would make a difference at the College, and which would bring real benefits to both staff and students. The role also offered a unique insight into the way that the College as a whole operates. As well as being incredibly interesting, this provides a useful perspective to take back to my own research and teaching work. It is an enormous privilege, and very affirming, to be trusted by my colleagues to represent them in this way.

What aspect of the role do you enjoy most?

I find contributing to academic promotion panels particularly fulfilling. It is a decision that has the potential to change a person’s future, and having a hand in that – especially when it leads to a positive outcome - is extremely rewarding.