Dear colleagues,

A flying start

Our 60th anniversary year has certainly started at full tilt.

Thank you to everyone involved in the smooth running of the assessment period at the start of the year, including exams and the marking that follows, and with the start of Semester Two. The brighter days have been welcome and, with The SU elections now in full swing, it’s been great to feel the buzz on campus over the last few days.

Celebrating the success of our graduates at January’s winter graduation ceremonies in Bath Abbey was a really special start to 2026. We were delighted to welcome Maggie Alphonsi MBE, Simon Boas, Alex Lewis, Jenni Thomas OBE, Andreas Wasmuht and Chris Watt as honorary graduates, and their orations and speeches were particularly moving. I’m really grateful to everyone involved in making these events successful.

I hope many of you have been swept up in the joy of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. The British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association (BBSA) athletes who represented Team GB, along with their coaches and support staff, are based at the University of Bath. We are proud to be a UK Sport-accredited Elite Training Centre and home to the UK’s only bobsleigh and skeleton push-start track. We were thrilled to see Matt Weston become Britain’s most decorated male Winter Olympian, winning gold in the men’s skeleton and then topping the podium with Tabby Stoecker in the first-ever Olympic mixed team event. Our warmest congratulations to Matt, Tabby and the whole BBSA team, and you can read more about their full achievements and some historic firsts, in the Team Bath update.

The last few weeks have also seen us step up the pace of our external engagement, both internationally and regionally.

Globally, we have made an important step forward by joining the Young European Research Universities Network (YERUN), which offers collaboration and innovation opportunities, and I look forward to this developing further. I was also delighted to join Dr Alexander Lunt and Professor Carl Sangan on a visit to reinforce our long-standing research partnership with CERN. Thanks to the hard work of Alex, Carl and colleagues, we have now been welcomed as a full member of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at CERN, making the University an official partner in one of the flagship experiments of the world’s leading particle physics laboratory. My sincere congratulations to all involved.

Closer to home, we welcomed the West of England Mayor Helen Godwin to campus for a showcase of our research, innovation and sport as well as student engagement, and later to IAAPS, where she learnt about our role driving regional growth through research, innovation and skills. Just two weeks ago, we hosted parliamentarians and regional leaders to learn about GW4 R&D strengths at the Bristol & Bath Science Park, supported by Wellcome, and you can get a flavour of this event through our short video of the day.

In the latest initiative to strengthen our local civic engagement, I was also pleased to support the launch of inaugural PhD placements through our Department of Education. This initiative supports two University of Bath researchers to work on the Mayor of Bath’s theme ‘Education is Empowerment’, and will build an evidence base about educational disadvantage, attainment gaps and opportunities across Bath and North East Somerset.

An invitation

Our 60th anniversary year is an important milestone for the University, a time to honour our past, celebrate the present and shape our future.

We didn’t want to wait until October (our official birthday) to start the celebrations, so we are putting on a series of events throughout the year. I’m really pleased that we are hosting a lecture series in honour of Adelard of Bath, influential natural philosopher and scholar of the Middle Ages, most well-known for his translation of key texts into Latin, including an Arabic version of Euclid’s Elements. This series not only honours Bath’s deep scholarly roots, but it also enables us to deepen our local partnerships as we’re hosting these events alongside the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI), Bath Festivals and the Bath Digital Festival.

Our inaugural Adelard Lecture on Thursday 26 March is focussed on health, where we’re delighted to welcome Professor Sir Chris Whitty, the Government’s Chief Medical Officer, as our keynote speaker. We will also be showcasing some of our work on health and hosting a Q&A with a panel of experts. I’m very pleased to invite you to join us, either in person in the Pump Rooms or online. Please do register as soon as possible if you’d like to attend as we’re expecting the in-person spaces to fill up quickly!

We also want to celebrate and thank you, our colleagues, as our achievements are all down to the talent and hard work of our community. Based on feedback from previous events, we’re hosting a day of free activities for University staff and their families on 31 May, with sports sessions, a funfair, exhibition and refreshments, which you can now book online.

Please do keep an eye on our 60th anniversary webpages, where we will be adding the next Adelard lectures and new events throughout the year, as details are confirmed.

With best wishes,

Phil

Professor Phil Taylor
Vice-Chancellor and President