The response to the call for membership of the Bath Beacons Steering Group was met with great enthusiasm from across the academic community – we are grateful to all those who expressed an interest: almost eighty excellent researchers.

We hope to harness this enthusiasm and incorporate these outstanding individuals within the Beacons projects. The members were appointed for a period of a year, on the basis of a combination of factors including disciplinary base, career stage, expertise and experience, and diversity of background.

Steering Group membership

Membership of the Steering Group is as follows:

  • Richard Butler, Mechanical Engineering
  • Iulia Cioroianu, Politics Languages and International Studies (PoLIS)
  • Matt Cole, Electronic and Electrical Engineering
  • David Coley, Architecture and Civil Engineering (ACE)
  • Matt Davidson, Chemistry
  • Marianne Ellis, Chemical Engineering
  • Fiona Gillison, Department for Health
  • Mike Lewis, School of Management
  • Jody Mason, Biology and Biochemistry
  • Eamonn O'Neill, Computer Science
  • Theresa Smith, Mathematical Science
  • Vivek Soundararajan, School of Management
  • Carol Taylor, Education

This group will be complemented by the Associate Deans (Research) and meetings will be Chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research). The Group will meet at least 10 times during the year and are keen to communicate the direction of activities and receive ideas and feedback from colleagues.

Key points from first meeting

The key points from the first meeting were:

  • members of the Steering Group should act as ambassadors for the Bath Beacons scheme, engaging with colleagues and ensuring two-way communication (we agreed to issue a bullet list of key points from each meeting, just like this list!)
  • the Beacons should be developed in the context of medium-long term ambitions and building for the future, not simply responding to funding opportunities
  • building on and working alongside existing initiatives will be vital (e.g. the Interdisciplinary Research Network)
  • Research and Innovation Services (RIS) will be a key resource to support and inform the work of the Steering Group and the Bath Beacon consortia. We should start by looking at all of the large-scale funding bids that have gone in – funded or not – over the last few years.

A Bath Beacons Team has been set up as a communication channel; RIS will we keep the community informed on the activities of the Steering Group and the development of the Beacons initiative, as well as posting highlights and opportunities. The Steering Group would very much encourage you to engage with this platform to provide your thoughts, feedback and insights.

You can join the Bath Beacons Team for the latest on the initiative.