Dear all,

When I started my new job on 1 February, I wrote to colleagues about some of my hopes for Warwick, the challenges we face, and the distinctive ethos we have to succeed. I said in that message that I hoped this would be a useful way of beginning a conversation about our future. Now we're reaching the end of the summer term of my first academic year, I want to thank you for continuing that conversation – whether at events around campus, through your emails and comments on my blog, and in one to one discussions. You have given me huge insights to parts of the University I knew less well, and helped me reflect, share plans and test ideas.

I plan to reflect further on these insights with colleagues over the summer period, and to come back to you with thoughts and directions for discussion in the autumn. My two key priorities from the outset – being as open and transparent as I have known how, and also connecting personally with the regional agenda – must continue in the future. But there is more to our future than that, and I will want to say more in the latter half of this calendar year.

As we come to the end of the academic year, some great colleagues are moving on: Tim Jones steps down from his role as Acting Provost and Ken Sloan steps down as Registrar and Chief Operating Officer. I’m sure you will join me in thanking them and wishing them all the very best for the next steps in their lives.

I am also looking forward to new colleagues joining us or changing roles: Christine Ennew starts as Provost on 1 August and Rachel Sandby-Thomas starts as Registrar on 1 September. Pippa Glover became Secretary to Council on 1 June, Jan Palmowski has joined the Guild of European Research Intensive Universities as Secretary General, and is reducing his time at Warwick to 40% as Academic Vice-President in order to accommodate this, Lawrence Young becomes Academic Vice-President to lead on our China strategy from 1 July, and Sharon Tuersley has joined my immediate support team as Chief of Staff.

I’ve spoken with a number of groups about how we meet the University’s long-term ambitions and what we need to put in place now to enable us to succeed. In this context, I have asked Jo Horsburgh, currently Deputy Registrar, to take up the new post of Strategy Director, to work with me on ensuring we deliver on our institutional priorities. The forthcoming administrative changes Ken announced in February will also support this through making the administration easier to navigate, and with capability and capacity in the right places to ensure focus on what we are seeking to achieve. We will shortly advertise for a Chief Operating Officer to lead our Campus and Commercial Services Group.

I am really excited about the future we will develop for Warwick with our friends both locally and around the world. We have much to look forward to: just a few examples include the opening of our new teaching and learning building later this year, the launch of the global sustainability degree, the next phase of our California plans, the further development of the regional agenda (not least the Coventry City of Culture bid), work on the Guild and in China; and next year, the opening of the National Automotive Innovation Centre.

Not everything has gone well; that was probably too much to ask! We are challenged by the new Higher Education Bill; we have had hugely distressing incidents of racism on campus; some are much troubled by the Prevent legislation.

The UK's decision last week to exit the EU has left me, personally, saddened. And I know from the messages I’ve received over the last few days that this leaves many of our staff and students feeling insecure about their future in the UK, which I find distressing given how much I know these individuals contribute to Warwick and the UK. I made no secret that, in my view, the future of UK universities would have been more certain with a remain vote. And I’m very aware that UK universities have not been able to sufficiently demonstrate the value of EU membership not just for what we do as universities, but for what that means to the value we add to society, the economy and global knowledge creation. But, as I wrote in my blog soon after the results, we can and will still be secure with the vote to leave.

I started this message by talking about the importance of conversation. The changes we will see over the coming years are unprecedented, and detail will take a long, long, time to come. Ongoing and genuine conversation with our community, and with government and partners, will be essential to enable us to navigate these changes together, and to play our part positively in shaping the future. At Warwick, I think we must play our part in a number of ways: as we are doing through direct messages and guidance on our website - we must reassure our staff, current and prospective students and partners that Warwick is and will continue to be an international institution, with Europe as important to our activities, community and values as ever. We must continue to engage effectively in Europe through the Guild, through our office base in Brussels and through the Warwick European Advisory Board we are starting to shape. We must contribute our academic expertise to the debate and discourse on the decision the UK has taken and on what the future holds. We must be proactive in influencing the policies and priorities that are to come in order to champion and enhance UK higher education. And we must, must, demonstrate – better than ever before - the value we add to society, the economy and global knowledge creation.

But all of this is to come. In the meantime, thank you again for all you do for Warwick. I know research, postgraduate supervision, conferences, building work and service provision continue apace throughout the summer months, but I hope that you will, please, take an opportunity this summer for a break.

Best wishes,