In this episode of University Registrars (and Others) Talking About Stuff I talk to someone who is very much not a registrar but a notable figure nevertheless. Dr Vince Wilson recently retired as Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham and among the stuff we learn about is Vince's distinctive academic journey from a degree in pharmacy to a research degree, a Royal Society fellowship - as part of which he spent a period in Germany - and then a post-doc in Glasgow. Vince joined Nottingham in 1989 where he was based in the Queen's Medical Centre and being in the same building as a h ..read more

In the latest episode of University Registrars Talking About Stuff I chat with Dr George Turner, University Secretary and Clerk to the Council at the University of Roehampton. We naturally discuss George's early academic career which, quite distinctively, started out with him forming a punk band at 16 and then being inspired to study music at Sheffield. He stuck with music as a discipline, ending up with a PhD thesis on the place of the electric guitar before deciding he needed to earn some money, taking the first job he could which happened to be at the University of Derby. After a period wo ..read more

It's time for more exciting bonus content. Whilst on this podcast you will usually find me in conversation with registrars and other higher ed notables, I've got some other diversions to share.  There will be some new podcasts along soon but in the meantime I wanted to provide a bit of bonus content. In this short Registrarologue then you can hear me going on a bit about some of the challenges of dealing with Freedom of Information requests in universities. But I also thought I would share with you some FOI examples which highlight the concerns I have with the operation of the legislatio ..read more

This episode of University Registrars and Others Talking About Stuff finds me in discussion with higher education sector data guru Andy Youell.  Whilst Andy started his working life at Rolls Royce working on various aircraft he soon found the appeal of data and HE funding (not to mention sector acronyms) irresistible and joined PCFC just before it merged with UFC and then HEFCE. He became heavily involved in data collection and indeed it was his phone number given as the contact for HESES enquiries. This certainly helped build his sector network, something he continued to develop upon jo ..read more

It's time for more exciting bonus content. Whilst on this podcast you will usually find me in conversation with registrars and other higher ed notables, I've got some other diversions to share.  There will be some new podcasts along soon but in the meantime I wanted to provide a bit of bonus content. In this short Registrarologue then you can hear me going on a bit about one of my favourite topics - regulation ..read more

Yes, here's a bit more exciting bonus content. Whilst on this podcast you will usually find me in conversation with registrars and others, talking all about higher ed matters, I've got some other diversions to share.  There will be some new podcasts along soon but in the meantime I wanted to provide a bit of bonus content. In this short Registrarologue then I wanted to dress up smart and offer a few observations about a highly topical issue - graduation.  ..read more

It's time for more bonus content. Whilst I'm normally in conversation with registrars and others here, talking about lots of HE stuff, I've got some other diversions to share.  There will be some new podcasts along soon but in the meantime I wanted to provide a bit of bonus content. This short Registrarologue then is a bit of ramble by me all about sinking university buildings. Allegedly. I hope you enjoy it ..read more

It's bonus content time. Whilst I'm normally in conversation with registrars and others here, talking about lots of HE stuff, I've got some other diversions to share.  There will be some new podcasts along soon but in the meantime I wanted to provide a bit of bonus content. This short Registrarologue then is a bit of ramble by me all about cats on university campuses. I hope you enjoy it ..read more

This episode of University Registrars Talking About Stuff finds me talking stuff with Lucinda Parr who is Registrar and University Secretary at the University of Bristol. Looking back to the beginning of her career Lucinda recalls working as a departmental administrator at Goldsmiths to help fund her masters and enjoying it so much that she ended up staying. She then moved to a new role working with the Warden on developing the institution's new strategic plan. Lucinda stresses the value to her career of her governance involvement in her Goldsmiths roles and is a passionate advocate for its im ..read more

In this episode of the podcast I have a really good conversation about stuff, mainly governance related, with Louise Nadal, Secretary at the London School of Economics. We learn about Louise’s career journey, which started with a series of short term roles in London universities culminating in a role in HR at Imperial College at which point she realised she wanted to work closer to the core academic operation so moved to a role in planning instead. Not long after starting this job at Royal Holloway she also acquired governance responsibilities for the first time and this pattern repeated a few ..read more