SRAI in Your Country: Up Close and Personal | United Kingdom
Thanks to SRAI’s extensive international scope (over 40 countries around the world), SRAI members literally have the world at their fingertips. Wouldn’t it be great to spend a few days or months, submerged in the life of a fellow research administrator in another part of the world, to walk in their shoes, and to expand your international view of research administration? To whet your appetite, this four-part series will take you on a virtual, imaginary tour of the daily life of an individual research administrator on four different continents or geographic regions – Africa, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Part three in our virtual travel adventure takes us to the United Kingdom. Sit back and enjoy!
United Kingdom
Lorna Colquhoun, Executive Director of Research and Innovation Services, University of Southampton
In mid-July I resume the third leg of my tour to the UK, and meet Lorna Colquhoun, Executive Director of Research and Innovation Services at the University of Southampton. Lorna is an established research administrator.
After my plane lands at Heathrow airport on a warm sunny Monday morning (21 degrees C: 70 degrees F), I take a train to Southampton, where the University of Southampton is located. With a brolly at my side, we speed through the picturesque countryside of Hampshire (Jane Austen country) until we arrive in the port city, about an hour and a half south of London.
Lorna graciously meets me at the station, and she points out areas of local interest. She notes that the university has campuses in the historic city of Winchester (the ancient capital of England) and various locations in Southampton, including at the waterfront. Unsurprisingly, marine and maritime is a major activity for the university.
We meet at Lorna’s office the following day where she describes her role. Lorna leads an expansive portfolio of research, knowledge exchange and enterprise, and civic plan activities at Southampton. Her large team (more than 120 people) is responsible for areas such as research strategy and research funding development, research contracts, compliance, research ethics and integrity, Research Excellence Framework (REF) impacts, industry partnerships, business acceleration, technology transfer, and public engagement. The University’s annual research income is £122.5M, with the majority of funding coming from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Other substantial awards come from the National Institute for Health Research and large medical charities such as Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK, and the European Union remains a major funder.
Undoubtedly, Lorna’s background has prepared her for these substantial responsibilities. After she completed her PhD studies in Neuroscience, she had seven years of postdoctoral training in the United States. She then worked for a funding agency, and has worked in universities for 20 years. She has held her present role for six years.
Most days Lorna works on campus from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm. This is unlike most of her team who spend more time working from home than in the office. This is due to physical downsizing of the office environment such that staff need to book workspace prior to coming to the office. Lorna tries to achieve a healthy work-life balance, for both herself and as a role model for staff, but it’s not always possible. One strategy she uses is to book planned evening activities, such as tennis, dance or a book club to ensure that she leaves work at a reasonable hour.
Much of Lorna’s workday is devoted to meetings, many of which are still online. She describes, “the week starts with a one-hour Heads of Teams meeting to share information, university news and changes, discuss upcoming pieces of work or changes in the sector that we need to respond to. I am also on the university professional leadership team and there are many 1:1 meetings with staff as well as committees such as the Research Committee, Knowledge Exchange, and Enterprise Committee.”
Lorna particularly enjoys working with researchers, being close to the research and feeling like she and her colleagues have made a positive contribution to their getting a grant or contract or making a research discovery. She says, “it’s really a nice world that we work in – to work with interesting and clever people.”
On the other hand, the main challenges of her role are budgetary shortfalls to do the required work and increasing compliance requirements such as research security.
She is proud of her team and their accomplishments, while noting, “the thing no one ever told me about succeeding in research management is – the more senior you get, the further away from the interesting projects you get, at least for me. I miss doing research development – working closely with academics to get their grants funded, or working with a group to develop a strategy.”
As we finish our day, I am in awe of what I have learned about research administration at a large university in the UK. The expertise, hard work, and optimism that Lorna and her team provide to the Southampton research community are impressive.
Lorna invites me to accompany her to her evening’s activity, a beginning course in silversmithing, which I gratefully accept.
Thank you, Lorna, for sharing your day with us!
Authored by Terry Campbell, Retired
University of Ottawa
SRAI Catalyst Committee
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