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 Aberdeen University’s new principal Professor Ian Diamond believes it is essential that the university has a major impact on, and partnership with, industries not only in the North and North-east but also further afield.
He wants students to leave the university equipped with all the skills to meet the demands of the 21st century labour market and he wants the research carried out to help answer the key questions being posed by its stakeholders.
“The university has many roles - all of them linked to improving the economy, the society or the culture of the locality, the region or indeed the wider world,” he told Business Bulletin.
“It is important to me that we have a coherent and positive engagement with our colleagues in the oil industry; that we work incredibly closely through our Centre For Environmental Sustainability (ACES) with stakeholders for example in uplands or peat lands to improve the management of the environment in the North of Scotland; that we work closely with the farming industry to ensure the latest development of knowledge can impact on food and nutrition; and that we continue to work closely with NHS Grampian to ensure that the contributions we make to knowledge in health impact on the people of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire as well as those wider a field.
“We are coming from a good base but it is time to change the flight path.
“An enormous amount of good work has been done in the past but we must seek to do even better than we have in the past.”
Professor Diamond, said there were no magic bullets for success but the first step was to have conversations with people about how both the students and research in Aberdeen could help develop industry.
“With regard to students I think it is incredibly important that, as well as providing an education of the highest level, we equip them with some of the skills they will need to participate fully in the labour force and in order to develop that I think we need to make sure we are engaging with potential employers to find out the sorts of skills they really want.
“Secondly I think we need to be sitting down at the earliest stage with stakeholders to identify the really important questions to which they need answers and then work jointly with them to co-produce the knowledge.”
Professor Diamond stressed that it was not only in the traditional industries of the area that the university played an important role.
“I think creative industries increasingly play a major role in the economy and culture of North and North-east Scotland. Their success will be enhanced both by top class support for the creativity we have in spades in this part of the world but also by ensuring that they can get the fruits of their creativity out to the wider world.
“That means the work we do on the digital economy for rural areas is absolutely central to ensuring brilliant opportunities for not even small industries but micro industries across North and North-east of Scotland.
“The digital economy enables people to sell their wares over the web and we should be working with both the development of their products and in the marketing and retail of them.”
Professor Diamond, who is originally from Torquay and had only previously visited Aberdeen as a result of his wide sporting interests – explained the appeal of the university and his aspirations for it.
“It is a really good university on an upward trajectory where I felt I could add value and it was a nice fit with my skills. It has both great research and great teaching and it has 515 years of commitment to having an academic impact on the North and North-east of Scotland and indeed the wider world – and Aberdeen is a very nice place to live.
“I hope my skill set will add real value to the university and I hope to ensure our research policy is such that we continue to be a driver and world leader in many areas.
“But in addition I have a long history of being committed to delivering teaching and I believe as a university it is through both research and teaching we will reach the heights to which we aspire. In the areas which it chooses to excel it should aim to be either world leading or partner of choice.”
Professor Diamond said it was too early to highlight areas of particular change but throughout the summer there has been consultation across the university and with stakeholders to refresh its strategic plan.
A draft is likely to go to the university Court later this month with finalisation before the end of the year.
“Then we can move forward with a new spring in our step towards the next stage of our journey.”
Last year Aberdeen University was awarded £12.4 million from the Research Councils UK Digital Economy Programme to investigate how advances in digital technologies can transform rural communities, society and business enhancing how crucial services such as healthcare and transport are delivered in rural areas across the UK. It will also investigate how new technologies can benefit rural economies and communities by promoting new forms of enterprise in areas such as tourism and nature conservation.
Professor Diamond was previously Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council. He was also Chair of the Research Council’s UK Executive Group, the umbrella body that represents all seven UK Research Councils. Before joining the ESRC Professor Diamond was Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the university of Southampton.
He graduated in 1975 with a BSc (Econ) Honours from the London School of Economics and Political Science followed in 1976 with an MSc Statistics. He then received his PhD in Statistics from the University of St Andrews in 1981. He began his academic career at Heriot Watt University and joined the University of Southampton in 1980 becoming Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2001.
He is Chair of the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales and a trustee of the World Wildlife Fund UK. He is a member of the Universities UK Research Policy Committee and has recently been appointed as a member of the Scottish Science Advisory Council. Professor Diamond was elected to the UK Academy of Social Sciences in 1999, is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and holds honorary degrees from the universities of Cardiff and Glasgow.
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