I’m applying to join the CDBU Executive Committee to help shape, build and amplify the Council’s public messaging. As a Professor of Management with research and teaching interests focused on professional occupations, I am well placed to comment on the multifaceted crises facing the sector. Many other public professions face similar tribulations. I have substantial experience in publicly defending universities and the academic profession, for example in articles and blogs about university redundancy programmes, academic freedom and GenAI misuse.
If elected to a position on the EC, I will draw on my expertise in teaching, research, writing and public engagement to work constructively with members to help develop the organization’s communication strategies aimed at maximum political effect. There is great untapped potential for the academic profession to interact more constructively with university leadership and with regulators, government, media and influencers of all stripes. For all the attacks it faces, I believe that ‘the idea of a university’ is a powerful notion that can find broad support. No-one connected to HE governance and leadership seems willing to articulate and defend a vision of the university’s role in society. It’s up to us to do it, and I hope to be involved.
