Highlights from the January meeting of RDM's Senior Leadership Team

We're at the very start of the process to develop RDM in line with our new research strategy 2025-30. The plan, as articulated in that document, is to reconfigure RDM into two new sections (Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, and Molecular Medicine). This will be a shared journey that we will all undertake together over the next few years, and SLT started the meeting by discussing this important topic.

SLT agreed the formation of an Organisational Development Steering Group, which will be responsible for getting the project off the ground and planning next steps and timeframes. Once formed, this group will start by focusing on developing a roadmap for change. SLT will be looking to engage expert external consultancy support to ensure we get this important project right.

SLT understand the importance of clear communication with everyone in RDM along the way, as well as making sure that there are genuine opportunities for members of the department to give their input. As a result, blog posts such as this will form part of SLT's communication activity, but we are also planning termly emails from Head of Department Professor Keith Channon and a dedicated set of intranet pages, as well as the existing termly RDM Open Forum (the next one being on 24 February).

Since starting my role as Head of Communications at RDM in 2024, I have been impressed by how much value the department's senior leadership places on communications. I was pleased to be given the floor for part of this SLT meeting in order to present the first iteration of a new RDM Communications Strategy. In my team, we had been eagerly awaiting the publication of RDM's Research Strategy last autumn, so that we could develop a strategy for how we communicate both internally and externally that chimes with our departmental mission, vision and objectives. There is much to be done and I'm looking forward to getting going.

Some things to look out for include a new RDM SharePoint Intranet in Trinity Term, clearly signposting resources such as career development materials and information about policies and procedures to help people do their work and feel part of RDM. We will also be improving our external website in order to present a consistent, coherent story about RDM. I'm keen to ramp up our focus on evaluating our communications activity so that we can gather insights that inform how we continually improve it. We are already doing this very successfully with RDM's weekly bulletin, and will ensure that we mirror this approach with our other channels.

One of the activities my team helped with last year was getting the word out about our annual Professional and Career Development Review (PDR/CDR) exercise. In the meeting, RDM's Head of HR, Emma Engel, shared an update on the outcomes of that exercise. We were all encouraged to hear that, although the online system had presented some early challenges, CDR completion rates among researchers and technicians were the highest in the University, and RDM had been recognised for leading progress in this area. Look out for the launch of this year's PDR/CDR in May.

My team also works closely with those in RDM who are involved in facilitating activities promoting equality, diversity and inclusion. We help get the word out about EDI initiatives, and aim to make sure that our communications are representative of our diverse community. The SLT meeting concluded with an update from RDM's EDI Academic Lead, Professor Anne Goriely, who touched on a number of things that we are supporting, including the new RDM Women's Network, a planned refresh of our Respectful Behaviours Framework materials, and promotion of training such as Leading in Academic Research Environments.

I hope this post has helped to put a bit more of a human face on RDM's Senior Leadership Team meetings. If you have any feedback or suggestions about RDM communications activity, please let me know via communications@rdm.ox.ac.uk.