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

The Head of Department Professor Keith Channon began the meeting with some really good news: we have appointed Professor James Chalmers as the Rhodes Professor of Experimental Therapeutics & Clinical Pharmacology. James works in the area of respiratory medicine, and his focus on inflammation and immunity science will be a real boost to RDM. He aims to relocate from Dundee fully, along with the core members of his team, by July 2026.

Nearly two months on since the vibrant event launching RDM's new Research Strategy, we are going full steam ahead with turning our aspirations into reality. I was able to share an initial outline delivery plan with a focus on supporting departmental growth, and two immediate priorities were agreed: 1) establishing a Funding Working Group which I will tell you a bit more about below; 2) making progress on the Estates Strategy. Developing and reviewing the delivery plan will be a recurring element of our work over the five-year period of the Research Strategy.

Having a strong financial foundation is essential to help us grow and achieve our strategy so the Funding Working Group will be tasked with developing a financial strategy based on practical steps to maximise, expand and diversify our sources of income over the coming years. I will let you know once the chair and members of the Working Group have been identified. Linked to the future activity of the Funding Working Group, it was good to welcome Paige Fillier, Deputy Head of the MSD Development and Alumni Engagement (DAE) team, who attended the meeting to discuss collaborative fundraising efforts with RDM.

It may seem a long time since April, when we were all asked to complete the Staff Experience Survey, but I hope it's reassuring to know that a great deal of work is now going on to analyse and interpret the results, to see what RDM needs to do in order to cultivate an environment in which everyone can thrive. RDM's Head of HR, Emma Engel gave us the update and led a discussion on a range of ideas for action.

We also received an update from RDM Head of Communications Jacqueline Pumphrey, on the plans for RDM day 2026, the agenda is shaping up well so I hope you will all register to attend when the registration opens after Christmas.

In addition to new business, we have a number of standing items on the agenda. We heard updates from MRC Unit heads KJ Patel and Alison Simmons on the progress of their MRC CoRE outline applications. RDM's EDI Lead Anne Goriely updated us on a new people management course being run jointly between RDM and Surgical Science. RDM's Director of Graduate Studies Damian Tyler gave us an update on the admissions process for both MSc and DPhil applications, which is now underway, and we look forward to hearing more about the outcomes in the New Year.

If you have any questions about RDM's Senior Leadership Team or any of the topics raised in this blog post, please don't hesitate to contact communications@rdm.ox.ac.uk.