date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 10:33:41 +0000 from: Tim Osborn subject: CRU strategic review to: "CRU Custom Mailing List" ,,, ,,,, ,,,, ,,,, ,,, Dear all, as you will have heard at February's CRU forum, there was a hiatus in our progress on the strategic review - due mainly to me (lack of time during Jan/Feb) but also because only one person in the whole of CRU submitted their ideas about CRU's current strengths and weaknesses and their suggestions about values that CRU might strive to uphold. I didn't think this was a sufficient basis on which to build during a session at the LaRC's Hub facility. The strategic review team have now met, and decided that we can go ahead with a session at the Hub without needing people to provide their ideas in advance, *provided* participants at least think through (in a slightly structured way) the areas that we will discuss/debate in the Hub session. To help this structured thinking, with Julie Burgess's help I have listed (at the end of this e-mail) the "themes" that you might consider. This e-mail has gone to all those staff members who indicated a wish to take part in a Hub session, plus to those who didn't reply one way or the other. Please let me know (i) if you do/don't wish to take part; and (ii) which of the following dates (all in MARCH!) you can make: 11 (AM or PM) 13 (AM) 14 (AM or PM) 15 (AM or PM) 18 (AM) 19 (AM) 20 (AM) 25 (AM or PM) 26 (AM or PM) Best regards Tim Strengths & weaknesses (S&W) themes ----------------------------- These themes are to help stimulate your thinking prior to the Hub session (but feel free to bring ideas that fall outside these themes). 1. Research (a) S&W in *general* subtopics of climate science (scenarios, palaeo., energy, modelling, forecasting, diagnosis, monitoring, etc.) (b) S&W in *specific* cases (specific projects, specific people, specific products, etc.) (c) S&W in our approach to undertaking research (is balance between individuals vs. teamwork right, is balance between completing contracts vs. publishing science papers right, etc.) 2. Data & information provision (a) S&W in various data fields (instr., remote sensing, palaeo., etc.) (b) S&W in providing data & information (web, projects, etc.) (c) S&W in data set production (assembly, quality control, processing, etc.) 3. Funding for research & data activities (a) S&W in various areas or with various agencies or types of funding source (commercial, charity, government, etc.) (b) S&W in our approach to obtaining funding (balance between individuals vs. teamwork, etc.) 4. Teaching activity (at BSc, MSc and PhD levels) (a) S&W and benefits/problems that teaching brings 5. Identity (a) Size & composition (do we have a "critical mass" of active members, etc.) (b) S&W of our position within ENV & UEA & S&W of the services ENV & UEA provide 6. Working environment (a) S&W of facilities (IT & other technology, admin & support, building/UEA environment, etc.) (b) S&W of staff development, training, etc. Values themes ------------- We do not want to spend time during the Hub session discussing "what is a values statement", so we will distribute a definition prior to the session and concentrate instead on which of the themes each of us values. 1. High quality - research/education/administration 2. Stewardship of resources 3. Intellectual freedom and freedom of expression 4. Creativity and innovation 5. Integrity 6. Interactions with 'customers'/stakeholders 7. Valuing staff and students; promotion of self-esteem and self-respect 8. Mutual respect, courtesy, supportiveness 9. Job security 10. Open communication; teamwork; sharing of information and knowledge. 11. Respect for other viewpoints 12. Equal opportunities 13. Tolerance/acceptance of cultural and religious diversity 14. Training opportunities; appropriate and working equipment 15. Healthy and safe environment 16. Promotion of a sustainable environment 17. Recognition and support of individuals' desires for personal and professional development; reaching our potential 18. Respect for privacy 19. Respect for family responsibilities 19. Periodic review of values statement in the light of experience and changes Dr Timothy J Osborn | phone: +44 1603 592089 Senior Research Associate | fax: +44 1603 507784 Climatic Research Unit | e-mail: t.osborn@uea.ac.uk School of Environmental Sciences | web-site: University of East Anglia __________| http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/~timo/ Norwich NR4 7TJ | sunclock: UK | http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/~timo/sunclock.htm