Department of Psychological Sciences
Staff Meeting
Friday 16 December Room G04, 43 Gordon Square
Minutes
Present: Mike Oaksford (Chair), Naomi Adams (minutes) , Jennifer Aydelott, Ted Barker,
Rabinder Bery, Geoff Bird, Jacqueline Barnes, , Rick Cooper, Eddy Davelaar, Virge Eatough,
, Simon Green, Natasha Kirkham, Matthew Longo, Jen Mackay, , Ted Melhuish, Avi Reisman,
Anne Richards, Marie Smith, Tim Smith, Michael Thomas, Richard Throup, James Vallerine,
Magnus Vaughan, Ruben Zamora.
ALL STAFF:
1.
Introduction
1.1 MO welcomed Francesca Gumbs.
2.
Matters Arising
2.1 School status: progress to date.
MO reported on the move towards School Status. A clause had been written into
the original agreement to assess the situation in 2011 and to see if Psychological
Sciences could be a standalone school. MO had met with Matthew Innes and
was due to have another meeting on 17th January. He flagged up the increase in
student numbers which had not been matched by the increase in staff, especially
in administrative staff.
3.
Grants (FROM RES COMMITTEE Minutes)
Economic & Social Research
Council
British Academy
Baily Thomas Charitable Fund
British Academy
European Commission
Medical Research Council
Simons Foundation USA
Royal Society
4.
Mareschal, D Dr
Dick, F Dr
Bird, G Dr
Bird, G Dr
Mareschal, D Prof
Senju, A Dr
Johnson, M Prof
Mareschal, D Prof
423,182
7,296
57,811
7,155
458,509
1,012,838
449,778
101,000
Staffing Issues
4.1 New staff: update on recruitment of two lecturers
MO reported that Iroise Dumontheil would be joining the department in October
2012. Negotiations with the second preferred candidate are still ongoing, with a
resolution hoped to be reached by 16th December. There are no plans to recruit
additional lecturing staff in 2012/13. In addition the continuation of the GTA
scheme is being considered due to spiralling costs. It will stay in place until after
REF 2014 as departmentally funded students are weighted more than RC
students.
4.2 Cognitive Modelling Chair
Negotiations with the first choice candidate are still ongoing.
5.
Accommodation
6.1 7 Bedford Square
All staff based in 7 Bedford Square have no moved to the 6th floor Extension
building, Malet St.
6.2 Plans for expansion of the basement lab space
More lab space is still needed and a group will be put together to look at putting a
bid into Wolfson.
6.
Planning
Mo reported that he now has access to the planning tool and HR reports and that
when planning next year’s budgets, we need to build in strategic spends. He also
praised the admin office given that there has been an 85% rise in student
numbers over three years.
MO reported on Browne, and the loss of HEFCE funds with a move to the new
loan system. He said that there is no clear projection on how it will impact on
student recruitment at this point. UCAS recruitment seems to be 12% down
according to he media but there is no word on part time. Given that the first large
cohort is moving into the final year, even if we take a hit on recruitment this year,
numbers should stay relatively stable. Masters recruitment may be affected as
the fees are gong up, and in addition, MSc Psychology students are not eligible
for the new loans.
ACADEMIC STAFF:
7.
Minutes of the Previous Meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
8.
Matters arising
MO reported on the International Programme, which is being headed up by Roz Dixon,
and the consortium of Royal Holloway, Goldsmiths and Birkbeck. He pointed out the Law
are in a similar consortium and earn approximately £650k per annum from the
programme. Birkbeck will be leading on the research methods side of the programme,
and assistance will be given to get materials into a format suitable for distance learning,
with marking being done by sessional staff. It will take a few years to start earning
properly, when all cohorts are full, and will be developed as it goes along. TS said that an
integrated media/IT strategy would be useful, and this could also help with the move from
blackboard to moodle. MO said that producing a coherent stream of research methods for
this programme could also benefit traditional BBK students. The question of who would
own the copyright on the materials needs to be investigated.
9.
Items from the Chair
MO reminded the meeting that PDRs are now becoming necessary for the promotion
procedure. It is not College policy yet but is looking likely.
10.
Report from the Chair of the Dept’al Research Committee (MO)
MO reported from the Research Committee. The Committee had discussed the GTA
programme, which has brought in good students and teaching assistants, but is running
at costs of in excess of £100k per year, and with two overseas students, at its peak could
cost £180k per year. However the department wants to keep up good PhD student
numbers for REF, so stopping the programme before that would not look good. It was
agreed to keep it up, but with an intake of 2 students per year until REF, i.e. with no entry
in 2013/14.
The College is holding both a publication dry run and an Impact dry run for REF. It is to be
light touch, however. NA is to send out the dry run forms from last year.
MO said that Research Councils now feel that they are getting too many applications and
that they are trying to discourage ‘lower quality’ applications by methods such as banning
from applying for a set time if you have had a failed application. The School of Science is
saying we should have tighter scrutiny on applications. The research committee is to
discuss this at the next meeting.
11.
Report from the Chair of the Teaching and Learning Committee (SG)
SG reported that the MSc Psychology first year students were finding statistics difficult
after the foundation year but that TB would be looking at the research methods provision
on that programme with a view to possible changes. The MSc itself will not be dropped
yet due to Browne.
Due to the large cohorts moving through, project numbers are increasing. SG asked staff
to put specific project titles out there for people to sign up to. These numbers will also
mean a need to a wider range of options in year 4.
SG reported that KR and JF had reported being overwhelmed by first year students, who
had only been asked to do one essay but had panicked.
SG thanked MV for organising the Psychobiology exam on a Saturday – 200 students
had turned up to sit the exam.
NK raised an issue about first year retention and in particular the drop out rate after the
Christmas break. She said that on her PGCE course she had been told that people often
dropped out if there was a deadline in early January as it was felt to ‘loom’ over the
vacation.
12.
Report from the Chair of the Resources Committee (AS)
MO reported from the Resources Committee. RZ has been making good progress on
online experiments, but we still need to get more online if students are required to do 10
hours of experiments are a course requirement.
The new multiple choice marking software has been purchased and will be trialled for use
in the summer exams.
13.
AOB
There was no other business.
14.
Date of next meeting
21st March 2012