Announcements

Message from the Rector to Imperial staff and students – 16 November 2009

Dear Member of the Imperial College community,

As you know it is a great honour for me to lead and represent Imperial College London on your behalf. However, I want to let you know, ahead of a public announcement later today, that I have decided to step down as Rector as I want to return to my primary concern, which is my deep and abiding research interest into global health.

I will therefore be returning full-time to my Chair in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, at the St Mary’s Campus. All my working life I have been, and I remain today, a research scientist and a teacher with a very strong interest in the global problem of infectious diseases and their control. This requires me to maintain a broad range of external roles and I will therefore continue with my international advisory work for both governments and leading public and private sector bodies around the world. Such activity informs and broadens my academic research, which in turn increases my ability to add value in my advisory roles.

I am fortunate to enjoy a number of interesting advisory roles, including sitting on the UK’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Swine Flu, advising the Government and the Opposition, the Governments of Singapore and Thailand, the World Health Organisation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges.

Over the past year I think we have achieved much together, including promoting the creation of interdisciplinary institutes focused on major world challenges, such as the Institute for Global Health, and developing programmes such as a new Junior Research Fellowship Scheme to support early career researchers.

In my time as Rector I have had the pleasure of meeting many of you, and on every occasion I am reminded strongly of your dedication and brilliance. You are testament to what I believe above all about this university: that Imperial’s success and reputation is built, from the bottom-up, on the shoulders of all the people who have come together to work and study here. We should be proud of our achievements, for Imperial is in the top three universities in the UK and in the top ten globally.

I am immensely proud of and loyal to Imperial and I shall do all I can from my new position to ensure that our College maintains its world-leading position of today, and is well-prepared to meet new challenges tomorrow.

I must thank you all for your wonderful support during my time as Rector, and I wish you the greatest personal future success in your endeavours at this outstanding institution.

With my warmest regards,
Sir Roy Anderson