Thank you to everyone who contributed to our recent consultation on the proposed development of a new organisation. The PraxisUnico Board and AURIL Council are delighted to have received an overwhelmingly positive response to the proposal – 94% in favour from 83 member institutions across the whole spectrum of our combined memberships – and, as such, have agreed to proceed to the next stage of drafting a business plan for formal approval in the Spring by the designated representatives of both member organisations.
The Working Group completed a significant amount of groundwork in preparation for the consultation and have now thoroughly reviewed the feedback commentary, which will be used to further inform the business planning process. The relevant legal and financial due diligence work is underway and we anticipate that the PraxisUnico PrU Board and AURIL Council will convene a joint strategic planning meeting early in 2017 to finalise the initial strategic aims of the new organisation, which we hope will be operational by the middle of 2017. You are invited to help shape its future by sending further ideas and suggestions (by 16 December) to Maxine Ficarra or Alasdair Cameron: maxine.ficarra@praxisunico.org.uk or alasdair.cameron@strath.ac.uk.
We will, of course, continue to provide information to the members of both organisations as the plan develops during 2017.
The working group consists of:
Dave Bembo Working Group Chair (Cardiff University)
Bryn Jones AURIL Council (University of Bangor)
Andrew Carlin AURIL Council (University of Reading)
Sue O’Hare PraxisUnico Board (Science & Technology Facilities Council)
Sean Fielding PraxisUnico Board (University of Exeter)
Alasdair Cameron Executive Director, AURIL
Maxine Ficarra Executive Director, PraxisUnico