cc: "H.J. Schellnhuber" <john@pik-potsdam.de>, "Dr. Rachel Warren" <r.warren@ic.ac.uk>,e.tompkins@uea.ac.uk, larissa.naylor@geog.ox.ac.uk,tyn.all@uea.ac.uk
date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 16:40:28 +0000
from: Mike Hulme <m.hulme@uea.ac.uk>
subject: Advisory Board - and a look back
to: P.M.Allen@Cranfield.ac.uk,"N.W.Arnell" <N.W.Arnell@soton.ac.uk>, f.berkhout@sussex.ac.uk,j.kohler@econ.cam.ac.uk,m.cannell@ite.ac.uk, j.a.halliday@rl.ac.uk,jenkins@fs5.ee.umist.ac.uk, brian.launder@umist.ac.uk,t.markvart@soton.ac.uk,cnash@its.leeds.ac.uk, <simon.shackley@umist.ac.uk>,j.g.shepherd@soton.ac.uk, a.watkinson@uea.ac.uk,m.hulme@uea.ac.uk,n.adger@uea.ac.uk, mnt@soc.soton.ac.uk

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Dear Council and colleagues,

We had I believe a positive, constructive and efficient (thank you Sam) 2nd 
Advisory Board meeting on Monday in London.  The general sentiment was that 
we had progressed substantially since April with the aid of our strategic 
planning process (thank you Elaine).  The Tyndall research strategy (thank 
you John and Council) was praised and endorsed (especially the Tyndall 
Highlights Matrix) - with some minor suggestions for amendment.  The 
Tyndall Assembly event was regarded as highly beneficial and extremely well 
organised (thank you Gillian) and the project Fact Sheets were also praised 
(thank you Simon).

The two issues of greatest debate revolved around 1) precise membership and 
representation on the Board and on the new Assessment Panel (the right mix 
of scientists and stakeholders was stressed, including more than just one 
NGO), and 2) where Tyndall should be positioned in the continuum between 
conducting policy-driven and research-driven research.  Policy-relevant 
research is clearly in between these two extremes and we are somewhere in 
this middle territory, but there were different views expressed around the 
Advisory table, just as there are different views within Tyndall, about 
where Tyndall should be.  This must be seen as a creative tension for us, 
since we will never be able to define precisely where we sit - and it will 
vary over time and with topic.

In due course approved minutes from the meeting will be available on the 
Tyndall Intranet.  The next Board meeting will be late November 2002 and 
will be preceded by a day meeting of the Assessment Panel (a sub-group of 
the Board) to review in more depth Tyndall research activities.  Both 
events will be in London and I will be calling on several of you no doubt 
to contribute to the Assessment Day.

Many thanks to you all for ensuring that Tyndall has got off to such a good 
start, and to Vanessa for getting HQ running so smoothly.  We know that 
NERC are very pleased with our performance to date, that EPSRC are holding 
Tyndall up to the wider HE community as a model from which other new 
multi-site research initiatives should draw experience, and that OST are 
keenly following our progress in delivering a new form of research 
institution in the UK (we have not yet had any inferred commentary from 
ESRC - anyone else heard anything from that source?).

Best wishes for Christmas and New Year.

Mike

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