In Focus Interview With New EHS Dean
27 January 2011
Professor Guy Daly the new Dean of the Faculty of Education,Health and Sciences.
Derby has a great feel, a can-do mentality, and has clarity of purpose about what we have to do in the current climate.
”Professsor Guy Daly.
Professor Guy Daly - Connected January online
In this in-depth interview with Connected, Professor Guy Daly, the new Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health and Sciences, is relishing the challenges ahead within the higher education sector:
Professor Guy Daly is not intimidated by the economic climate we are in. Instead he says that as well as challenges ahead, it is an exciting time with numerous opportunities for the Faculty and University.
He draws confidence from his own experiences in his professional career thus far and other outside interests, not least his research interests in the area of social care and social policy more generally.
Before joining Derby, Professor Daly was Associate Dean and during 2010 Acting Dean within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Coventry University. In that time, the Faculty saw its student numbers and student satisfaction increase.
Maximising the student experience is critical to the future success of UK universities as Guy explained: "In terms of student satisfaction, we should not simply 'promise the world'. Rather, one needs to manage students' expectations and offer what is necessary and appropriate in terms of student support, academic support and facilities and make it clear what is required from both staff and students along the academic journey."
"What has impressed me about Derby in the short time that I have been at the University is the way it does business. It delivers courses and services with a human face - it puts the interests of its stakeholders: students, staff and external partners, at the centre of all that it does. Derby has a great feel, a can-do mentality, and has clarity of purpose about what we have to do in the current climate."
Professional Challenges:
Professor Daly says EHS will build on the central pillars of the overall University Strategy identified at last November's Residential Summit which include developing our international, e-learning and commercial and research activities. In the last three years,
Professor Daly helped the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Coventry University's increase its applied research income from £1.9m in 2007 to £4m in 2010/11. Derby's leadership and management training course for Derby City Council is an example of the sort of work that the University of Derby has undertaken which has caught Professor Daly's eye.
Professor Daly has a wealth of experience in health and social care development and social policy more generally and has been involved in a number of evaluation projects with key stakeholders as a researcher. Projects with Coventry City Council assessed the value of individual and personal budgets in social care, working with clients so they could help personalise and shape their own social care packages. Coventry Adult Social Care has an innovative approach to the concept of personalisation which arguably has many benefits over standard approaches to personal budgets in England.
Social care policy, health policy, local government and governance are among Professor Daly's areas of academic interest. He highlights the work of TH Marshall, whose seminal text Citizenship and Social Class assessed the elements of civil, political and social rights and duties in post-war British society. TH Marshall's work informed Professor Daly's own doctoral studies at the University of Bristol, which he studied part-time between 1996 and 2002 while also lecturing and managing at the University of Gloucestershire, his institution before Coventry. Professor Daly's PhD explored citizenship and public accountability, and examined service user involvement in social care.
Among his personal achievements, Professor Daly, who originates from the West Midlands, was the time he served as a councillor for Bournville Ward for eight years on Birmingham City Council, from 1990-98, and he is currently a non-executive board member of Trident Housing Association.
These experiences give him real insights into the development and implementation of social policy and the challenges of trying to serve the interests of a wide range of local constituents.
In terms of current social policy developments, Professor Daly was asked his view of the Coalition Government's Big Society policy idea. He responded: "notions of the Big Society could resonate with a desire from individuals and civil society to have a greater involvement in their communities and how these are shaped and directed. But, one must be careful that such communities have the skills, resources and support to take up these responsibilities."
Professor Daly is clear and focussed in outlining EHS's future direction under his leadership. He is aware of the challenges facing the NHS, TDA and other key Faculty stakeholders, as well as across the wider University sector. But he says: "In many respects, those of us working within health and education are used to the challenges of political change and associated changes in policy direction."
For EHS, he identifies four key areas of focus:
- building on the excellent reputation of the Faculty for quality of its work
- sustaining and extending the Faculty's well established partnerships
- being fleet of foot and responsive in the current climate
- understanding and responding to what customers and stakeholders need and want.
He is busy spending his first few weeks meeting and engaging with staff, students and a wide range of external stakeholders and sees this investment of time and approach as of particular importance in the early part of his time as Dean of EHS.
