As the end of 2021 fast approaches, Professor Colin Bailey CBE, President and Principal of Queen Mary University of London, highlights some of our key achievements this year. He also thanks our alumni community for their ongoing support. Watch Colin's video message to alumni.
Professor Colin Bailey CBE
To all Queen Mary alumni, wherever you are in the world, I hope you and your families are safe and well.We've almost reached the end of 2021. Hopefully, we’ll all be able to take a much-deserved break soon. At Queen Mary, we are using the best of what we have learned through the pandemic to make the learning environment for our students, and working environment for our staff, even better. Our students are enjoying learning together in-person, and also utilising state-of-the-art technology in our mixed mode educational offer. It has been wonderful walking around our campuses and seeing staff and students chatting, laughing, playing games and, of course, working and studying hard. I’m also so pleased that in January next year, the classes of 2020 and 2021 will be able to attend their graduation ceremonies in-person. I hope you will join us in congratulating all of them.I want to take a moment to celebrate some of the things we have all achieved this year. We were recently named as the country’s top university for social mobility. Recruiting students from all backgrounds and supporting them to succeed is at the heart of everything we stand for as a university. We are so proud to be recognised in this way.We also recently agreed a landmark deal to develop a state-of-the-art life sciences research facility in partnership with Barts Health NHS Trust, as part of the UK Government’s ambitious plans for the development of the Whitechapel Life Sciences Cluster. This is really exciting. It paves the way for Queen Mary, and east London, to mark our place as an engine for life sciences research that directly improves the lives of people who live locally and all over the world.This year we added to our suite of Degree Apprenticeships with the launch of a programme in data analytics with PricewaterhouseCoopers. And just last month, we announced that a pilot study, led by Queen Mary with Genomics England, has shown that genome sequencing can uncover rare diseases and could deliver enormous health benefits for our local community and across the UK.And you, our alumni, continue to have an impact across the world in whatever field you work in and continue to fly the flag for Queen Mary. Hearing about your successes and individual careers is inspirational for all our students and staff. We are extremely proud of all our alumni. Please do keep us updated so that we can continue to share your news with our students, staff and partners of Queen Mary.It was so heart-warming that hundreds of you supported our Emergency COVID Fund, allowing us to provide more support to students disadvantaged by the pandemic. In addition, almost 1,000 of you volunteered your time to support our students. Thank you.This year we launched alumni chapters to act as regional hubs across the globe, with more coming next year. So do log on to the Queen Mary Network to see if there’s a regional hub near you, where you can connect with fellow alumni and support students in your local area, who are thinking about applying to Queen Mary.With in-person events happening again in the UK and international travel starting to open up to some countries, I look forward to meeting many of you in 2022. And finally, I wish you all the very best for the year ahead.With kind regards,Professor Colin Bailey CBE, FREng, BEng, PhD, CEng, FICE, FIStructE, MIFireEPresident and PrincipalQueen Mary University of London