UofG Shadow Board
Introduced in 2020, the UofG Shadow Board is believed to be among the first of its kind in a UK university. Since its inception the Shadow board has influenced discussions around topics such as the Universities response to the Covid 19 Pandemic, the changing nature of learning, teaching and the student experience and looks ahead to developing in areas such as research and civic engagement.
What is the Shadow Board?
Shadow Boards provide different insights and enable new perspectives to be applied to the problems faced by senior leadership teams. The University of Glasgow Shadow Board works with the Senior Management Group and provides input on major strategic issues facing the University. It is among the first of its kind in the UK higher education sector and has been in place for 2 years.
Who is on the Shadow Board?
The Shadow Board consists of a group of 12 people from a cross-section of the university, who make an active contribution by using their skills and experience to act as a Critical Friend for the University’s Senior Management Group. Shadow Board members normally serve a 2-year term, with a time commitment of 1-2 days per month.
The Shadow Board is supported by the Executive Director of People and Organisational Development Christine Barr as the SMG Sponsor and Director of Organisational Development, James Hamilton as advisor for the Shadow Board.
Chris Buckland (Chair)
Hessam Mehr
Amy-Beth Jordan
Craig Thomson-Gold
Graduation and Ceremonial Events Coordinator (Academic Services)
Tony Corrigan
Julia Hartley
Mohammad Ali Salik
BECS Research Group Laboratory Manager (Geography & Earth Sciences)
Ashton Duncan-Whitelaw
What is the role of the Shadow Board?
The purpose of the Shadow Board is to make a meaningful contribution to SMG decision-making and influence change in the University through ideas, actions, and diverse voices. It aims to deliver against the following objectives.
- To establish a sustainable, lean operating framework for the Shadow Board
- To identify opportunities to promote equality and inclusion to inform and inspire change in the University
- To input and provide feedback to SMG in a timely way.
- To identify or contribute to initiatives that SB members feel are important to staff and/or the University
The Shadow Board's role is to offer input and constructive challenge on strategic matters, primarily to SMG, but also to other strategic initiatives - this has included input into the Learning & Teaching Strategy, UofG’s response to COVID 19 and the Enabling New Ways of Working Group. While not a decision-making body, the Shadow Board engages in regular dialogue with SMG members and its input has been found to be very valuable in offering a different ‘lens’ through which to view some of our most complex challenges as an organisation.
What is the Shadow Board working on now?
For 2023/24, we have agreed a series of priority areas with SMG and a roadmap to ensure that we capture our impact. The roadmap provides a foundation for the Shadow Board to provide strategic input to meaningful areas in 2023/24. Four high level themes were established:
- Student Experience
- Sustainability
- Civic Engagement
- Communications and Engagement
Shadow Board members have therefore joined key University working groups aligned to our priority areas, such as the Student Experience Committee; Sustainability Working Group; PGR Scholarship and Funding Project; Career Progression for Professional Services Project Board; and Colleague Engagement Working Group.