Michael Rayner Email & Phone Number

Inverness, Gb

The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) is one of the complex universities in the UK, comprising a federal partnership of 13 colleges, research centres and an Executive Office, spread across Scotland’s Highlands and Islands. In my role as Dean of Research I am responsible for: • Leading all areas of activity associated with the UHI Graduate School, with a particular focus on Postgraduate Research (PGR) student experience, supervisor support, and early career researcher development;• Leading the development of academic/research excellence across the University, including: early career researcher development; strategic planning; policy development; systems enhancement; and the promotion of research/teaching linkage; • Development of research networks within and out with UHI, including: intra-UHI research pooling, and forging links with external partner organisations such as other universities, businesses, research councils, charities, and funding bodies (including UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)); • Responsibility for research and PGR student-related planning, policy, governance, and quality assurance/enhancement, including: mentoring; research ethics; PGR student regulations, quality monitoring, and progression;• Leadership of UHI's Research-Teaching Linkage project (including personal research in this area, and also in respect of researcher development, training and support);• Member of Universities Scotland's Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee and Chair of its Research Training sub-Committee;I chair UHI's Research Degrees Committee, and am a member of various internal and external groups, including: Academic Council, Ethics Committee, Athena Swan Board, Research Committee, SGSAH (Executive Committee), SGSSS (Deans' Group). I led UHI's highly successful engagement with the 2014 REF, was founding chair of the Scottish REF Managers' Group, and was appointed to membership of the 2021 REF Institutional Environment Panel, in November 2018.

Glasgow, United Kingdom

During nearly 11 years at Strathclyde I held several posts, including Governance and Policy Manager and 7 years as Head of the University Management Committee Office. Over this time my roles included: • Executive Secretary to the University Management Committee (UMC), the University’s most senior policy, strategy, planning and management committee; • Member of the Governance, Management and Policy Team, and the University Planning Team;• Institutional Manager for the 2001 and 2008 UK-wide Research Assessment Exercises (RAE);• Policy formulation and policy support activity;• Lead administrative manager for the Synergy institution-level strategic (research) partnership with Glasgow University;• I represented Strathclyde University and Scottish Higher Education, nationally and internationally, not least as Scotland's only representative on the European University Association’s Doctoral Programmes Project, which was part of the European Commission’s Bologna Process reforms.• In 2005 I formed and chaired (until 2009) the Scottish-based RAE Managers' Group, which involved all of Scotland's higher education institutions.• Institutional manager for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s (EPSRC) Doctoral Training Accounts scheme, worth c. £4.9M over the five years of my involvement. This also involved use of the Research Councils’ Je-S system;• Institutional lead on, and author of, the successful bid for £4.3M EPSRC Collaborative Training Account (CTA) grant funding, for which I was the named grant holder. I held subsequent budget and line management responsibility for the CTA office, which I set up to run the scheme and to promote partnership with external businesses

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Part-time secondment as Assistant Director of Research Policy & Strategy. In this role I was responsible (primarily) for developing and implementing a new approach to post-award interaction with Higher Education Institutions that benefited from awards under the Funding Council's flagship Research Pooling initiaive (c. £150M), and to do this in a way that was able to migrate effectively into the new way of operating under New Horizons (i.e. similar to an account management approach). I also engaged in a number of other ad hoc policy-related issues on behalf of the Director.

Thm, History And General Theology

In 1987 a unique scholarship was created by PTS, specifically to enable me to study for this advanced Masters degree (i.e. the degree sits.

Bd, History And General Theology, 1St Class Honours

Activities and Societies: Vice-President, Celtic Society While at St Andrews I was awarded 2 bursaries as an undergraduate (for general.

Education record

I attended Borden Grammar School from 1977 - 1982, completing my 10 O-Levels and 3 A-Levels in 1980 and 1982 respectively