As Head of the Information School, I would like to welcome all of those who are joining to study with us. I understand that this is a new start for you and I hope you have found your first few weeks with us to be beneficial.
Like yourselves, this year is a new start for me too. It is the first year in my current term as Head of the Information School. I have been Head of the School previously, and I am excited to see that the School is still evolving to meet the needs of our students and employers with our cutting-edge courses and technological advances.
That said, it’s not too much of a new start for me: After completing a degree in Natural Sciences at Cambridge, I took a short term research post in the Department of Information Studies (as the Information School was then called). This post fueled my interest in the discipline and I took the MSc in Information Science and subsequent PhD.
Having spent such a long time at this School, and in higher education in the UK, I am able to tell you that, during your time here, we will provide an outstanding academic education centred around research-led teaching. We are recognised nationally and internationally for our world-class research, our excellence in teaching, and, importantly, the achievements of our graduates who go on a whole range of positions across the information professions.
As a School, we have seen our numbers of students (and subsequently, staff) grow rapidly over the last few years. Our recent successes in the QS World Rankings By Subject (First and Second in the World in 2018 and 2019 respectively) have seen our School be recognised even more than ever and, inevitably, our cohort of students has grown with our reputation. For you, this means that you have more peers to work with, more ideas to share and learn from, and more opportunities to build lasting relationships with other Information Professionals after your studies.
We are proud of our research, our teaching and our rankings. We’re proud of our colleagues, past and present, our University, our reputation and our impact. However, the true impact of our School and our teaching is our students and alumni. Our alumni go on to do brilliant things in both academia and in industry. This year will move so quickly, and you’ll be challenged in great ways.
I wish you a successful time in Sheffield, and I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming year.
Professor Val Gillet
Professor of Chemoinformatics & Head of School
Like yourselves, this year is a new start for me too. It is the first year in my current term as Head of the Information School. I have been Head of the School previously, and I am excited to see that the School is still evolving to meet the needs of our students and employers with our cutting-edge courses and technological advances.
That said, it’s not too much of a new start for me: After completing a degree in Natural Sciences at Cambridge, I took a short term research post in the Department of Information Studies (as the Information School was then called). This post fueled my interest in the discipline and I took the MSc in Information Science and subsequent PhD.
Having spent such a long time at this School, and in higher education in the UK, I am able to tell you that, during your time here, we will provide an outstanding academic education centred around research-led teaching. We are recognised nationally and internationally for our world-class research, our excellence in teaching, and, importantly, the achievements of our graduates who go on a whole range of positions across the information professions.
As a School, we have seen our numbers of students (and subsequently, staff) grow rapidly over the last few years. Our recent successes in the QS World Rankings By Subject (First and Second in the World in 2018 and 2019 respectively) have seen our School be recognised even more than ever and, inevitably, our cohort of students has grown with our reputation. For you, this means that you have more peers to work with, more ideas to share and learn from, and more opportunities to build lasting relationships with other Information Professionals after your studies.
We are proud of our research, our teaching and our rankings. We’re proud of our colleagues, past and present, our University, our reputation and our impact. However, the true impact of our School and our teaching is our students and alumni. Our alumni go on to do brilliant things in both academia and in industry. This year will move so quickly, and you’ll be challenged in great ways.
I wish you a successful time in Sheffield, and I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming year.
Professor Val Gillet
Professor of Chemoinformatics & Head of School
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