Martin Mik
What is your current role and what does a typical week look like?
I am a Director of Student Experience at the School of Life Sciences, which means working with staff and students across all levels of study in identifying areas where we do things well (and thinking about ways of expanding those across the School and beyond), where we need to improve (and finding alternative approaches/solutions), and where we need to start doing what we are not doing yet (and looking elsewhere for inspiration, or bringing people together to come up with our own approaches). As you can see, this is very much a team effort of staff and students and so my role is to (hopefully) coordinate it all.
What a typical week looks like? Me enthusiastically setting out a to-do list on a Monday morning and realising on Friday afternoon that many of the items are still on the list! Seriously though, in an institution as big as the University of Warwick, keeping on top of information flow can be challenging, but it is imperative to success. So there are lots of meetings each week were I update colleagues on our projects, and where I get to learn about new developments, projects, sometimes issues that need sorting. These meetings offer an opportunity to share experience and get advice from staff and students within the School and across the University. It is incredible how much experience and creativity there is in this institution!
Which part of your role do you enjoy the most, and what are the biggest challenges?
Meeting people and working with various teams is the best part of the job. Being able to put individuals in touch to solve an issue, find funding, identify a new way of doing things, or uncovering a problem we did not know about, but can solve quickly, is very rewarding.
Keeping on top of all of the information that comes at us from all sorts of directions can be very challenging indeed. That is one problem we have not cracked yet – whether it is the way we communicate with our students and staff, or whether it is communication from the University. How do you get the piece of information someone is looking for to them at the time they need it in a way that is easy to engage with? Any ideas?
Who would you say is your role model in your personal and/or professional life?
The Queen. Perhaps surprising coming from someone who originates from the Czech Republic. However, when you look at some of the most successful people in the world (and across time periods), one of the key things they have in common is that they are focused and 'keep turning up' whether they feel like it or not. They do whatever it is they do consistently, day in day out. And many of them agree this is one of the most important elements of becoming successful at whatever you do. What a better example than the Queen? Would you want to meet hundreds of people on a daily basis for over 70 years?
This is probably a good place to mention that I have a Social Sciences background, having studied Politics and European Studies and researched on the European Union and, you guessed it, the role of the Monarch in the British political system. Just in case you were expecting to see a famous scientist named in this response.
Which skills help you most in being able to perform your role?
Networking is definitely up there. Being able to put people in touch to assist them with their projects and share ideas has saved us a lot of time and effort over the past year of endless change.
What is your favourite place on campus and why?
At Warwick, we are exceptionally lucky to have an incredible art collection that is not concentrated in a single gallery space, but is displayed throughout the entire campus – both within University buildings and outside. Some of you will be familiar with Liliane Lijn’s White Koan on Gibbet Hill. If you look carefully, there is always a piece of art close by on campus. I recommend the sculpture trail for a dry afternoon.
What are your main interests or passions, outside of work?
From the above, you probably gathered that I am keen on art and go to see exhibitions regularly, public health restrictions permitting, of course. I am looking for the Mead Gallery re-opening on campus, but also to be able to visit museums and galleries in London and elsewhere soon. I also love walking and we are blessed with beautiful countryside that our campus borders on (there are some spectacular views of IBRB). If you are new to the area, I recommend 'Coventry Way' - a 40-mile circular walk that offers 360° views of the city of Coventry. OK, you could climb up the old Coventry cathedral spire and do a 360° on the spot, but what would you do with the rest of your day? The Land's End to John O'Groats walk is next on the bucket list (for those not familiar, a walk across Britain from the south-west tip of England to the (almost) north-east corner of Scotland).
Interview date April 2021