Name: Simon Bailey

Job title: Head of Administration

Department: School of Life Sciences

Number of years at Warwick: 20

There’s no such thing as a typical day, but, in brief, my job involves...

broadly three areas, leading the School of Life Sciences' (SLS) admin and technical support teams, which provide an excellent support service to our teaching and research community, providing strategic level support to my Head of School and academic leads, and reviewing, improving and trouble-shooting SLS’s systems and processes - including our interactions with ‘the centre’. My background in finance means I’m involved in the provision of good financial management and control within SLS – including leading on production of the School’s annual 5 year plan where my role ensures a strong link between the School’s academic strategy, risk management and its financial plan.

My most memorable moment at Warwick has been...

not exactly a moment, but the transformation of SLS since it was formed following the merger of Biological Sciences and WHRI in 2010 has been a memorable journey, with plenty of ups and downs.

In my time at Warwick, the biggest change I’ve seen is...

growth. I remember when I started in 1996 in the Research Development and Support Office (the predecessor to Research Impact Services), one of my first tasks was to prepare the year end research income summary. Total research income for the whole University that year was around £20M (about £36M in today’s money). In 2015/16 actual research income was £117M. Also physical growth, with quite a few new buildings!

In fact, my earliest memories of the Warwick campus date back much further, because my Mum was Departmental Secretary in the Department of Classics and sometimes took me to work with her in the school holidays – I remember feeling privileged to be allowed to sit in a vacant lecturer’s office for the day!

Warwick's kept me here because...

It’s a great employer and most importantly I work with such interesting, professional and committed people.

At the moment I'm really enjoying working on...

Planning for our potential new building at Gibbet Hill. The plan is for a research building, to be called the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building (IBRB), which would be jointly occupied by SLS and Warwick Medical School. It’s great to work on a project jointly with WMS and we’re all looking forward to what we hope will be a much needed boost for the Gibbet Hill campus. At present my priority is to develop a convincing business plan...

It would be really useful to work more closely with...

other science departments. SLS and WMS already work closely together but it would be good to explore how we do things jointly across the Faculty of Science, to seek best practice and drive efficiency. We are currently setting up Simplify, Collaborate, Deliver local improvement teams across the Faculty and we hope that this will help to catalyse a more consistent approach.

I've only just realised that...

there’s to be a big new sports centre over on the Warwickshire land, behind Lakeside.

Warwick's unique because...

it is a well-run and stable institution that also manages to be innovative and agile.

The best thing about working at Warwick is...

my colleagues. Everyone you meet at Warwick is completely committed to doing their job well and adding value. We are very lucky to have such an excellent workforce.

If I could change one thing at the University it would be...

replace the patchwork of different computer systems, and the large variation in how the same tasks are tackled in different departments, with something more coherent.

I recently went to see...

The last film I saw at the Arts Centre was Unbroken which is the true story of Louis Zamperini, a US Olympic athlete who survived a WW2 plane crash, 47 days drifting at sea and being a prisoner of war in Japan. It was excellent. All my friends and family love coming to events at the Arts Centre because of the great atmosphere there.

I make use of...

I regularly visit Café Gibbet Hill and am always impressed by the excellent service and good food provided by the team there, particularly the breakfasts!

In SLS we frequently use Warwick Food and Drink and also the SU food providers for School events. The service is always excellent and the food and coffee offer has certainly improved since my early days at Warwick!

I usually travel to campus by...

car share. My wife works in Leamington and travels past the University every day, so she drops me off on her way into work.

My favourite place on campus is...

the footpath around the Cryfield sports fields. I often walk there at lunchtime - it’s nice to get close to nature, away from the hustle and bustle of campus.

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