Strategic thinking

Our School and research cluster had a 'research strategy awayday'. We already have a 'research strategy group' that meets every month (which I chair), but it is generally dealing with more immediate issues and has little space to reflect on longer-term questions, such as where we think we are heading and how we expect to get there. So we organised an 'away day' to do just that, in the university's conference centre on the outskirts of Preston. Mainly we met in one group around a big table (17 of us) and that was fine; but in the afternoon we had a short breakout session, and one sub-group decided to nab this very comfortable are around the fireplace in the main hall. They came back with some good ideas - such as having a room with a fireplace in the School building where we could sit and chat on a regular basis...