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Thanks Bernd</div>
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I very much agree with your suggestion.</div>
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Best wishes</div>
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Helena</div>
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<b>From: </b>Rdf-internal <rdf-internal-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk> on behalf of Bernd Stahl (staff) <Bernd.Stahl@nottingham.ac.uk><br>
<b>Date: </b>Wednesday, 3 June 2026 at 15:56<br>
<b>To: </b>rdf-internal@lists.nottingham.ac.uk <rdf-internal@lists.nottingham.ac.uk><br>
<b>Subject: </b>[Rdf-internal] FW: ADC Process and Research Group Line Management – Proposal for School-Level Change<br>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Hi all,</span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Following today’s RKE meeting where we discussed the ADC, I have just sent the following to Tony, Andy, and Mat. I thought you should be aware that this has happened.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Kind regards,</span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Bernd</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><b>From:</b> Bernd Stahl (staff) <Bernd.Stahl@nottingham.ac.uk><br>
<b>Sent:</b> 03 June 2026 15:53<br>
<b>To:</b> Tony Pridmore (staff) <tony.pridmore@nottingham.ac.uk>; Andy Crabtree (staff) <andy.crabtree@nottingham.ac.uk>; Mathew Crosier (staff) <M.Crosier@nottingham.ac.uk><br>
<b>Subject:</b> ADC Process and Research Group Line Management – Proposal for School-Level Change</span></p>
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<p class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Dear colleagues,</span></p>
<p class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I hope you are all well. I am writing to raise an issue regarding the Appraisal and Development Conversations (ADC) process in the School, which I believe warrants attention ahead of the
coming academic year. This topic came up at today’s RKE Committee meeting, and Andy asked me to write this up so that it can be fed into school discussions.</span></p>
<p class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">As Heads of Research Groups, we carry formal line management responsibility for members of our groups. However, ADCs are currently conducted by colleagues allocated on a 'best fit' basis,
sitting outside the line management relationship. I understand this reflects the university-wide ADC guidelines for the R&T job family, which acknowledge that direct line management structures 'may not be in place' in all cases. In our School, however, clear
research group structures and line management responsibilities are in place</span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">— and the current arrangement, in which the line manager is excluded from the ADC, creates a significant disconnect.</span></p>
<p class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">In practice, this means that as a Head of Research Group I do not know what my group members agree in their ADC meetings, cannot contribute to the objectives they set, and cannot align
those objectives with the strategic direction of the group. This matters not only for coherence but for accountability: research group leaders are expected to report on and answer for the performance of their group. That accountability is hollow if we have
no meaningful way to shape how group members contribute, develop, and align their work with the group's direction. The ADC is precisely the mechanism through which those conversations should happen — and at present we are excluded from it.</span></p>
<p class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">This is a structural problem that is difficult to justify under any circumstances, but it is particularly difficult to reconcile with the University's and the School's current increased
focus on performance and the alignment of individual contributions with institutional priorities — values that the ADC process itself is explicitly designed to serve.</span></p>
<p class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">My proposal is straightforward: research group leaders, as line managers, should be the default appraiser for members of their group. This is already the norm for other job families at
the University. Exceptions to this rule should of course be possible — there will be circumstances, such as where a staff member and their group leader have a significant personal conflict, where a different arrangement is appropriate and should be accommodated.
But these should be exceptions to a clear default, not the current situation in which the line manager has no formal role in the process at all.</span></p>
<p class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Given that the FN2 consultation is ongoing and new structures will not be in place before the start of the next academic year, I would ask that the School takes this forward as a local
arrangement with immediate effect, so that it can be operational for the 2025–26 ADC cycle. This does not require any change to university-level policy — the ADC guidelines already provide for local flexibility in appraiser allocation — and it would bring
the School into closer alignment with the spirit of the ADC framework.</span></p>
<p class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further, and I am happy to work with colleagues to develop a simple set of principles for implementation, including how exceptions would
be managed.</span></p>
<p class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Many thanks for considering this.</span></p>
<p class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Best wishes,</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Bernd</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(152, 30, 50);"><b>Bernd Carsten STAHL</b></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(152, 30, 50);">Professor of Critical Research in Technology</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: blue;"><a href="https://www.responsible-digital-futures.org/" data-outlook-id="ad8fb0a3-ed6e-48da-aebf-9ac571208f91" style="color: blue; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><u>Responsible
Digital Futures Group</u></a></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: blue;"><a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/computerscience/" data-outlook-id="cd0c843f-a98d-4887-bbcf-35e72fe611b0" style="color: blue; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><u>School of
Computer Science</u></a></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: blue;"><a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/" data-outlook-id="655cf535-1524-4530-a292-9ea0d2fc8d0e" style="color: blue; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><b><u>UNIVERSITY of NOTTINGHAM</u></b></a></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(152, 30, 50);"> </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(152, 30, 50);">T: +44 7952 875 862</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(152, 30, 50);">E:
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: blue;"><a href="mailto:Bernd.stahl@nottingham.ac.uk" data-outlook-id="93c7a01b-4e5e-4842-bc90-cbb934e77f0e" style="color: blue; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><u>bernd.stahl@nottingham.ac.uk</u></a></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(152, 30, 50);">W:
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: blue;"><a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/computerscience/people/bernd.stahl" data-outlook-id="74bae0fa-dbb6-477c-b9cb-46f295c45586" style="color: blue; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><u>https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/computerscience/people/bernd.stahl</u></a></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: blue;"><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-responsible-technology?utm_campaign=STMJ_1713435535_CALLP_OA&utm_medium=DSPL&utm_source=DSPL&dgcid=STMJ_1713435535_CALLP_OA" data-outlook-id="60119b07-3f10-47fa-a3e3-c79f62e9f5e5" style="color: blue; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><u><img src="cid:image001.jpg@01DCF362.7D8931C0" id="Picture_x0020_1" width="727" height="90" style="width: 7.5833in; height: 0.9375in; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"></u></a></span></p>
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