New beginnings as campus comes alive

Vice-Chancellor Simone Buitendijk reflects on a campus re-awakening from the challenges of the pandemic.

The start of this academic year felt very special. For the first time in three years our students could fully enjoy the events and activities of Welcome Week – a time many of us remember as a formative part of our own university experience.

This celebratory atmosphere continued with Campus Live, a vibrant programme of music, theatre, dance and crafts which turned a spotlight on the talents of our staff, students and alumni throughout the autumn term.

Having joined the University at the height of lockdown, this was my first opportunity to experience our campus at its very best. It was a fitting way to celebrate everything the Leeds community has done over the past three years – those who joined the COVID-19 frontline, those who ensured that our mission to teach and research was maintained in periods of lockdown and social distancing, and of course the students who have achieved so much under difficult circumstances.

This year’s freshers have themselves had a very different experience during their secondary education. It’s wonderful to now see them so happy, with a sense of excitement about being in a place where people learn and change the world together.

Our alumni are a vital part of that community. It was wonderful to meet so many of you at our House of Lords reception in June, where I felt your tangible sense of pride in an institution truly making a difference.

The impact we can make is exemplified by our decades of work to improve our understanding of tropical climate – work which has saved lives, averted catastrophes, and was honoured by the award of a Queen’s Anniversary Prize this year.

This accolade was given extra poignancy by the death of Her Majesty the Queen in September. Many of you shared moving tributes and stories of your own meetings with her, here in the UK and around the globe. Leeds was one of very few universities invited to the funeral service, and it was an enormous privilege to represent our whole community in Westminster Abbey on this saddest of occasions. To be among those taking part in this historic pageantry was humbling.

I was particularly moved by what the Archbishop of Canterbury said about the Queen setting an example of humble ‘servant leadership’. This was an important message to world leaders, to government ministers – and to those of us who have been entrusted with running fantastic universities like yours.