GB Paper 
General Board review of provision for teaching, learning and 
 
research in the social sciences and the organisational arrangements  No. 09.B.13
for that provision 
 
The General Board have set up a committee to review University 
arrangements for teaching, learning and research within the general field of 
the social sciences.  The scope of the review concerns principally (but not 
solely) activities which fall within the remit of the Council of the School of the 
Humanities and Social Sciences. 
 
The terms of reference are to: 
 
Review the University’s arrangements for research, teaching and learning in 
the social sciences and to make recommendations for the future, having 
particular regard to: 
 
(i) 
Identification of those areas of critical mass where research in the 
social sciences should be supported and enhanced and the 
appropriate strategies to deliver research excellence of the highest 
quality in these fields: 
(ii) 
whether present arrangements for the delivery of teaching, learning 
and examination within the social sciences are appropriate (with 
particular reference to Education, Psychology and the PPS Tripos) 
and meet training and quality assurance requirements at both 
undergraduate and postgraduate levels: 
(iii) 
the future development of, and prospects for, work across the social 
sciences in the University, including consideration of the extent of 
duplication and, if so, the appropriateness of this in the context of 
the need to sustain academic excellence and ensure the effective 
use of resources: 
(iv) 
the resources available to support the delivery of subjects within the 
social sciences, including academic and support staff, 
accommodation, and library and IT provision, and giving 
consideration to future arrangements for the organization, 
management and administration of these activities  
(v) 
the need to meet statutory and other regulatory timescales and 
requirements 
 
The Committee will determine (a) the institutions to be considered and nature 
of that consideration: (b) the form of any evidence sought from those 
institutions (and any individuals it considers appropriate whether within or 
external to the University): and will present an initial report to the General 
Board by the end of the Michaelmas Term 
 
The following membership of the Committee is proposed: 
 
Professor Richard Smith  (Department of Geography)  (Chairman) 
Professor Ian Leslie 
Professor John Rallison 

---

Professor Mike Savage (Head, Department of Sociology) University of 
Manchester) 
Dr Rachael Padman 
Professor Peter Bryant (Recently retired as the Watts Professor of 
Psychology at Oxford University and now Professor of Psychology, Oxford 
Brookes University) OR  
Professor Vicki Bruce –Professor of Psychology, Newcastle University  
 
Peta Stevens and Duncan McCallum (Joint Secretaries) 
 
The current and incoming Heads of the Council of the School of the 
Humanities and Social sciences will kept fully informed of developments and 
will attend meetings at the Committee’s discretion. 

---