The Emerson Cavitation Tunnel is being relocated to Blyth at very short notice without any consultation with Newcastle university staff, students or stakeholders. This is all to make the current historical hosting building more aesthetically appealing for events and celebrations.
The rushed decision will cause the abrupt ceasing of all current research activity and an estimated one year of downtime. This includes four PhD projects, two major European projects and consultancy work.
Furthermore,
- The lack of any scientific planning of the operation has hastened the choice of the new location. This being a remote and disconnected site. Such displacement will cause an unavoidable decline of the tunnel's activity as judged from feedback received from the Maritime industry.
- A University is first made of minds, laboratories and equipment. Now priorities have been inverted. £1.5M will be spent to relocate the tunnel in order to allow for the improvement of the visual impact of the hosting building. This at the expense of the excellence of the research, staff and students involved.
The Emerson Cavitation tunnel has been successfully operating in Newcastle University (NU) since 1949. Being adapted to the ever-changing needs of the industry, the tunnel currently stands as the only operational cavitation tunnel in all UK.
Notwithstanding its thriving academic and industrial activity, the decision born within the NU's managerial board to remove the tunnel from the University campus is putting this facility, all the involved personnel and the reputation of the School of Marine Science and Technology under threat.
We ask you to sign this petition which will be used to make an appeal to NU's Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Chris Brink, asking to stop the actual relocation plan and consider a suitable scientific plan for the good of research and the reputation of Newcastle University.
Updates
June 2, 2015
Two hundred and fifty people have clicked on this thing and honestly I was worried I might just be shouting into a void because this whole tunnel move makes so little sense to me. It is wild to see that many signatures stack up so fast when I was just sitting in my office feeling frustrated and typing this out while annoyed at the lack of consultation. Thanks for being here and actually caring about where the research goes because it keeps me from thinking I am losing my mind over this aesthetic building nonsense.
Reached 250 supporters
June 1, 2015
Reached 100 supporters
May 23, 2015
140 Comments
I used to work at a university where the laboratory was 45 min away from the main building. Guess what? No student has been seen there! And think about the waste of time for the academic staff to shuttle between the laboratory and the main building. You should make better use of their precious time!
Excellent work done by the staff and students using the Emerson Cavitation Tunnel is one of the pinnacles of UK's experimental work in the field of marine propulsion. Disrupting it will be detrimental not only to the Newcastle University but also to the global impact of the whole of UK's maritime research
This rushed decision is fueled by high level management that simply have no regard for the fantastic work that has been done in the ECT past and present. It is one on the main reasons to which MAST owes its prestige.
To go Blyth Marine Station: Metro :No Train: No Bus: 1 hour (one way) from the city center (one way) plus 10 minutes if you are fast enough. return ticket cost 3.20£ Car: how many of staff and student have a car? let's say we have one then 30 minutes (one way) without traffic.
The University's investment of £1.5M to further develop the facility in very welcome but this development should take place in the main campus at an optimum time agreed with Director of ECT, staff involved in the ECT and other stakeholders. Atilla Incecik, Founding Head of Scholl of Marine Science and Technology
Bring back the tunnel!
I am surprised to find out about this decision. The Emerson cavitation tunnel is an integral part of the school of marine science & tech.
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The Emerson Cavitation Tunnel is being relocated to Blyth at very short notice without any consultation with Newcastle university staff, students or stakeholders. This is all to make the current historical hosting building more aesthetically appealing for events and celebrations.
The rushed decision will cause the abrupt ceasing of all current research activity and an estimated one year of downtime. This includes four PhD projects, two major European projects and consultancy work.
Furthermore,
- The lack of any scientific planning of the operation has hastened the choice of the new location. This being a remote and disconnected site. Such displacement will cause an unavoidable decline of the tunnel's activity as judged from feedback received from the Maritime industry.
- A University is first made of minds, laboratories and equipment. Now priorities have been inverted. £1.5M will be spent to relocate the tunnel in order to allow for the improvement of the visual impact of the hosting building. This at the expense of the excellence of the research, staff and students involved.
The Emerson Cavitation tunnel has been successfully operating in Newcastle University (NU) since 1949. Being adapted to the ever-changing needs of the industry, the tunnel currently stands as the only operational cavitation tunnel in all UK.
Notwithstanding its thriving academic and industrial activity, the decision born within the NU's managerial board to remove the tunnel from the University campus is putting this facility, all the involved personnel and the reputation of the School of Marine Science and Technology under threat.
We ask you to sign this petition which will be used to make an appeal to NU's Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Chris Brink, asking to stop the actual relocation plan and consider a suitable scientific plan for the good of research and the reputation of Newcastle University.
Updates
June 2, 2015
Two hundred and fifty people have clicked on this thing and honestly I was worried I might just be shouting into a void because this whole tunnel move makes so little sense to me. It is wild to see that many signatures stack up so fast when I was just sitting in my office feeling frustrated and typing this out while annoyed at the lack of consultation. Thanks for being here and actually caring about where the research goes because it keeps me from thinking I am losing my mind over this aesthetic building nonsense.
Reached 250 supporters
June 1, 2015
Reached 100 supporters
May 23, 2015
140 Comments
I am very sorry to hear about this new. I worked at the Emerson Cavitation Tunnel at Newcastle University. This decision should be definetly reconsidered. It should stay in its current location. Otherwise this unthougtful decision will negatively affect the University's reputation.
I used to work at a university where the laboratory was 45 min away from the main building. Guess what? No student has been seen there! And think about the waste of time for the academic staff to shuttle between the laboratory and the main building. You should make better use of their precious time!
Excellent work done by the staff and students using the Emerson Cavitation Tunnel is one of the pinnacles of UK's experimental work in the field of marine propulsion. Disrupting it will be detrimental not only to the Newcastle University but also to the global impact of the whole of UK's maritime research
This rushed decision is fueled by high level management that simply have no regard for the fantastic work that has been done in the ECT past and present. It is one on the main reasons to which MAST owes its prestige.
To go Blyth Marine Station: Metro :No Train: No Bus: 1 hour (one way) from the city center (one way) plus 10 minutes if you are fast enough. return ticket cost 3.20£ Car: how many of staff and student have a car? let's say we have one then 30 minutes (one way) without traffic.
The University's investment of £1.5M to further develop the facility in very welcome but this development should take place in the main campus at an optimum time agreed with Director of ECT, staff involved in the ECT and other stakeholders. Atilla Incecik, Founding Head of Scholl of Marine Science and Technology
Bring back the tunnel!
I am surprised to find out about this decision. The Emerson cavitation tunnel is an integral part of the school of marine science & tech.
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I am very sorry to hear about this new. I worked at the Emerson Cavitation Tunnel at Newcastle University. This decision should be definetly reconsidered. It should stay in its current location. Otherwise this unthougtful decision will negatively affect the University's reputation.