Colin Bailey
CBE FREng CEng FICE FIStructE
President and Principal of Queen Mary, University of London
Assumed office
September 2017
Preceded bySimon Gaskell
Personal details
Born1967 (age 56–57)
Hillingdon, Greater London, England
Alma materUniversity of Sheffield
ProfessionResearcher, university administrator
Salary£316,180 (2021–22)[1]

Colin G. Bailey CBE FREng CEng FICE FIStructE (born 1967) is a researcher in structural engineering, who became the President and Principal of Queen Mary University of London in September 2017. Prior to that, Bailey was Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Manchester.[2] He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Structural Engineers and a member of the Institution of Fire Engineers.

Early life and education

Bailey was born in Hillingdon in 1967.[3] He left school at 16 to start work as an apprentice draughtsman at Lovell Construction. After completing his ONC, through day release and night school at Slough College, Bailey secured a job at Cameron Taylor Partners, where he become a professional draftsman and completed his HNC. After leaving Cameron Taylor Partners, Bailey worked for Clarke Nicholls Marcel where he designed a number of buildings within London.[4] Aged 22, he began a degree in civil and structural engineering at the University of Sheffield, graduating with a first class BEng in 1992, followed by a PhD in 1995,[5] and postdoctoral work in building fire safety.[6]

Senior career

Following his studies at Bailey became a Senior Engineer at the Steel Construction Institute (SCI), carrying out consultancy, running CPD courses and developing design guides to support the steel industry. He then joined the Building Research Establishment (BRE) as a Principal Engineer, carrying out consultancy, research and development, and design code development into all aspects of structural engineering and fire engineering.[7]

Service and leadership

Bailey joined the University of Manchester in 2002 as Professor of Structural Engineering, and became Head of the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering in 2007. His leadership achievements at Manchester include the launch of high-profile research projects, including the BP International Centre for Advanced Materials, the National Graphene Institute (£61m of funding support) and the Sir Henry Royce Institute (£283m of funding).[8]

Bailey was appointed President and Principal of Queen Mary University of London in September 2017.

Bailey is currently a Trustee and Board Member of Universities UK (UUK),[9] Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS)[10] and the University of London.[11] He is a Director and Board Member of Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA),[12] and a Non-Executive Director and Board Member of the Russell Group[13] and UCL Partners.[14]

Previous Bailey has held Chair, Non-Executive Director or Trustee roles at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (until 2017), ‘The Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation’[15] (2011-2017), The Northern Consortium Board[16] (2010-2017), Knowledge Centre for Materials Chemistry[17] (2012-2017), University of Manchester I3 (UMI3) Limited (2010-2016), University of Manchester Innovation Centre Limited (2010-2016). He was a member of the UPPF Student Futures Commission[18] (2021-2022), the Manchester Internationalisation and Marketing Advisory Board (2015-2017), and the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI)[19] Advisory Board (2013-2017). He was also member of the UK Standing Committee on Structural Safety[20] (2010-2014), and the Contract Management Board (2009-2013) of the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL).[21] He was Patron of the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre[22] (2014-2017).

Until 2015, Bailey was Chair of three spin-out companies: Graphene Lighting PLC, Graphene Security and BGT Materials.

For the Royal Academy of Engineering, Bailey has been a Trustee (2016-2019), Chair Panel 1 and Member of the Membership Committee (2013-2018) and Member of the Nominations Committee (2019-2022).

Research

Bailey is author of more than 130 research papers, conference papers and practical design guides, and has been awarded nine prizes for his research work. His main specialties are fire safety engineering of structures, membrane action, wind loading and steel-concrete composite systems.[23]

Publications

Bailey is a published authority in the field of structural fire engineering and has published 10 practical fire design guides/books.[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] This has included the publication of the ‘Bailey’ fire design method,[34][35][36] which has been used in design software and distributed to 2,500 companies in 20 countries.[37]

Recognition

In 2018, Bailey was awarded an Honorary Professorship by Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) in China.[38]

Bailey was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to engineering.[39]

Controversies and criticism

2020 Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

Bailey was leading Queen Mary University of London during the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 when the students’ union claimed that it had refused to allow them to access the UK government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to claim more than their actual wage bill. The University responded by indicating that the students' union was in fact prohibited by government guidelines from being able to claim more than their actual wage bill from the CJRS and that the University had committed to making sure that student workers were paid their expected wages.[40] Students disagreed that this was an accurate representation of the guidelines.

Graphene shareholdings

Bailey is reported to have held substantial shareholdings in graphene-related companies that have led to accusations of potential conflicts of interest with his university administration roles. In 2016, the Sunday Times reported that Bailey had taken shares in Graphene Lighting, a spin-off from a company (BGT Materials) that held contracts with the National Graphene Institute during Bailey's time as deputy vice chancellor at the University of Manchester.[41] Bailey denied that there had ever been a conflict of interest, and had resigned his directorships in the companies by December 2015.[42]

In 2022, the University and College Union branch at Queen Mary University of London alleged that Bailey had not declared shareholdings in BGT Materials and Graphene Security in the university's register of interests, leading to the potential for a conflict of interest.[43] A subsequent investigation by Queen Mary found there was no conflict of interest, with Companies House data showing that the shares have no financial value.[44] [45]

UCU Strikes and Snitch Forms

In 2022, as part of ongoing national strikes by the University and College Union, more than 100 staff at Queen Mary University of London taking part in a national marking boycott were withheld 100% of their wages for 21 days.[46]

In the 2022/23 academic year, while strike action was continuing, the university continued to crack down and implemented a 'student snitch form'. Students were encouraged to report striking staff, with threats of docking 39 days pay for those who did not reschedule missed teaching. Several senior academics resigned from the university in response to this action, citing a lack of trust leading to unbearable working conditions.[47]

References

  1. ^ "Financial Statements for the Year to 31 July 2022" (PDF). Queen Mary, University of London. p. 55. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  2. ^ "Colin Bailey appointed President and Principal of QMUL". The University of Manchester.
  3. ^ "Bailey, Prof. Colin Gareth". WHO'S WHO 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  4. ^ "Colin Bailey podcast appearances". Owltail.com. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Your Notes and News". University of Sheffield. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  6. ^ Grove, Jack (15 October 2017). "Apprentice to v-c: Queen Mary boss' unlikely route to the top". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  7. ^ "Colin Bailey podcast appearances". Owltail.com. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Bailey, Prof. Colin Gareth". Who's Who. 2017. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U257588. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4.
  9. ^ "Professor Colin Bailey CBE". Universities UK.
  10. ^ "Board of Trustees". UCAS.
  11. ^ "Professor Colin Bailey CBE". University of London.
  12. ^ "UCEA Board". Universities and Colleges Employers Association.
  13. ^ "Our board". Russell Group.
  14. ^ "Our board". UCL Partners.
  15. ^ "Home". Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation.
  16. ^ "Home". NCUK.
  17. ^ "Home". Materials Chemistry KCMC.
  18. ^ "Student Futures Commission". UPP Foundation.
  19. ^ "Home". Science + Industry Museum.
  20. ^ "Our history". CROSS UK.
  21. ^ "Home". National Nuclear Laboratory.
  22. ^ "Home". Catalyst Science Discovery Centre and Museum.
  23. ^ "Colin Gareth Bailey". Google Scholar. 2013.
  24. ^ Bailey, C. G.; Newman, G. M.; Simms, W. I. (1999). Design of Steel Framed Buildings Without Applied Fire Protection. ISBN 1-85942-062-1.
  25. ^ Newman, Gerald M.; Robinson, Jef T.; Bailey, Colin G. (September 2000). Fire safe design A new approach to multi-storey steel-framed buildings. ISBN 1-85942-120-2.
  26. ^ Bailey, Colin (2001). Steel Structures Supporting Composite Floor Slabs: Design for Fire. ISBN 1-86081-527-8.
  27. ^ Bailey, Colin (2003). New Fire Design Method for Steel Frames with Composite Floor Slabs. ISBN 1-86081-608-8.
  28. ^ Introduction to the Fire Safety Engineering of Structures. 2003. ISBN 0901297291.
  29. ^ Bailey, C. (2004). Structural fire engineering design: materials behaviour – Steel. ISBN 1-86081-699-1.
  30. ^ Newman, G. M.; Robinson, J. T.; Bailey, Colin G. (2006). Fire Safe Design: a New Approach to Multi-Storey Steel-Framed Buildings. ISBN 1-85942-169-5.
  31. ^ Lennon, Tom; Moore, D. (2007). Designers' Guide to EN 1991-1-2, EN 1992-1-2, EN 1993-1-2 and EN 1994-1-2. ISBN 978-0-7277-3157-9.
  32. ^ Guide to the Advanced Fire Safety Engineering of Structures. 2007. ISBN 978-0-901297-46-4.
  33. ^ Performance of Concrete Structures in Fire. ISBN 978-1-904818-83.((cite book)): CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)
  34. ^ "Construction industry slashes cost of fire protection in steel frame buildings". Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  35. ^ "New guide shows way to economies in fire safe design". Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  36. ^ "Fire Behaviour of Steel and Composite Floor Systems" (PDF). Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  37. ^ "Performance-based structural fire engineering". Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  38. ^ "伦敦玛丽女王大学校长Colin Bailey受聘为我校名誉教授". Northwestern Polytechnical University. October 2018.
  39. ^ "No. 62866". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 2019. p. N8.
  40. ^ "Students' union troubles highlight HE furlough scheme problems". June 2020.
  41. ^ "Academics in revolt as China reaps benefits of British breakthrough". The Times.
  42. ^ Peplow, Mark (2016). "UK graphene inquiry reveals commercial struggles". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2016.19840. S2CID 138008009.
  43. ^ "QMUCU has learnt that QMUL Principal Colin Bailey is listed as the owner of over £2m in shares in graphene companies". Archived from the original on 7 April 2022.
  44. ^ "Statement in relation to whistleblowing allegations regarding Professor Colin Bailey's shareholdings in graphene technologies" (PDF).
  45. ^ "GRAPHENE SECURITY LIMITED at Companies House".
  46. ^ Fazackerley, Anna (30 July 2022). "University accused of 'vindictive attack' as staff lose 21 days' pay over protest". The Observer.
  47. ^ Fazackerley, Anna (5 March 2023). "Students at top London university urged to 'snitch' on striking lecturers". The Observer.
Categories