9 December 2011

Dear Colleagues,

With the festive season nearly upon us, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your hard work and commitment over the past year and to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Many of you I know have signed up to take part in the Warwick Network day on the 15^th of December, and during that day I hope to be able to provide you with a briefing and update on the progress of Warwick’s successful strategy to establish itself as a globally connected university.

However returning to things festive I encourage you all to take a look at our ‘Very Warwick Christmas’ online greeting at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/christmas2011

The greeting takes a fun, festive look at research from the University and includes: details on the science of how snowflakes are formed; an historical look back to the first Nativity, and a time when Christmas was banned in Britain; Professor Jon Mee giving a very different take on Dickens and Christmas; Poet and Professor David Morley’s musings on a Christmas tree plantation; and research from Warwick Crop Centre looking at how we can protect the vegetables on Christmas dinner plates.

I do hope that you will all find time to relax over the holiday period and come back refreshed and renewed in 2012.

With best wishes,

Nigel Thrift
Vice-Chancellor