Professorial Appointments at Gresham College General Candidate Brief and Appointment Details for Professorships in: Business, Divinity, Environment, Information Technology, Music, Physic November 2017 Gresham College Barnard’s Inn Hall Holborn London EC1N 2HH www.gresham.ac.uk Thank you for your interest in undertaking the role of Professor at Gresham College 1. Mercers’ School Memorial Professor of Business (formerly ‘Commerce’) 2. Gresham Professor of Divinity 3. Frank Jackson Foundation Professor of the Environment 4. IT Livery Company Professor of Information Technology 5. Gresham Professor of Music 6. Gresham Professor of Physic As the terms of office of the above current Professors come to an end, new appointments will be made to these positions from 1 August 2018. We trust that the new Professors will continue to educate and inspire College audiences, building on the 400 year old traditions of Gresham College, at the same time as developing innovative ideas as it enters its sixth century of existence. The overarching aim of the College is to continue to provide free public lectures of the highest possible standard in an extensive range of academic disciplines in accordance with the Vision of Sir Thomas Gresham as expressed in his Will in 1575. In aiming to fill the above position, we are seeking exceptional candidates with the necessary qualifications and experience to follow in the footsteps of a long tradition of Gresham Professors since 1597. The successful candidates will have a national and/or international reputation and a record of high-level scholarship. Applications will be judged against the person specification and criteria as set out in this document, and applicants should ensure that their application clearly demonstrates how their skills and experience meet these criteria. The selection and interview process will be managed by interview panels that will each be comprised of Council members and other persons who will make a recommendation to Council. The final appointment will be made subject to satisfactory references, formal Sponsor and Council approval and any other necessary document checks (eg right to work in the UK). Professors are contracted to provide six one-hour lectures annually, as well as participating in a small number of meetings and social events. Most applicants could expect to, and indeed do, hold a Gresham Professorship (with its specified commitment) alongside a permanent position at a University, professional institution or other body, but this may be up to the home institution’s agreement regarding the additional position, so they should be consulted if appropriate. Information about the College and the position itself is included in the pages that follow but please contact the Academic Registrar, Dr Valerie Shrimplin, if you have any queries or need any additional information. Dr Valerie Shrimplin Academic Registrar Gresham College Barnard's Inn Hall Holborn London, EC1N 2HH 020 7831 0575 [email protected] www.gresham.ac.uk 2 Introduction and Overview Gresham College is an independently funded educational institution and Gresham Professors have given free public lectures in the City of London for over 400 years. Gresham College was established in 1597 according to the Will of the Tudor financier Sir Thomas Gresham, who nominated the City of London Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Mercers to manage his Estate through the Joint Grand Gresham Committee. The College is a company limited by guarantee and has charitable status with its own Council acting as its Board of Governors. Gresham College has taken various forms since its foundation, but the major continuing activity has always been the appointment of distinguished Professors “sufficiently learned to reade [sic] the lectures” in Astronomy, Divinity, Geometry, Law, Music, Physic and Rhetoric. To these, in 1985, was added the Mercers’ School Memorial Chair of Commerce (renamed ‘Business’ in 2017); The Frank Jackson Professorship of Commerce was added in 2014 and the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists’ Chair of IT was added in 2015. The College has been based since 1991 at Barnard’s Inn Hall in Holborn, where the premises provide for lectures and seminars, but a wide range of other are also used. In addition, all lectures are recorded and made available globally, for free, via the internet. Gresham College has no registered students, runs no courses and does not award degrees or diplomas. All Gresham lectures (about 130 pa) are provided free and are open to the public on a ‘first come first served’ basis. Attendances in person number about 20,000 each year. In addition to the historic obligation to provide free public lectures, the College also collaborates with institutions of higher education, learned societies and professional bodies. It organises occasional seminars and conferences and thus offers an opportunity to draw attention to ideas, problems and issues of significance and interest. Although one of its major concerns is to provide insights to an important and sometimes influential audience in the City of London, it also provides a platform through which much broader subjects are covered – reaching a wide audience through video recordings and live-streaming online. Through its independence and position of ‘benevolent neutrality’ it can offer opportunities for free and open discussion and debate that are not always available elsewhere. The scope of the disciplines originally identified by Sir Thomas Gresham has changed slightly over time, and appointments now reflect the ways in which knowledge has expanded. So, for example, the Chair of Physic now extends to all the medical and biological sciences; Astronomy represents the physical sciences; Geometry the mathematical sciences; Rhetoric the arts, humanities (except Music) and the social sciences. Gresham College lectures are recorded and the College is constantly seeking to increase its out-reach by taking advantage of developing technologies, currently achieving several million views each year online. Sir Thomas Gresham and his Will Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579) was an English merchant and financier who worked for Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth I. Descended from an old Norfolk family, and son of Sir Richard Gresham (Lord Mayor and a leading London merchant), Thomas Gresham was based in London and aimed, through his legacy, to promote the city. He studied at Cambridge before becoming apprenticed as a merchant and admitted to the Mercers’ Company as a liveryman in 1542. The same year, he went to the Low Countries, where he both operated as a merchant and acted in financial matters on behalf of King Henry VIII. He married Anne Ferneley (1544), but, at this time, continued to live mainly in Antwerp where he succeeded as a merchant and became a principal adviser to the Crown. He was so successful as financial agent of the crown - negotiating loans, and procuring funds and goods (including much needed munitions to defend the realm) - that his advice was continually sought by the Crown on a wide range of financial difficulties, and he was frequently employed in diplomatic missions. In 1565, on a site provided by the City for the purpose, Gresham built the Royal Exchange at his own expense, modelled on the Antwerp Bourse. It was of immense benefit to the general good of the merchants, but also to Sir Thomas himself who received the rentals from the shops. Gresham also acted as ambassador and was well rewarded with a salary, grants of lands and a knighthood in 1559, becoming one of the richest men in England. His heraldic device of a ‘golden grasshopper’ became well known. Sir Thomas’s only son and legitimate heir died in 1564. As a result, apart from some small sums left to various charities, in his Will of 1575 Gresham bequeathed his estate to his widow, with the proviso that after her death, his house in Bishopsgate Street and the rents from the Royal Exchange should be vested in the Corporation of London and the Mercers Company, for the purpose of founding a College in London. Seven professors were to be appointed to read lectures daily – in Divinity, Astronomy, Music, Geometry, Law, Physic, and Rhetoric (with the Professorships in Commerce, Environment and Information Technology added later, as mentioned above). 3 Vision, Mission and Aims Vision The original Vision of Sir Thomas Gresham, encapsulated in his Will dated 1575, is now stated as follows: To entrust the City Corporation and the Mercers’ Company to ensure that a succession of academics should be nominated and appointed as Professors ‘to read Lectures in Divinity, Astronomy, Musick and Geometry, … and also Law, Physick and Rhetorick, for the benefit of the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of London, henceforth and so long as they or their successors shall by any means or title have, and hold and enjoy the said Royal Exchange, Shops, Pawns, Vaults, Houses and all other the Premisses with the Appurtenances for ever.’ Mission 1. To continue to provide free public lectures of the highest possible standard, focused on the maintaining of Gresham Professorships in an extensive range of academic disciplines, in accordance with the Vision of Sir Thomas Gresham as expressed in his Will in 1575 2. To provide free and open access to new learning of contemporary relevance and interest in the widest possible international sense 3. To contribute to society through the provision of stimulating free education, learning and debate, linked to the core value of freedom of thought and expression Objectives 1. To foster study, learning and research, particularly (but not exclusively) in those disciplines represented by the Gresham Professorships 2. To supplement the seven original disciplines (and the eighth, added in 1985) with a range of relevant additional series, one-off lectures, seminars and symposia in subject areas as considered appropriate in the twenty-first century 3. To foster academic consideration of contemporary issues and problems (such as the environment) 4.