Three months ago we opened for discussion a draft of our School Values, a proposed list developed by a group of about 25 people. There have been many contributions and views, often very thoughtful. It’s great to see that a large part of our School community is involved and actively helps to ground our shared values!
Two main themes coming out of this discussion were that the previous list was not specific to Informatics, too generic. We have curated suggestions and have now adopted the following as our School values, which are more specific to our work and are easier to base decisions and actions on. This is the end result of careful contributions of around 100 people.
Civility
We treat everyone considerately, care for each other, and seek to influence society responsibly.
Collaboration
We share responsibilities across our community, work together to achieve our goals, and help each other effect positive change.
Curiosity
We seek diverse evidence and opinions, and welcome things that challenge our views as an opportunity to learn.
Integrity
We make decisions as rationally and transparently as we can.
Humility
We acknowledge that our understanding of the world and each other is always incomplete, and revise continually.
Many more aspects that we do value highly may not be highlighted enough, but we have to prioritise. As our common culture evolves naturally, so will the underlying Values. Therefore this record will be revised in years to come, but for now the School is adopting these as its core principles.
Our next goal is to ensure that actions and decisions, especially tricky ones, can be led back to these Values. At all levels of our organisation. So whenever you next wonder “How can I best help this colleague?”, “How should I collaborate with that company?”, “What shall I prioritise when training students?”, “How can I communicate about working with this new system?”, or “What direction is best for my research group to go in?”, you can remember we have shared values you can fall back on to guide you.
