WRoCAH is formally constituted as a collaborative project of the three Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York, defined by a detailed Memorandum of Agreement. The three Universities retain their statutory obligations and act in accordance with their own ordinances and regulations. The primary function of the Executive Board is to guarantee that WRoCAH can provide a collegial and supportive environment for student development in a framework that is properly sensitive and responsive to the obligations and traditions of each University.
Our management model observes the following principles:
- Doctoral researcher participation Doctoral researcher representatives are included in all levels of the management structure, withdrawing only in the case of reserved business.
- Academic participation WRoCAH has a determinedly inclusive approach to academic participation that ensures representation, objectivity, trust and excellence. In particular, the White Rose Peer Review Group and the Subject Cluster Committees (and their Leaders) will allow academic staff across the three Universities and in all designated subject areas the opportunity to be actively engaged in WRoCAH. They create a pool of expertise essential to maintain the highest academic integrity in the selection of students and to inform WRoCAH’s development.
- Support services In each University we have two established support groups: one in Registry Services and one in Training, Engagement and Careers. These groups provide the administrative and professional services that support the work of the Operations Team and the Training and Engagement Group, as outlined below.
- Full accountability The management structure provides a series of checks to ensure that WRoCAH acts in accordance with its responsibilities and in compliance with the terms of its funders. All the committees report directly or indirectly to the Executive Board, which (through the Director) has final responsibility for reporting to funders.
Committees
Click here for a full list of WRoCAH Committee members
WRoCAH has a range of committees. The membership, meeting frequency and Terms of Reference for each are outlined below.
Executive Board
Meets annually and reports to White Rose Universities Consortium Executive (comprising Vice Chancellors of each institution). Responsible for overall strategic management; governance and management relationships between WRoCAH and the Universities; and strategic liaison with and reporting to funders. Members are:
- White Rose Universities Chief Executive (chair);
- AHRC representative;
- Heads of Arts and Humanities at each White Rose institution;
- WRoCAH Director;
- 3 Chairs of Academic Subject Clusters (rotating);
- 3 Core Partner representatives;
- 3 doctoral researcher representatives;
- WRoCAH Manager attends.
Partnership Advisory Board
Meets annually and reports to the WRoCAH Executive Board. Responsible for: information and advice on content and delivery of WRoCAH training programme; development of links with collaborators to support Researcher Employability Projects; internationalisation; receiving reports from Training and Engagement Group and Studentships Committees and sending forward recommendations to Executive Board.
- WRoCAH Director (chair);
- A representative from each Core Partner organisation;
- 2 representative from the Training and Engagement Group (one for training, one for engagement);
- 3 doctoral researcher representatives.
Studentships Committee
Meets 4 times per year. Reports to Executive Board, with responsibility for: receiving and ranking AHRC Competition studentship applications from Subject Cluster Committees, deciding and awarding AHRC Competition Studentships; deciding distribution of competitive funding; monitoring student progress; and quality assurance and reporting (via Executive Board) to funders.
- WRoCAH Director (chair);
- 6 Academic Subject Cluster Leaders;
- 3 quality assurance officers.
Training and Engagement Group
Meets 3 times per year. Reports to Studentships Committee, with responsibility for: co-ordinating generic and subject-specific training at University level and its intersection with WRoCAH training; monitoring of use of WRoCAH funds to support training across and outside Universities; detailed planning and evaluation of Researcher Employability and Knowledge Exchange Projects.
- WRoCAH Director (chair);
- WRoCAH Manager;
- 3 faculty directors of Graduate Studies;
- 3 senior officers each for Training;
- 3 senior officers each for Engagement;
- Careers representation;
- 3 Core Partner representatives;
- 3 doctoral researcher representatives.
Operations Team
Meets 3 times per year. Reports to Studentships Committee and is responsible for: managing detailed workstreams for operational and reporting processes; co-ordinating recording and reporting student progress; and events planning.
- WRoCAH Manager (chair);
- WRoCAH Administrator;
- 3 registry officers;
- 6 school/dept managers.
6 Subject Cluster Committees
Minimum of 2 meetings per annum for each committee and at other times virtually. Each Cluster Committee reports to the Studentships Committee, and has responsibility for: ranking AHRC Competition Studentship applications; monitoring student progress on behalf of Studentships Committee; and informing detailed reporting to and actions by Studentships Committee. Subject Cluster Leaders are nominated by Executive Board. They hold primary responsibility for ensuring quality of recruitment and student satisfaction; they sit ex officio on Studentships Committee; and they contribute actively to Conferences and Colloquia.
Each committee comprises 6-9 academic members, selected from the Peer Review College.
WRoCAH Peer Review College
Reports to Executive Board and organised by WRoCAH Director. Critical, objective expert review of the Unit evaluation of AHRC Competition Studentship applications. Members of the group attend conferences by invitation and will be expected to support Student-led Forums.
- Comprises a panel of academics from the 3 Universities, including all WRoCAH supervisors.