Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee

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The Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee (RKEC) has a role to respond to, recommend and advise the Board on research and knowledge exchange strategy, policy and funding issues relevant to Scottish higher education institutions and colleges.

Membership and Meetings

Committee Membership

SFC Board

External members

Professor Christina Boswell FBA FAcSS FRSE
Vice Principal Research and Enterprise, University of Edinburgh.
Professor Tom Brown
Vice-Principal (Research and Innovation) and School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews.
Professor Nicholas Fyfe
Vice Principal, Research, Robert Gordon University.
Dr Alicia Greated
(former) CEO of Knowledge Transfer Network Ltd.
Gordon Hunt
Senior Manager: Research and Enhancement, College Development Network.
Professor Julian Jones
Vice-Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Heriot-Watt University.
Dr Alison McIntosh
Executive Director, Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA).
Ms Sara Rae
Assistant Principal, Enterprise and Skills, West College Scotland.
Anna Salgado
Technical Director – Supply Chain, LifeScan Scotland Ltd.
Sandy Weir
Senior Technical Manager & AI Centre of Excellence Manager, Canon Medical Research Europe.

Other members

Professor Stephen Decent
Universities Scotland Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee.

Observers

Brigid Feeny, DSIT.
Gillian Galloway, Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Claire Glancy, Scottish Government
Helen Pearce, UKRI.
Derek Shaw, Scottish Enterprise.
Linda Galloway, Scottish Government

Committee Clerk

Rachel Jurance
Email: rjurance@sfc.ac.uk

Next Meeting Dates

22 October 2024
4 February 2025
4 June 2025
10 September 2025
3 December 2025

Standing Orders

Legislation and Background

The Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 established the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council. Schedule 1 of the Act makes provision for certain administrative and other matters with respect to the Board including the establishment of Committees.
Schedule 1 states that:

The Board may establish committees for any purpose relating to its functions [section 13].
The Board is to determine the composition of its committees, the terms and conditions of committee membership and the procedure (including any quorum) of its committees [section 14 (1)].
Any of the committees of the Board may include persons who are not members of the Board [section 14 (2)].
The Board is to pay the members of its committees (whether or not they are also members of the Board) such allowances as the Scottish Ministers may determine [section 14 (3)].
The Board is to keep under review the structure of its committee and the scope of the activities of each [section 14 (4)].

Schedule 1 also states that the Board may authorise any of its committees to exercise such of its functions to such an extent as it may determine [section 15 (1)]. Delegated authority for each committee is contained in the remit for each committee as agreed by the Board.
Schedule 1 of the Act makes provision for two policy committees, now called:

Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee (RKEC).
Skills, Enhancement, Access and Learning (SEAL) Committee.

At its meeting on 3 October 2005, the Board agreed to establish a Research and Knowledge Transfer Committee. The remit, membership, and standing orders were approved by the Council at its meeting on 10 March 2006. The remit of the Committee is reviewed on an annual basis.

Remit of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee

The Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee has a role to respond to, recommend and advise the SFC on research and knowledge exchange strategy, policy and funding issues relevant to Scottish HE institutions and colleges, with broad areas of advice including but not limited to:

Providing regular analyses of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the areas of research and innovation support, taking a broad view.
Providing regular and timely advice to the SFC on prioritisation, in the use of SFC resources to maximise delivery of the SFC Corporate Plan and to address Scottish Government outcomes.
Working with enterprise agencies and other stakeholders to give the SFC advice on a strategy for innovation and support of knowledge exchange for sustainable economic growth.
Identifying opportunities for the SFC to consider interventions to leverage significant resource into Scotland in support of research and/or knowledge exchange. Examples include UKRI and European funding.

Membership of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee

As set out in the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) 2005 Act, membership of the committee will be determined by the Board.
Board committees must have Board representation. The chair, who will be determined by the Board, will be a Board member but not the Chair of the Board.
The Chief Executive, although a member of the Board will not normally be a member of any committee.
The Committee will have other committee members who are not members of the Board who will be referred to as “external members” and the Scottish Government’s guidelines for appointing members should be followed in their selection. In addition, guidelines established by the Remuneration and Nominations Committee should also be followed.
A Board member’s term of office on a committee will run concurrently with their Board term of office. Each external member will be appointed for a period of three years, with the possibility of serving for a further three year period thereafter. Before a member reaches their end of term, the Chair will consider the future remit of the committee and whether the skills set and experience required to meet this remit has changed as a result. This could result in members not being asked to serve a second term and the Chair will initiate a new recruitment process to source the required skills set. Where appropriate, periods of reappointment will be staggered to ensure some continuity of membership.
An external member may by giving notice in writing to the Chair of the Committee resign as a member of a committee. A Board member may by giving notice in writing to the Chair of the Board resign as a member of a committee.
If the Chair of the committee and the Chair of the Board consider that a member’s attendance at meetings has been unsatisfactory or that the member is otherwise unable or unfit to discharge the functions required of a member, they may be given notice in writing regarding removal from the committee.
The Chair of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee will be a member of the Board. At least two further Committee members will be members of the Board. It is expected that there will be about 10 external members.
The membership composition should have regard to equalities and include an appropriate balance across types of institutions, geography and subject specialist areas, as well as seeking to include various additional qualities such as a UK wide view, challenge, international perspective, knowledge of postgraduate issues.
The target membership profile includes members with the following key skill sets:

Chair: Board member.
University research academics (min. 4).
Universities Scotland’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee convener (1).
University research management (1).
College sector senior management (1).
Science Policy academic (1).
University/ business and/or policy interface (1).
Business (2).
Business organisation (1).
Public/ third sector policy/ research user (1).

Individual members may cover more than one of the above characteristics.
In addition to the Committee’s members, there should be observers with relevant research and knowledge exchange expertise from the following stakeholder groups:

Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise and/or South of Scotland Enterprise.
Scottish Government.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and/or UKRI.

Key stakeholder groups should be consulted with on the appointment of external committee members in line with the Scottish Government’s guidelines for appointing members.

Proceedings of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee

Committee members should observe the same rules as those set out under the Code of Conduct for SFC Board members^[1].
The validity of any proceedings of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee is not affected by a vacancy in membership or by any defect in the appointment of a member.

Quorum

The quorum for a Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee meeting is one in excess of half the membership, and this must include at least one Board member. However, when not quorate the members present may decide to proceed with a meeting at which items on the agenda are considered and any recommendations reached are put to the next Committee meeting for decision if time allows or otherwise are put to the Board for decision, with a clear statement that the meeting had not been quorate.

Role of the Chair in Committee Meetings

It is the role of the Chair to see that Committee business is conducted in an orderly fashion and to ensure that members obtain a fair hearing. Members wishing to speak shall do so through the Chair.
The Chair is also responsible for leading the meeting to reach decisions. The Committee will normally make decisions on the basis of agreement by consensus, but where the Chair believes it to be in the interest of the progress of a debate, or where it is proposed and seconded by two members present, the Clerk may be asked to count and record a vote by a show of hands.
As set out in the SFC’s Scheme of Delegation, generally committees are expected to take matters as far as appropriate before making recommendations to the Board. The Chair of the Committee will normally have responsibility for judging when it is appropriate to make recommendations to the Board: where items are routine, they will stay with the Committee until the final stage of decision‐making; and where items are novel, unusual or potentially contentious, proposals should be considered by the Board at an earlier stage.

Collective responsibility

Committee members should be encouraged to express any differing views within the Committee’s internal decision‐making process. In the event that a member has a reservation regarding a particular decision, they may ask for their dissent to be formally recorded in the minute. Once a decision has been reached, all members should support it.

Nomination of a Vice-Chair

The Chair may nominate a Vice‐Chair to act as deputy in the absence of the Chair at Committee meetings. This nomination will be subject to the approval of the Committee.

Clerk to the Committee

The Clerk to the Committee will advise the Chair on the conduct of Committee business and agenda planning. The Clerk will also advise Committee members on formal matters relating to the Committee.

Register of Interest

All members are required to complete a register of interests on appointment (Board members complete this form on appointment to the Board) and must notify the Clerk when any changes to this need to be made. Members’ registers of interests will be made publicly available on the Scottish Funding Council website.
If any member has, or could be perceived to have, an interest in a matter that is being considered by the Committee, then it is their duty to declare that interest at the start of the meeting or as soon as they become aware of it, whether or not that interest has already been recorded in their register of interests. This declaration will be recorded in the minutes by the Clerk. As set out in the Board Code of Conduct, members will not remain in the meeting nor participate in any way in those parts of meetings where they have declared an interest.
Whilst individual members have a responsibility to consider their position with regard to any registration of interest, prior to the meeting the Clerk will consider the agenda in the context of the register of members’ interests and advise the Chair accordingly.

Attendance at Meetings

Meetings will normally be attended by the executive’s Director of Research and Innovation.
In addition, other members of SFC’s staff may attend meetings as required for agenda items for which they are presenting information, to be available to respond to questions on matters arising from papers, to hear the debate where the Committee’s discussion will inform their work, or as part of their on‐going professional development. They may not take part in Committee decisions.
As set out in the legislation, a representative of Scottish Ministers is entitled to participate in any deliberations (but not in decisions) of any committee of the Council [section 16 of Schedule 1].

External members

External members may receive copies of papers that contain commercially sensitive and/or confidential information to enable them to contribute to the business of the Committee. This information is strictly confidential and should not be shared with any third party.

Observers

Any member of the Board has the right to attend Committee meetings as an observer by agreement with the Chair of the Committee.
External observers may be invited to attend committee meetings at the discretion of the Chair of the Committee. External observers invited to be in attendance will receive copies of papers that do not contain commercially sensitive and/or confidential information. Observers will be asked to leave the meeting for agenda items which relate to commercially sensitive and/or confidential items.
Observers are encouraged to take part in discussions, but may not take part in decisions.

Timing of Meetings

Scheduled (or ordinary) meetings

The Committee will meet on an appropriate number of occasions in a year to carry out its duties effectively, but will meet at least twice a year.
The schedule of meetings for each year will be agreed by the Committee in the previous year, following consultation with the Chair by the Clerk and taking into account the dates of Board meetings.

Extra (or special) meetings

The Chair may convene additional meetings as they deem necessary.
The Committee may agree to delegate to a sub‐group responsibility for a particular matter. The sub‐group would then report back to the Committee.

Agenda and papers

Agenda items

Any member can, by contacting the Clerk to the Committee, suggest items of business. The agenda and designation of business will be decided by the Chair.
Items for endorsement or for noting will be starred (*) on the agenda and the Chair will ask at the start of the meeting whether members wish to discuss any of the starred items. (Members should notify the Clerk to the Committee of this wish in advance of the meeting.) Unless members specifically ask to discuss these items, the Chair will assume that they have been endorsed or noted.

Distribution of agenda and papers

The agenda of business and accompanying papers will normally be distributed no later than one week before a scheduled meeting of the Committee.

Freedom of Information

In some cases, particular documents may be subject to disclosure exemptions under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Where this applies, the particular exemption(s) will be stated.

Approval of minutes of Committee meetings

Minutes of a Committee meeting will be submitted to the Chair for preliminary approval, and thereafter to the subsequent meeting of the Committee for formal approval.

Reporting to the Council

The approved minutes of each Committee meeting will be reported to the Board at the next scheduled Board meeting for noting.
At each Board meeting there will be the opportunity for the Chair to raise orally matters that they think the Board needs to be aware of.

Review

The committee remit and membership will be reviewed annually and proposed changes submitted to the Board for approval. The Committee will also conduct an annual self-evaluation and report the outcomes to the Board.

[1] Our governance – Scottish Funding Council (sfc.ac.uk)