About Us

TMU is an informal voluntary association of technical managers, supervisors and team leaders

Working within arts, engineering, medicine, science & social sciences to support a wide range of disciplines in universities throughout the United Kingdom.

In 1992 a member of Brighton University put together a proposal to a number of Engineering Technical Managers across the UK for a conference and subsequent network of like-minded people. The idea was met with unilateral enthusiasm and Richard Verrall from Sussex University got the group on their way. Without Richards initial vision and hard work E.M.U would not have been formed. Jim Horsfield of Sheffield University, worked together with others, to host our very first Engineering Managers in Universities Conference.

Founder members: Brighton, Cambridge, East Anglia, Glasgow, Hull, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford, Sheffield, UMIST, York.

Between 1992 and 2013, we were known as EMU, Engineering Managers in Universities.

In 2009, we became a special interest group of the IST.

After a lot of work and joining forces with other groups, (IST, SLab, UBMA, TMU & UCLAS) PTSE was formed to organise conferences. The first in Sheffield in 2012 and then in Liverpool in 2013.

In 2013, at our AGM, it was agreed to rebrand. To try to encompass an ever changing role of Engineering and Technology in H.E. and TMU was formed. 2014 saw the first joint association conference, hosted by UCLAS at Strathclyde University in Glasgow and jointly organised with UBMA and TMU.

The TMU is an informal, voluntary association of technical managers, team leaders and supervisors from across the higher education sector. We welcome technical managers from across every HE discipline including arts, engineering, medicine, science, social sciences and beyond. The broad term “technical manager” encompasses a wide range of activities, employment categories and job titles in HEIs. But such a person will normally have some responsibility for managing resources such as a technical service, a facility, or laboratory where they provide technology or engineering support to academic teaching and/or research. This area of technical support can be found in and across an enormously diverse range of disciplines.

Other key points to note:

  1. We have a growing membership that continues to welcome new members who are in a senior technical, a supervisory or a management role in any discipline where their work has a technology or engineering element.
  2. We are a varied and diverse collective that thrives because of the informality of its network, where individuals and groups can benefit from advice and experience of colleagues working in like environments.
  3. We hold an annual conference hosted at a university in the UK, where they can enjoy and participate in a relevant programme of presentations, talks and discussion that encourage and support collective networking opportunities.
  4. We are not a formal professional body, and does not have a formal committee or hierarchy. Its administration currently consists of just a voluntary chair and deputy chair of its conference organising team.
  5. We don’t have any membership fees.

The TMU aims to:

  1. Enable sharing of best practice.
  2.  Add to individual and corporate knowledge.
  3. Broaden understanding of our technical profession.
  4. Foster a collegiate spirit across its membership.
  5. Act as a focus for feeding legitimate and common concerns with respect to our support for teaching and research in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to the Institute of Science & Technology, of which TMU is a registered special interest group.

Currently we work with a number of partners, these includes Professional bodies, funding organisations, training providers and supplier from across the sector. If your organisation is interested in working with TMU please get in touch.

Board Members

Amanda Taylor

My role is to provide leadership to the group, to make sure the management committee functions in accordance with the constitution while also providing support to other committee members. From time to time I will also be called upon to be a figurehead for the group which includes being its spokesperson.

PAUL GILBERT - CHAIRPERSON
Geoffrey Howell

My role as vice chairperson is to assist with the management of committee functions in accordance with the constitution while also providing support to other committee members.

GEOFFREY HOWELL - VICE CHAIRPERSON

My role as treasurer has a watchdog role over all aspects of financial management, working closely with other members of the Management Committee to safeguard the organisation’s finances. … Financial reporting. Banking, book keeping and record keeping.

IAN LYNE - TREASURER
NATALIE KENNERLY

My role as the equality and diversity officer is to make sure we are promoting and fostering everybody’s right to be different, about being free from discrimination, valued as an individual, and having choice and dignity with a right to your own beliefs and values. While creating a culture which values individual differences and variety for the benefit of society, individuals and organisations.

NATALIE KENNERLY - COMMITTEE MEMBER EQUALITY & DIVERSITY OFFICER
Amanda Taylor

My Role as Secretary is the responsibilty  for: ensuring meetings are effectively organised and minuted. Maintaining effective records and administration of the  membership list. I also take care of  communication and correspondence for the group.

AMANDA TAYLOR - SECRETARY

I currently work at the University of Sheffield in the Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering as a Senior IT Technician working with a small team of IT/Electronics technicians. Prior to this I managed a web design company which fueled my passion for coding, graphic design, photography and the web. I am a relative newcomer to the TMU and I have been tasked to design and build a new website for them.

ZARAH HILL - WEB DEVELOPER

I am a senior engineering technician in The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at The University of Sheffield specialising in providing electrical and electronic support, design and builds. I hope to be able to use my role as press officer for TMU to encourage professional development and training for technical staff and to make staff aware of development opportunities available to them.

MARK MCINTOSH - PRESS OFFICER
26Years
24Conferences
800Members
65Universities