The keynote address was given by Professor Sir Drummond Bone, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool, on the internation alisation of research. Professor Bone's experience in the establishment of a new university in China, and his leading of the international strand of the current UK government into Ian Carter reports on the 2nd INORMS Congress.
The plenary session at INORMS 20 Research Global October 2008 higher education meant that he was able to provide a well-informed perspective. It was also fitting that his knighthood, announced a mater of days before, could be acknowledged by the audience. There were six parallel session slots in the conference programme and each provided seven or eight choices for participants, across the range of themes and levels of experience.
Most took a comparative approach, with multiple speakers, and allowed for dialogue with the participants. Achieving such a large programme (46 parallel sessions in all) was challenging, but the response from those invited to speak and those vol un teering sess ion ideas was very positive. A number of ideas were melded to gether to create the com parative sessions that received good feedback from the partic ipants. A number of recept ions and other social events took place, with the highlight being the gala dinner, at which the entertainment was provided by a Beatles tribute band. With Liverpool being the European Capital of Culture in 2008, there were additional attractions for those vis iting the city, and many people (both UK and non-UK delegates) were surprised at the vibrancy and arch it ecture of the city and region, adding to their experience of the Con gress.
The international nat ure of the present ations and of the aud ience (about one third were from outside the UK), made for interesting discussions and exchanges. As hoped, the programme helped to illustrate the sim ilar ities that we face, as research managers and administrators, regard less of the scale or established nature of our particular organ isation The Liverpool Congress was a success, building on the formidable start in Brisbane. We all look forward to continuing the international relationship and quality of event in South Africa in two years' time.