Mail lists enable groups of people to exchange information more easily than via conventional message exchange. A list is set up on a mail list server, and then members of the list communicate via the list. There are many different ways of using such lists, and of configuring them as private, or public, forums.
Because email is asynchronous (i.e. people don't all have to be in the same place, or on-line, at the same time), mailing lists are possibly the most powerful medium for productive discussion, certainly as a pre-amble to real "face-to-face" meetings.
The mailing list service in use at Newcastle University is called Sympa, which originates in the academic computing community in France. Sympa replaces the Mailbase system formerly used at Newcastle, being a much more powerful service.
This service may be of interest to any staff or students with common interests and who need to communicate regularly with each other as a group.