Author Archives: Andrew

Empower Your Academic Career: A Workshop for Assistant Professors

We are delighted to announce that the ‘Empowerment Workshop’ with Karen Kelsky from The Professor Is In, has been rescheduled and will now take place on Friday 25th October 2024.

Karen will be delivering her 2-hour workshop on empowerment exclusively for UCD College of Science Assistant Professors from 1:30 to 3:30pm. The workshop will cover areas including managing power dynamics and building confidence to address difficult topics – i.e. identifying sexual harassment (and its structural embeddedness within academia) and dealing with it both at individual and institutional scales, but also wider issues of women’s challenges in academia, and role playing of methods of setting firm boundaries, recognising the wide range of disempowering situations, and learning to trust one’s own instincts.

Everyone is welcome to register and attend, although registration will be limited. We encourage those who identify as under-represented or minoritised in the College of Science to attend, and will allocate places to those who identify as underrepresented or minoritised first.

A sandwich lunch will also be offered from 12:30 – 1:15pm before the workshop starts for those who register.

 

Pint of Postdoc: September 2024

We would like to invite all new research staff at UCD to our upcoming UCD Pint of Postdoc event, while giving a friendly reminder to everyone else to sign-up to attend if you haven’t done so already!

The event is being organised to recognise all the hard and important work that postdocs, research fellows, research scientists and research staff do at UCD, and give us all a well earned break as the trimester kicks into gear. The event will be the perfect opportunity to get to know new colleagues from across all colleges at UCD, as everyone is invited to give a short informal talk on their postdoctoral research (or any aspect of postdoc research you want!). Even if you do not wish to present you can come along and share a drink (one will be free!), eat some food (free as well!) and have lovely chats with friends, old and new. If you want to attend and present, or just attend, you can sign up here or copy and paste the link at the bottom into your browser!

Please find the important information below:

When is it? Thursday 26th of September, 4 pm
Where is it? Clubhouse Bar, O’Neill Lounge (student union)
What will it involve? Organised socialising with fellow researchers, talks, food, drinks and a good time!
Do I need to present? No, but you’ll miss out on winning amazing prizes and a certificate acknowledging your participation.
I want to present, what should I do? Choose a topic you are passionate about, think of a way to present it (a PowerPoint, interpretive dance, a song, a film, a poem…), create a (strictly) 5 minute presentation, and you’re ready to go. We can provide examples of presentations from last year, help with props, sound checks etc. on request.
Who wins the prizes? The audience will vote for their favourite talks by ballot.
How much does it cost? It’s free!
How do I attend? Please complete this google form. Or scan the QR code on the attached poster.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible and feel free to email marianne.haarr@ucd.ie with any questions.

Link to Sign-up form: https://forms.gle/69w7gutK326J5Fry6

 

Summer Postdoc Coffee Morning

UCD School of Physics was recently pleased to host a one-off summer coffee morning for postdocs at the end of August. Taking place in their school common space in Beech Hill the morning brought together postdocs from across the College to reconnect after a busy summer, over much needed coffee and treats. Refreshments for the event were kindly provided by the School of Physics.
The event follows on from last year’s successful run of postdoc coffee mornings hosted by various schools throughout the college. As the autumn trimester gets in full swing, we will shortly be announcing our dates for more postdoc coffee mornings for the new academic year.
In the meantime, postdocs in the College are teaming up with other postdocs throughout the University to organise another ‘Pint of Postdoc’ event on Thursday 26th September, which you can sign-up to attend at the following link: https://forms.gle/69w7gutK326J5Fry6 
If you are a postdoc or research staff member in UCD College of Science we look forward to welcoming you to future events, as well as all of your postdoc colleagues and friends in UCD College of Science

Postdoc Coffee Mornings: Returning in August

After a successful run of rotating postdoc coffee mornings hosted by 4 schools in UCD College of Science, the School of Physics are pleased to host a one-off summer coffee morning for postdocs in August.

The event promises to be an excellent opportunity for postdocs throughout UCD College of Science to reconnect at the end of the summer, and share plans for the upcoming academic year. Refreshments will be kindly provided by the School of Physics.

We look forward to welcoming you to the event, and please share widely with all of your postdoc colleagues and friends in UCD College of Science.

UCD College of Science Pride Event

On Friday 14 June, just over 100 members of the UCD College of Science community got together to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride month with a celebration event in UCD O’Brien Centre for Science. Organised by the College of Science Equality Diversity and Inclusion committee, the event highlighted the College’s continued support of its LGBTQ+ staff and students, continuing its commitment to ensuring that our campus and academic communities are safe, welcoming and LGBT+ inclusive.

The event included a trio of rousing speeches from speakers reflecting on how far we have come in valuing and supporting the contributions of LGBT+ people within the College, and how much we can still do to advance LGBT+ equalities in the university, in Ireland, and in our academic communities. College principle Professor Jeremy Simpson opened the event with a few words reiterating his own personal support and commitment to upholding the values of dignity and respect in the College.

Jed Dowling, festival director of Dublin LGBTQ Pride and Postgraduate student in the College, spoke about the history of Pride events in Dublin, the importance of being visible and proud as LGBT+ people, and the power of showing up and publicly providing allyship to the LGBT+ community. Dr Saule Akhmetkaliyeva, Postdoctoral Research Staff Representative on the College of Science EDI committee, closed the speeches by speaking about the value of inclusion in science and increasing visibility within STEM subjects, reflecting on her involvement in pride events within the polar research community.

The EDI committee went all out with the decorations. The space was filled with flags and bunting including the progress pride flag (which includes stripes for intersex people and queer people of colour) as well as flags for lesbian, bisexual, transgender, asexual and pansexual identities. A colourful balloon arch also provided an excellent opportunity for attendees to take a selfie with their handheld rainbow flags! Those in attendance were treated to catering by Pi, and enjoyed delicious rainbow cupcakes and a giant ‘Pride’ cake. UCD’s Purl Jam society ran a craft table where people could knit their own rainbow friendship bracelets. For those who couldn’t knit, everyone also had the opportunity to pick up some pride goodies for themselves, including pride wristbands and UCD pride lanyards.

This is the third year that a celebration event has taken place to mark Pride month in the College. The event also follows a LGBT+ coffee morning held for rainbow week back in February. LGBT+ students and staff, and allies, are invited to march alongside the UCD staff and student LGBTQIA+ societies in the Dublin Pride parade later in the month, on Saturday 29 June. The UCD College of Science EDI committee will be organising more LGBTQIA+ initiatives in the next academic year.

A thank you to Dr Gary Brennan (School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science EDI representative), Bairbre Fox (School of Physics EDI representative), and Dr Andrew McCartan (EDI representative) for organising the event. Acknowledgements also go to Associate Professor Catherine Mooney (Vice Principal for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, UCD College of Science), Maeve O’Connell (College of Science Administration Office), Dr Niamh Nestor, (co-Chair of UCD’s LGBTQIA+ Staff Network and EDI LGBTQIA+ Subgroup), and Professor Jeremy Simpson (College Principal & Dean, UCD College of Science). Special thanks to Dr. Joe Branson (School of Physics) and Ross Murray (School of Physics).

Pride Celebration Event 2024

UCD College of Science will be celebrating LGBT+ Pride month with a Pride celebration event on Friday 14 June at 11am in the 4th floor atrium of UCD O’Brien Centre for Science.

The event promises to be an enjoyable morning where you can pick up rainbow flags and other goodies to celebrate LGBT+ visibility and inclusion in the college. We will have lots of treats to share with you, including a Pride cake, cupcakes, teas and coffees, and there will be a Purl Jam craft table to make your own rainbow creations.

The event is being organised by the College of Science EDI committee and will be opened by College Principal Professor Jeremy Simpson. The morning will include short speeches from staff and students in the college reflecting on the importance of Pride and LGBT+ inclusion in science.

Please put the event in your diary if you can join us, and invite your colleagues. We look forward to seeing you there to celebrate our LGBT+ peers!

Final Postdoc Coffee of the Spring Trimester

The culturally responsive mentoring programme would like to thank UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Sciences for hosting today’s rotating coffee morning for postdocs in the College of Science. Over the course of the 2 hours, around 25 postdocs dropped by to enjoy some light refreshments while networking with each other across the 7 schools in the college. This was the third and final coffee morning of the Spring Trimester, and it proved to be another great opportunity for making new connections and taking a well earned break.

We would also like to thank all of the postdocs who have attended these events, for showing up and helping to build a strong community of postdocs in the college. It is hoped that there will be more coffee mornings over the summer and into the next academic year, so keep an eye out on further announcements via your UCD email account – or subscribe to our events calendar to make sure you don’t miss out!

[Postponed] Empowerment Workshop with Dr Karen Kelsky from The Professor Is In

UPDATE: Unfortunately this event is being postponed to a later date due to illness. Please keep an eye on our website for the announcement of a new date soon.

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The Culturally Responsive Mentoring Initiative is delighted to invite Assistant Professors in the College of Science to a ‘once-off’ ‘Empowerment Workshop’ with Karen Kelsky, PhD – The Professor Is In.

Karen will be delivering her 2-hour workshop for College of Science Assistant Professors on Friday, 3rd May from 1:30 to 3:30 pm (in-person only). The ‘empowerment’ workshop will cover such areas as managing power dynamics and building confidence to address difficult topics – i.e. identifying sexual harassment (and its structural embeddedness within academia) and dealing with it both at individual and institutional scales, but also wider issues of women’s challenges in academia, and role-playing of methods of setting firm boundaries, recognising the wide range of disempowering situations, and learning to trust one’s own instincts.

We encourage those who identify as under-represented or minoritised in the College of Science to attend. Registration is required by completing the registration form. As spaces are limited, we will allocate them to those who identify as underrepresented or minoritised first.

A sandwich lunch will be offered from 12:30 – 1:15 pm before the workshop starts and I hope you will be able to join your colleagues there beforehand.

Postdoc Coffee for May

Are you a postdoc in the College of Science looking for to network and connect with other postdocs? Our next coffee morning for postdocs in the college will be taking place next week, so if you could do with some socializing with you peers over coffee then make sure to put this in your calendar!

The School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science are excited to host the May coffee morning, and will be looking forward to welcoming you to the Conway Institute from 10am until 12pm on Thursday 9 May. This is a great opportunity to meet postdocs from other schools, to chat about shared interests and potential collaborations.

No registration necessary! Just pop-by (with your keep-cup if you have one!) and enjoy this moment of the relief with colleagues as the end of the trimester draws closer!

School of Chemistry’s Postdoc Coffee

In March around 15 postdocs from across UCD College of Science made time in their morning to connect together over coffee and pastries for the third in our College of Science Postdoc Coffee morning 2023-24 rotating coffee series. The School of Chemistry did an excellent job at hosting the event, with refreshments provided by the Culturally Responsive Mentoring team.

The event gave postdocs an opportunity to meet over the UCD break period to celebrate St Patrick’s day and reflect on the successes of the spring trimester so far.

The next postdoc coffee morning will be hosted by the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science later in the trimester, so stay tuned for details to be confirmed soon.