Category Archives: Event

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).

International Women’s Day Event

International Women’s Day is a global day of celebration that takes place every year on 8th March to recognise the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2024 is Inspire Inclusion, where everyone is invited to imagine a gender equal world that is free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. UCD College of Science is committed to creating a welcoming and supportive culture for all women, inclusive of all races, sexualities, ages, abilities, faiths and how they identify.

On March 8th we invite UCD community members to join us for an event to celebrate the achievements of women in the college, with cake and refreshments.

The event will also launch our ‘UCD College of Science Women in Science Mentoring Awards’. The UCD College of Science Women in Science Mentoring Awards recognizes mentors whose efforts have encouraged and supported women and/or girls, or other people who are currently underrepresented in the UCD College of Science. Mentoring efforts may be demonstrated in many ways and we leave it up to you to tell us why you have made this nomination.

If you have experienced or observed excellence in the mentoring of women in science, you can nominate someone to be recognised with an award by completing our online google form. Nominations will remain open until one week prior to the event.

Please help us to spread the word by sharing this event to your friends and colleagues in UCD. We look forward to seeing you on the 8th to celebrate International Women’s Day and the achievements of our wonderful mentors in the college!

Rainbow Week Coffee Morning

We are delighted to let you know that UCD College of Science is collaborating with UCD EDI and the UCD EDI LGBTI Subgroup to hold a coffee morning to celebrate rainbow week on campus. This is an excellent opportunity for our college to formally ‘come out’ in support of our LGBTI+ colleagues and students, and for students and staff to come together to promote an accepting and supporting culture around sexuality and gender on campus. Celebrating Pride affirms the value of LGBTI+ visibility, allyship, and inclusion in fostering UCD’s values of collegiality and diversity.
The coffee morning will take place on Thursday 22 February from 11.00am until 12.00noon in Zone 7 of Science East in the UCD O’Brien Centre for Science, which is the 2nd floor atrium by the staircase. There will be cake and refreshments, as well as fun pride goodies and speeches.
This is an opportunity to stand in solidarity with LGBTI+ people in Ireland against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, and to expand dialogue between UCD community members for how we can foster greater inclusion of LGBTI+ employees and students.
Please help us promote the event by sharing our poster with students in the college, as well as your friends and colleagues at UCD.
We also hope to see you there!

Faculty Promotions Workshop

On Wednesday 7 February we held our second workshop on Faculty Promotions at UCD. 45 assistant professors from across the College of Science came together to demystify the faculty promotions committee and discuss advice and guidance for going through the faculty promotions process.

We were delighted to welcome Ms Sarah Dunne from UCD HR Promotions and Grading, who delivered a highly informative presentation outlining the administrative components of application process. Sarah has kindy shared her slides with us, which you can find here on our website.

We were also joined by Professor Danielle Clarke, aformer member of the Faculty Promotions Committee (FPC), who shared valuable insights into the function of the FPC in the application process, and offered useful advice for assistant professors thinking of applying for promotion soon.

Following the talks, attendees shared a sandwich lunch together, and everyone enjoyed the opportunity to network and socialize with other assistant professors in the College of Science. Sarah and Danielle kindly stayed to answer questions, and we are grateful that they were so generous with their time.

 

January Postdoc Coffee

Yesterday around 15 postdocs from across UCD College of Science made time in their morning to connect together over coffee and pastries for the first College of Science Postdoc Coffee morning of 2024. The School of Biology and Environmental Science kindly hosted the event, with refreshments provided by the Culturally Responsive Mentoring team.

It was a lovely opportunity for postdocs to reconnect with each other after the Christmas and New Year break, and the busy start to the spring trimester.

The next postdoc coffee morning will be hosted by the School of Chemistry in March, so stay tuned for details to be confirmed soon.

Successful launch of new College of Science Postdoc Coffees

Following the success of the Culturally Responsive Mentoring Postdoctoral Coffee Meetups that took place for postdocs in the College of Science over the summer, the CoS EDI Committee and the Culturally Responsive Mentoring team are keeping the momentum alive with a new rotating coffee morning for postdocs in the College. Every two months during the academic term, a different school in the college will play host to postdocs from across the college for informal mentoring and light refreshments.

The School of Computer Science were the first to host the rotating, networking coffees. The first event took place on Monday, 4th December at 10:30 am in the school of computer science, with tea, coffee, and refreshments. As it is the festive period in the lead-up to Christmas, there were plenty of delicious mince pies and chocolate treats for everyone to enjoy, while a playlist of everyone’s favourite Christmas tunes played in the background. The morning provided a fantastic chance for postdocs to connect with new and old friends, to maintain connections made over the summer and to get to know others throughout the college that they had not previously collaborated with.

In the new year, other schools will take their turn to host the event, so keep an eye on the College of Science EDI website for more details on the next coffee in January!

 

Photos from our Promotions Workshop

On Monday, 13th November – despite the unpleasant conditions brought by Storm Debi – we were delighted to host an informal discussion around the University’s Academic Promotions process; with valuable input from colleagues who have journeyed through the system and those currently engaging with the process.

We plan to hold an in-depth information session with colleagues from UCD Promotions and Grading and a former member of the Faculty Promotions Committee in early T2 2024.  Notification of the date will be sent as soon as possible.

Faculty Promotions Workshop for Assistant Professors

This upcoming meeting will focus on Faculty Promotions at UCD. During our hour long workshop from 12-1pm, we will hear from a member of the Promotions and Grading Team as well as a former member of the Faculty Promotions Committee. Ms Sarah Dunne, UCD HR Promotions and Grading will deliver a short presentation outlining the administrative components of application process.  Professor Danielle Clarke, former member of the Faculty Promotions Committee (FPC), will then offer insights and advice on the function of the FPC in the application process.

This event will provide an occasion for you to learn valuable information and insights about the Promotions process within the University, including timescale, reviewer requirements, etc.

Following the workshop, attendees are invited to share a sandwich lunch together, as an opportunity to network and socialize with other assistant professors in the College of Science.

If you are planning on attending, please make sure that you sign up through our google sign-up sheet.

Mentoring Workshop for Assistant Professors

On Tuesday 12th September we held the first of our information sessions aimed at Assistant Professors. This event focused on exploring the various mentoring opportunities that are currently available to Assistant Professors at UCD.

Assistant Professors from across the College of Science gathered for lunch to meet and mingle with each other. The lunch provided a great opportunity to network and befriend fellow Assistant Professors working in different Schools and to discuss shared experiences and desires for mentoring. As the workshop began, Ms Navneet Kaur from UCD People and Organisation Development led the information session focused on helping those in attendance to develop their career in UCD through mentoring. The presentation was highly informative, and Ms Kaur has kindly allowed the slides to be shared via our website. You can find the slides here: Mentoring at UCD Presentation

This workshop will be followed by further events for Assistant Professors, that will run over the rest of the academic year as we progress with our new Culturally Responsive Mentoring initiative in the College of Science. Stay tuned for further information on future workshops.

Feedback from Postdocs

Over the summer we ran a series of coffee mornings for postdocs within the college to come together and connect with each other over tea, coffee, and snacks. The events had a wonderful turnout every time, and those in attendance seemed to really enjoy getting the chance to network and socialise with fellow postdocs. Now that the initial trial is over, we are looking for feedback from postdocs within the college on how they found the initiative.

Whether you attended one, more than one, or none of the coffee mornings, we would love to hear what your thoughts are on coffee mornings for postdocs and if you have any suggestions for future events going forward.

Your feedback will help share the future of the culturally responsive mentoring programme for postdocs in the college, so we would appreciate it if you could take a couple of minutes of your time to let us know your feedback.

Click here to complete our feedback form