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.

Postdoc Coffee Mornings are back!

After the success of our postdoc coffees over summer 2023, we are delighted to announce that we will be continuing to organise coffee mornings for postdocs over the course of the spring trimester 2024. The coffee mornings will rotate between the schools of the college, and will take place roughly once a month to bring together postdocs from across the college.

The School of Biology and Environmental Science will host the January coffee morning for postdocs. This will take place on Monday 29th January from 10.30am-11.30am in the 3rd Floor Kitchen of Science East.

Please come along if you are a postdoc, and help us to spread the word to postdocs in the college!

Looking forward to seeing many of you there.

Promotions Workshop for Assistant Professors

On Wednesday 7 February we will be holding our second workshop on Faculty Promotions at UCD. During this 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.

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.

Success of the 1st Pint of Postdoc

We are happy to share photographs and feedback from the Pint of Postdoc that we supported to recognize and celebrate the hard work and contribution of postdoctoral researchers to academic research and teaching at UCD. The event was co-organised and co-funded by the CHAS Postdoc Forum and the EDI committees of the College of Science, College of Engineering and Architecture, and College of Health and Agricultural Sciences

54 postdocs representing 15 schools from across the three colleges attended the event, which saw 8 speakers from the College of Science compete against 1 from CHAS and 1 from CoEA. All 10 speakers were given the remit of presenting about any area of interest for 5 minutes with 5 minutes for questions. Some chose to talk about their research while others presented their research journeys or discussed postdoc life.

Audience members voted for their favourite talks and the top three received prizes (one-4-all vouchers worth €150, €100, and €50). All speakers received certificates acknowledging their contribution to the event and all attendees received refreshment vouchers.

It is hoped that the event will be repeated during the academic year – so watch this space for more information!

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 

 

 

 

Pint of Postdoc Event

We are supporting the upcoming ‘Pint of Postdoc’ event being organised by The CHAS Postdoc Forum. Postdocs from CHAS and the College of Science are coming together to organise a “Pint of Science” type event that has imaginatively been named “Pint of Postdoc”. This informal event will bring together postdocs, research scientists and research fellows in our colleges to give informal talks on science (any aspect of science you want!), share a drink (one will be free!), eat some food (free as well!) and have some lovely chats with friends and new acquaintances.

Please find the important information below:

When is it? Thursday 14th of September, 4 pm.
Where is it? Clubhouse Bar, O’Neill Lounge (student union)
What will it involve? Talks will begin at around 4 pm, food will begin around 6 pm and you can have refreshments all the 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 …), create a 5 minute presentation, and you’re ready to go. Please also complete this short form: https://forms.gle/m8Y7rZnLU9xoBCj48
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 short form: https://forms.gle/m8Y7rZnLU9xoBCj48

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