Our Drivers
Collective Leadership
Collective leadership is the idea of ‘leading where you are’. In DCU, leadership is not confined to management roles but is diffuse and accessible to all. People at all levels across DCU are empowered to identify opportunities, pursue new ideas, convince colleagues and management and bring their ideas to fruition, by taking them through the relevant approval processes.
Innovation, Creativity & Enterprise (ICE)
Innovation, creativity, and enterprise is the DCU inclusive concept of innovation, which encompasses Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise. ICE aims to move away from the over-association of ‘innovation’ with research commercialisation and STEM areas and to ensure that the innovation, creativity and enterprise taking place across the University and in all disciplines, is valued and visible. The DCU ICE initiative provides a locus to showcase and make visible the myriad activities across the University, which fall into this area. A major focus of ICE is to support student enterprise activities for students from all faculties and programmes, growing the concepts of ‘innovation’, ‘creativity’ and ‘enterprise’ amongst all students from all programmes but also providing a pathway for them to turn ideas into products and services.
Sustainable Development
DCU seeks to embed a sustainability ethos that will underpin all our activities and ensure sustainability in all areas of our operation – Economic, Climate, Social, Financial and Staffing. We appreciate how critical it is to build ESG capacity across all areas of the University, and this will inform all strategic activity we conduct and will become embedded in the DCU psyche.
Agility & Horizon Scanning
Agility is the ability of an organization to renew itself, adapt, change quickly, and succeed in a rapidly changing, ambiguous, turbulent environment. Notwithstanding our resilient response to the challenges of the pandemic, we recognise that change and uncertainty have become enduring forces and we wish to position the University to be better able to anticipate and flourish in adverse circumstances, rather than to be reactive and taken unawares. Therefor a key characteristic going forward will be scenario planning and modelling so that we continue to be aware of and well placed to manage potential challenges.