Strategic Pillars / Research

The 2023 President’s Awards for Research and Impact were presented to recipients from across the university who have been involved in ground-breaking research in areas ranging from revolutionary laser technology to in depth research of online misogyny.

DCU Strategy 2023-2028

Transformation For An Unscripted Future

Advance Our Research Reputation & Impact

Introduction

Professor John Doyle

Vice President for Research

Research-intensive universities such as DCU must continually push forward with the task of creating knowledge that can make an impact.

This pillar commits us to do just that by intensifying our output and positioning ourselves as a leading European research institution that effectively communicates its findings, both in academic contexts and to the wider public.

Our key strategic focus is to significantly grow our doctoral community, developing the next generation of research talent. Guided by our philosophy of ‘Focus and Impact’ we will also direct our attention to increasing the intensity of our peer-reviewed publications and the impact of our research.

We will ensure that DCU research is widely disseminated and publicised. In support of this, we will implement a university-wide research support and communication programme. This will help us to amplify our work in international academic debates and will highlight the social and economic impacts of DCU research.

Strategic Priorities

1. Intensity

Publishing a quantity and quality of peer-reviewed research, reflecting discipline norms, equivalent to our European peers.

2. Impact

Developing the influence of our work in international academic debates and its social and economic impacts

3. Doctoral Community

Increasing the scale of our doctoral student community and the peer-reviewed publications arising from their work.

4. Support and Communications

Building effective, cross-university research supports and communications.

Our Drivers

Collective Leadership

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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.

This video illustrates collective leadership in action.

It highlights the innovative work of DCU's Institute of Education to equip student teachers with the skills to nurture a passion for STEM in their future students such as the STEM Teacher Internship Programme (STint), the Naughton Family Chair in STEM Education, and research on game-based learning.

Innovation, Creativity & Enterprise (ICE)

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Innovation, Creativity & Enterprise (ICE) 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 initiati8ve 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.

In this video, Dr Ciarán Dunne, Director of Transversal Skill, talks about how DCU strives to 'promote authentic opportunities for our students to shape, refine and grow thier creative ideas into impactful and scalable innovations'.

Sustainable Development

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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.

This video talks about the development of the U on DCU's Glasnevin campus, which was opened in 2018. Thousands of students use the centre every day, and it's also home to the 130 clubs and societies, the Student Leadership and Life Skills Centre, and a host of events.

Agility

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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.

Therefore 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.