Meetings of Heads and Deans 2023

MEETING OF HEADS AND DEANS

Thursday 19 January 2023

AG01 @ 2pm

40 Members in attendance

Chair –  Prof Anne Sinnott

Minutes –  Jennifer O’Toole   

1.    Chairs Welcome

The Chair welcomed members to the meeting and apologies were noted. 

 2.    Minutes of meeting, 15 December 2022

The minutes were approved subject to a minor correction.

 3.    Minutes of meeting, 15 December 2022 – approval for the intranet

The minutes were approved for posting on the intranet.

4.    Matters Arising

None.

 5.    President’s Report

·The President recorded his deepest sympathy and condolences on the passing of our colleague and friend Greg Foley, from the School of Biotechnology.

·The President welcomed Dominic Elliot, Dean Business School, John Kilcoyne, Director of Finance, Gareth Yore, HR Director and Regina Connolly, Group Head, Enterprise & Innovation and wished them success in their new roles.

·The President noted that we continue with our Friday Newsletter to All Staff in our efforts to be open and transparent around what is happening University wide.  The Governing Authority’s Strategic Plan continues to be developed and there have been presentations to Faculties, Units and Townhalls with one planned for the SU and a final zoom presentation to all staff.

·The President thanked all staff who had collaborated across the recent HEA Call for Capacity Building in Healthcare for extra places and acknowledged the effort involved. We have submitted two ambitious proposals for new graduate programmes, one in Nursing and Pharmacy.

·The President noted that there would be a further HCI call under Pillar 1 for Graduate Conversion and Specialisation courses (2023/24 and 2024/25).  The Deputy Registrar will lead the institutional submission and all Heads and Deans were encouraged to co-operate as there is an extremely tight turnaround

·The President noted that the CAO timeline is moving towards us and noted that we are operating in a highly competitive environment.  He also noted Government Policy to grow numbers of students coming from FE to HE and that the creation of such pathways were a priority for the university.

·The President, once again, noted the issue with Student Accommodation and advised that together with the COO and Director of Finance he had met with the Minister in early January.   

6.      Area updates from Senior Management Group (SMG) :

·The VPAA updated all members on the emergence of ChatGPT. DCU is to the fore in many of the research areas which underpin this type of tool, which is viewed as a game changer for workplaces including the education sector.  We have encountered new technology before, embraced it and taught our students how to work with it, and that will be the approach again.  Specific action is needed immediately in terms of reviewing assessment design for Sem 2 and year-long modules to ensure it remains robust, and supports the validity and value of our qualifications.  The VPAA asked all colleagues to ensure that the information relating to AI-generated content tools, and guidance on assessment design provided by the Dean of Teaching and Learning and due to be presented at Education Committee, is distributed and discussed within their units. Some Q&A followed this update. 

7.    Presentations
Ms Fiona Reynolds, Head of Student Recruitment gave a presentation. There was a Q&A afterwards.  The presentation is filed in the H&D folder for January 2023.

8.    AOB

No items were raised.

The Chair thanked all H&Ds for attending and confirmed the next meeting will take place on 16 February 2023.

MEETING OF HEADS AND DEANS

Thursday 16 February 2023

AG01 @ 2pm

38 Members in attendance

Chair –  Prof Anne Sinnott

Minutes –  Jennifer O’Toole   

1.    Chair's Welcome

The Chair welcomed members to the meeting and apologies were noted.

2.    Minutes of meeting, 19 January 2023

The minutes were approved.

3.    Minutes of meeting, 19 January 2023 – approval for the intranet

The minutes were approved for posting on the intranet.

4.    Matters Arising

None.

5.    President's Report

·The President spoke on the subject of Cybersecurity and noted the recent cyber-attack on Munster Technological University. This is the fourth Irish institution to suffer in the last two years all of which have resulted in major disruptions to services. The President requested that Heads & Deans remind their staff of the necessity to be vigilant.  He noted that while our preparedness score is at 90% that is no reason to be complacent as when it comes to cybersecurity the issue is not one of if but rather when.  ISS will continue to monitor and close down vulnerabilities. 

·The President noted the good news that the DCU School of Physical Sciences received the Athena Swan Bronze award and he recorded his thanks to Dr Eilish McLoughlin, her colleagues and, Prof Deborah O’Connell, who led the team.  He also noted that we have 12 months to submit the Silver Award application for the University, this is important for DCU as an affirmation of our culture.

·The President noted the level of engagement during the recent Strategy sessions and how the ideas submitted have translated into the live document.  The Strategy was recently reviewed at Governing Authority and well received.  We are still fine-tuning final elements and wording.

·The President noted the Public Realm is almost complete and hoped staff and students would enjoy the space and the wonderful array of biodiversity planting that has taken place.

·The President noted the recent Leadership Circle Awards run by the Trust, which had taken place in The Helix to showcase how our donors and sponsors contribute to DCU.  The Trust will shortly commence a regular giving campaign. 

·The President updated on the extra HEA places for which we had submitted a proposal, he was informed that an expert panel has been set up and a decision should be communicated by the end of March 2023.  In total, there were 35 Expressions of Interest from 19 institutions, and the panel will decide on the 15 remaining.  The President noted that there would be a further call in the area of Health Sciences in the coming months.

·The President noted the Student Accommodation issue and confirmed The Minister had reverted to DCU on this matter, this is a work in progress and DCU hopes to have more information by the end of February 2023 with regard to this project.

6.    Area updates from Senior Management Group (SMG) :

The COO also updated on the matter of Cybersecurity and noted that staff who click on the DCU ‘phising’ emails will be prompted immediately to complete cybersecurity awareness training.  Staff who have not completed the training within 7 working days will locked out of Google workspace e.g. email. G-dive etc until the training is completed.   This is all part of our effort to highlight the importance of cybersecurity vigilance for all staff.  

7.    Presentations:-
Dr Robbie Roulston, Deputy COO gave a presentation on Export Control Policy.

Q&A followed and the presentation is filed in the H&D folder for February 2023.

Dr Monica Ward, ADTL discussed  ChatGPT and shared a Youtube video and slides on the matter.

8.    AOB

No items were raised.

The Chair thanked all H&Ds for attending and confirmed the next meeting will take place on 16 March 2023 on line. 

H23/M04

MEETING OF HEADS AND DEANS

Thursday 20 April 2023

 AG01 @ 2pm

33 Members in attendance

Chair: Prof Anne Sinnott

Minutes:  Jennifer O'Toole   

1.    Chair's Welcome

The Chair welcomed members to the meeting and apologies were noted.  The Chair also introduced Martina Crehan, TEU Head and welcomed her to DCU and H&Ds.

2.    Minutes of meeting, 16 February 2023

The minutes were approved.

3.    Minutes of meeting, 16 February 2023: approval for the intranet

The minutes were approved for posting on the intranet.

4.    Matters Arising

None.

5.    President's Report

·The President recorded his gratitude to all staff as the current semester comes to an end, he also noted the positive feedback from students and noted that DCU should be proud of the feedback received on student engagement and experience.

·The President also asked the Deputy President to bring to Senior Management the subject of 'quiet time' where no meetings would be scheduled across the University.

·The President had recently visited Notre Dame University, with whom we have long-term partnerships of over 20 years.  On this visit he noted their engagement with DCU was more pronounced and they are extremely interested in DCU Futures, which is positive in terms of outside recognition. He also noted our engagement with Arizona State and Rutgers which he called our three-pillar relationship with American universities. He also noted that we still have a lot of work to do in this area.

·The President noted the review of the Library was now completed and thanked staff for their engagement.  The exit review was positive, and we await the final report. He also noted the ongoing IoE review.

·The President reminded colleagues that the Athena Swan Survey is still live and encouraged all to participate.

·The President, once again, mentioned the Cybersecurity attacks that we have seen recently and how exposed DCU could be should this happen. It is a critical item for DCU.

·Finally, the President noted that we had received confirmation of a subsidy of €40 million towards the first phase of student accommodation and welcomed this news. He also thanked the teams in Finance and Estates for their stellar work in this area.

6.    Area updates from Senior Management Group (SMG) :

There were no updates for this meeting.

7.    Presentations:-
SIS Update by Helen Mahon, Director, SIS Programme: the presentation focussed on where the project is now and for the next 6 months.  Q&A followed and the VPAA also spoke about the critical nature of this programme for DCU.

Presentation by Joanne Mulligan, Athena Swan Officer, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Unit: this is filed in the April folder of Heads and Deans.

8.    AOB

8.1.   Peter McGorman raised the matter of cybersecurity and noted that from May 2023 forward Cybersecurity Training will be mandatory for all staff. This was approved at Executive recently. Staff will receive 30 days to complete and thereafter a daily reminder until another 30 days have passed, after which, access to Google mail and workspace will be suspended until training is completed. There is a link on the ISS webpage to allow staff to complete and re-access their DCU accounts.

The Chair thanked all H&Ds for attending and confirmed the next meeting will take place on 18 May 2023.   

H23/M05

MEETING OF HEADS AND DEANS

Thursday 18 May 2023

AG01 @ 2pm

41 Members in attendance

Chair –  Prof Anne Sinnott

Minutes –  Jennifer O’Toole   

1. Chair’s Welcome

The Chair welcomed members to the meeting and apologies were noted.  The Chair also introduced Ronan Cunningham, Director of DCU Invent and welcomed him to DCU. The Chair also noted that SMG will shortly discuss the dates for ‘quiet time’ over the summer period.

2. Minutes of meeting, 20 April 2023

The minutes were approved. 

3. Minutes of meeting, 20 April 2023 – approval for the intranet

The minutes were approved for posting on the intranet. 

4. Matters Arising

None.

5. President’s Report

• The President extended his sympathies to the families and friends of two DCU students who passed away this week.  He also thanked the SSD team for their ongoing support during this time and noted thanks to all staff for their professional care of our students. 

• The President remarked that the Governing Authority had approved DCU’s new strategy at their last meeting. They made reference to the level of consultation that has gone into building the framework. There will be an event to launch the Strategy at the start of the new term in September. 

• The President noted that the Minister for Further and Higher Education had written to all further and higher education authorities to establish regional dialogue meetings. DCU will be positioned north and north-west. The Executive Director of Engagement will lead on this initiative.  

• The President noted that the IUA has asked Irish universities to help support the Department of Further and Higher Education’s development of their Budget Submission. 

• The President noted that we are currently in the ‘CAO Change of Mind’ window, and our first preferences continue to grow for DCU in addition to our international recruitment. He also acknowledged the work undertaken by the Student Recruitment Team and noted the positive results that are emerging.

• The President noted that to date no notification has been received on the extra places call issued by the HEA.  It would appear that DCU may not be successful this time round.  However, our GA has encouraged DCU to continue to pursue other options in the bio pharm space.

• The President was pleased to announce there will be some significant awards to DCU researchers from SFI and the Irish Research Council and we await publication of same. 

• Finally, the new issue of DCU Voices is now online and in print, showcasing growing alumni achievement. 

6. Area updates from Senior Management Group (SMG) :

There were no updates for this meeting. 

7. Presentations: 
   Presentation by Nathalie Groszewski, Rankings Performance Analyst, ‘Pursue positive outcomes for DCU in the rankings’.  This presentation is filed in the H&Ds folder for May 2023.

8. AOB

The Chair thanked all H&Ds for attending and confirmed the next meeting will take place on 15 June 2023.