UCC Values and Culture Staff Survey 2024 EXTENDED to April 22nd

16 Apr 2024

The UCC Values and Culture Staff Survey has been extended to 23:59 April 22nd.  Open to ALL staff (admin, technical, research, academic, B&E, permanent or fixed-term contract), this fully anonymised survey will form the basis of the EDI framework for the university for the foreseeable future and we strongly encourage all staff to take this opportunity to have their voice heard.  Click here to access the survey.

Message from UCC President, Professor John O'Halloran:

Dear Colleagues, 

In 2024, UCC will apply to renew our institutional Athena Swan award, at Silver award level.  Led by the Deputy President and Registrar, Prof. Stephen Byrne (Chair of UCC’s Athena Swan Steering Group), and supported by the team in the EDI Unit, over fifty colleagues from across the University are currently working in teams to assess progress since our last Athena Swan award and to prepare an updated four-year gender equality action plan for UCC.  This work is key to UCC’s commitment to embedding a culture of equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB) in UCC, and the Athena Swan action plan will underpin the development of UCC’s First EDIB Framework (2024-2028) (Strategic Plan, Goal 4.2).  

 We recognise that these are challenging and uncertain times, and in this context, it is especially important that we take time to reflect on our culture and values and reaffirm our commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging. 

I encourage you to share your views to help inform UCC’s new Athena Swan Action Plan and EDIB Framework by participating in the 2024 UCC Values & Culture/Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (EDIB) Staff Survey (link below).   

• Aim
• Who should take part?

By sharing your views and experiences, you will help us identify areas where the University can make improvements and build on good practice.  Staff feedback from the 2022 Survey, and earlier EDI/Athena Swan surveys underpinning previous action plans, has informed a range of positive interventions in UCC, contributing to the reform of promotions schemes, improved cover for staff on maternity leave and, most recently, the expansion of our family-friendly policies to include Surrogacy Leave and Fertility Treatment Leave. 

First launched in 2022, this biennial Values & Culture/EDIB staff consultation will allow us, over time, to measure progress, ensure accountability, and share feedback with the UCC community. 

The survey is for everyone who is employed by the University, in all roles.  I encourage Heads of School/Unit and Managers to make a special effort to ensure that colleagues who work part-time, on hourly occasional contracts, or in roles with limited reliance on email (e.g. security, grounds staff) are made aware of this survey, have access to the survey link, and are encouraged to share their views. 

• About the Survey
• Timeframe

The Survey was developed and will be administered by UCC’s EDI Unit.  The EDI Unit team would like to acknowledge the contributions of the many UCC staff who provided important feedback during the development of the survey. 

For most participants, the survey will take 20 minutes to complete.  Participation is voluntary.  While your responses will be saved as you progress through the survey, allowing you to leave the survey and return later without losing your input, we encourage you to take the survey when you can set aside 20 minutes to complete it.    

Please note that the survey team do not recommend taking the survey on a smartphone. 

I know that the end of term will be very busy for many of you.  To allow everyone a chance to take part, we will leave the survey open until April 22nd 2024 (extended closing date) and the survey team will send you some interim reminders.   

• Survey follow up
• Data Protection

Summary reports of survey feedback will be shared with all staff later in 2024, and circulated to the Governing Authority, the University Leadership Team and Academic Council.  Consultation findings will inform the EDIB Framework and UCC’s Silver Athena Swan application.  The EDI Unit will share aggregated and anonymised results with Athena Swan Applicant Schools in line with data protection policies. 

All survey data will be held within the EDI Unit under conditions of confidentiality approved by UCC's Social Research Ethics Committee.   To protect your anonymity the survey does not collect any identifiable information – names, email addresses and IP addresses will not be recorded with your responses.   Please do not name yourself or include information from which you or a third party could be identified.  

Data will be analysed by the UCC EDI Unit and all data will be accessed on encrypted UCC devices. The aggregated and anonymised data will be processed and securely stored by the EDI Unit in UCC for 10 years for research integrity purposes and to support reporting obligations to different higher education authorities. 

Further details are contained in the preamble to the survey and the associated Data Protection Notice. 

Click here to access the survey.

For more on this story contact:

Should you wish to inquire about any aspect of the survey in confidence, please contact EDICultureandValues@ucc.ie