Election Manifesto

Could you sum up your mandate in three bullet points?

• Career progression for all Staff
• Improve work-load balance
• Build on UCC’s Research reputation

 Why is it important that researchers are represented on the Governing body?

The Governing Body is the main mechanism for effective change in UCC. To date, there has been no researcher representative, and therefore the interest of researchers and research careers in general are not being adequately represented.

Why do you want to be a member of the Governing body?

I am a passionate advocate of researcher careers and have been an active proponent of equal researcher rights as long as I have been in UCC. I see the Governing Body as the next natural step in for the progression of the researcher agenda. The Governing body will provide a platform from which I, as a researcher representative, intend to voice researcher ideas and highlight our concerns. It is my hope that this will lead to real change for the betterment of researchers.

What do you think of the current research landscape?

The research landscape in UCC is by no means perfect but it has improved in a number of ways over the last number of years. This has been in part due to the continued work of UCCRSA, through both formal and informal channels within UCC. However, major issues for researchers such as CID, long term career paths and acknowledgement of our contribution to the University needs to addressed. Researcher representation on the board of the Governing Body will enable researcher’s careers to further these endeavours.

What have you achieved for researchers to date?

 I have being honored to serve the research community, both in UCC and at a national level, in a number of capacities over the last number of years:

1.  I have consistently worked to support UCC researchers strengthen their position within UCC, primarily by consolidating the UCCRSA on a strong footing. In 2013 UCC awarded me a ‘Leadership award’ for my work in supporting researchers in UCC and internationally.

2.   Currently, I am the acting Chair of the Irish Research Staff Association (www.irsa.ie).

3.  I am a founding member of the International Consortium of Research Staff Associations (ICoRSA www.icorsa.org ) and the current chair. This exciting platform is currently undertaking a number of initiatives on behalf of researchers, right now I am interacting with:

a.       UNESCO -  Horizon 2020 project on gender issues for researchers

b.      European Commission regarding RESAVER pension scheme for researcher

c.       Vitae – strengthening our ties with British researchers

4.   Involvement in the UCCRSA. The year gone by has been a productive one for enhancing researcher representation. I was one of two researchers nominated to the Academic Council, which was another first for researcher representation in UCC. Previously I was responsible for setting up the informal meetings for the VP of Research and Innovation. I was also responsible for getting researchers accredited for their work via Appendix C.

What do you hope to achieve for researchers in the Governing Body?

Increased career stability: This involves addressing the inadequacies of the UCC Researcher Career Framework. Removal of time defined banding of career progression, and improved opportunities for research career progression within UCC.

Contract of Indefinite duration (CID): This centres on lobbying for increased security of career via improved CID entitlements for researchers and making the process of both CID and redundancy more transparent as a whole.

Researchers acknowledged as academics, with the same acknowledgement and entitlements as academic fulltime staff. Typically this centres around redundancy but also affects issues such as representation at both a department and school level.

Currently there are five positions for Academic staff, and three for non-Academic staff in the Governing Body. As research is integral to the future of UCC I feel this should be recognised and so will be lobbying for at least 3 positions for research staff be made available in the next elections.

Why should I vote for you?

• I have six years’ experience in lobbying the researcher agenda, both in UCC, nationally and internationally.
• I am motivated to improve researcher careers and attain acknowledgment of our contribution.
• I am motivated to make UCC the best research university it can be, and the best university to work in as a researcher.
• I am a member of the researcher community and will be for the foreseeable future, recently being announced as a recipient of H2020 project coordination grant (Maribe) and 3 Enterprise Ireland commercialisation awards this is set to continue.

How to vote:

If you are a member of Academic Staff you should receive your postal vote starting from the 4^th of December.  Dr. Gordon Dalton will be listed alphabetically under the category “Academic Staff other than Professors”, simply mark an X next to his name and post the vote, via internal mail, to the address specified on the ballot. That’s it, you’ve contributed to improving researcher representation in UCC. Now we strongly encourage you to encourage your peers to do the same.

Polling days

If you lost the ballot, or just feel like voting the old fashioned way you can also do it in person:

Academic Staff other than Professors – Dr. Gordon Dalton - Thursday 18^th December, Council room, North Wing, UCC.

Don’t forget if you’re a UCC graduate to vote for Dr C. Rosarii Griffin too:

Graduate Panel – Dr. C. Rosarii Griffin - Wednesday 14^th January, Council room, North Wing, UCC.