RSA Table Quiz

Posted on April 10, 2012 by ucdrsa

On Tuesday 3rd of April we held our first fund raising Table Quiz in the UCD Students Bar. The event was a great success – we had over 10 full tables of participants and we raised over €350. The table quiz was made up of 8 rounds of questions including movie clips and music rounds, movie character cut-out and dingbats picture rounds as well as the usual general knowledge, news and sports rounds. For the laugh, we also had a cheat round where participants were encouraged to google on their smart phones, copy off of other contestants and run around with their hands in the air! We finished up the night with a large raffle for a pletora of prizes. The prizes were sponsored by various sponsors including; the School of Computer Science and Informatics, IFUT, Kielys of Donnybrook, Pigsback.com, Bio-Sciences, Pulse Accessories, Richmond and the SU Shops. Thanks to everyone for coming along and taking part!

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IRSA engagement with IFUT

Posted on February 6, 2012 by ucdrsa

Members of IRSA have had a number of meetings with Mike Jennings and Joan Donegan (IFUT) to discuss representation of researchers by the union. Discussions are ongoing regarding forming better links between the two organisations.

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IRSA meeting with HEA and Department of Education and Skills

Posted on December 14, 2011 by ucdrsa

Members of IRSA met with Eucharia Meehan (Head of Research Programmes and Capital Programmes HEA) and members of the Department of Education and Skills, on December 12th 2011. Among the items discussed was the lack of recognition of postdocs in grant proposals and the inability of postdocs to apply as PI on grants. The HEA confirmed that they are in the process of contacting Irish grant agencies to try to improve this situation. In addition the role of postdocs in teaching was discussed. IRSA are in the process of preparing a paper on this topic to be presented at the next meeting with HEA/Dept. Education and Skills.

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UCD-RSA AGM 2011

Posted on November 4, 2011 by ucdrsa

Our Annual General Meeting was held on the 1st November 2011 with Tom Boland, Chief Education Officer of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) since 2004. Tom spoke about the stance the HEA has on research undertaken within the university structure, policies and issues postdoctoral employees deal with nationally.

Fionnuala Hickey then gave an update on the latest work carried out by the RSA. In successfully pushing forward postdoctoral issues, a standing committee chaired by Walter Kolsh has been set up combining employees from all sectors of the university to look at issues such as; career framework, the meaning of ‘prestigious funding’, being acknowledged for writing grants, training/courses etc.

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IRSA AGM

Posted on July 5, 2011 by ucdrsa

The Irish Research Staff Association (IRSA) AGM was held on 1st July. A new committee was elected for the coming year as follows: President – John Walsh (TRSA); Vice-President – Sara Morrissey (DuCRA); International Officer – Gordon Dalton (ARCS); Secretary – Fionnuala Hickey (UCD-RSA); Treasurer – Karen Duffy (GRSA). For further info on IRSA see www.irsa.ie

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IRSA meet HEA

Posted on June 9, 2011 by ucdrsa

IRSA meeting with HEA and Department of Education and Skills – 8th June ‘11

Members of IRSA met with Tom Boland (HEA Chief Executive) and members of the Department of Education and Skills, including Assistant Secretary Kevin McCarthy. Among the items discussed were the HERG (Higher Education Research Group) framework document on Researcher Careers, lack of recognition of postdocs in grant proposals and supervision of graduate students, differing interpretation of the FTWA (Fixed Term Workers Act) by different universities, and the current ECF (Employment Control Framework) and its impact on the recruitment of postdocs.

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Researcher careers forum

Posted on April 19, 2011 by ucdrsajulie

An informative and interesting meeting of minds took place on April 8th. Thanks to all who contributed. Among the problems discussed were career prospects as well as funding concerns for the future. http://www.irsa.ie/forum2011.html

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Meeting with IFUT

Posted on April 4, 2011 by ucdrsa

Today, we had a meeting with head of IFUT – Mike Jennings. We discussed contract issues and the RCF with him.

Thanks for coming in Mike!

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EGM Announced

Posted on March 7, 2011 by ucdrsa

The UCD -RSA have called an Extraordinary General Meeting to discuss the final implementation of the UCD Research Careers Framework.

The meeting will be held at 1pm on Wednesday 9th March 2011 in the Conway Lecture Theatre.

To find out how the RCF will affect you, please come along to the meeting.

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Trade Union Meeting

Posted on February 18, 2011 by ucdrsa

In February, we held a meeting with the main trade unions in UCD, IFUT and SIPTU talk to our members.

Mike Jennings (General Secretary IFUT) and Chris Rowland ( Senior Trade Union Official SIPTU) came and talked to us about “The Rights of Contract Research Employees”

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