People and Culture

Staff Survey 2019 launches this week

The 2019 Staff Survey will launch on Friday 29 March. 

Please have your say and share your honest feedback about your experience working at Queen’s.

The survey will be conducted by ORC International, an independent research organisation, who will email you directly in relation to completing the Survey. Responses are strictly confidential and cannot be traced back to you individually. 

Over the last year, there has been lots of change taking place within People and Culture – and across Queen's. Here is a video that reflects on some of our progress so far. We know there is a lot more to do, and that is why we need you to keep engaging and keep giving your opinion.

Student Development

Development Weeks: May 2019 activities

Staff are asked to encourage students to browse and book the wide range of Development Weeks activities available on the website.

Please note: students can achieve Degree Plus Accreditation in a number of ways by taking part in Development Weeks. Please see the website for more information.

Research Policy

REF 2021: Staff feedback survey on draft Code of Practice

An online survey has been launched to receive feedback from staff on the University's draft Code of Practice for REF 2021.

All UK higher education institutions (HEIs) submitting to REF 2021 are required to develop, document and apply a Code of Practice on the fair and transparent identification of eligible staff and selection of their outputs.

Full details on the University's draft Code of Practice, including links to the relevant documentation and online survey, can be accessed via the University's internal REF 2021 webpages.

Student Experience

Postgraduate Experience Surveys, March – June 2019

The University has launched the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES), from Tuesday 5 March – Friday 17 May 2019, and the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES), from Tuesday 19 March – Friday 14 June.

Staff are asked to please take any opportunity to remind students how valuable their feedback is, and to complete the surveys. 

For further information, please contact The Graduate School: graduateschool@qub.ac.uk.

Wellbeing

Parenting NI – Raising your Child's Self-Esteem

Parenting NI will hold a talk for parents on Thursday 11 April at 1.00pm on how to help raise the self-esteem of your child. The talk will include tips on issues that children face in relation to their self-esteem.

Please register here. Refreshments will be provided. The venue will be confirmed upon registration.

Research

Theses Digitisation Project

The Library at Queen's is undertaking a new initiative to retrospectively digitise theses of the University.

One hundred of the most heavily used theses will be digitised and uploaded to Pure, making them available online, free of charge, through Queen's Research Portal.

The purpose of this special project is to widen access to these theses, which are a vital source of research. The theses span a wide array of disciplines and it is anticipated that they will be accessible online by late summer 2019.

Teaching

Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2019

Queen's Annual Learning and Teaching Conference will be held in the Peter Froggatt Centre on Wednesday 17 April.

This year's theme is 'Shaping Change in an Educational Setting'.

Registration is now open. Please visit the conference website for more information.

The Conversation

Writing for a Public Audience

The Conversation's Health and Medicine Editor, Clint Witchalls, will visit Queen's on Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 April, to advise and support Queen's academics interested in sharing their research via the outlet, which has over 8 million readers each month globally.

Two sessions are available:

• Tuesday 2 April, Writing for a Public Audience, Lanyon Building. Register here. 
• Wednesday 3 April, Writing for a Public Audience, Wellcome-Wolfson Institute. Register here.

To discuss your idea or research with Clint Witchalls individually, please contact Judith or Siân in the Communications Office, as one-to-one sessions are available: 028 9097 3672 / comms.office@qub.ac.uk.

Impact

The Conversation

Please see below for the latest Queen's articles published in The Conversation. Click on the link to read.

If you are interested in writing for The Conversation, or contributing to the Anthill Podcast, contact comms.office@qub.ac.uk to find out more.

• Rachel Leonard, Dr Anne Grant and Dr Mark Linden: This is what postnatal depression really feels like
• Dr Fabian Schuppert: Green New Deal: universal basic income could make green transition feasible

Impact

QPOL Policy Engagement and Research Blog

Below are recent staff articles on QPol. To submit an article, email Kevin at qpol@qub.ac.uk. 

• Billy Vaughan and Dr Katy Hayward: Beyond tariffs: what 'No Deal' would mean for the Irish border – a Long Read
• Dr Cheryl Lawther: Guidelines for Media on Interviewing Victims and Survivors
• Dr Jamie Pow and Professor John Garry: What do people in Northern Ireland think about Brexit?

Events

Imagine Belfast Festival 2019

The 2019 Imagine Belfast Festival runs from Monday 25 – Sunday 31 March. There are lots of events taking place on campus. Please register here.

• Event: Imagine: the UK's Future Relationship with the EU, Wednesday 27 March, 1.00pm – 5.00pm, Canada Room and Council Chamber.
  Please register here.

Queen's is once again one of the main funders of the festival, thanks to support from the AHSS Faculty, the Mitchell Institute, the School of Law and the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics.

Events

2019 Spring Fulbright Roadshow

Fulbright will be visiting Queen's on Tuesday 9 April as part of the 2019 Spring Fulbright Roadshow to promote Fulbright Irish Awards opportunities for 2020/2021. 

The Fulbright Irish Awards provide grants for Irish citizens to research, study, or lecture in the USA. 

The presentation is open to staff, researchers, undergraduates and postgraduates and will take place at 11.00am in Room TR6, Graduate School.

For more information and to register, please follow this link.

Events

ERC Events at Queen's

European Research Council (ERC) is a pan-European funding body which supports frontier research from any discipline.

Staff are invited to the Annual ERC Seminar at Queen's, to be held on Tuesday 2 April from 12.00pm until 2.00pm, to find out more about ERC and eligibility.

The seminar will feature talks and discussion with ERC grant holders based at Queen's and other UK universities.

Please register here. A light lunch will be provided.

News

Reflections Newsletter

The next issue of Reflections is due to be published in June 2019. For this edition, the Centre for Educational Development are particularly interested in hearing about the work being carried out within Communities of Practice. This might involve working with colleagues or students in your School, your Faculty, across the University or outside the University.

If you are interested in submitting an article about your work, please submit an expression of interest (for planning purposes) to e.mcdowell@qub.ac.uk by Friday 29 March. The deadline for article submission is Tuesday 30 April.

Lecture

ANNUAL RELIGIOUS STUDIES LECTURE AT QUEEN'S

This year's McCosh Lecture will take place on Friday 10 May from 2.00pm – 4.30pm in the Great Hall. All are welcome. Registration is not required. 

The guest speaker will be Onora O'Neill CH CBE FRS FBA FMedSci, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge and Former President of the British Academy.

The title of her lecture is 'What Ought We Do?'.

For further information please contact theology@qub.ac.uk.

Wellbeing

Irish Language Speakers' Circle

All staff are invited to the next Irish Language Speakers Circle on Friday 29 March in Junction Café, for an hour of conversation as Gaeilge. 

Ciorcal Comhrá, ag bualadh le chéile i Junction san Fhoirgneamh MST, Aoine 29ú Marta, 12.00pm – 1.00pm iarnóin. Caint. Caifé. Craic! Bígí linn! Teagmháil / Contact Michael Pierse for more information: m.pierse@qub.ac.uk.

There are five simple steps to help maintain and improve your wellbeing: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give. The Irish Language Speakers' Circle can help staff to Connect and Keep Learning. Keep up to date with the Irish Language Speakers' Circle on Facebook.

Events

Cancer Research in Northern Ireland: Creating a Brighter Future Together

• Cancer Research in Northern Ireland: Creating a Brighter Future Together: Tuesday 26 March, 4.30pm – 6.30pm, Belfast City Hospital, Postgraduate Lecture Theatre

Staff are invited to this event to hear about new advances in cancer treatment and how you can get involved and influence cancer research.

This is a free event and open to the public. Download the event poster here.

The full programme can be viewed here.

The Graduate School

Innovation After Hours, with Camilla Long

The next event in the Innovation After Hours series takes place on Thursday 4 April from 6.00pm – 8.00pm in The Graduate School Social Space.

For more information and to book, please see the Eventbrite page. Food and refreshments will be provided.

Estates

Estates Directorate – Week Ahead

Details of ongoing works being carried out across the University campus can be found on the Estates Directorate webpage.

For information, please follow this link.

 

Estates

McClay Library Phase 3 Expansion Project

The McClay Library Phase 3 Expansion Project is now well underway. This project will realise a significant number of additional PCs and study seats in the library and involves the following key elements:

• The courtyard area on the ground floor (behind Borrower Services and Short Loan) is being re-developed to provide over 100 PCs and nine additional group study rooms.
• The student lounge on the ground floor will be doubled in size. 

Arts and Entertainment

Music Events

Please see upcoming music events below. More information on all events can be found on the School of Arts, English and Languages website. All events are free, everybody is welcome.

Workshop | Audition Technique with Sestina Music, Wednesday 27 March, 1.00pm, Harty Room

Learning the skills to deliver a great audition is essential for all musicians. In this workshop, Sestina's Musical Director, Mark Chambers, will coach singers on their audition pieces as well as working on general audition technique such as body language and presentation.

Arts and Entertainment

Concert – Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble

• Wednesday 27 March: Across the Pond, 7.30pm – 10.00pm, Harty Room

Queen's Ensemble in Residence Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble (HRSE) continue to celebrate their fifth anniversary with this concert of chamber music with a strong USA thread.

USA works to be performed include Elliott Carter's monumental and challenging Triple Duo, alongside a new commission and new work from Northern Ireland-based composers Piers Hellawell and Greg Caffrey, and Winter Reflections from Connecticut-born Irish composer (and HRSE's 2018/19 Featured Composer) Jane O'Leary.

Please follow this link for full information and booking.

Retail

Final Offers from the SU Shop Offer Booklets

Final Offers available to staff from the SU Shop Offer Booklets:

• Save 25% off Totum NUS Extra discount card and benefit from discounts on many products from a variety of retailers and travel including worldwide flights. Please see here for more information.
• Save 20% off selected Queen's-branded notebooks and files.

For these offers and more, pop over to the SU Shop on Elmwood Avenue (just behind the old Students' Union Building).

Arts and Entertainment

Queen's Film Theatre listings

Please see this week's QFT listings below. Staff ticket price: £5. Full film details are viewable on the QFT website.

IMAGINE! FESTIVAL: The Imagine! Festival comes to QFT with Black Staff and Students Matter!, No Stone Unturned + Discussion, On Her Shoulders and It Is Not the Homosexual Who is Perverse but the Society in Which He Lives + Discussion.

Arts and Entertainment

Seamus Heaney Centre

• Annual lecture by Ireland Chair of Poetry, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, 'Instead of a Shrine: Poetry and Ritual': Thursday 28 March, 7.00pm – 8.00pm, McMordie Hall, Music Building, Queen's University

This event is free, but RSVP to irelandchairofpoetry@gmail.com.

Other upcoming events and news are listed in the latest SHC newsletter, here.

Arts and Entertainment

Naughton Gallery News

EXHIBITION | Subject to Change
Running until Sunday 7 April.

New York-based collaborative artists Loney Abrams and Johnny Stanish's exhibition Subject to Change looks at how hybrid bodies – chimeras, monsters, cyborgs, avatars – can be useful metaphors for 'The Other' in society, and can help us imagine the breakdown of barriers between binaries like us/them, self/other, human/non-human, sex/gender, and natural/artificial. The artists will exhibit new sculptural works that materialise video game avatars, contextualised within both scientific and feminist critical discourse.

Training

RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT TRAINING

• Introduction to Research Data Management and Open Research Data: Thursday 28 March, 11.00am – 12.00pm, Seminar Room, 63 University Road

This training is open to academic and research staff. The session will cover the responsibilities of researchers in terms of data management practices. It will also give an overview of the facilities the University has put in place to support researchers, to help them to both securely archive unpublished data, and ensure published datasets meet the demands from research funders and publishers for data to be discoverable, citable and reusable.

Staff interested in attending this session should email rdm@qub.ac.uk.

Training

Mediasite EXPRESS Training

Mediasite is a rich media platform managed and supported by Information Services. It gives University staff the ability to create, manage and distribute video content, presentations and rich media for use on the web.

Mediasite will become the main video tool for lectures and educational content. Fundamental knowledge of this service is essential for use in Queen's new VLE (Canvas), as video supported content grows within the University.

Mediasite Express Training is now available throughout March and April. No prior knowledge of video editing is required. For more details, and to book your place, please visit iTrent Self Service.

Infrastructure

Canvas VLE

Canvas is Queen's new, University-wide Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and will enable us to move towards active blended learning, meeting the needs and ambitions of a diverse digital student body and enhancing the student experience.

Assistance is available 24/7/365 to staff and students via phone, email and live chat from the Canvas Support Team.

For more information, please visit the website.

Continuing Professional Development

CED

A number of Centre for Educational Development courses for the 2018-19 academic year are now open for booking and listed on iTrent self-service. 

For up-to-date information, please follow CED on Twitter or check the CED website.

• Wednesday 27 March: Using TurnitinUK Originality Checking Software, 2.00pm – 4.30pm

Training

IT Training Courses

Please see below details of upcoming IT training courses, now available to book on iTrent.

Course dates can be viewed here.

Tip of the day
Did you know Microsoft Publisher comes with the Office suite of applications? To create posters, leaflets, etc, enrol on the course on Tuesday 9 April (below).