Working Groups

Career Development Working Group: 2 strands

·         Identify Gaps in Current Training Provisions in UCD:    Drawing on the mapping of training provisions carried out by the URMAN Careers Development Working Group (Report appendix 3.1) identify where there are gaps in the training provisions offered in UCD and where new training provisions (including on-line provisions) are required to support URMAN members.  In collaboration with HR this will help inform the university of training required to support the core and functional competencies for the Research Management Job Family.

·         Mentoring Programme:  Explore requirements and appetite within URMAN for a Mentoring Programme to support knowledge exchange and career development for URMAN members.  This should be carried out in collaboration with UCD HR and draw on the expertise, training and resources that UCD HR provides to support the rollout of Mentoring in the University.

Membership & Communications Working Group:

Manage the URMAN Membership registrations and induction process.  Maintain the URMAN website and mailing list and email account. Manage URMAN LinkedIn and Google Currents accounts.   Advise on and co-ordinate all URMAN EXEC communications to URMAN members, and to other units within the university as required.  Carry out URMAN surveys with the URMAN membership every 2-3 years and liaise with UCD units such as HR on the same as relevant.

Events Working Group:

The Events Working Group plan and organise regular URMAN Events to support career development, training, and knowledge sharing for URMAN members.  URMAN Events complement, and address gaps, in the current training and development provisions that are offered in the university; and add value by designing/tailoring the URMAN Events to specifically meet URMAN member needs.   Events typically cover topics from across the entire research project life-cycle / researcher journey.  Suggestions and requests for URMAN Events are submitted from URMAN members through various channels including the URMAN Advisory Group, the URMAN Website, and URMAN Survey, and are also informed by needs identified through the work of other URMAN Working Groups

AIREN Working Group:

The AIREN Working Group will project manage and deliver the AIREN Project which is a 2-year project between UCD (lead institution), Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University and is funded by the InterTradeIreland Synergy Programme. AIREN aims to share knowledge and best practice in research management;  raise awareness of funding opportunities to support North-South collaboration; establish an all-island research excellence network for research managers and administrators.  Project management includes: setting up the project;  holding monthly Project Team Meetings; liaising with and reporting (6-monthly reports)  to the funding sponsor; managing the AIREN Project budget; developing and maintaining the AIREN web portal; managing the AIREN email account; preparing/sending AIREN event notices and post-event follow up.  Project delivery includes holding 6 Away Day events, 3 Workshops and 1 Conference, and each of the 3 participating universities takes a lead in organising a  number of events. UCD is also the lead organisation for organising the AIREN Conference (October 2022).

URMAN Advisory Group and Working Group Members 2023

URMAN Advisory Group Aoife Brady, Paul Huddie, Pauline Power, Jessica Ralston and John Wyatt (Chair)
Career Development Working Group Aoife Brady, Tara Hughes, Conor McDermott and John Wyatt (Chair)
Membership & Communications Working Group Aoife Brady,  Pauline Power (Chair) and Jessica Ralston
Events Working Group Aisling Jackman, Sinead McGinley and Meadhbh O’Halloran (Chair)
AIREN Working Group Sinead McGinley, (Chair) Jessica Ralston, Matt Sheridan, Caroline Treacey and John Wyatt