UCD College of Human Sciences’ Graduate School

Bi-annual Report 2011-13

Johan A. Elkink

Graduate School Director

Margaret Brindley Graduate School Manager

Yuko Conlon Collaborative Graduate Programmes Assistant

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Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3 Graduate School ............................................................................................................. 3

Graduate School Office ............................................................................................... 3 Graduate School Board ............................................................................................... 4

Members of the Graduate School Board .................................................................. 4 Graduate Education and Training .................................................................................... 5

PhD Transferable Skills Training ................................................................................... 5 Graduate Programme Development................................................................................ 7

Academic Year 2011-12 ............................................................................................... 7 Academic Year 2012-13 ............................................................................................... 7

Graduate Community and Support .................................................................................. 8 Graduate Research Space ............................................................................................ 8 Graduate Symposium .................................................................................................. 8 Graduate Research & Innovations Fund (GRIF) ............................................................ 8

Graduate Recruitment and Internationalisation .............................................................. 9 Masterstudies.com ..................................................................................................... 9 Graduate Taught Clusters ............................................................................................ 9 Marketing & Communications Manager ...................................................................... 9 Vice-Principal for Internationalisation ......................................................................... 9 Graduate Semester Abroad ....................................................................................... 10 Masters in Public Policy ............................................................................................. 10 European University Center, Peking University .......................................................... 10

Graduate Governance, Policy Development and Guidelines .......................................... 10 Student Fitness to Practice Policy .............................................................................. 10 Guidelines for Special Externs and Transfer Assessments .......................................... 10 Fee Waiver Policy ...................................................................................................... 11 Terms of Reference of the Graduate School Board .................................................... 11 Alternative Thesis Formats ........................................................................................ 11

Appendix A: Statistical Overview ................................................................................... 12 Graduate School Board decisions, 31 May 2012 – 1 June 2013 .................................. 12 Breakdown of graduate taught student numbers by School ...................................... 14 Breakdown of graduate research student numbers by School ................................... 14

Appendix B: Graduate Research & Innovation Fund Recipients 2012-13 ........................ 15

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Introduction

The previous two years has been an exciting period in the

College of Human Sciences’ Graduate School, with the introduction of a variety of great new programmes, the recruitment of a new Collaborative Graduate Programme Assistant and a Marketing & Communications Manager, the development of a number of new guidelines for the governance of graduate research programmes in the College and the continued flourishing of graduate research taking place in the College, visible at the annual Graduate Symposium.

This report provides an overview, both in terms of dull statistics and more descriptively, of the activities of the Graduate School in general and our activities over the past two years in particular. The presentation of a bi-annual report is to address an omission in the previous year, not to set a new trend.

Happy reading! Jos Elkink, July 2013

Graduate School

Graduate School Office

The Graduate School is physically located in G209 and G207 of the Newman Building. The Graduate School is managed by the Graduate School Manager, Margaret Brindley, who has been part of the Human Sciences Graduate School from the very start. She is responsible for all College-level administration of graduate students, both taught and research, in the College of Human Sciences; providing administrative and secretarial support to the College’s Graduate School Board and the Programme Exam Board for all graduate programmes; management of all activities of the Graduate School, such as the annual Graduate Symposium, the Graduate Research and Innovations Fund, and graduate

recruitment and marketing activities. Part of the manager’s role is to contribute to policy formation and manage its implementation through communication with the College’s constituent Schools, also to develop and monitor plans to process improvement of graduate education in both the College of Human Sciences and UCD.

Since March 2012, Yuko Conlon has been working in the Graduate School Office as the Collaborative Graduate Programmes Assistant. She is responsible for the administration of Master of Public Policy, the UCD side of the administration of the TCD-UCD joint MSc in Development Practice; the administration of collaborative PhD programmes such as Global Human Development, Quantitative Social Science, and Complex Systems and Computational Social Science; providing advice to Schools involved in collaborative programmes; and providing secretarial

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support to the College’s Internationalisation Committee and Teaching & Learning Committee.

As of April 2013, the College has a separate Marketing & Communications Manager, Niamh Walsh, who focuses in first instance primarily on graduate taught marketing and student recruitment.

Graduate School Board

Members of the Graduate School Board

The Board, which is chaired by the Director of the Graduate School, consists of academic and administrative representatives from each School. As of June 17, 2013, the Students’ Union will be represented by their Graduate Education Officer, Mr Dylan Gray. A colleague from UCD Registry also attends and offers liaison and advice on regulatory and policy matters to the Board. Graduate School staff provide critical administrative support.

As of 1 June 2013 the Board consists of the following members:

Dr Johan Elkink, Chair Ms Margaret Brindley, Graduate School Manager Ms Yuko Conlon, Thematic PhD Programme Manager Dr Michele Norris, School of Applied Social Sciences Ms Catherine Baulch, School of Applied Social Sciences Prof Ron Davies, School of Economics Mr Nicolas Clifton, School of Economics Prof Lizbeth Goodman, School of Education and Lifelong Learning Ms Lorraine Heffernan, School of Education and Lifelong Learning Dr Enda Murphy, School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Policy Mr Dominic Shellard, School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Policy Dr Eric Cooke, School of Information & Library Studies Ms Claire Nolan, School of Information & Library Studies Dr Jim O’Shea, School of Philosophy Ms Helen Kenny, School of Philosophy Dr Teresa Burke, School of Psychology Ms Mary Boyle, School of Psychology Prof Daniel Thomas, School of Politics & International Relations Ms Dara Gannon, School of Politics & International Relations Prof John Baker, School of Social Justice Ms Elizabeth Hassell, School of Social Justice Prof. Tom Inglis, School of Sociology Ms Veronica Barker, School of Sociology Mr Dylan Gray, Graduate Student Representative Prof Brian Nolan, Principal, CHS

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Graduate Education and Training

The Graduate Schools of the College of Human Sciences and the College of Business and Law jointly provide a suite of graduate taught programmes aimed at research students. For the academic years 2011-12 and 2012-13, the list of modules was as follows:

Introduction to Quantitative Research I, STAT40470

A module coordinated by Patrick Murphy from the School of Mathematical Sciences, providing a basic foundation in statistics as employed in social scientific research. The second half of this course will be provided in autumn 2013.

Introduction to Quantitative Research II, STAT40480

This course provides the basis of quantitative research design, data processing and statistical analysis using SPSS. It is mandatory that students who take this module have successfully completed the Introduction to quantitative research module.

Workshops on Methods for Qualitative Research, GSHB50050

A workshop series coordinated by John Geary from the School of Business on various qualitative methods as applied in graduate research.

Research Design in the Social Sciences, GHSH50060

A module provided by Johan Elkink, which deals with the various aspects of research design in the social sciences.

PhD Development Roundtable Semester 1 and Semester 2, GSHS50050

A core element of the Thematic PhD in Human Development, this module by Paul Walsh of the School of Politics & International Relations is designed for PhD students with a research interest in development and poverty reduction.

Research Design & Measurement, BMGT42820

The seminar series is targeted at research students to enhance their ability to read, comprehend and critique research literature which employs empirical (logical positivist) type approaches.

PhD Transferable Skills Training

It was decided during academic year 2011-12 that the CHS Graduate School would change from a day long series of workshops to having only one workshop and coincide it with the annual symposium. In April 2012, there was a poster presentation workshop coordinated by David Jennings from the Teaching & Learning Unit. In May 2013, Prof Ben Tonra from the School of Politics and International Relations gave an hour long presentation on the viva procedure. This lively workshop covered topics that included the format of the viva exam, expectations of the students, the role of the extern, supervisor and other examiners. This was attended by both students and academics from both Colleges of Human Sciences and Business and Law.

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Introduction to the ethical review process

Annually the College runs a workshop which outlines the basic ethical responsibilities of researchers working with human subjects and outlines the procedures by which the UCD’s ethics committees ensure that these responsibilities are met. All students are to attend this workshop at some time during the course of their degree.

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Graduate Programme Development

The Graduate School plays an important role not only in formally approving new graduate programmes or major revisions to those programmes, but also in stimulating and advising Schools during the development stage and in liaising with University level actors in working out regulatory complications. The following programmes were developed and/or revised over the course of academic years 2011-12 and 2012-13:

Academic Year 2011-12

Major change (name change):

Professional Diploma in Educational Studies MSc in Development Practice MSocSc/GradDip Global Migration & Cultural Differences MSocSc/GradDip Health, Wellbeing and Society

New programmes: Masters Pathways Programme Professional Doctorate in Governance (DGov) (IPA) MSc Information Studies MA Political Theory MSc Environmental Policy MSc City Planning and Resilience MA in Geopolitics and the Global Economy MA in Urban Studies Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Science MSc/PhD in Children and Youth Studies

Academic Year 2012-13

Major change (name change): GradDip Philosophy GradDip International Development MA/ MSc International Development New programmes:

MSc Mathematics- and Science-Education GradDip Philosophy GradDip Philosophy & Public Affairs GradDip Philosophy & Literature MA Consciousness & Embodiment MA Politics & International Relations MA/MSc International Political Economy MSocSc Crime, Violence & Conflict MSocSc Cultural Sociology Professional Masters in Education

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Graduate Community and Support

Graduate Research Space

Research students in the College of Human Sciences continue to have access to their own research space which contributes to the creation of an atmosphere of a student community. Shared with the College of Arts and Celtic Studies, the space comprises five rooms with accommodation for a total of 60 research students including 12 hot desk spaces. Further desk space for another eight graduate research students in this College is provided for in G104X. Part of this dedicated space is designated for thematic PhD students, post-doctoral researchers and Ad Astra scholars. These spaces are managed by the Graduate School and are allocated on an annual basis from early October each academic year. Applications are submitted within the first two weeks of the first semester and have the support of the Head of School. It is expected that under the Newman Building project the space for graduate research students is reviewed and adapted to their specific requirements, encouraging intensified interaction between students of different disciplines.

Graduate Symposium

Following on the success of the joint Graduate Research Symposia with the College of Business and Law in 2011 and 2012, it was decided to coordinate the symposium with Business and Law again this year. This symposium was held on the Blackrock campus on 2 May 2013.

After a brief welcome, the symposium got underway with 44 students making presentations on their research in one of twelve panels as follows:

Finance and markets

Governance and strategy

Gender & children in society & business

Conflict and equality

Health and social justice

Operations, supply chains and information

Emotion and perception

Direct and indirect power

Social and physical networks

Physical and social environment

EU and EAA political and social environment

Social and physical family studies

Panels were chaired by academics from both Colleges in what proved to be both an interesting and stimulating day. We thank Conor Galvin, Lizbeth Goodman, Barbara Dooley, and Teresa Burke for representing our College among the panel chairs and providing feedback on the day to the research students that presented their work.

Graduate Research & Innovations Fund (GRIF)

The College of Human Sciences continues to be committed to encouraging their research students to both present and attend conferences both nationally and internationally, to attend appropriate summer schools and methodological workshops and to support student-organised conferences and publication initiatives. This year at total of €10236 was awarded to 25 students (see appendix B).

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Graduate Recruitment and Internationalisation

Masterstudies.com

During the course of 2011-12, the Graduate School contracted Masterstudies.com to advertise the College’s taught master programmes on their website. All course descriptions would be translated into various languages. Initially this was done on a trial basis, and from September 2011 it was decided to extend this trial for a further 12 months. While there were a reasonable number of queries, most of these turned out to be far below the entry criteria of our programmes. It was decided in September 2012 that this contract would not be extended.

Graduate Taught Clusters

UCD International Office circulated to all Schools a listing of taught Masters clusters for marketing purposes, which was further improved upon by UCD Graduate Studies, with feedback from all Schools. The underlying logic is that the organisational structure of UCD is irrelevant to potential applicants and leads at times to a lack of clarity in terms of the graduate taught offering at UCD. By clustering majors into different thematic clusters, allowing for majors to be attached to multiple clusters at once, will allow for the marketing of programmes by theme (“energy”, “food”, “finance and economics”, etc.) instead of by College or School. This development is expected to have a more significant impact in coming years.

Marketing & Communications Manager

Late 2012, the College Executive approved the creation of a

new position in the College Office of Marketing & Communications Manager. This new position is to bring in specific expertise on the marketing of our activities, both taught and research along with graduate and undergraduate. In terms of the student recruitment activities, however, the initial focus will be on graduate taught student recruitment, both national and

international, which is in line with the current focus of the University as a whole. This will help us to align our activities with the proposals deriving from the Graduate Recruitment Task Group that was temporarily established by the Registrar in the 2012-13 academic year, and whose work will continue as part of the regular agenda of the Student Recruitment Network, of which our Marketing & Communications Manager will be a member. In April 2013, Niamh Walsh, an experienced marketing specialist recruited from outside UCD, started her job in this new position.

Vice-Principal for Internationalisation

In September 2012, the post of Vice-Principal for Internationalisation was established in our College, with in conjunction a new Human Sciences Committee on Internationalisation. This role has been merged with that of Graduate School Director, but will be treated as a separate role from September 2013 onwards, due to the large workload in both roles. The structures established in the 2012-13 academic year will be activated more intensively in the coming academic year, with the Internationalisation Committee focusing on marketing more in general as well as its core objective.

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Graduate Semester Abroad

The Graduate School Board approved a new Graduate Semester Abroad programme, which is similar to the undergraduate Junior Year Abroad in design. Graduate students from abroad can decide to spend a semester in UCD, paying a semester’s fees, and taking classes from our graduate taught provision. Modules will be selected by the student in discussion with the Graduate School Director, who liaises with the relevant Schools prior to approval of the selection. No degree is awarded on the basis of this programme.

It is expected that this facility will be primarily relevant in discussions with partner universities on collaboration and exchange programmes.

Masters in Public Policy

The new Masters in Public Policy, the only graduate taught programme run from the Graduate School Office, went live and recruited its first (small) cohort of students in 2012-13. This is a collaborative programme with contributions from many Schools and combines much of the expertise throughout the College. This should be a major recruiter in the longer term and feed in to the re-established PhD in Public Policy programme as well as other PhD programmes.

European University Center, Peking University

UCD has taken over the Chair and coordination of the European University Center at Peking University from the University of Lund. The coordination will be in the hands of Mary Daly as Chair and directors from the Colleges of Arts & Celtic Studies, Human Sciences, and the School of Law.

Graduate Governance, Policy Development and Guidelines

While an important role of the Graduate School is to improve, develop and monitor policies with regards to graduate studies, the previous year has been a very calm year in terms of policy development. The focus has been on student recruitment and individual programme development.

Student Fitness to Practice Policy

The Fitness to Practise Policy has been developed by the University in response to an identified need by a number of programmes of study that lead to a professional qualification and/or a licence to practise. Core requirements of such programmes are periods of experiential learning and practical training which requires students to work in professional settings and places them in direct contact with the public. Decisions relating to fitness to practise issues have potentially far-reaching effects for students, staff and members of the public. In our College, this is of particular importance to the Social Work programme.

Guidelines for Special Externs and Transfer Assessments

Following similar developments in the College of Science, and based on experience with rulings by the Academic Council Committee on Examinations, the Graduate School Board adopted a set of guidelines to provide further details to the University policies and regulations on the appointment of examination committees for graduate research students as well as the process of transferring PhD students from Stage 1 to Stage 2 of their studies. These guidelines also stimulated the development of a special folder, accessible to all GSB members, with a collection of all College-level policies and guidelines that related to graduate studies.

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Fee Waiver Policy

A fee waiver policy was approved by the College Executive, which stipulates that Schools are free to implement fee waivers (or rather, pay fees for students) for up to 5% of graduate taught fee income. This would typically, but not necessarily, be used to support graduate research students. The Graduate School Office is to be informed on an annual basis of the allocation of these fee waivers.

Terms of Reference of the Graduate School Board

In November 2011, the University Graduate Programmes Board approved new Terms of Reference for the Graduate School Board, which are a merger of same for the long defunct Graduate Taught Programmes Board and the Graduate School Board. The changes also create more clarity on the membership and voting procedures of the Board.

Alternative Thesis Formats

A number of Schools developed guidelines for the alternative graduate research theses. While the scope of these is broad, in general this refers to theses that are based on a collection of papers as opposed to a monograph. In a number of disciplines within our College, this is a long-standing common practice. In other Schools, these are adopted as a new development, or Schools decided not to allow this thesis format. The main aim is to provide clarity to both the student and the special extern examiner in terms of what is or is not acceptable.

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Appendix A: Statistical Overview

Graduate School Board decisions, 31 May 2012 – 1 June 2013

Graduate students at 31 May 2012 Graduate Research stage 1: 164 Graduate Research stage 2: 183 Graduate Taught: 998 Total Graduate Students 1345 Graduate students at 1 June 2013 Graduate Research stage 1: 134 Graduate Research stage 2: 125 Graduate Taught: 957 Total Graduate Students 1216

Graduate admissions processed Graduate Research: 92 Deferred entries: 7 Occasional students: 13 Readmitted: 8

(Graduate taught admissions are not processed through the Graduate School.)

Graduate leaves of absence processed 12 months to 1 June 2013 Graduate Research: 33 Graduate Taught: 28 Retrospective leave of absence: 9 Graduate extensions processed 12 months to 1 June 2013: Graduate Research: 32 Graduate Taught: 7 Graduate research transfers from

Stage 1 (MLitt/PhD) to Stage II PhD: 40 Number of Doctoral Studies Panels reported or updated: 40 Special Extern Examiners approved: 82

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Graduate programme withdrawals Graduate research: 15 Graduate taught: 36 Retrospective withdrawal: 3

Change of registration

Graduate research 64

Graduate taught 36

Updating records 32

Changes to viva committees (post -ACCE)

Change to chair 8

Change to internal examiner 3

Module mapping 20

Credits for independent study 17

Accredited prior learning 2

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Breakdown of graduate taught student numbers by School

School 2012-13 2011-12 2010-11 2009-10

Applied Social Science 149 169 173 139

Economics 28 31 24 37

Education 352 352 358 378

Geography, Planning & Env. Policy 72 57 71 72

Information & Library Studies 68 88 76 67

Philosophy 32 30 35 28

Politics & International Relations 108 119 99 109

Psychology 72 65 49 59

Social Justice 47 48 74 57

Sociology 25 27 19 25

Masters in Public Policy 4

Complete registration* 957 985 978 971

*Includes not fully registered to students

Breakdown of graduate research student numbers by School

School 2012-13 2011-12 2010-11 2009-10

Applied Social Science 12 14 19 24

Economics 11 16 20 18

Education 46 48 55 41

Geog, Planning & Environment Policy 20 17 21 26

Thematic Programmes 33 33 33 29

Information & Library Studies 4 6 6 6

Philosophy 30 27 35 38

Politics & Int Relations 26 38 26 29

Psychology 47 50 60 61

Social Justice 19 17 17 24

Sociology 11 18 21 23

Complete registration* 259 284 313 319

*Includes not fully registered to students

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Appendix B: Graduate Research & Innovation Fund Recipients 2012-13

The following research students have successfully been awarded funding through the

Graduate Research & Innovation Fund:

Erika Bernacchi (Social Justice) to attend a conference in University of Padua in October 2012 (€161.40)

Louise Burns (Geography, Planning & Environmental Policy) was awarded to present at the Planning Law & Property Rights conference in Oregon in February 2013 (€500);

Ciara Cassells (Psychology) was awarded €500 in order to present a poster at the International Family Therapy conference in Orlando, February 2013;

Jerry Dixon (Psychology) was also awarded €300 to present at the 16th Congress of the European Association of Work & Organisational Psychology in Munster, Germany May 2013;

Adam Girard (Information & Library Studies) received €300 towards expenses received at the International Federation of Library Association in Helsinki August 2012. He was also the juried award winner for the 2012 De Gruyter Saur / IFLA research paper award;

Reza Hassanzadeh (Gpep) was awarded €300 towards presenting at the International Conference on Geoinformation for Disaster Management in Enschede December 2012;

Patricia Keilthy (Applied Social Science) was reimbursed €225 from presenting a paper at EQUALSOC/ECSR conference in Stockholm in September 2012;

Jennifer Kimberly (Politics & International Relations) received €300 towards attending the ECPR Winter School in Methods & Techniques in Vienna in February 2013;

Fergal McHugh (Philosophy) received €500 towards presenting a paper at the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, 7-9 March 2013;

Michael Savage (Economics) was funded €300 to attend the Masterclass in the Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice in London, March 2013;

Bart Zantvoort (Philosophy) was reimbursed €363 for expenses incurred while presenting a paper at the Hegel Society in Istanbul October 2012;

Zhao Zhang (Gpep) was awarded €200 to present at the International Spatial & Social Transformation in Urban China conference in Hong Kong in December 2012;

Robert Foley (School of Philosophy) received €750 to attend the Society for Philosophy & Psychology conference in Providence, USA in June 2013;

Roland Gjoni (School Politics & International Relations) got €500 funding to participate in the Summer School on Social Sciences in Berlin in July 2013;

Patricia Keilthy (School of Applied Social Science) got €250 to take part at the ESPAnet Doctoral Workshop in University of Mannheim in July 2013;

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Jennifer Kimberly Jackson (School Politics & International Relations) received €299 towards presenting a paper at the Annual Conference for the Association for Studies in Ethnicity & Nationalism in the London School of Economics in April 2013;

Pegah Lashgarlou (School of Philosophy) got funding to present at the International Conference on Philosophy of Language at the University of Lodz in Poland in May 2013;

Valeria Llano-Arias (School of Sociology) received €500 to attend a conference on “Environmental Communication” in Uppsala in Sweden;

Fergal McHugh (School of Philosophy) has been awarded €300 to present a paper at the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy Summer Institute at the University of Oregon in July 2013;

Oskar Milik (School of Sociology) obtained €500 to attend the Foundations of Digital Games in Chania, Crete in May 2013;

Shane O’Donnell (School of Sociology) was awarded €750 towards attending the World Diabetes Congress in Melbourne in December 2013;

Ana Valesca Lima Holanda (School Politics & International Relations) also obtained €500 to attend the ECPR Summer School in Methods & Techniques in University of Ljubljana, Slovenia in August 2013;

Arthur Parkinson (School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Policy) was awarded €300 to present at the IPSA Research Committee 21 conference “Resourceful Cities” in Berlin in August 2013;

Susan Flynn (School of Social Justice) has been awarded €500 to deliver a paper at the World Film 2013 International Conference on Media & Film in Vienna in May 2013;

Yao Han (School Politics & International Relations) was successful in getting €738 to present at the Midwest Political Science Association in April 2013 in Chicago.