MY EDUCATION WEEK: Anita R Maguire, vice-president for research and innovation, University College Cork
SATURDAY
I try and keep the weekend free for time with my family. My two young boys, Cian (9) and Brendan (7), always have plenty of plans for me and my husband Simon, who is also an academic in UCC. However, this Saturday I spent some time at UCC’s Open Day, and made a presentation on degree programmes and career opportunities in chemistry to Leaving Certificate students. A very invigorating experience to hear all of their fresh hopes and plans for the world. I love meeting our future students at such events.
SUNDAY
Went swimming with the boys on Sunday afternoon. Followed up with a trip to the Fota Wildlife Park. We all enjoyed it. We try to carve as much out of the weekend as we can to spend with them. We go out and about when the weather’s good.
Sunday evening arrives and it’s time to start gearing up for work again. I always use Sunday nights to catch up on my research work and, in particular, with the research undertaken by the various members of my research team in the Analytical and Biological Chemistry Research Facility in UCC. The focus of the research is on new methods to make compounds with potential for use as new pharmaceuticals, selectively in either left or right-handed forms. The biological impact of the compounds can differ substantially between the two mirror image forms. We have had some very exciting results recently using copper catalysts for key transformations. I’ve finished the latest paper on this area – that’s a good start to the week.
MONDAY
A busy day starting in the morning with a meeting of the Irish Universities Association held at the University of Limerick. UCC is chairing the IUA which means that for this year I chair the vice-president/deans of research group. One of the key issues for discussion at the meeting is research prioritisation – what are our strengths and opportunities? Plenty to talk about as a group with shared concerns and interests.
After this meeting with the VPs/deans of research I return to Cork to meet some companies in my role as chair of the Irish Research Council in Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET). The council has a very innovative Enterprise Partnership programme where industry partners work with the council to fund bright young PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. Today I met a group of pharmaceutical companies hoping to get involved in this initiative. It’s very exciting.
TUESDAY
From the macro-world of universities and industry yesterday to the day-to-day world of learning and research today. One of my PhD students had her viva exam for her PhD this morning, starting with a presentation of her work followed by a two-hour oral examination with the examiners, one of whom who had travelled from Belfast for the event.
Mentoring PhD students is definitely one of the most wonderful aspects of my job. To see a person you have worked with for four years delivering on their efforts, to see how they’ve developed. Very satisfying.
In the afternoon I met the research support team in my office to discuss diverse research and scholarship opportunities on offer over the coming months and how we can ensure the relevant researchers and students are identified to learn about them. With funding so tight we have to maximise every opportunity for our students and researchers.
What’s the future for the National University of Ireland? That was the subject of my last meeting of the day, a meeting of the Advisory Group on Future Structure, Governance, Role and Functions of NUI ; as I could not get to Dublin for this, I participated through a video conference link. Among other issues, we discussed the critical role of the NUI in contributing to the discourse about the role of the university in modern society.
Home to watch Planet Dinosaur with the children. How fantastic! While I am very careful not to ram science programmes down their necks, some of the natural history programming on TV now is just amazing. We're all glued to this one. The boys are at the perfect age for dinosaurs. As is fortysomething . . .
WEDNESDAY
Met with the president to discuss the university rankings today. Irish universities have lost ground, according to the QS and other international measures. However, UCC has bucked the trend, up from 184 to 181 and Ireland’s first five-star university. It’s good news, but no time for complacency. We have to monitor the situation very closely.
While it is easy to question rankings and their relative criteria, they are a very important part of our landscape. We need to examine the measures they used and understand how our data on research fed into those measures. Armed with that information we can go back to the research community and ensure they are aware of what is required to hold and improve on our position.
Later in the day I had a meeting to follow up on a major report published last year by the Advisory Science Council, focused on the role of PhDs in the smart economy. Having chaired the taskforce which led to this report last year, it is very rewarding to see its impacts are now working through the system. We have to be sure that we are maximising the benefit of these highly educated and skilled researchers to the economy. What are career paths like for researchers in Ireland? It’s a very important question and more work needs to be done. We have the recommendations now, the challenge is in implementation at a time of limited resources.
This evening I met some key representatives of a large multinational company wanting to find out more about our engagement with industry – they’re considering investing in Ireland. There’s a diverse array of options for a company operating in Ireland that wants to work with the higher education system to develop research collaborations. I hope I laid it out clearly and that this will lead to new research partnerships for research teams in UCC in the future.
THURSDAY
Started an important series of meetings with our key research centres including the Tyndall National Institute, the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, the Environmental Research Institute, and the Maritime and Energy Resource Cluster. We will meet each of these in the next few weeks to discuss the research challenges ahead. We hope to bring them up to speed on new European funding opportunities.
We’re gearing up for the next round of European funding through Horizon 2020 and I want to make sure that UCC researchers are positioned effectively to maximise the opportunities.
Took some time to read up on the fascinating new discoveries in particle physics. Such an important development! Not precisely my area but has implications for all of science.
According to reports, a particle called a neutrino travelled from a particle accelerator at CERN outside Geneva to a cavern in Italy, about 450 miles, faster than the speed of light. That’s what the authors of the study are claiming, but naturally it has prompted a great deal of interesting scientific discussion. If the discovery can be verified, it would change much of what we currently understand about how the world works.
Albert Einstein – whose theory of relativity set the speed of light as the universal speed limit – aid that if you could send a message faster than light “you could send a telegram to the past.”
Certainly makes you think.
THIS WEEK I WAS...
WATCHING
Black Swanwith Natalie Portman. A little disturbing
READING
Trespassby Rose Tremain
LISTENING TO
Paul Brady, singing Nobody Knows
VISITING
Any website I could find with reliable information about the new claims in particle physics
