DkIT Annual Report · 2020. 10. 28. · DkIT Annual Report 2015 - 2016 2 6.Library 19 6.1Library...

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DkIT Annual Report

2015 – 2016

DkIT Annual Report 2015 - 2016

Contents

1. Mission and Vision Statements 3

2. History 4

3. Governance 5

3.1 Membership of Governing Body 5

3.2 Governing Body Meetings 6

3.3 Governing Body Expenses 6

3.4 Executive Board 7

3.5 Heads of Department / Heads of Section 8-9

3.6 Heads of Function 10

3.7 Non-Academic Senior Management 10

4. Academic & Student Affairs 11

4.1 Academic Council Membership 11

4.2 Academic Council Meetings 11

4.3 Programme Validations 2015-2016 12

4.4 Enrolment Statistics 13

5. Graduation 14

5.1 2015-2016 (Major Awards) 14

5.2 Postgraduate Research Degrees 14

5.3 2015-2016 (Major Awards) – by School and Department 14-15

5.4 International Flows 16

5.4.1 Incoming Erasmus Students 16

5.4.2 DkIT Students Studying Abroad on Erasmus 17

5.4.3 DkIT Staff on Erasmus Mobility 17

5.4.4 Incoming Non-EU Students 18

6. Library 19

6.1 Library Environment 19

6.2 Information Skills 19-22

6.3 Collection Management 22

6.4 Engagement 23

6.5 Events 23-24

7. Student Services 25-28

8. Lifelong Learning 29-31

9. School Reports 32

9.1 School of Business & Humanities 32-33

9.2 School of Engineering 33

9.3 School of Health & Science 33-40

9.4 School of Informatics & Creative Arts 40-42

10. CELT Report 43-49

11. Research & Development 50-62

12. Campus Developments 63

13. Strategic Developments 64-65

14. Human Resources Department 65

14.1 New Staff 65

14.2 Leavers and Retirees 65

15. Irish Language Scheme 65-66

16. Audited Accounts 67

16.1 Comptroller and Auditor General 67-68

16.2 Consolidated Income and Expenditure 69

16.3 Consolidated Balance Sheet 70

1. Mission and Vision Statements

Mission

Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) provides learner-centred higher education dedicated to serving the needs of its learners and empowers its staff to deliver high quality learning and teaching, research and engagement to support the economic, social and cultural development of the region and beyond.

Vision

DkIT will be the Higher Education Institute of choice for learners, employers and the community in the North-East region.

Ariel View of Dundalk Institute of Technology

2. History

Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) was founded in 1970 and has earned its reputation as the leading higher education provider in the North-East of Ireland through its first-class teaching and learning, research and enterprise engagement.

Set in an 87-acre campus in Dundalk, County Louth, DkIT provides quality educational and training opportunities to approximately 5,000 students across four Schools in Business and Humanities, Health and Science, Engineering and Informatics and Creative Arts from Undergraduate and Master’s degrees to PhD level as well as craft apprenticeships.

DkIT also offers a range of part-time academic and vocational programmes to the North-East community aimed at helping students to enhance career development and personal growth.

For more information on DkIT, please visit: www.dkit.ie

The Institute has also grown its research capabilities with programmes at postgraduate degree level now available in the following research centres:

• Smooth Muscle Research Centre;

• CREDIT;

• Regulated Software Research Centre;

• Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Studies;

• Music Research Centre;

• Netwell Research Centre.

3. Governance 3.1 Membership of Governing Body

Name Representing

Mr. Andrew Griffith Chairman

Mr. Denis Cummins President (up to 15/01/2016)

Ms. Ann Campbell President (assumed role on the 22/02/2016)

Cllr. Cathy Bennett Cavan & Monaghan ETB

Cllr. Clifford Kelly Cavan & Monaghan ETB

Ms. Sadie Ward McDermott Louth & Meath ETB

Cllr. Tomás Sharkey Louth & Meath ETB

Mr. Bill Sweeney Louth & Meath ETB

Cllr. Oliver Tully Louth & Meath ETB

Mr. Brian Harten Arts Council

Ms. Kitty Warnock UNITE

Mr. Paschal McGuire Enterprise Ireland

Ms. Sile O’Connor Engineers Ireland

Ms. Margaret Swords HSE

Mr. Paddy Matthews Dundalk Chamber of Commerce

Ms. Antoinette Rourke Academic Staff Member

Mr. Richard Crowley Academic Staff Member

Mr. Fergal Smyth Non-Academic Staff Member

Mr. Aaron Lawless Male Student Representative

Ms. Rebecca Somers Female Student Representative

3.2 Governing Body Meetings Academic Year Meeting Number Date

01 September 2015

31 August 2016

M.221 14/09/2015

M.222 19/10/2015

M.223 07/12/2015

M.224 14/01/2016

M.225 22/02/2016

M.226 21/03/2016

M.227 25/04/2016

M.228 23/05/2016

M.229 27/06/2016

M.230 25/07/2016

3.3 Governing Body Expenses

Governing Body Expenses1st September 2015-31st August 2016

Non Taxable Travel Expense Taxable Travel Expenses Non Taxable Honorarium Taxable Honorarium Total Sile O'Connor 900.00 900.00

Andrew Griffith 1,652.79 2,100.00 3,752.79

Clifford Kelly 393.39 446.58 3,600.00 4,439.97

Martin O'Brien 281.17 281.17

Cathy Bennett 1,360.84 100.42 300.00 1,761.26

William Sweeney 1,062.14 635.61 4,800.00 6,497.75

Oliver Tully 425.34 47.00 300.00 772.34

Paddy Matthews 900.00 900.00 Tomas Sharkey 34.00 1,200.00 1,234.00

5,175.67 1,263.61 14,100.00 20,539.28

3.4 Executive Board

The President in conjunction with the Vice President for Academic Affairs & Registrar, Vice President for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Vice President of Strategic Planning, Communications & Development and the Heads of School are responsible for the management and the running of the Institute.

Title Representing

Mr. Denis Cummins President (15/01/2016)

Ms. Ann Campbell President (assumed role on the 18/01/2016)

Vice President for Academic Affairs & Registrar

Dr. Edel Healy Head of School Health & Science

Prof. Colette Henry Acting Head of School of Business & Humanities (commencing 04/2016)

Dr. Patricia Moriarty Head of School of Business & Humanities

Brendan Ryder Acting Vice President for Academic Affairs & Registrar (commencing 02/2016)

Ms. Irene McCausland Vice President of Strategic Planning, Communications & Development

Mr. Peter McGrath Vice President for Finance & Corporate Affairs

Dr. Gerard (Bob) Mc Kiernan Head of School Informatics & Creative Media

Mr. Eugene Roe Head of School Engineering

3.5 Heads of Departments/ Heads of Section

As at December 2016

Governing Body

President Mr Denis Cummins

VP for Strategic Planning Communications &

DevelopmentMs Irene McCausland

External Services ManagerVacant

Estates ManagerMr Conor Lait

Head of Lifelong Learning Mr Anton

Barrett

VP for Finance & Corporate Affairs

Mr Peter McGrath

Finance ManagerMs Marie Madigan

AccountantMs Sandra Hanratty

AccountantMs Odelle McGreal

AccountantMr Graham

Hodgins

AccountantMs Roisin Finn

AccountantMr Gerarrd

Crawley

Human Resource ManagerMr Ger

O'Driscoll

Freedom of Information Officer &

Data ProtectionMs Loretto Gaughran

IT StrategyMr James McCahill

Operations Manager

Mr Michael Denihan

VP for Academic Affairs

Ms Ann Campbell

Assistant Registrar

Dr Brendan Ryder

Academic & Student Affairs

ManagerMs Linda Murphy

Admissions Officer

Mr Fergal Smyth

Access OfficerMs Eileen Lynch

Schools Liaison OfficerMr Diarmuid Cahill

Head LibrarianMs Ann Cleary

Deputy LibrarianMs Lorna O'Connor

International Officers

Mr Michael Stewart

Ms Noreen Carney

Head of Research

Dr Tim McCormac

Head of Teaching & Learning

Dr Moira Maguire

Strategic Projects Vacant

Head of School of Business & Humanities

Dr Patricia Moriarty

Head of Dept of Business StudiesDr Colette Henry

Head of Dept of Management & Financial Studies

Mr Shane Hill

Head of Dept of Humanities

Dr David Getty

Head of Section of HospitalityMs Brianain Erraught

Head of School of Informatics & Creative Arts

Dr Bob McKiernan

Head of Dept of Computing & Mathematics

Dr Christian Horn

Head of Dept Dr Eibhlis

Farrell

Head of Dept of Creative Arts

Media & MusicVacant

New Dept To be advised

Head of School of Engineering

Mr Eugene Roe

Head of Dept of Electronic & Mechanical Engineering

Mr Pat McCormick

Head of Dept of Built Environment

Mr Noel McKenna

Head of Dept of Engineering Trades

Mr Simon O'Neill

Head of Electronics Section

Mr James Mulvany

Head of School of Health & Science

Dr Edel Healy

Head of Dept of Applied Sciences

Dr Breda Brennan

Head of Dept of Nurisng Midwifery &

Health StudiesDr Myles Hackett

Head of Section of Midwifery

Ms Jill Atkinson

Academic Council & Sub Committees

Governing Body

Interm President Ms Ann Campbell

VP for Strategic Planning

Communications & Development

Ms Irene McCausland

Innovation & Business

Development Manager

Mr Paul Kileen

Estates ManagerMr Conor Lait

Head of Lifelong Learning

Mr Anton Barrett

Marketing & Communications

ManagerMr Thomas Redmond

VP for Finance & Corporate Affairs

Mr Peter McGrath

Finance ManagerMs Marie Madigan

AccountantMs Sandra Hanratty

AccountantMs Odelle Coogan

AccountantMr Graham

Hodgins

AccountantMs Roisin Finn

AccountantMr Gerarrd

Crawley

Human Resource ManagerMr Ger

O'Driscoll

Freedom of Information

Officer &Data Protection

Ms Loretto Gaughran

IT StrategyMr James McCahill

Operations Manager

Mr Michael Denihan

Acting VP for Academic Affairs & Registrar

Dr Patricia Moriarty

Assistant RegistrarDr Breda Brennan

Academic & Student Affairs

ManagerMs Linda Murphy

Admissions OfficerMr Fergal Smyth

Access OfficerMs Eileen Lynch

Schools Liaison OfficerMr Diarmuid Cahill

Head LibrarianMs Ann Cleary

Deputy LibrarianMs Lorna O'Connor

International Officers

Mr Michael Stewart

Ms Noreen Carney

Head of Research

Dr Tim McCormac

Head of Teaching & Learning

Dr Moira Maguire

Strategic ProjectsVacant

Acting Head of School of

Business & HumanitiesDr Colette Henry

Head of Dept of Business StudiesDr Colette Henry

Head of Dept of Management & Financial Studies

Mr Shane Hill

Head of Dept of Humanities

Dr David Getty

Head of Dept of Hospitality

Ms Brianain Erraught

Head of School of Informatics & Creative Arts

Dr Bob McKiernan

Head of Dept of Computing & Mathematics

Dr Christian Horn

Head of Dept Dr Eibhlis Farrell

Head of Dept of Creative Arts

Media& Music

Dr Adele Commins

Head of Dept of Human & Visual

Centred Computing Dr Brendan Ryder

Head of School of EngineeringMr Eugene Roe

Head of Dept of Electronic & Mechanical Engineering

Mr Pat McCormick

Head of Dept of Built EnvironmentMr Noel McKenna

Head of Dept of Engineering TradesMr Simon O'Neill

Head of School of Health

& ScienceDr Edel Healy

Acting Head of Dept of

Applied Sciences

Dr Arjan van Rossum

Head of Dept of Nurisng Midwifery & Health StudiesDr Myles Hackett

Acting Head of Section of

MidwiferyDr Kathleen NAllen

Academic Council & Sub Committees

3.6 Heads of Function

Title Representing

HR Manager Gerald O’Driscoll

Estates Manager Conor Lait

Academic & Student Affairs Manager Linda Murphy

External Services Manager Irene McCausland

IT Manager (seconded to special projects) James McCahill

IT Manager (from Feb 2013) Michael Denihan

Librarian Ann Cleary

Research Manager Dr Tim McCormac

Lifelong Learning Manager Anton Barrett

Head of Teaching & Learning Dr Moira Maguire

Finance Manager Marie Madigan

International Office Manager Noreen Carney

3.7 Non-Academic Senior Management

Title Representing

President Denis Cummins/Ann Campbell

Vice President of Finance & Corporate Affairs Peter McGrath

Vice President of Academic Affairs & Registrar Patricia Moriarty

Vice President of Strategic Planning, Communications & Development Irene McCausland

4. Academic & Student Affairs

4.1 Academic Council Membership

Dr Ronan Bree Dr Peadar Grant Mr Noel McKenna

Dr Bernadette Brereton Mr Myles Hackett Dr Gerard (Bob) Mc Kiernan

Dr Breda Brennan Dr Edel Healy Mr Eamon McMahon

Ms Jean Carragher Prof Colette Henry Ms Mary McSkeane

Ms Ann Cleary Mr Shane Hill Mr Karl Mernagh

Dr Adele Commins Dr Christian Horn Dr Patricia Moriarty

Ms Jean Connolly Mr Gareth Kelly Mr Peter Morris

Mr Colin Cooney Mr Aaron Lawless Ms Paula Mullen

Dr Gerard Corkery Dr Sinead Loughran Mr Kieran Nolan

Dr Tom Dooley Dr Martin Maguire Mr Simon O’Neill

Ms Lorraine Dunne Dr Moira Maguire Mr Derek O’Reilly

Ms Sinead Dunne Dr Annaleigh Margey Mr Laurence Quigley

Mr Paddy Duffy Dr Valerie McCarthy Dr Brendan Ryder

Ms Brianain Erraught Ms Irene McCausland Cllr Tomás Sharkey

Dr Eibhlis Farrell Dr Tim McCormac Dr Arjan Van Rossum

Dr David Getty Mr Pat McCormick Mr Brendan Walsh

Mr Peter Gosling Mr Padraig McGuigan Ms Sadie Ward Mc Dermott

4.2 Academic Council Meetings

Academic Year Meeting Number Date

2015-2016 144 Friday, 25 September, 2016

144S Friday, 09 October, 2015

145 Friday, 11 December 2015

145S Wednesday, 20 January, 2016

146 Friday, 04 March, 2016

147 Friday, 06 May, 2016

148 Monday , 20 June, 2016

The minutes of Academic Council Meetings which took place in 2015-2016 are accessible at: http://www.dkit.ie/academiccouncilmeetings

4.3 Programme Validations 2015-2016

Validation Type School Department/Section Programme Title NFQ Level

Award Type Award Class

New Programme Informatics & Creative Arts

Department of Visual & Human-Centred Computing

Master of Science in Computing in Medical Device Software

9 Masters Degree Major

New Programme Health & Science Nursing, Midwifery & Early Years

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Applied early Childhood Studies

8 Honours Bachelor Degree

New Programme Business & Humanities

Department of Management & Financial Studies

Bachelor of Arts in Digital Marketing, Communications and PR

7 Bachelor Degree Major

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Global Marketing

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Public Relations

New Programme Engineering Built Environment Higher Cert in Property and Facilities Management

6 CERT Major

New Programme Engineering Built Environment Bachelor in Science (Honours) in Construction Project Management

Business Studies Bachelor of business Studies (Hons) in Digital and international Business

Differential Validation

Health & Science Nursing, Midwifery & Early Years

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Applied early Childhood Studies

Business & Humanities

Bachelor of Business Studies (Honours) 8 Honours Bachelor Degree

School of Informatics & Creative Arts

Department of Computing Science & Mathematics

Higher Diploma in Science in Computing 8 Diploma Major

4.4 Enrolment Statistics

Full-time Student Numbers

Schools Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Total

Business & Humanities 628 481 516 188 23 1836

Engineering 188 142 122 68 11 3 534

Informatics & Creative Arts 375 276 278 129 8 21 1087

Health & Science 298 302 288 209 3 10 1110

Overall Total 1489 1201 1204 594 45 34 4567

Part-time Student Numbers

Schools Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Total

Business & Humanities 138 1 1 6 146

Engineering 22 1 11 2 36

Informatics & Creative Arts 61 27 2 90

Lifelong Learning 127 12 14 153

Health & Science 158 40 6 204

Overall Total 506 13 41 53 8 8 629

GRAND TOTAL 1995 1214 1245 647 53 42 5196

5. Graduation 5.1 2015-2016 (Major Awards)

School Number of Graduands

Business & Humanities 539

Engineering 133

Informatics & Creative Arts 277

Lifelong Learning Centre 9

Health & Science 392

Grand Total 1350

5.2 Postgraduate Research Degrees:

• 12 Postgraduate Research Degrees conferred;

• School of Health & Science (6) - Doctor of Philosophy: 5; Master of Science: 1

• Informatics & Creative Arts (6) – Master of Arts: 5; Master of Science: 1

5.3 2015-2016 (Major Awards) –by School and Department

H1 H2 21 22 DT M1 M2 PS Grand Total

Business & Humanities 48 8 144 71 39 99 65 65 539

Business Studies 18 8 25 12 17 35 29 23 167

Management &Financial Studies

21 62 30 1 19 133

Hospitality 4 7 9 17 39 23 13 112

Humanities 5 50 20 5 25 12 10 127

Engineering 23 1 14 15 12 22 18 28 133

Built Environment 13 6 9 6 6 7 9 56

Electronic & Mechanical Engineering

10 1 8 6 6 16 11 19 77

Informatics & Creative Arts 30 3 58 23 24 57 33 43 271

Computing Science & Mathematics

7 19 10 16 10 20 28 110

Creative Arts, Media & Music

10 3 28 5 8 46 11 15 126

Visual & Human Centred Computing

13 11 8 1 2 35

Centre for Learning and Teaching

4 4 1 9

Health & Science 63 111 21 38 75 35 43 386

Applied Sciences 19 31 9 27 61 34 35 216

Nursing, Midwifery & Health Studies

44 80 12 11 14 1 8 170

Grand Total 168 16 327 130 113 253 151 180 1338

Award Classifications

21-Second Class Honours Grade 1

22-Second Class Honours Grade 2

DT-Distinction

H1-First Class Honours

H2-Second Class Honours

M1-Merit Grade 1

M2-Merit Grade 2

PS-Pass

5.4 International Flows

5.4.1 Incoming Erasmus Students

Country of Origin Business Humanities Hospitality Computing Creative Arts

Engineering Nursing Applied Sciences

Bulgaria 1 1

Czech. Republic 2 2

Finland 6 1 7

France 21 5 7 3 2 3 2 43

Germany 28 8 7 5 12 60

Spain 2 1 3 6

Portugal 2 2

Denmark 1 1

UK 2 2

USA 1 1 1 3

TOTALS: 60 5 17 11 13 15 3 3 127

5.4.2 DkIT Students Studying Abroad on Erasmus

DESTINATION Business Hospitality Humanities Creative Arts Engineering Nursing & Health Sciences TOTAL

Finland 1 1 2 4

France 3 5 8

Germany 1 1 2

Spain 3 2 5

Portugal 3 3

UK 2 7 2 11

Belgium 1 1

Estonia 1 1

Netherlands 1 1

Lithuania 1 1

TOTALS: 11 6 1 1 6 9 3 37

5.4.3 DkIT Staff on Erasmus Mobility

DESTINATION Business Humanities Creative Arts Nursing TOTAL

France 1 1 2

Romania 1 1

Denmark 1 1

Total 1 1 1 1 4

5.4.4 Incoming Non-EU Students

NATIONALITY Business Humanities Hospitality Computing Creative Arts Health & Science Engineering TOTAL

Malaysia 28 25 8 21 10 33 29 154

China 53 18 25 25 5 5 16 147

Saudi Arabia 23 11 4 6 54 98

Nigeria 1 1 2

India 6 4 10 1 20 41

Vietnam 6 2 1 2 1 1 13

Indonesia 2 1 3 1 7

Oman 6 1 1 6 14

Brazil 1 9 10

Nepal 2 2 4

Algeria 1 1

Japan 1 1

TOTALS 126 60 35 67 20 46 138 492

6. Library 6.1 Library Environment

The Library aims to manage its space in a way that meets people’s need. The space is limited, with a ratio of about forty students to one Library PC. There is a need for silent, quiet spaces as well as space to work in groups. So, in September, based on student feedback, and designed during the Summer of 2015, students were introduced to colour-coded study zones, where each zone represents a different type of study. The impact of these zones was reviewed throughout the year and is generally considered a success in reducing noise levels while facilitating a range of learning styles.

In November, the Library Training Room was made available for individual, silent study (from 9.00 a.m. until 5.00 p.m.) when not booked for classes. As demand for access to PCs in the Library is very high, access to additional computers addressed some of the demand. Based on the success of the Whisper Library initiative in the previous academic year Floor 2 of the Library was designated as strictly for silent study for the January 5 to 18 examination period. All other open areas including the computer areas on Floor 1 were again designated as Whisper level only.

6.2 Information Skills

Information Literacy Programmes Information skills training for library users is one of the primary services offered by the library to support the DkIT academic community. A student-centred approach to Information Literacy (IL) continues to inform most areas of our work in the library and is continually evolving in conception and delivery mechanisms. Formally booked Information Skills training classes totalled 210 hours with 1,850 students participating, ranging across the college departments and modules.

The classes offered were:

• Tour

• First Steps towards Research

• Next Steps in Research

• Harvard Referencing and Plagiarism

• Mendeley Reference Manager

• Bespoke class (tailored to a particular groups needs)

Referencing Clinic “Referencing Clinic” intervention was offered in the second semester where a librarian was available throughout the day specifically for Harvard referencing queries. The addition of a DkIT Harvard Referencing style to the available options in Mendeley software was also completed. IL has informed our mind-set towards library users and the Enquiry Desk is now considered one of our core services for users. In total more than 1,450 enquiries were recorded on a broad range of topics from subject related queries to information retrieval of specific resources.

Library Guides The range of Library Guides was expanded with new titles on both subject areas and specific topics.

Information Skills Outreach programme (2nd Level Schools) This year the library continued its outreach programme offering IL introductory sessions to second level schools in the Dundalk area. The aim of this outreach was to help Transition Year (TY) students learn about information literacy in preparation for their third level experience. Two sessions were conducted on site in O’Fiaich College, based on both student and teacher feedback, were very successful. The Information Literacy programme is offered to all schools in the local community.

Student Success Toolbox DkIT Library partnered with DCU (Lead partner), NUIM and IT Sligo in working on the Student Success Toolbox project which was funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. The particular focus of the project was on supporting flexible learners through key transitions in the early stages of their studies: from thinking about study, making choices and registering for college, through to the first few weeks in a higher education academic environment. A suite of eight digital tools was developed. DkIT Library contributed the content for the My First Assignment section which helps the prospective learner navigate through information slides relating to doing a 3rd Level assignment. Advice on how to start an assignment and develop a plan in breaking down a research question is also provided, with the key elements within a plan being specifically highlighted. Additionally a series of student orientated quotes and videos are accessible throughout the tool in order to give users a further sense of what it is like to undertake the first assignment in higher education.

Information Literacy Prize (Year 1 Feedback) The 2016 Information Literacy Prize was run in collaboration with the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CELT) as part of a nationally funded Year 1 Feedback Project. First year students were invited to submit a piece of writing for formative feedback on the use of information and aspects of writing (not on subject content). They then had the opportunity to draw on the feedback to improve the piece and resubmit to be considered for a prize. Prizes (i-Pads) were awarded for the best use of feedback and most improved work, rather than for the most information literate piece.

The Information Literacy Prize (Y1 Feedback) for First Years – Prize Giving Ceremony)

Pictured: (from left to right) Ann Cleary – Institute Librarian; Moira Maguire – Head of CELT;

Patricia Moriarty - Vice President for Academic Affairs and Registrar – launching the Information Literacy Prize.

Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs) In support of the Library’s Information Literacy programme, in collaboration with lecturers and students, we produced a collection of video interviews on topics such as:

• Academic integrity

• Case studies

• Finding quality information

• Primary research

• Undertaking a Literature Review

• Using Feedback

Designed to be watched individually or together, the videos explain important information skills concepts from both a student’s and lecturer’s points of view. These RLOs, which were launched in January 2016, are available on the You Tube DkIT Library Channel.

6.3 Collection Management

Books A total of 288 titles were purchased accounting for 9.81% of the library materials spend. A total of 305 items were deleted while 2,328 items were added to the catalogue. The library also received two large donations which are in the process of being added to stock; subjects covered in the donations include: religion, alternative medicine, philosophy, literature and history.

Periodicals The periodical spend accounted for 7.72% of the library materials spend. 21 journal titles were cancelled. Reasons cancellations included; budget restrictions, low usage and duplication of titles already available via our library online databases.

Online Subscriptions The online subscription accounted for 82.45% of the library materials spend. Three databases were cancelled due to budget restrictions; Web of Science, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses and WebDewey.

6.4 Engagement

The Library collaborated on a variety of activities and projects during the 2015/2016 academic year, working with students, Institute and sectoral colleagues and the local community in extending services and organising outreach events.

During the year The Library Film Club screened an eclectic mix of World Cinema.

6.5 Events In addition to the one-off events listed below DkIT Library Film Club screenings and Reading Group discussions took place regularly throughout the year.

September 2015 The new colour-coded noise management zones were launched

October 2015 The Library Customer Care Charter was launched. “The Great Divide – Sustainable Development and the Global Research Agenda” – we celebrated Open Access Week by hosting a panel discussion on international development issues in the context of open access to information.

Halloween Pumpkin Carving Competition – with a first prize of free tickets to the Halloween Ball (donated by DkIT SU)

November “Pop-up Library” – we took the library out to students and staff around the campus with our pop-up stands and on-the-spot enquiry services

Fines Amnesty with students encouraged to donate the waived fine or part of it to the Student Assistance Fund.

December Christmas Craft workshop - making items from recycled materials

February 2016 Valentine’s craft workshop

April At a time of year when students may struggle with finishing off their assignments including making sure they have referenced them correctly we held a “Referencing Blitz”.

Library staff were on call for any and all Harvard Referencing queries for two weeks from April 18th.

World Book Night on April 21st by having a free book giveaway.

7. Student Services

Student Services play an integral role in the student educational experience from admissions and extending beyond graduation. Student Services, which operates under the umbrella of the Vice President for Academic Affairs & Registrar’s Office, offers non-academic supports for students. They are a team of professional service providers who support students in actively engaging in their third level experience. Student Services work closely with all other areas of the Institute including the Students Union, to ensure that the welfare of students is paramount. Student Services also aim to assist students in planning their futures and in progressing to employment or further studies.

Our Mission is to enhance the individual student experience by providing an accessible, efficient and excellent service which supports the holistic development of the person, thereby enabling each student to achieve their full potential.

Highlights This Annual Reports from each of the Service Providers documents the work of the Student Services Team over the last academic year. Feedback from our service users helps us to establish our goals and targets for the year and this report outlines our outcomes. The following are some of our highlights for the year:

• 93% of students surveyed would recommend the Services to other students.

• The Counselling Service implemented Core-Net, an electronic database, to measure the impact of counselling on retention and client wellbeing.

• The Careers Service hosted a major campus careers fair with 51 participating organisations.

• The Careers Service worked with the HEA to pilot their newly designed graduate destination survey which will become mandatory for all HEI’s, including all IoT’s for the first time, from 2017. As the only HEI to pilot the survey, we will be able to spread the learning to colleagues in other careers services.

• The Disability and Careers Services conducted a focused careers awareness day for students with Disability Service, in collaboration with our colleagues in CELT, organised the Seminar on Inclusive Teaching and Learning.

• The Access Office welcomed two Schools on campus for College Awareness Week.

• The continued development of our Sports Scholarship Programme contributed to many sporting successes with the GAA team winning the Trench Cup, Soccer winning the Division 1 title, Badminton winning the Student Sport Ireland League and the Archery Club winning the National Colleges Intervarsity League.

Under the Learning and Teaching strategic goal: Placing focus on the learner to fully realise their potential through the provision of high-quality relevant programmes

Service Objectives Service Outcomes

Improve the First Year Experience to support Learners transition to higher education and improve retention

Counselling Service began implementation of Core Net, an electronic database that will measure the impact on counselling on retention as well as the students wellbeing.

Support the personal and academic development of learners through our support services

The Counselling Service developed the following resources:

• “Skills for Life” presentations

• ‘Enough is Enough! – Recognising the Face of Bullying & Harassment

• Booklet for Exam Panic: ‘Remaining Calm during Exams’

Careers Service piloted HEA newly designed graduate destination survey.

The Student Assistance Fund provided financial assistance to 272 students throughout the year.

3,430 students attended the Health Service.

Sports club membership was up by over 300 students with societies up by over 500 students.

Under strategic goal for Access and Participation: Opening pathways of opportunity and engaging new learners

Increase participation in higher education in the region

• Access Scholarships applicants increased with scholarship promotion.

• The Access Office is working as part of an access cluster with other HEA’s to develop access initiatives.

Develop initiatives to increase the retention of non- traditional learners

• The Careers and Disability Services conducted a focused careers awareness day for students with disabilities.

• 254 students availed of the Disability Service

• All nursing students going on placement are invited for a review with the Disability Office.

• The Disability Service, Nursing Department and HSE have developed a guideline for supporting nursing students with a disclosed disability.

Regional Community Development: Developing, supporting and actively engaging with the community in the North East Region

Enhance relationships between DkIT and the local community

Counselling Service organised a public talk by

Dr Terry Lynch on Psychological Well-Being, Author ‘Beyond Prozac’

Improve response to needs of unemployed in the region

• On campus careers fair with 51 participating companies and organisations.

• 208 job vacancies advertised to students and recent graduates.

Staff Training and Development

• All of the Services attended training in the Development of a Student Death Response Plan – Trinity College Dublin

• The Counselling Service participated in Anger Management Training – Oxford University

• The Disability Service participated in a Career Development workshop for Students with Disabilities (DIT), Diversity Matters Workshop (Trinity) and a workshop on Strategies for supporting student mental health (UCD)

• The following training events were attended by Student Health Service Staff: Stress reduction for students with learning disabilities and general disabilities – UCD, Sexual Health – HSE Dublin

• Student Counsellor was awarded Post Graduate Diploma in Psychosexual and Relationship Therapy.

8. Lifelong Learning

Part-time student enrolments were 920 during 2015/2016 up 7% from 861 from in 2014/2015. This is made up of 283 (31%) people enrolled on certified courses, 448 (49%) on uncertified courses and 189 (21%) on Springboard courses.

What are part-time students studying? The majority of students are enrolled on Business & Humanities programmes (454 students). A complete sectoral breakdown is provided below:

• Business - 178 enrolments;

• Humanities - 276 enrolments;

• Engineering - 121 enrolments;

• Computing & Creative Arts - 230 enrolments;

• Health & Science - 115 enrolments.

The male vs female participation ratio was 50% male v 50% female.

Springboard The Lifelong Learning Centre was again assigned the role of co-ordinating the marketing and admissions of Springboard programmes on behalf of DkIT during 2015/2016. Springboard is a Government/HEA initiative that seeks to support and encourage jobseekers return to higher education to upskill or reskill into industrial sectors with better future job prospects. The LLC promoted and co-ordinated admissions to the following Springboard programmes:

School of Business & Humanities Certificate in Digital Marketing & Digital Media Management Certificate in Hospitality Operations

School of Engineering Certificate in Building Engineering Modelling Certificate in Construction Business Excellence

School of Health and Science Diploma in Food and Agri-business Diploma in Food Supply Chain Management

School of Informatics & Creative Arts Certificate in 2D/3D for Digital Animation Production Certificate in 3D for Games Diploma in Composing for Games MSc in Computing in Medical Devises Software Higher Diploma in Science in Computing

Total Springboard enrolment = 189

Total number of places available = 242

Fill rate 78%

Approved Courses – Part-Time

A total suite of 56 general part-time courses were promoted via the Lifelong Learning Centre during 2015-2016 as follows:

Business Certificate / Diploma / Degree in Business Studies Accounting Technician Certificate in Digital Marketing and Digital Media Management Certificate in Lean 6 Sigma (Green Belt) Financial Accounting (Module from BA in Accounting and Finance) Digital Marketing, Social Media and SEO Certified Payroll Technician Certified VAT Technician

Humanities and Hospitality BA (Hons) in Social Care *NEW* Issues in Social Care Social Care and Disability Conflict Management in the Workplace *NEW* Certificate in Learning and Teaching *NEW* French for Beginners French for Improvers Spanish for Beginners Spanish for Improvers Chinese for Beginners English for Speakers of Other Languages Digital Photography Interior Design for Beginners Active IQ Certificate in Fitness Instructing (Gym) Active IQ Certificate in Personal Training Active IQ Certificate in Exercise to Music *NEW* Active IQ Diploma in Instructing Pilates Matwork *NEW*

Engineering Computer Aided Design 3D Computer Aided Design using Solidworks Building Information Modelling using Autodesk Revit Architecture *NEW* Basic Household Plumbing Maintenance Metal Art Programmable Logic Controllers – Level 1 Programmable Logic Controllers – Level 2 Welding for Beginners LabView Programming *NEW* Vehicle Diagnostics for Car Mechanics *NEW* Certificate in Renewable Energy BSc in Civil Engineering (Add-on Level 8 programme) *NEW* BSc in Engineering Entrepreneurship (Add-on Level 8 programme)

Informatics and Creative Arts Computers for Beginners PC and Laptop Maintenance Photoshop Web Page Design (Introduction) Web Page Design (Advanced) Introduction to Mobile App Development *NEW* Cloud Computing and Internet Security for Business *NEW* Introduction to Graphic Design

Health and Science BA in Applied Early Childhood Studies Certificate in Contemporary Palliative Care Practice (for nurses/midwives only) *NEW* MSc in Agricultural Biotechnology *NEW* Postgraduate Diploma in Agricultural Biotechnology *NEW* Certificate in Animal Biotechnology *NEW* Certificate in Food and Feed Biotechnology *NEW* Certificate in Environmental Biotechnology *NEW* Certificate in Food Supply Chain Operations Certificate in Food and Agri-Business Certificate in GMP in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

Validating Authorities We are engaged with a number of validating authorities namely:

• QQI

• Institute of Public Administration

• Accounting Technicians Ireland

• Active IQ (UK)

9. School Reports 9.1 School of Business & Humanities

Academic Developments The School of Business and Humanities continued to offer an innovative suite of programmes during the academic year 2015/16. The very successful Honours Bachelor of Arts in Social Care was offered for the first time in part-time mode over four years in the Department of Humanities. September saw the first intake of learners on the Collaborative Provision Honours Bachelor of Business degree at Monaghan Institute by the Department of Management and Financial Studies. The first two years of the programme are delivered jointly by DkIT and Monaghan Institute faculty members with students transferring to DkIT campus for their final year of study. The academic year 2015/2016 marked the first official signing of an MOU between DkIT and ACCA and a successful full revalidation by ACCA of the Honours Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Finance took place which resulted in maximum exemptions from final examinations for graduates. The Department also successfully validate three new degree programmes - BA in Digital Marketing, Communication and Public Relations; BA (Hons) in Global Marketing; and BA (Hons) in Public Relations. The Department of Business Studies designed and delivered a 14-week Community Education ‘Pathways’ programme in conjunction with Louth Leader Partnership for the first time. ‘Pathways’ offers participants an opportunity to sample facilitated discussions and debates at Third Level Education in: Community Development and Active Citizenship, Creative Arts and Marketing. The School successfully obtained Springboard funding for both a September and a January intake of students onto its Certificate in Business in Digital Marketing and Digital Media Management aimed at workforce reskilling. A number of faculty members ensured their learning and teaching practices were enhanced through the completion of the Master of Arts in Learning and Teaching.

Research Research informed teaching is central to the School of Business and Humanities and most faculty members engage in annual research activities resulting in publications and/or conference attendance. Many lecturers attended conferences ranging from THRIC, EDTECH, SEDA to the British Association of Sport Exercise Sciences. Similarly a number of faculty members are continuing their doctoral studies.

The Department of Business Studies ran a successful gender equality workshop in 2016 in conjunction with the EU funded Trigger Project led by Birkbeck University, London, to debate gender equality issues in academia.

Dr Annaleigh Margey, Humanities lecturer, was awarded an R.J. Hunter Bursary for studies of the Ulster Plantation from the Royal Irish Academy to support research activities in London in 2015.

News Stories Newsworthy developments during this academic year included the keynote address by Economist Tony Foley (DCU) at the School’s Annual Accounting Lecture which was attended by many industry stakeholders. The Hospitality Department proudly celebrated taking the top places in the Knorr Student Chef of the Year inter college competition in addition to being medal winners at the Chef Ireland Competition.

Two Humanities lecturers co-developed DkIT’s Digital Citizenship Programme which will be undertaken by all new students of the Institute on admission ensuring they are confident and self-aware in the use of digital communications.

9.2 School of Engineering The School was re-organised into three departments. There was a small increase in first year numbers but the School’s commitment on international recruitment was yielding increases in student numbers in general. There was the first sign of a recovery in apprenticeship with the block number decline reversed for the first time going from 14 block in 2014/2015 to 17 blocks in 2015/2016.

CREDIT had made an INTERREG Application with UU, QUB and Strathclyde.

An extension of accreditation for Engineering programmes was sought from Engineers Ireland.

9.3 School of Health & Science

Programme Development/External Accreditation A number of new programmes were validated in the School. A number of new part time programmes were developed within the Department of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Studies. This included a Level 8 progression route for the part time Level 7 Applied Early Childhood Studies programmes. A collaborative provision agreement for the outreach delivery of the BA in Applied Early Childhood Studies was signed between DkIT and Cork College of Commerce in June 2016 and it is planned to have an intake to this part time programme in Cork from September 2016. A programme in the area of Psychosocial Interventions was also developed in partnership with the Mental Health Services. In the Department of Applied Sciences new part time programmes in the area of food and agri—business and food supply chain operations were validated and were also funded by Springboard.

The following is the complete list of Programmes developed:

• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Applied Early Childhood Studies;

• Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Studies (outreach Cork Chamber of Commerce);

• Certificate / Diploma in Food and Agri-Business;

• Certificate / Diploma in Food Supply Chain Operations;

• Certificate in Psychosocial Interventions

The Bachelor of Science in Veterinary Nursing was re- accredited for 5 years by the Veterinary Council of Ireland in November 2015. The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland carried out a site visit and accreditation of all Nursing and Midwifery programmes in December 2015.

Launch of Certificate in the Fundaments of Understanding and Responding to Domestic Abuse The ‘Certificate in the Fundaments of Understanding and Responding to Domestic Abuse’ was officially launched in January 2016 and was attended by over 150 people. This programme was developed in collaboration between Louth Children and Young Persons Services Committee, DkIT, probation service, An Garda Siochana, HSE, Drogheda Women’s and Children's Refuge and Dundalk Women’s Aid.

In addition, a two page article appeared in the Irish Times Health Supplement after the Launch Event.

Staff Development All staff engaged in workshops and seminars organised by CELT in DkIT. A number of staff were engaged in the MA and Teaching and Learning . Three staff successfully completed doctoral studies in QUB and The University of Sheffield. Two staff graduated with their doctorates from Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and The University of Sheffield. A member of the school management team was awarded a HRB Fellowship to complete her PhD studies. Staff gained a number of research publications in peer reviewed journals and conferences . A staff member co-ordinated the organisation of the following conference: Work-Related Aggression and Violence: Perspectives on the Impacts, 5th International Conference on Violence in the Health Sector

European and International partnership The Department of Nursing Midwifery & Health Studies continued to further develop its international relationships hosting visits from potential partnership sites:

• Molloy College, New York

• University College Lillebaelt (UCL), Denmark

• Hamlin College of Midwives, Ethiopia: Staff from this college visited DkIT on the 16th June and an event to mark International Day of the Midwife took place by Skype.

• A lecturer in the Department of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Studies is involved in a

‘International Clinical Elective (ICE) Project’, a collaborative study involving three countries: Departments of Nursing at the University College Lillebaelt (UCL), Odense, Denmark, University of Worcester, UK and Dundalk Institute of Technology. The project is examining ‘What is the short term and long-term impact of international clinical exchange on student nurse personal and professional competencies?’.

Student Achievements

• Psychiatric Nursing students, presented at the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) Annual Conference

• A Stage 4 General Nursing student presented at the inaugural Nursing and Midwifery Research Conference (HSE North-East)

• A Stage 2 Midwifery student took part in a national student midwives debate

• Stage 4 Intellectual Disability Nursing students attended the All Ireland Chief Nursing Officers Conference

• IVNA Student Veterinary Nurse of the Year Award was awarded to a DkIT student. This is the Fourth DkIT student in five consecutive years to win the award.

• A graduate from the Department of Applied Sciences was awarded the ‘Presidents Prize for

Entrepreneurship’ at the Conferring Ceremony.

Community Engagement

Science Week events took place in November 2015. This was attended by a number of primary school children from the region.

Scifest took place in May 2016 attended by second level Schools from Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Cavan and North Dublin. It was the largest Scifest to date attended by over 300 students.

The Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Studies hosted the TIMe workshop community engagement in water in November 2015 attended by 66 delegates which was reported in the Irish Times.

The Veterinary Nursing Team hosted a Veterinary Nursing CVE event in June 2016 which was attended by veterinary professionals from the region.

Staff participated in the Agri Careers Fair in March 2015. This took place in the RDS Dublin and was an opportunity for staff to network with the main employers in the Agri-Food industry.

Research Highlights The following is a just a small selection of the research successes in the School this year:

• Funding success worth over €3.5 million received by Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Studies including the first Marie Sklodowska Curie ITN led by an Irish IoT.

• The Water is Life project book (Water is Life: Progress to secure safe water provision in rural Africa) was published in October 2015.

• NetwellCASALA were involved in a successful Horizon 2020 application ProACT. The consortium was awarded €4.87 million and consists of 12 partners, led by Trinity College Dublin, and including IBM, Phillips Healthcare, iMinds, Home Instead, The European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) and the Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe (AAATE).

• Four of DkIT’s academics attended a celebration of ‘Women in Science’ hosted by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, in Áras an Uachtaráin on 31st January, two of which were from the School of Health & Science

• Dr. Mark Hollywood from the Smooth Muscle Research Centre was awarded the Presidents Prize for Research Excellence

• A SMRC PhD Student won a Nature Reviews Prize, this is the most prestigious international Science journal.

Teaching & Learning Enhancement Projects

The Technology Enhanced Assessment Methods (TEAM) in Science and Health Practical Settings project commenced. This is led by DkIT with partners AIT, IT Carlow and IT Sligo and funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning.: http://www.teachingandlearning.ie/technology-enhanced-assessment-methods-team-science-health-practicalsettings and www.teamshp.ie

Worked completed this year included:

• Detailed literature review of best practices on practical assessment in the Science and Health disciplines

• Ethical approval obtained for student surveys

• Student surveys carried out in IT Sligo and DkIT, Industry survey scoped out.

• Project Workshop AIT June 2016.

Staff in the School were involved in the ‘What works and Why?’ project. This is a collaborative effort between AIT, DCU and DKIT and is funded under National Forum Type A Digital Capacity 2015. https://whatworksandwhy.ie/ . This project encourages synergies and the sharing of good practice within and between disciplines and establishment of sustainable communities of practice. DkIT generated a TEL TALES booklet, 3 of the School Staff are included in this publication: http://eprints.dkit.ie/525/1/TEL_Tales.pdf

9.4 School of Informatics & Creative Arts

The School underwent an internal restructuring with three new departments being established: the Department of Computing Science and Mathematics, the Department of Visual and Human-Centred Computing and the Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music.

A new research centre, the Creative Arts Research Centre (CARC), was established as a merger of Ionad Taighde Ceoil (Music Research Centre) and the Creative Media Research Group. CARC successfully received designation as an Institute research centre for a three-year period.

Student Numbers by Department

Unit Numbers Department of Computing Science and Mathematics 303

Department of Visual and Human-Centred Computing 313

Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music 503

Total 1,119

The expansion of the range of programmes continued with the commencement this year of the BA in Theatre and Film Practice, the MSc in Computing in Medical Device Software, the MA in Traditional Music Studies and the Diploma in Composing for Games.

Highlights of the Year

• A total of 272 graduates from the School of Informatics and Creative Arts were conferred in November 2015 with fifteen students from the School being awarded President's Prizes for Academic Excellence.

• This year saw the first set of graduates from the BA (Hons) Production of Music and Audio.

• Research continues to grow in the School with three more PhD graduates being conferred bringing the total who have graduated with PhDs to 11. There were three research Masters graduates bringing the total so far to 28.

• The School hosted Picteilín, a Creative Media and Games Studies Conference, with the theme of 'Narrative, Interactivity, and Emergent Digital Practices'

• The School continued with its external engagement (both national and international) and community outreach activities:

• There were a number of public showcases of students’ work. Fís, which is the annual exhibition of work by Creative Media students, took place for the fourteenth time. The third annual showcase of work by Music production students took place as well as the inaugural showcase by Film and Television Production students. Computing students also exhibited their work in a public showcase attended by representatives from industry.

• Music students and staff continued to contribute to the cultural life of the Institute and beyond through regular performances by the ensembles. A successful Irish traditional music concert, Éirí Arís, took place as part of the Institute’s commemoration of the 1916 Rising.

• The DkIT Ceol Oirghialla Traditional Music Ensemble was selected to represent Ireland at the International Society for Music Education Conference in Glasgow 2016 and also performed at Speyfest in Scotland.

• There was critical acclaim and widespread recognition for the Hear Our Voices collaboration with RehabCare.

• A successful CMC Music Marathon at DkIT included works by DkIT Music Students and leading contemporary Irish composers and the new Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music presented a Chamber Music Recital by faculty from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

• Computing continued to host on a regular basis the increasingly popular voluntary computer coding club, CoderDojo, for 8-17 year olds which encourages interest in computing from a young age.

• Another very successful Maths Week took place (this was its tenth Anniversary) with a number of events, promoting Maths, having being organised by Mathematics staff from the School, involving pupils from local schools in our region and from North of the border.

• A group of Computing students took part in an intensive project in Lens, France with students from a number of other European countries. Similarly, another group took part in a two-week intensive project in the University of Łódź in Poland.

• A number of masterclasses and seminars with top industry professionals took place in the School, which has offered us the opportunity to further develop our links and collaborations with industry.

10. CELT Report

Centre for Excellence and Learning in Teaching 2015 - 2016 The Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT provides a range of services to both staff and students, including the MA Learning and Teaching (MALT), unaccredited CPD in Learning and Teaching and runs the Student learning and Development Centre (SLDC).

A number of developments in 2014-2015 resulted in CELT generating income for the first time via offering the Certificate externally and winning funding from the National Forum for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching’s Enhancement fund. CELT has continued to build on and develop these in 2015/2016.

Master of Arts in Learning and Teaching The MA Learning and Teaching continued to be successful with another cohort of graduates receiving their awards at Conferring 2016: Nine DkIT staff were awarded MA’s, 3 were awarded Certificates, with a further 4 Certificates awarded to external participants.

There was another intake in January 2016, 11 DkIT and 9 external colleagues. A further 29 internal and external colleagues progressed on the programme. This included 14 external participants who had initially enrolled on the Certificate but successfully applied to progress to the MA.

The positive impact of this programme has been recognised nationally. In December 2015 three members of the core teaching team were awarded ‘Teaching Experts’ by the National Forum of the Enhancement of Teaching. The MALT Team was one of only seven ‘Teaching Experts’ selected for a special commendation, in their case for ‘Facilitating Systemic Cultural Change (see http://www.teachingandlearning.ie/priority-themes/learning-impact-awards/teaching-expert-awards-2015/teaching-expert-team-awardees-2015/)

Teaching Expert Award 2015 – Bernadette Brereton, Angela Short and Gerry Gallagher

Funded Enhancement Projects In 2015/2016 CELT was a partner in two projects funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching’s 2014 and 2015 Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund: Y1 Feedback and What Works and Why. Both involve collaboration with at least two MEND partners. CELT was also involved with the successful bid for the TEAM project, led by the School of Health and Science

and is represented on the Steering Group. These projects have facilitated us in building strong collaborative relationships with these partners in the area of learning and teaching. The outputs from all projects will be very valuable in terms of maintaining and improving teaching quality internally and will have national impact also.

2014 Enhancement Fund

Supporting Transition: Enhancing Feedback in First Year Using Digital Technologies Project lead: Maynooth University; Partners: DkIT (CELT), AIT, DCU. See http://y1feedback.ie/

2015 Enhancement Fund

What Works and Why See https://whatworksandwhy.ie

Project lead: DCU; Partners: Athlone IT, DkIT (CELT).

Technology Enhanced Assessment Methods (TEAM) in Science and Health Practical settings See http://www.teachingandlearning.ie/technology-enhanced-assessment-methods-team-science-health-practical-settings/

Project lead: DkIT; Partners: Athlone IT, Carlow IT and Sligo IT

These projects have also provided an opportunity to build capacity, in particular in TEL, as detailed below for 2015/2016.

• Staff development: 6 staff development sessions were run in semester 2 in DkIT including a symposium dedicated to sharing good practice ‘TEL Tales: Sharing practice of TEL initiatives at DkIT (attended by 40 staff). Other sessions were offered at partner institutions DCU and AIT.

• Innovation grants: 11 DkIT colleagues were awarded funding (typically <€1,000) to implement small scale TEL innovations (see https://whatworksandwhy.ie/what-works-for-teachers/).

• Support for TEL Teaching Groups: the TEL and Academic Writing Group and the Digital Citizenship Group. This work has had impact – the training developed by the Digital Citizenship Group forms part of our first-year induction. The academic writing group has promoted collaboration between CELT, lecturers and the library to develop writing resources (exemplars and videos) tailored to our students’ needs. The work of both groups was presented to EdTech 2016.

• Support to disseminate good practice at the 2016 EdTech Conference: 18 DkIT staff contributed to 9 presentations http://programme.exordo.com/edtech2016/. Johdi Quinn, Lecturer in Spanish, was awarded the prestigious Jennifer Burke Award for her work on telecollaboration, see https://www.dkit.ie/news/dkit-lecturer-wins-prestigious-jennifer-burke-award.

Jennifer Burke Award 2016 – Johdi Quinn

• Support for a book, ‘TEL Tales: Stories of enhancing learning through technology’, in which educators from higher education, further education, adult education and post-primary answer the question ‘What works and why?’ by sharing their experiences of using technology to enhance their students’ learning and support digital literacy. The book is based on work undertaking as part of our Technology Enhanced Learning module on the Certificate/MA Learning & Teaching. This has been disseminated through DkIT, the Louth Meath ETB and the HSE regional education centre. An electronic copy is available here http://eprints.dkit.ie/525/

Unaccredited CPD Academic Year 2015-2016 A broad programme was offered (full list below in Appendix 1) including considerable work on enhancing feedback to students (linked to the Y1 Feedback Project) and on technology enhanced learning (linked to the What Works and Why Project – see below). We also offered training for first year and stage convenors and programme directors and this was very well received. In total there were 229 attendances at the sessions. See Appendix for full list of events.

Student Learning and Development Centre (SDLC) A review of the impact of the SLDC was begun in semester 2 15/16 and completed in semester 1 16/17. It can be found here https://www.dkit.ie/system/files/sldc_impact_review_final_-_jan_2017.pdf. The impact evaluation methodology developed by the UK Student Services body, AMOSSHE, was used. The review was carried out under the guidance of the Learning and Teaching subcommittee. The evidence indicates that the service has a positive impact on the students’ academic skills and confidence. The evidence suggests that for some students, this contributes positively to retention.

In September 2015 the SLDC once again organised and co-ordinated the centralised Induction programme for new students coming to DkIT. Student Ambassadors were actively involved in the First Year and they were recruited and trained by the SLDC. Given the institute’s focus on retention as an enhancement theme, induction was reviewed and a number of changes made:

• A dedicated induction for advanced entry students was introduced.

• The Student Learning and Development Centre (SLDC) offered pre-induction academic writing tutorials to mature students in addition to basic IT tutorials – 42 individual students attended the academic writing tutorials and 62 attended the IT tutorials.

• Training was provided for convenors and programme directors, this included a session on supporting successful transitions.

• A leaflet was developed for friends and family on supporting students.

A survey of Induction revealed that the programme offered had been highly successful, with many commenting on how valuable a process it had been. Special mention was made of the role of the student ambassador.

The SLDC continued to offer a comprehensive programme of academic support to students. There were a total of 1067 uses by students (some make repeated use of the support). This included scheduled workshops (see below), small group tutorials and one-to-one tutorials in the areas of academic writing, basic IT, exam technique, presentation skill and study skills. SLDC tutors also collaborated with lecturers across a number of disciples to provide tailored study skills for entire classes. During this academic year the SLDC prioritised collaboration with academic staff as a key means by which we can support the development of writing in a discipline-appropriate way that makes efficient use of limited resources. This led to an increase in the number of sessions delivered for, or in collaboration with, lecturers and has worked very well. This year, Shirley Donegan worked with the SLDC to develop a series of tutorials for students on managing group work. These were developed to support the implementation of Assessed Group Work: A Framework and guidelines. Since January 2015, the SLDC has offered additional English for Academic Purposes support to international students. This is provided as needed by a qualified EFL tutor.

There is demand to further extend and develop this provision, particularly for part-time and evening students. However the SLDC’s capacity to meet this demand is limited by the fact that it is staffed by part-time tutors on short-term contracts. The staffing situation also poses a challenge to longer term planning and undermines the sustainability of the service.

Scholarship and Scholarly Outputs CELT has played a key role in supporting the development of scholarly activity in learning and teaching throughout the institute. Enhancement funding allowed us to support a number of staff to present to in learning and teaching conferences. CELT staff and MALT learners continued to be actively involved in learning and teaching scholarship (see Appendix 2 for list of presentations and publications).

Unaccredited CPD events

Masterclasses 23/10/2015 Researching your practice the action research way. Dr Pip Bruce Ferguson, Dublin

City University

27/01/2016 Inclusive Teaching, Lorraine Gallagher, AHEAD

16/03/2016 Learning Analytics, Dr Mark Glynn, Dublin City University

13/04/2016 First-in-family: Exploring student narratives of university transition and

participation. Dr Sarah O’Shea, University of Wollongong.

25/04/2016 21st Century Education. Dr Leo Casey, National College of Ireland.

09/03/2016 Technology-enhanced Feedback Approaches (Y1 Feedback) Lisa O’Regan & Morag Munro, Maynooth University.

21/05/2016 Writing for publication retreat.

Sharing Practice 03/03/2016 ‘TEL Tales: Sharing experiences of TEL initiatives at DkIT’

07/06/2016 Informatics and Creative Arts – Sharing Learning and Teaching Practice

Specific briefings/training

CPD for PT lecturers 09/11/2015 Student-centred learning (evening),

25/11/2016 Classroom technique (evening),

05/12/2016 Assessment & Feedback (Saturday am) + Moodle (Saturday pm),

16/12/2016 Administration.

31/05/2016 External Examiner Briefings

15/06/2016 Programme Directors and Stage Convenors training.

Other 04/11/2016 Principles of good feedback: Best practice in providing feedback to students.

25/11/2016 Writing to Learning: Embedding writing activities in your teaching.

25/11/2016 Giving students feedback on their academic writing.

02/12/2016 Motivation and emotion: understanding the psychology of feedback.

The eLearning Unit ran a comprehensive programme of training in Technology Enhanced Learning: 17/11/2015 Using lecture capture.

18/11/2015 Using Epson interactive tools for the whiteboard.

18/11/2015 Using screencasts to enhance feedback to students.

25/11/2015 Assessment and feedback using Moodle quizzes.

02/12/2015 Assessment and Feedback using Turnitin assignments in Moodle.

04/03/2016 Assessment and Feedback using Turnitin assignments.

08/03/2016 Using Socrative for formative assessment and classroom interaction.

10/03/2016 Screencasting for learning, assessment and feedback.

16/03/2016 Skype’s the limit: Telecollaboration for creating a transformative learning environment for students of modern languages

CELT Team and MALT publications 2015-2016

• Cranny, D. (2016). Screencasting, a tool to facilitate engagement with formative feedback? All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 8(3), available http://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/article/view/291

• Maguire M. (2016). The effects of drugs on cognitive performance. In D.Groome & M. Eynsenck (Eds) An Introduction to Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2nd Edition. [Textbook] Oxon; New York: Routledge.

• Law, R. & Maguire, M. (2016). Biological cycles and cognition. In D.Groome & M. Eynsenck (Eds) An Introduction to Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2nd Edition. [Textbook]Oxon; New York: Routledge

• McCool, R., Kelly, S., Maguire, M., Clarke, D. & Loughran, D. (2015). Factors which Influence the Academic Performance of Level 7 Engineering Students. All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 7(2), available http://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/issue/view/19

• McKevitt, C. (2016). Engaging students with self-assessment and tutor feedback to improve performance and support assessment capacity. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 13(1), Article 2, available https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1097250.pdf

• Short, A. (2015). Shaken and stirred- from online to blended. One lecturer’s experience of flipping the classroom. In D. Slykhuis & G. Marks (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2015

• Short, A. (2016) ‘Learning to be’ – piloting the use of a role playing serious game to teach Operations Management. AISHE-J: The All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 8(1).

Conference Presentations 2015-2016

• Bree, R., Connor, C., Croke, M., Delahunt, B., Everitt Reynolds, A.E., Fox, C., Harding, N., Maguire, M., McKevitt, C., O’Donoghue, C., Ward, J. (2016). The Academic Writing and TEL

group: developing a network of educators to explore the use of digital technologies to

support academic writing. Presented to the EdTech Annual Conference, Dublin, May 26-27.

• Bree, R., Healy, E., Maguire, M., Faller, D., Harding, N., Mulvihill, A., Brazil, D., Dowling, D., Akande, A., Bird, J. & Doyle, D. (2016). Exploring ways to enhance practical assessment

using digital technologies in Science and Health programmes: the Technology Enhanced

Assessment Methods (TEAM) project approach. Presented to EdTech Annual Conference, Dublin, May 26-27.

• Dunne K., Duggan V. and Campion D. (2016). "Show and avoid": using custom-made videos

highlighting common errors to improve student performance of veterinary nursing practical

skills. Poster presented to VetEd Conference 2016, University of Glasgow.

• Gallagher, G. (2015). Integrating digital technologies: how are we doing and how can we

know? Presented to the EdTech 2015 Annual Conference, University of Limerick, May 28-29.

• Lawless, F., Short, A. and Gallagher, G. (2016). Does Context matter? An exploration of the

impact that teaching mathematics in context has on performance and anxiety levels. Proceedings of the CETL-MSOR Conference 2016. Loughborough.

• O'Regan L., Brown M, Maguire M., Harding N., Walsh E., Gallagher G., McDermott G..  (2015).  Assessment Feedback Practice in First Year – Preliminary findings from an Irish

multi-institutional project. Poster presented to the Assessment in Higher Education Conference, Birmingham, June 24-25. Prize for Best Poster.

• O’Regan, L., Harding, N., Brown, M., Maguire, M., Munro, M., Gallagher, G., McDermott, G.,Ryan, S., Cranny, D., McKevitt, C., Farrell, O. (2016). Y1Feedback: Technology-Enabled

Feedback Approaches for First Year. Presented to the EdTech Annual Conference, Dublin, May, 26-27.

11. Research and Development

DkIT continues to be recognised as one of the leading research intensive Institutes of Technology across the sector. Since the last research strategic plan (2014-2016) the research performance of the Institute has grown substantially, during this time we have:

• Enhanced our strong research base and reputation in selected prioritised research areas which are in line with national and European policy

• Concentrated and consolidated our research strengths within Institute designated research centres and groups

• Continued to concentrate on research excellence as a primary driver for conducting research

• Increased the critical mass of our talented pool of researchers within our prioritised research clusters

• Diversified our research funding base to ensure our sustainability through increased participation in European research programmes

• Increased our dissemination and impact of our research

• Established spin out companies from our research base

The Institute has secured over €15M in external funding from both national and international sources culminating in €52M secured research income since 2007. Over the past 2 years national research funding awards, such as, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) (36%) and the Marine Institute (31%), have accounted for 20% of all research awards, with European programmes (i.e. Horizon 2020, Interreg VA, AAL) accounting for 78% of all research awards. By comparison, National awards accounted for 60% of all funding awarded between 2007-2013, with 60% of these stemming from Enterprise Ireland. A primary aim of the DkIT Research Strategy 2014-2016 was to diversify the research funding base towards more European schemes which, as shown in Figure 1, has been achieved. This has resulted in the Institute securing a 10.7% success rate in securing Horizon 2020 funding, just above the IOT sector average at 10.3%.

Figure 1: Research Awards by National Source 2015-2016

Figure 2: Research Awards by Source (%) 2015-2016

There are currently 55 postgraduate research students, 80% of which are registered through the DCU-DkIT Graduate School, with 57 formally trained research supervisors across the four academic schools. There have been 29 Postgraduate research degree graduations since 2014 with the number of PhD graduations now exceeding that of MSc research degrees. An enhancement in the impact of the Institute’s research through growth in both the number and breadth of our research publications and associated citations has led to an additional 101 peer reviewed research articles, 31 conference presentations and 1539 citations from 2014 – 2016. The citation rate increased by 78% over this period compared to the previous three years (2012-2014), raising the Institutes ranking to 4th in its sector.

This data, captured through the Scopus database, excludes the research dissemination output of the Creative Arts domain from within the Institute. Over the past 3 years researchers within this area have produced over 250 research outputs including exhibitions, recordings, performances, books and book chapters, conference presentations and proceedings, journal articles and guest lectures.

A new high impact Creative Arts Research Centre has been established through the consolidation of the Music Research Centre Ionad Taighde Ceoil and the Creative Media Research Group within the School of Informatics and Creative Arts. In addition, one new research group has been formed within our emerging research area of Entrepreneurship. This has led to in excess of 55 academic lecturers (17.2%), of the 320 academic staff, now formally aligned as members of the institute’s research centres and groups.

Establishment of 2 High Potential Spin out companies from the ICT research base through initial seed funding from Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund. Tapa Healthcare are a medical software company developing clinical support tools that are used across multiple mobile and computer based platforms. The products drive patient centric proactive care using industry standard and proprietary clinical models to predict the deteriorating patient and recommend next actions to prevent avoidable incidents, serious illness and death. Nova Leah specialise in cybersecurity risk management software solutions for the medical device and healthcare industry. Nova Leah is the first company to develop an intelligent security risk management solution for use by manufacturers, vendors and healthcare providers.

Research Clusters The Institute’s approach to research has always been to invest in growth areas of strategic importance, which are aligned with our research strengths and which are informed by the external environment. Research is founded upon excellence led by global needs with real-world societal and economic impacts. Through the National Research Prioritisation Exercise, Horizon 2020, Innovation 2020 and a recent Institute self-assessment exercise, DkIT identified both its current research strengths and emerging research areas. The Institute’s research agenda within both these established and emerging areas is driven by various research teams, which are embedded across the Institute’s four academic schools.

Prioritised Established Research Clusters

• ICT, Health and Ageing

• Energy and the Environment

• Creative Arts

Emerging Research Clusters

• Humanities and Social Sciences

• Teaching and Learning

• Entrepreneurship

DkIT has always recognised the need to have a diversity of research centres and groups, including academic, industry facing and mission-orientated centres. Our established research centres have created acritical mass of the Institutes world class researchers:

• who have established international track records in their own right

• whose research outputs are internationally benchmarked

• whose work is interdisciplinary in nature cutting across traditional academic schools

• who possess state of the art infrastructure and facilities.

In view of the relatively small size of the Institute in terms of its research community, collaboration between existing research centres and groups and consolidation of existing groups and centres has been encouraged and achieved over the past 3 year period. There is however, further scope to build upon this with further possible consolidation and development of collaborative synergies between existing teams of researchers. This would allow a focus on building higher critical mass centred on a select number of high performing research centres embedded within our prioritised research clusters. At present, the institute has six research centres and two research groups. Over the life course of this research strategic plan, a review of the research governance structures of centres operating across the Institute will be undertaken in order to ensure that the Institute continues to be well positioned to take advantage of national and international opportunities in the research and innovation space. The Institute will continue to prioritise its three main research clusters and their associated top performing research teams for support.

Figure 1 illustrates the embedded nature of the 6 research centres across the three primary research clusters. What is apparent is the existing interdisciplinary collaborations between some research centres and that some centres cut across research clusters due to the interdisciplinary nature of their research programmes. One key objective for the next strategic period will be to encourage and support, where appropriate, the development of such linkages between research centres. In tandem with this a key action will be to revise and develop new governance structures around the strategic development of each of the research clusters involving the research leaders, research office, academic schools and the technology transfer office.

Figure 1: DkIT Research Centres and their affiliated thematic areas

Regulated Software Research Centre (RSRC): The Regulated Software Research Centre (RSRC) at DkIT is internationally recognised for medical device software engineering research. They perform research in relation to medical device software processes, medical device software traceability, medical IT Networks and medical device cybersecurity. The RSRC was setup by Dr Fergal Mc Caffery in 2008 and now consists of 30 researchers and during this period the RSRC has secured over €12 million in competitive research funding. The RSRC at DkIT has a strong commitment to the development and evolution of international standards, in relation to both generic software engineering and medical device software development. Over the past 3 years, this commitment has led to the development of a number of new international standards and technical reports, including IEC/TR – 80002-3, IEC/TR 80001-2-7, IEC/TR 80001-2-8 and IEC/TR 80001 2-9.

Smooth Muscle Research Centre (SMRC) The Smooth Muscle Research Centre focuses on the cellular mechanisms underlying physiological function of smooth muscle relevant to disease states including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Our researchers utilize a vast array of experimental techniques in several scientific disciplines including electrophysiological, molecular biological and medicinal chemistry techniques. We have recently led a successful €7.7M EU-funded Interreg project (BREATH) with Partners in QUB and UWS to study the causes, treatment and prevention of COPD. Specific projects include: evaluating the role of different ion channels in bronchoconstriction and bronchodilation in health and disease; use of novel potassium channel openers as bronchodilators; determination of the identity of pacemaker cells in urethra smooth muscle; elucidation of the mechanism of action of beta3 adrenoceptor agonists in the treatment of overactive bladder; unlocking the binding site of novel BK channel openers and examination of interactions between BK alpha subunits and novel accessory proteins (beta and gamma subunits); studying the molecular mechanisms involved in the function of the TMEM16A calcium-activated chloride channel.

Centre for Renewable Energy (CREDIT) Research at the Centre for Renewable Energy (CREDIT) focuses primarily on wind energy and energy storage, owing to the Institute’s impressive infrastructure, which includes an 850 kW rated wind turbine, Campus ice bank, wave tank and associated data monitoring equipment. The Centre has enjoyed continued success with the funding of the EU INTERREG VA SPIRE 2 project which focuses on Distributed Energy Storage of renewable energy and is led by Ulster University. This EU funding in complemented by national funding supporting energy storage and wind research through SEAI RD&D with two projects in 2017. Centre staff are involved with international standards development activities through the IEC and International Energy Agency.

Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Studies (CFES) The Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Studies (CFES) is a vibrant, multidisciplinary research facility, established in 2005 and is structured to facilitate research and educational activities which provide strong basic science training and experience while addressing cross-disciplinary research investigating environmental issues and evaluating effective solutions which have a regional, national, and international focus. The CFES is currently involved in a range of both large-scale and smaller scale projects, which in addition to contributing internationally relevant environmental research, provides relevant scientific information for government agencies, policymakers, communities and other interested parties. Expertise in the centre includes lake and river monitoring, palaeolimnology, soil science and agriculture, organic resources management, wetland ecology, safe and sustainable drinking water provision, microbial ecology, molecular biology, and environmental modelling. Research within the centre is organised under three themes: Lake and Catchment Management, Organic Resources Research, and Water and Development. The CFES has enjoyed significant success in recent years, most notably the awarding of a H2020 Marie Sklodowska Curie Joint Doctorate International Training Network (DkIT as Coordinator) for the MANTEL Project.

Creative Arts Research Centre Creative Arts Research has developed as an area of strength at Dundalk Institute of Technology with innovations contributing to Teaching and Learning, the cultural life of the community in the region, and the academic disciplines. The centre represents the merging of the Music Research Centre Ionad Taighde Ceoil and the Creative Media Research Group, which includes academic membership of 16

staff members from within DkIT’s School of Informatics and Creative Arts. The Centre for Creative Arts Research was designated by an external panel of research active academics who visited the Institute in November 2016 to assess research outputs by DkIT academic staff members to date. The panel was impressed to learn that over a three year period, DkIT researchers in the area of Creative Arts produced 244 single research outputs including, conference presentations, secured research funding, workshops, guest lectures, performances, journal articles and monographs. The centre is currently involved in a number of projects, many of which involve external collaborations with regional industry, community groups and other Higher Education institutions in Ireland and internationally. The centre is committed to attracting more funding and researchers to DkIT in the future and making the research outputs accessible to the local community in the first instance.

Entrepreneurship & Marketing Research Group (EMeRGe) “EMeRGe” is a new Research Group in the area of Entrepreneurship & Marketing. It will conduct research activities across three interconnected thematic areas; Entrepreneurship Education, Entrepreneurial Marketing and Practice Social Enterprise. The overarching aim of EMeRGe is to develop scholarly activity in the area of Entrepreneurship & Marketing and, in so doing, make a valuable and measurable contribution to the field.

Project Highlight – Smooth Muscle Research Centre

Border Area Regional Airways Training Hub (Breath)

Funder: Interreg VA

Duration: 60 months

Start Date: 09/01/2017

Aim: This project will establish a world-class cluster of researchers that will seek to address the clinical, societal and economic burdens associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Beneficiaries (3): Dundalk Institute of Technology (IE)(Coorindator), Queens University Belfast (NI/UK), University of the West of Scotland (SCOT/ UK)

Partner organisations (5): ProAxsis Ltd (NI/UK), Raptor Photonics (NI/UK), Norbrook Laboratories (NI/UK), Axis Biosciences (NI/UK), Prior PLM Medical (IE).

Project Overview: BREATH brings together Partners from DkIT, QUB & UWS to develop innovative approaches to target new treatments for respiratory disorders, create a step change in PhD training and increase industry relevant research capacity. Ireland, (N&S) together with Scotland are world leaders in prevalence rates for chronic respiratory disease; in the EU, Ireland ranks second in death rates from respiratory disease (excluding lung cancer), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major contributor to these. COPD is expected to be the 3rd leading cause of death in Ireland by 2020 (INHALE report). The estimated annual economic burden of COPD in the EU in 2011 was €141.4 billion. BREATH will focus on industry relevant research in airways disease to address the causes, treatment and prevention of airway disease, we need to focus scientific research and training specifically in this area. BREATH will ensure that each of its researchers will receive excellent training through projects that are focused, feasible, intellectually challenging, clinically and commercially relevant and above all, innovative. We will train a total 21 new young researchers and will

significantly impact upon the overall capacity for research and innovation in Health and Life sciences within the Region by increasing

Project Highlight – Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Studies

Management of Climatic Extreme Events in Lakes & Reservoirs for the Protection of Ecosystem Services (MANTEL)

Funder: Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska Curie Innovative Training Network (European Joint Doctorate)

Duration: 48 months

Aim: To train 12 PhD early Stage Researchers in the management of the effects of climatic extreme events in lakes and reservoirs

Beneficiaries (8): Dundalk Institute of Technology (IE) (coordinator); Estonian University of Life Sciences (EE), University of Barcelona (ES), University Geneva (CH), Leibnitz Institute of Freshwater Biology and Inland Fisheries (DE), Netherlands Institute of Ecology Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NL), Catalan Institute for Water Research (ES), Uppsala University (SE).

Partner organisations (10): Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UK), ETH Zurich (CH); Marine Institute (IE); Aigües Ter-Llobregat (water supply, Girona, ES); Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (ES); Catalan Water Authority (ES); Waterboard BrabantseDelta (NL); Witteveen + Bos (NL); Wageningen University (NL); NIVA (NO);,Wageningen University (WU – NL).

Project Overview: Environmental perturbations to freshwater bodies occur largely in the form of episodic climatic events. These range from relatively short mixing events to storms and heat waves. A common characteristic is that their effect is generally longer lasting than the duration of the event itself. Understanding the impact of these events in lakes and reservoirs requires monitoring that captures the event (hours–days) as well as the ensuing impact that can last for months or even years. Only recently have such automated high frequency monitoring (HFM) systems been widely adopted on lakes and reservoirs throughout Europe (www.netlake.org). Extreme weather events are also becoming more frequent, a trend that has been linked to directional climate change and is projected to continue in the coming decades (IPCC 2012). As near real time monitoring of the freshwater environment has become more common, the true importance of such episodic events is becoming clear. Taken together, it is often the sum of multiple events that shape a given freshwater environment within the constraints imposed by regional climate and impact the resilience of the system to respond to change. These new insights require new theoretical frameworks and approaches to managing lakes and reservoirs. This proposed European Joint Doctoral Innovative Training Network brings together eight beneficiaries, supported by ten partners and five awarding universities. This consortium will use their monitoring resources and data archives to train a cohort of 12 Early Stage Researchers to investigate the effects on water quality of the climatic extreme events, while at the same time giving training in state-of-the art technology, data analysis and modelling, and linking to the water management sector. The aim of the proposed programme is, therefore, to ensure that future scientists gain expertise in the effects of episodic and extreme events in lakes and reservoirs, so that future water management strategies in Europe can explicitly account for their occurrence.

Project Highlight - CREDIT

Storage Platform for the Integration of Renewable Energy (SPIRE2)

Funder: Interreg VA – Research and Innovation in Health & Life Sciences and Renewable Energy

Duration: 58 months

Aim: This project will increase the region’s Research and Innovation (R&I) capacity by creating a cross border Virtual Research Graduate School in the area of Mass Energy Storage (MES). It will boost collaboration between Research Institutes and SMEs and intensify technological innovation and commercialisation in the region.

Beneficiaries (4): Ulster University (NI/UK) (Coordinator), Dundalk Institute of Technology (IE), Queens University Belfast (NI/UK), Strathclyde University (Scot/UK).

Partner organisations (14): Arbarr Group (NI/UK), Sunamp (Scot/UK), Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council (NI/UK), Community Energy Scotland (Scot/UK), B9 (NI/UK), Glen Dimplex (NI/UK), Climote (IE), AES (IE), SSE (NI/IE/Scot), Energia (IE/NI), ESB (IE), Paypal (IE), Ulster Farmers Union (NI), The Authentic Food Company (IE).

Project Overview The project will focus on how the wide-scale deployment of MES can allow very high levels of renewable energy to be integrated into power grids globally. Variable renewable energy (VRE) resources (e.g. wind and wave) cannot be controlled, and require measures such as energy storage to integrate them into existing power grids. Energy can be stored in bulk using large-scale storage, or at smaller scales using MES devices, owned and operated by domestic and business consumers. Ireland, NI and Scotland have among the best wind, wave and tidal resources in the world and are regarded globally as a test bed for the deployment of services and technologies to manage very high levels of VRE. MES is crucial to achieving a global transition to clean energy. It allows for optimal use of existing infrastructure, has a less burdensome planning process than large-scale storage, and can be installed rapidly. While progress has been made with large-scale storage, there has been limited development of MES. This project will assess the ability of MES to operate profitably in the UK and Irish electricity markets, and how MES can be used to maximise the whole-life performance of VRE systems operating in harsh environments.

Project Highlight - Netwell/CASALA

ProACT

Funder: H2020 – Personalising Health and Care Research and Innovation

Duration: 42 months

Aim: The overall aim of ProACT will be to implement a novel ICT-AT system to advance and improve integrated care for multimorbidity (including associated comorbidities) management by connecting 4 key care and support models central to understanding and implementing effective, continued and coordinated patient centric care (including selfcare). These models are: 1) homecare 2) hospital care 3) community and social care and 4) social support networks.

Beneficiaries (4): Trinity College Dublin (Co-ordinator) (IE), IBM Research (Global), DkIT (IE), University College Cork (IE)

Partner organisations (8): AIA Bologna Onlus (IT), iMINDS (BE), Treelogic (SP), Phillips (Global), Home Instead (global), European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EU), Agenzia Servizi Alla Personna, Cittia di Bologna (IT).

Project Overview: An estimated 50 million people in the European Union (EU) live with multiple chronic diseases, which deeply impact quality of life. Health systems across the EU and worldwide need to evolve rapidly to address the emerging challenges of long-term care faced by an ageing population, widening social inequalities and financial health budget constraints. Presently health systems are primarily focused on supporting a single disease framework of care. The primary challenge is to create a patient centric integrated care ecosystem in order to understand and manage multimorbidity. To enable effective integrated healthcare delivery, ProACT will focus on the technical infrastructure, but will also indicate how the programme will influence and support the other key areas to effective integrated healthcare by: (i) Addressing vertical and horizontal aspects of integration, combining both patient and service needs into a consolidated approach that provides coordinated and continuous coverage along the continuum of care (e.g. ability to combine patient needs and workflow management to improve clinical and domain knowledge outputs), (ii) Ensuring key benefits to relevant stakeholders in the system are maximized such as increasing patient engagement, reducing healthcare costs, improving workflow organization, coverage of care and efficiency of service provision, (iii) Developing an open data aggregation system to allow for future adoption of health information systems (HIS) and new technologies and (iv) Advancing knowledge to address clinical and non-clinical (e.g. human factors, cultural differences) barriers to integration. ProACT aims to fuse Information Communication Technology and Assistive Technology (ICT-AT) system design with a strong patient centric, social and human factor behaviour change approaches to create a user friendly system that goes beyond the traditional telehealth/telemedicine model.

Project Highlight – Regulated Software Research Centre - RSC

Funder: Science Foundation Ireland – Research Centres

Duration: 64 months

Beneficiaries (5): University of Limerick (Coordinator), University College Dublin, National University of Ireland, Galway, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Dundalk Institute of Technology

Industry Partners: (35): ACI Payment Systems, Aerogen, Allstate Northern Ireland, Almir Business Ltd, Analog Devices, B5, Bluebridge Technology, Dabl, Data Direct Networks, SMI Systems, DELL, Entellexi, Fidelity, Ericsson, Fijuwave, IBM, Information Mosaic, Intel, JBA Consulting, Kuglar Maag Lie, QAD, Lumension, Microsoft, Ocuco, Portable Medical Technolgy Ltd, S3 Group, SQS, Systeam, Statsport, Storm Technology, Toyota, Tullow Oil, United Technologies, Vitalograph

Project Overview: SFI Research Centres link scientists and engineers in partnerships across academia and industry to address crucial research questions; foster the development of new and existing Irish-based technology companies; attract industry that could make an important contribution to Ireland and its economy; and expand educational and career opportunities in Ireland in science and engineering. Lero, an SFI Centre funded in 2015 is the Irish software Research Centre. SFI Research Centre’s are comprised of a Hub and Spoke model, with the Hub represented Core Platform Research and the Spokes, comprising Academic-industry targeted projects. DkIT’s Regulated Software Research Centre (RSRC) is a partner in Hub A: Methods and Standards for High Intregity Systems. The objective of this Hub is to further develop and tailor Software Development Methods to facilitate the increasing demands of contemporary software development environments, such as regulated and

global software development. The RSRC are also partners in two separate Spokes Projects. The first of which is concerned with satisfying regulatory compliances for medical devices. Its objective is to develop techniques and frameworks to help medical device manufacturers satisfy regulations. Software applications are increasingly classified as medical devices, and their development must also be regulated. The second targeted project involves Software for Financial Services and its objective is to integrate accumulated best practice knowledge from 3 software development domains into a hybrid process assessment and improvement model.

Project Highlight – Centre for Creative Arts

Strategic Partnership: Agents of Change in Education

Funder: ERASMUS+

Duration: 36 months

Beneficiaries (6): Artesis Plantijn Hogeschool, Stord Haugesund University College in Norway, CMSM - Curso de Musica Silva Monteiro in Portugal, Speel je wijs in the Netherlands and RESEO- European Network for Opera and Dan in Belgium, Dundalk Institute of Technology

Industry Partners: (3): Speel je wijs in the Netherlands, RESEO- European Network for Opera and Dance in Belgium, European Space Agency

Project Overview: Our project will be realized in the transversal domain, using innovative methods in which science, art, ICT and education are explored within a common entrepreneurial framework. Quality and relevance will be improved by enhancing creative elements of in-training teachers' learning processes, and by allowing them to experience entrepreneurship as both a goal and a method. SPACE will thereby create a framework within which both entrepreneurship and creative learning processes may occur as part of the science curriculum. The reasoning behind this is that Science, Arts, ICT and Education, even though different in their domains and objects, share some basic problems and a creative approach to knowledge. By creating a common entrepreneurial framework, as well as multidisciplinary teams, participants are encouraged to collaborate with others using their own expertise but also creativity as a shared language, a means of communication. The specific methodological approach which we plan to use is Write a Science Opera (WASO), a cross-disciplinary approach to science and art teaching in which an inquiry-based science teaching structure is extended to include the arts in each step of the pupil´s inquiry process. The project will involve realizing innovative didactical models for the teaching of science and technology during practicum activities in Norwegian, Belgian, Irish, Portugese and Dutch pre-primary, primary and secondary schools (age 3 to 14 years). Our project aims to allow creative arts students to be inspired by technological innovation, and to contribute to it. Engaging in a dialogue with a leading entrepreneurial European organization (ESTEC) will allow them to understand the necessary mindsets and ways of thinking behind today’s foremost innovations.

Regional Development Centre Within DkIT, the Regional Development Centre (RDC), acts as the commercially oriented interface between DkIT and the industrial, commercial and business life of the region, has been an engine for regional economic growth and development since 1989.

The RDC makes available the expertise, facilities and resources of the Institute for the wider benefit of the regional economy and provides extensive enterprise support that is supplemented through ongoing research. The work of the Regional Development Centre ranges from the promotion of entrepreneurship to students, supporting knowledge based start up businesses and providing specialized supports to meet the needs of established business through innovation and applied research projects.

The Centre, which has received ISO9001:2008 certification, provides:

Business Development Support Services aimed at Innovative knowledge-based start-up

enterprises.

The supports offered are provided through the following programmes:

• Business Viability Assessment (for early stage concept testing)

• Enterprise Development (to develop the idea into a business plan for investment and implementation)

• Incubation support (to launch the business, conduct product and process development R&D and develop the customer base)

• Graduator support (where the business is consolidating and trading).

Knowledge Transfer Services:

Aimed at established enterprises and external organisations. These services include:

• Innovation support services

• Business growth and transition

• Sectoral support (e.g. digital content)

• Applied Research that links organisational R&D needs with the Research expertise of the Institute

• Consultancy and Advisory services of a customised nature

• Technology Transfer.

Support for the Commercialisation of Institute Intellectual Property.

This service is aimed at identifying, protecting and exploiting IP developed through the Institutes research activities. The services include:

• Auditing Commercialisation potential

• Provision of IP protection advice and access to specialist advice and financial support programmes

• Commercialisation services and partnering opportunities.

Special Development Projects of a strategic nature:

Undertaken on behalf of the Institute and in partnership with external partners and agencies.

During this time, the RDC has accumulated a vast volume of primary data and knowledge on how to support knowledge based start-up entrepreneurs, how to grow businesses and how to support sectoral clusters and networks.

Achievements during 2015/2016 include:

Incubation Support Programme: There were 20 companies incubated, average of 85% occupancy in the Incubation Centre at the RDC with 12 hot desk clients. The Centre also had 4 clients on the Honeycomb creative Works Virtual Incubation programme. The Millmount Development Centre had 4 companies and 2 hot desk clients during the period with average of 80% occupancy. Millmount Development Centre incubation tenant was the Regional winner Connacht & Leinster in the New Start category of the IntertradeIreland Seedcorn competition.

New Frontiers Programme: During the reporting period the New Frontiers Programme supported 47 start-ups throughout Cavan, Louth, Meath, Monaghan and Dublin North. The Programme is delivered by DkIT in collaboration with Invent DCU.

Hotdesk/ Concept’ Space: The Centre offers hotdesking space to start-ups on the New Frontiers Programme and also to Spin-In companies. This provides a mechanism to create and maintain a pipeline into incubation proper.

Student Enterprise: Since 2007, the Regional Development Centre at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) had spearheaded the promotion of an Enterprise Culture on the campus that included the launching of the Student Enterprise Intern Programme. The Student Enterprise Intern (SEI) Programme had 4 interns working for 18 hours per week promoting entrepreneurship throughout the campus whilst studying for a Master’s Degree (funded through a scholarship provided by DkIT). Throughout the academic year the SEI programme managed many initiatives including organising enterprise orientated competitions and guest speaking events with a mix of established and start-up entrepreneurs. Following the successful mix of Student and Non Student entrepreneurs under the IOTA Programme in 2014, a decision was made to continue with this for the 2015 programme however was discontinued from June 16 due to budgetary constraints. The Bright Ideas Programme (BIP) was rebranded the Ideas Foundry and was delivered by the RDC using the WKI methodology for which the RDC received certification during 2015. This programme adopted a coach approach and numbers were limited to 6 participants to ensure the maximum impact on each business idea. A Student led Enterprise Society was in place in 2015. The RDC had on-going engagement during this year in the national CEEN Initiative aimed at embedding entrepreneurship education.

Technology Transfer (TT) and Applied Research Activity: During this year, the following TT activities were completed:

2015/2016

Collaborative Research 10

Spinout Licence 2

Spinout company 2

SubContract / SLA 1

Assignment 3

IP Licence 1

IntertradeIreland Fusion Projects: 9 completed

Innovation Vouchers: 19 completed.

OECD and HEInnovate – Embedding Entrepreneurship DkIT has been identified as a leading exemplar for embedding entrepreneurship in higher education by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A case study released by the OECD earlier this month and showcased at the HEInnovate Dissemination Event in DCU on 31st May, describes the strong culture of enterprise and innovation that permeates DkIT and examines the Institute’s strategic approach to developing entrepreneurial behaviours in its students and staff. Minister of State for Training and Skills, John Halligan opened the HEInnovate conference and the Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton opened the afternoon session. Both Ministers were present for only two of the sessions to include:

• Richard Thorn speaking exclusively about his experience of DkIT in developing the case study for the OECD

• Annmarie McHugh, Lecturer at DkIT speaking on Entrepreneurship and the use of the HEInnovate model at DkIT.

In addition, DkIT presents at the recent HEInnovate Conference in Brussels 19/20 May showcasing the Institute’s work in this area. The attendance included representatives from across Europe.

12. Campus Developments

In 2012, the Institute acquired the former JJB Fitness Centre, Soccer Dome and Ice Dome on a 12-acre site adjacent the inner relief road Dundalk for €3 million. The property occupies a strategic location just off the N52/M1 Motorway on the Inner Relief Road approximately 3kms south of Dundalk town centre. DkIT is approximately 1.3kms west of the property. The Institute invested a further €1million in the refurbishment of the facility known as DkITSport and consists of a swimming pool 19.6m x 8.5m, changing rooms, sauna, gym area , 2 aerobic studios, bar/restaurant,12 indoor 5-a -side soccer pitches with changing and party rooms. The total floor area of the soccer dome is 9,395m². The total floor area of the fitness Club, Swimming Pool, Bar/Restaurant area is 3,687m².

The DkIT Sport Arena and Fitness Centre opened on Monday 29 June, 2015. The facility is being operated by Aura Holohan Leisure who are leaders in this field and who operate 10 other centres throughout Ireland. The facility is one of the best in the country and the fitness centre in particular is acknowledged to have state-of-the-art equipment. Public interest has been very strong with high membership registrations. DkIT Sport will employ 35 people (staff will be employed by Aura Holohan Leisure, not directly by DkIT) and a jobs announcement was made at DkIT Sport by Minister of State for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mr. Ged Nash, T.D. on Monday, 6 July, 2015.

DkIT submitted its “Urgent Capital Requirements at DkIT” Submission April 2016 to the HEA setting out a list of capital requirements.

13. Strategic Developments The DkIT Strategic Plan 2011-2016, Towards a Sustainable Future, was approved by the DkIT Governing Body on the 17 December 2012 and officially launched in March 2013 by Minister Fergus O’Dowd, Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. It covers the period 2011-2016 and was updated in 2012 to reflect DkIT’s strategic position in the National Higher Education Landscape.

DkIT’s Strategic Plan was developed within the context of the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 and subsequent papers published by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on the future landscape of higher education.

DkIT’s vision, as set out in its Strategic Plan 2011-2016, is to provide university-level higher education to graduates who will excel in their specialised discipline and have the creativity, confidence, resilience and entrepreneurial flair to thrive in the 21st Century. Working sustainably and with a practical focus, we will help lead the regeneration of the North-East region by acting locally and thinking globally.

DkIT is fully committed to its role in the economic, social and cultural development of the region. It’s strategic plan has a particular focus on developing learners and graduates with the following qualities:

• Excellent in their discipline;

• Able to apply disciplinary and trans-disciplinary knowledge, especially focussing on entrepreneurship and sustainability;

• Able to contribute globally as well as locally;

• Personal and employability qualities to include an ability to solve complex problems; critical thinking; systems thinking and capacity for on-going learning.

DkIT Draft Mission-based Performance Compact Following the outcome of the HEA strategic dialogue cycle 2 process, Dundalk Institute of Technology submitted its revised Mission-based Performance Compact in March 2016. The Compact is showing a reduced number of more high level strategic objectives that better reflects the intent and direction of the Institute. Following the approval by the HEA on 23rd May 2016 of the Institute’s revised Mission-based Performance Compact, the Institute has compiled and submitted its 2015 Progress Report detailing its performance against targets across its institutional objectives as set out in the Compact.

The report identified that DkIT has made substantial progress in respect of the broad range of targets under its seven priority headings. Overall 78% (40) of the targets have been met or exceeded, 20% (10) of the targets are partially met and just 2% (1) of the targets is not met. Among the many achievements in 2015, those of note include:

• Formal Signing of MOU with Dublin/Leinster II Cluster (also referred to as the Midlands,East,

North Dublin (MEND)1 Cluster;

• Cited by the OECD as a best practice exemplar for embedding entrepreneurship education;

• Awarded prestigious HR Excellence in Research Award by the European Commission;

• Awarded the Team ‘Teaching Expert Award’ from the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning;

• Opening of Student Sports Complex to enhance student services;

• 10 Year Anniversary of the Iconic Wind Turbine on Campus, the first of its kind in the HEI sector in Ireland.

• The Institute achieved 3 spin-outs companies from the commercialisation of its research.

Following the review by the HEA, the Institute welcomed the positive feedback presented in the HEA’s Reflection of Performance document and the acknowledgement that DkIT is among the top performing IoTs within the sector in relation to research, engagement and internationalisation.

14. Human Resources Department

14.1 New Staff A total number of 35 new staff joined DkIT during the period August 2015 to September 2016.

14.2 Leavers & Retirees 30 staff left the DkIT during the period August 2015 to September 2016. This number includes 13 staff who retired.

15. Irish Language Scheme Overview In 2014 Dundalk Institute of Technology published its second Irish Language Scheme (2014-2017) which sets out its commitments as a Public Body under Section 11 of the Official Languages Act 2003.

Having embedded the Act as part of its day to day operations with its first scheme (2010-2013) the Institute’s second scheme allows DkIT to build on progress made to date, thus ensuring a more natural engagement with the language, and furthers the capability of the Institute to meet its requirements with regard to the Act. This has created a positive bilingual corporate image and environment by promoting use of the Irish language on campus and enabled implementation of its current Irish Language Scheme (2014-2017). While progress has been on a positive trend, the economic downturn of recent years, and subsequent budgetary adjustments have had an impact on the level of provision and maintenance of services DkIT could provide on an Institute-wide basis, including certain commitments contained in the Irish Language Scheme.

An Coimisinéir Teanga | The Irish Language Commissioner

Correspondence was received from An Coimisinéir Teanga during the interim review period (2016) of the second scheme highlighting certain shortcomings in relation to commitments given in its second scheme by DkIT. An internal review was undertaken by the Institute where it was determined that recruitment of a dedicated Irish Language Officer was necessary to oversee implementation of this and subsequent schemes.

Recruitment of Irish Language Officer A dedicated Irish Language Officer was recruited by the Institute commencing work in July 2016, demonstrating Dundalk Institute of Technology’s commitment to supporting the spirit of the Official Languages Act, creating a positive environment for, and enabling provision of services in the Irish language.

Progress Bilingual services across the Institute as a whole have been enhanced. However, the Institute recognises the importance of the continued expansion and enhancement of bilingual services. Accordingly, the Institute’s objective is to continue to deliver on these commitments and to enhance the level of service provided. Communications are increasingly being carried out bilingually. A large amount of Institute documentation has been prepared in bilingual format over the past three years and the Institute is committed to further enhancing the provision of Irish language literature and communications during the tenure of this and subsequent schemes in the following areas:

• Job descriptions, brochures, application forms and information leaflets (as outlined in Appendix 1 of DkIT Irish Language Scheme 2014-2017)

• Publications (see sections 2.6 & 2.7 of DkIT Irish Language Scheme 2014-2017)

• Website (see section 2.9 of DkIT Irish Language Scheme 2014-2017)

16. Audited Accounts 16.1 Comptroller and Auditor General

16.2 Consolidated Income and Expenditure

16.3 Consolidated Balance Sheet

DkIT Annual Report · 2020. 10. 28. · DkIT Annual Report 2015 - 2016 2 6.Library 19 6.1Library...

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