Institute of Technology Blanchardstown
Annual Report
1 September 2016 – 31 August 2017
Annual Reports 2016-2017
Contents
Governing Body Chairperson’s Statement 3 President’s Introduction 4 Governance and Management 5 Governing Body 5 Governing Body fees and expenses 6 Senior Management group 6 Academic Council 7 Academic Activities 8 Research Activities 8 School of Business 10 School of Humanities 14 School of Informatics and Engineering 16 Learning and Innovation Centre (LINC) 18 Student Services 21 Library 23 Human Resources 25 Civic Engagement 26 Campus Development 32 Technological University for Dublin 33 Student and Staff Profile 35 Student Profile 35 Staff Profile 38 Diversity 41 Energy Efficiency Progress and Overview of Energy Usage 2016-2017 43 External Funding Received from other Government Agencies 44 External Consultancy Firms 44 Formal Representation of the Institute on External Boards/Groups 45 Selection of Notable Highlights 47 Selection of Staff Publications 49
Financial Statements 54
Appendix 86
Governing Body Meeting Record 2016-2017 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Governing Body Chairperson’s Statement
As Chairperson of the Governing Body, I am delighted to present the Annual Report for the academic year 2016- 2017.
This report shows critical work on the path to our transformation to a Technological University and the wide consultation process that showed open and engaging discussion across the Institute, enterprise and wider stakeholder groups.
The Governing Body believes that the Institute is central to future economic development in the region and that there are broad social and cultural advantages to widening participation in higher education.
The next few years will be an exciting time in the Institute’s history as it continues to support the needs of the people of Blanchardstown and the greater Dublin and Meath regions.
Professor Tom Collins
Governing Body Chairperson
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President’s Introduction
In my new role as President, I am pleased to introduce, at an important time in our development, our Annual Report for the period of 1 September 2016 – 31 August 2017.
With the help of our strategic plan working group, we established a process which identified six institutional priorities over the next three academic years as we strive to become part of a Technological University. The culmination of this inclusive consultative process is a road map of what ITB aspires to achieve. It is a clear statement of our future direction and has the support of our stakeholders, staff and students.
Although the current climate that faces all third level institutes is complex and changing, ITB’s current position and relative financial health is a result of sensible and prudent decision-making within ITB that will allow us to continue to move forward, change and grow.
Above all else, ITB will continue to offer relevant and flexible programmes, make education accessible to all, and provide an unrivalled student experience. The education we provide will make a real difference to the lives of our students and the community in which we serve.
Dr. Diarmuid O’Callaghan President
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Governance and Management
Governance and management is controlled primarily by three interconnected bodies, namely the Governing Body, the Senior Management team and the Academic Council.
Governance and Management Structure
Executive Management
Academic Council
Governing Body
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
% Male % Female
Governing Body
The Governing Body is constituted in accordance with the Institute of Technology Act 1992–2006. Its membership is as outlined in Section 6 of the Regional Technical Colleges Act 1992 and its core functions are as outlined in Section 8 of the Institutes of Technology Act 2006.
Following is a list of the Governing Body members for the term of this annual report:
Prof. Tom Collins - Chairperson Cllr. Vincent Jackson (Commenced December 2016) Dr. Diarmuid O’Callaghan - President Ms. Rose Callan (Commenced December 2016) Dr. Annette Clancy (Ceased December 2016) Mr. Tom Mulvey (Commenced December 2016) Ms. Sharon McGrath Ms. Pamela Kelly (Commenced August 2017)
Cllr. Aine Clancy (Ceased December 2016) Mr. Peter Hodson (Commenced December 2016) Dr. Brian Nolan (Ceased December 2016) Dr. Eoghan Hanrahan (Commenced December 2016)
Mr. Joe Fox (Ceased December 2016) Mr. Mark O’Brien (Commenced December 2016) Ms. Pamela Kelly (Resigned 27 January 2017) Mr. Denis Murphy (Secretary – Resigned February 2017) Mr. Ivan Keatley (Ceased December 2016) Ms. Bronagh Elliott (Secretary – Commenced February 2017) Mr. Jason Aughney (Student President – Mr. Conor Dempsey (Student President – Commenced Resigned February 2017) August 2017) Mr. Pat Ward (Ceased December 2016) Dr. Cepta Duffy (Ceased December 2016) Ms. Maura Cassidy Ms. Naomi Dixon (Commenced December 2016) Mr. Patrick Bowler Mr. Joe Halvey (Ceased December 2016) Mr. Paul McEvoy Mr. Mike O’Byrne (Commenced December 2016) Mr. Ronan Keaskin (Ceased December 2016) Cllr. Sarah Reilly (Commenced December 2016) Cllr. Mary McCamley
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Governing Body Fees & Expenses
The Governing Body fees and expenses for the relevant year are listed below:
2016/17 Governing Body Fees & Expenses € Travel & Subsistence 67 Interview Honoraria 2,850
Other 0 Total 2,917
Senior Management Group
The Senior Management group is comprised of the President, the Registrar, the Heads of School, the Head of Leadership and Organisational Development, and the Secretary/Financial Controller. Its functions as a management team are to:
• Agree and pursue strategic goals for core activities of the Institute.
• Make decisions and assign actions relating to resource management and communications.
• Review key performance dates.
• Report to the Governing Body and staff bodies as required.
The members for the period of this report were:
Dr. Diarmuid O’Callaghan (President from September 2016)
Dr. Larry McNutt (Head of School of Informatics and Engineering up to November 2016, Registrar from November 2016)
Ms. Eileen Quinn (Leadership and Organisational Development)
Mr. Denis Murphy (Secretary/Financial Controller up to February 2017)
Ms. Bronagh Elliott (Secretary/Financial Controller from April 2017)
Dr. Anthony Keane (Head of School of Informatics and Engineering from January 2017)
Ms. Assumpta Harvey (Head of School of Business from December 2016)
Dr. Pat O’Connor (Head of School of Humanities)
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Academic Council
The Academic Council is constituted in accordance with Section 10 of the Regional Technical Colleges Act 1992 and carries out the functions as outlined therein. The Academic Council is a statutory body responsible for academic matters within the Institute. It has the major task of formulating and implementing the Institute’s academic policies.
The Academic Council is responsible for the quality of all academic activities within the Institute and is comprised of 13 unelected ex officio members, 17 elected members of academic staff, 1 elected support staff member, and 2 elected students. Each Academic Council is elected for a term of three years, except for the student members who are elected annually.
Members of the Academic Council for the period 2 May 2014 – 28 February 2018 shall be as follows:
Dr. Diarmuid O’Callaghan (ex officio) Dr. Larry McNutt (ex officio)
Dr. Anthony Keane (ex officio) Dr. Pat O’Connor (ex officio)
Mr. Bob O’Mhurcú (ex officio) Dr. Fiona Malone (ex officio)
Mr. Michael Keane (ex officio) Ms. Assumpta Harvey (ex officio)
Ms. Aidín O’Sullivan (ex officio) Mr. Jason Aughney (ex officio)
Dr. Cormac Doran (ex officio) Dr. Philip Owende (ex officio)
Mr. Richard Gallery (ex officio) Ms. Ann Murphy
Dr. Kevin Farrell Mr. David Murphy
Dr. Matthew Smith Mr. Damian Cox
Dr. Aiden Carthy Mr. Gerome Donnelly
Ms. Fionnuala Darby Mr. Michael Hagan
Dr. Geraldine Gray Dr. Barry Kirkpatrick
Dr. Jennifer Cowman Mr. Tom Nolan
Ms. Georgina Lawlor Dr. Stephen Sheridan
Ms. Sandra Ratcliffe Ms. Sinead Dunne
Ms. Shauna Garry Ms. Mabel Azibora Amob
Mr. Conor Dempsey
Ms. Bronagh Elliott
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Academic Activities
ITB provides a broad range of academic programmes between levels 6 and 9 on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). These are designed to meet regional and national requirements with an emphasis on:
• Specialist higher education for leading-edge industries in the region
• Upgrading of specialist technical/technological skills
• Continuing education and meeting the needs of mature students
• In-service courses, retraining and updating of skills
• Addressing learner special needs arising from educational disadvantage or disability
32 full-time programmes and 23 part-time programmes were offered for the academic year 2016/2017. In addition, the Institute responded to the needs of the economy and offered several up-skilling programmes to the unemployed under the Springboard+ upskilling initiative in higher education. This initiative offers free courses at certificate, degree and masters level leading to qualifications in areas where there are employment opportunities in the economy. Springboard+ is co-funded by the Irish government and the European Social Fund as part of the ESF programme for employability, inclusion and learning 2014–2020.
The ladder system of progression between courses provides opportunities for students to progress from Higher Certificate to Ordinary Bachelor Degree and on to Honours Bachelor Degree and Postgraduate levels. To see the full range of courses currently available in ITB, check out our web page at www.itb.ie.
Research Activities
ITB recognises that one of its core activities is Research and has established itself as a significant member of the research community within the third level education sector in Ireland since it opened in 1999. The LINC Centre (Learning and Innovation Centre) at ITB is the centre which supports the research activities taking place in the Institute, supporting technology transfer activities, applied research links with industry, and links to the funding agencies for the research activities in the Institute.
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Since it opened in 1999 funding has been secured from:
• The Technological Sector Postgraduate R&D Skills Training Programme
• Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation Partnership scheme, where the Institute has teamed up with local companies to conduct R&D to improve processes and procedures
• Enterprise Ireland’s Proof Of Concept funding, which allows the development of a possible commercial activity
• Enterprise Ireland’s Research Equipment grant
• The Embark Initiative
• The Higher Education Authority, including the Research Funding Enhancement Scheme
• Leonardo Da Vinci programmes
ITB has been very successful in linking with SMEs through the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Scheme, which allows enterprises to link with third level Institutions to enable the enterprise to complete innovative research and development for the growth of their business.
For further information on any aspect of R&D or knowledge transfer activities, contact ITB’s Industrial Liaison Manager, Claire MacNamee, on (01) 885 1502 or email [email protected]
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School of Business
Teaching and Learning
The School of Business, with over 1,000 students and 60 full-time and part-time staff, is primarily focused on the development and provision of courses in Business and Sports Management and Coaching. The range of courses offered reflects the diversity of higher education opportunities available at the Institute and includes the disciplines of:
• Business • Business • Accounting & Finance • Business and Information Technology • International Business (incl. languages) • Digital Marketing • Sports management and Coaching
Courses are developed and delivered to enable students to acquire the knowledge, develop the skills, and cultivate the attitudes necessary for success in employment. Both the theoretical and practical aspects of each course are reviewed regularly to ensure ongoing relevance to career opportunities in the industrial, commercial and service sectors.
The newly validated Digital Marketing Programme saw the first intake of students to both the level 8 (Honours) degree and level 7 (Ordinary) degree. A level 6 minor award from this programme, ‘Certificate in Digital Enterprise’, was also funded under the Springboard+ 2017 awards.
A high level of motivation and commitment is necessary for students to reach their full potential. The learning process is facilitated within a positive and supportive environment, which encourages students to access the most up-to-date technologies and other resources provided at ITB.
During this period, the School enhanced the experience of students through Peer Mentoring, supporting the first year experience while also developing the mentoring skills of students from other years. Staff also worked with students to enhance their learning experience by developing the following:
• GPA App prototype to support the student in their understanding of the GPA system • ITB progression animation & process map graphic • Student Interactive Guide to Referencing • Comic book on academic writing, ‘ITB investigates Academic Assignments’
In the Accounting & Finance programme, work placement was introduced at the end of third year for those undertaking the level 8 Honours degree in Accounting & Finance.
Professional Accreditation is seen as one way of linking to industry standards. In this period, the Business and IT lecturers developed a programme to be included as part of the curriculum allowing students to get Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) accreditation.
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Engagement
Key to the strategic development of the School is engagement with both industry and the community. Engagement is attained through main avenues in the School such as:
• Guest speakers • Project work • Work placement • Business seminars/colloquia • Involvement of industry in the design, development and review of programmes • Involvement of industry in the hiring of staff
A key engagement event which took place in May 2017 was the seminar ‘Brexit in Blanchardstown: How changes in the EU can impact locally’.
The purpose of the seminar was to give industries the opportunity to hear the Irish Government’s perspective on Brexit and also to listen to the perspective of the British Irish Chamber, a key body assisting Irish companies to work in and with British companies. The panel for the seminar included:
• Regina Doherty TD, Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Meath East: ‘The Irish Government’s Perspective on Brexit’
• John McGrane, Director General British Irish Chamber of Commerce: ‘The Perspective of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce’
• Anne Lanigan, Brexit Manager Enterprise Ireland: ‘Support from Enterprise Ireland’
INSERT PHOTO
Figure 1 Brexit Panel: Anne Lanigan, Dr. Diarmuid O’Callaghan, Regina Doherty TD, John McGrane
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This seminar was followed by a roundtable discussion with the industries present on the particular skills needed by industry and how ITB, and in particular the School of Business at ITB, could support them.
The Business and IT lecturers also held a colloquium with industry for students to hear directly about career paths and options in this industry. Speakers included IBM, Capventis, Integrity360, and IT Solutions.
As well as industry engagement, there was strong community engagement. Community engagement enables students and staff to support local community organisations, schools and sports organisations, while also allowing students to develop key skills. Engagement included:
• Coaching clinics and schemes in place with many schools (including St Luke’s Tyrellstown, Portmarnock N.S., Lucan CBS) and clubs (including Dunderry, Garda GFC, Foxrock Cabinteely Ladies GFC, Ballymun GFC, basketball clubs, Paralympians, RCSI, rugby clubs)
• Engagement with local and national sports organisations to link undergraduate research projects to community and industry needs
• Fourth year students in Sports Management and Coaching engaging with community through the Bumbleance charity (www.bumbleance.com), including piloting the ‘School of Excellence’ for Meath primary schools through Dungany Meath GAA, and the All Dublin primary schools competition
Engagement also took place internationally with partner institutes in Europe, the US and Canada to facilitate student exchanges, particularly for those taking languages as part of their courses.
Figure 2: Roundtables held with industry May 2017
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Research
Research is seen as a core activity for staff and for our students as we move towards a Technological University and thus research activities increased in this period among our academic staff, while also enabling the undergraduates to develop key research skills. Many academics are enhancing their research by undertaking PhD studies, supervising postgraduate students, applying for funding to develop research capability, writing research papers, attending conferences, and/or partnering with international institutes.
Funding was received from the FAI to complete research on their behalf and also from the AIB Innovation Fund to enhance research activities at ITB. Staff also presented papers at the annual conference of the European Accounting Association (Valencia) and the British Accounting & Finance Association (Edinburgh).
Figure 3: Open Day @ ITB
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School of Humanities
The School of Humanities was established on 1 January 2017 following the restructuring of the School of Business and Humanities into two Schools, a School of Business and a School of Humanities, as part of a restructuring process by the Institute at the end of 2016.
The School of Humanities has a single department: the Department of Humanities.
In the academic year 2016/2017 there were over 900 students in the School partaking in programmes from NFQ level 6 to NFQ level 9, supported by 37 academic staff, 1 full-time administrator, and 1 shared administrator (School of Business).
Following the splitting of the School, academic staff relocated to the schools in which their departments were located, with some language lecturers relocating to the School/Department of Business. A number of lecturers remained in the School/Department of Humanities and continued to deliver language modules across the two Schools.
Engagement activities in the School of Humanities
Collaboration with Fingal County Council continued, with the School actively involved in Fingal Age Friendly Alliance and with Fingal Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) and with Dublin Rural LEADER LAG (Local Action Group). Activities continued between the Department of Humanities and the Engagement Office of the Learning Exchange initiative within Fingal County Council and the Department of Social Protection. The Head of School of Humanities, Dr. Pat O’Connor, was appointed Chair of Fingal LCDC and of Dublin Rural LEADER LAG in March 2016.
The joint venture with the Daughters of Charity continued to be delivered, allowing for young people with intellectual disabilities to experience learning opportunities. Six Daughters of Charity learners will graduate in November 2017 and it is planned to commence a new cohort in September 2017. This has been an excellent initiative with benefits experienced by Daughters of Charity learners, all students involved, and all ITB staff involved.
Student engagement was enhanced during this period through the continued roll out of Peer Mentoring. The Peer Mentoring Programme is made available to all incoming first years. This programme helps new students settle into life at ITB so that they can fully enjoy and benefit from everything the college has to offer. Students meet with and learn from the experiences of students in ITB who have once been in their shoes. Mentors apply from the student cohort already here and it allows them to develop:
• Communication skills • Strong teamwork • Leadership • Organisational skills
The Head of School of Humanities, Dr. Pat O’Connor, was involved with the Erasmus+ EU project ‘EP-Dem Labs’. This project tackles the issue of youth social disengagement linked to education, training and employability
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Department of Humanities
The Department of Humanities delivers programmes in:
• Applied Social Studies (Social Care)
• Early Childhood Care and Education
• Community and Youth Development
• Information Provision and Advocacy Practice
The Higher Certificate in Information Provision and Advocacy Practice was developed for the Citizens Information Board for the purposes of training and upskilling employees and volunteers. Delivered nationally using blended learning, the programme commenced in September 2016 with a cohort of 35 students.
To foster a love of reading in young students, the Early Childhood Care and Education students worked on the Story Sacks Project. In this project, the students were given a well-known children’s story, e.g. ‘We Are Going on a Bear Hunt’ by Michael Rosen, and then created a sack filled with props and games to bring the story to life for their young audiences in local schools.
Following a collaborative project with Fingal Libraries, ECCE student Orlagh McDonald published a children’s book with an equality and inclusiveness theme. This book has been very well received.
Pictured: Orlagh McDonald, Early Childhood Care and Education student
The Senior Lecturer in Languages, Dr. Ruth Harris, worked with local radio station Phoenix FM to develop English language supports for new communities. The programme, entitled ‘English for Living’, was supported by funding from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
Two lecturers from the Department of Humanities, Mr. Gaël LeRoux and Dr. Kevin Murphy, were awarded Teaching Hero Awards from the National Forum for Teaching and Learning this year.
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School of Informatics and Engineering
The School of Informatics and Engineering is made up of two main departments. The Department of Informatics has three main disciplines: Computing, Cyber Security and Creative Digital Media, while the Department of Engineering also has three main disciplines: Engineering, Trades (plumbing) and Horticulture. Engineering is itself made up of sub-disciplines such as Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics and Computer Engineering. The School has 60 full-time lecturers, 10 part-time lecturers and approximately 1,600 students.
The School’s mission is to support and implement the Institute’s strategic plan and to uphold the mission statement of the college. Key priorities for the School have been to grow student numbers, improve retention and progression statistics, and increase the research capacity of the School. Other goals have been to increase the number of partnerships with companies and to continue to make a positive impact on the community. Open Days and Open Evening Events are hosted periodically for the public to visit the college, see what courses are run, and talk to staff and students.
Disciplines have undergraduate degrees and postgraduate taught degrees leading to Higher Diploma and Master of Science qualifications. There are also a growing number of research postgraduates studying for MSc and PhD awards in a number of different research areas like Network and Cyber Security, Cyber Bullying, Linguistics and Natural Language Technology, Teaching and Learning, Data Science and Analytics, Gamification, Biomedical, Internet of Things, and Green Energy. There are currently 16 students doing masters or PhD research in the department and 10 staff.
Funding by the HEA Springboard+ initiative has continued for several programmes within the School, at NFQ levels 6, 8 and 9, and this has been a great success in getting people off welfare and back into employment. There have been many seminars, showcases and public events hosted by the School, including the annual Creative Digital Media showcase ‘Kaleidoscope’ which showcases the final year projects in digital media, file, photo, interactive computer applications, and other areas from the students. Several Cyber Security Challenges were held by various members of staff that catered to industry and an inter-universities competition. These competitions are sponsored by companies such as Integrity360 and IBM and have been a great showcase for the Cyber Security courses and talented graduates from ITB. Presentations were also delivered at the HEAnet annual conference, the European Cyber Warfare and Security conference in Dublin.
Each department has implemented new student retention initiatives, including enhancement of student support by modules and participation in Peer Mentoring programmes under the First Year Experience Team.
Gender balancing in the student cohort is an area of continuous concern for the School and Institute, especially in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) areas. To this end, several members of staff run a programme with secondary schools to introduce female students to the STEM areas with in-house workshops and visits to companies to meet females working in STEM-related fields. The School has also reached out into the community by running a series of Summer Camps such as Coding4Girls and Cyber Security. These have been very popular and successful at generating awareness among 12 to 18 year old students.
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The number of International students coming to study in the School has increased this year to 34 students coming from India, Oman and Malaysia. Strategic MOUs have been signed with India, Malaysia and Brazil to allow staff to engage in exchanges. The Erasmus programme continues to bring approximately 15 students into the School, mainly from Spain, France, Austria and Bulgaria.
The Cisco Academy continues to grow with 28 local academies now partnering with ITB as their Regional Training/ Support Academy. Cisco awarded ITB a special recognition for the contribution it makes to the programme and awarded bursaries to staff to travel to their annual Cisco World Conference.
The School has won a number of eTenders to deliver education support to Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet for Cyber Security and Data Science. They also support the new Learn & Work programme in Networking Technologies which is an apprentice-like alternative course to the CAO for students, with two-thirds of the students’ time spent in the workplace and one-third of their time in the college. This course started in September 2016 with 26 students who then began their work experience at the end of January 2017. Feedback from the companies is that they like this arrangement and are now looking for more students from these types of courses.
Research has continued to grow across the School in line with the Strategic Plan for the Institute. The numbers of research-active staff and research students have increased substantially and one research student was successful in defending her thesis and awarded a PhD. Two members of staff have been awarded Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation funding to take their research to the market. One project is called Cloudstream and is working with a company to provide next generation software defined networking solutions for the Internet Service Providers. The other project is developing an energy conservation mechanism for turning Green energy into consumable power. Another staff member has filed a patent for detecting a third party interception during a proximity transaction.
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Learning and Innovation Centre (LINC)
The Learning and Innovation Centre (LINC) is the Research, Innovation, Enterprise and External Engagement Hub at ITB. Our centre provides a front door through which industry can engage with ITB. There are many ways in which industry can do this, ranging from work placements, graduate recruitment and industry training programmes through to start-up business supports and partnerships for research and development.
Achievements of the LINC during this period are listed under the three areas of:
1. Industry Training and Engagement 2. Research 3. Start-up
1. Industry Training and Development
Process Instrumentation and Control, 26 October 2016 – 21 December 2016: This bespoke programme was delivered for the upskilling of maintenance technicians at Bristol Myers Squibb Cruiserath (BMS). The 8-day programme was run with 8 participants from end of October to end of December 2016. The programme originated from an existing relationship between ITB lecturing staff and instrumentation/automation personnel at BMS.
Certificate in Water Mains and Supply, 12 October 2016 – 14 December 2016: In 2012, the Water Services department of Fingal County Council collaborated with ITB in the design and validation of a bespoke Special Purpose Award for the upskilling of water mains crews involved in the upgrading of the water supply infrastructure. ITB continues to date to deliver this 8-day training programme to Fingal Water Crews through the Certificate in Water Mains and Supply Programme. The delivery in October 2016 involved 11 participants.
Foundation Energy Skills (FES), 10 May 2017 – 7 June 2017: The Certificate in Low Energy Building Construction (FES) course was developed as part of the EU-funded QualiBuild project 2013–2016. Under the project, a Foundation Energy Skills (FES) programme was developed for the upskilling of construction workers on low energy building techniques. ITB coordinated a national pilot delivery of the programme for over 230 construction workers in 2015/2016. The May 2017 delivery was post-project with ITB delivering the training on behalf of Sustainability Skillnet, who funded course fees for 12 participants.
The LINC in collaboration with the Department of Humanities facilitated the delivery of the Higher Certificate in Arts in Information Provision and Advocacy Practice to 75 information providers from the Citizens Information Board nationally. It is a blended learning programme with 3 tutorial centres in Dublin, Athlone and Cork.
Evolution of Learn + Work during this period
Learn + Work is an innovative learning model, designed in collaboration with industry, which combines five months of traditional academic study with a seven-month industry placement block in each year of the programme. The Higher Certificate in Science in Computing in Networking Technologies was the first ITB programme to be offered under the Learn + Work model. Launched in September 2016 with 25 students, course fees for the programme are co-funded by ICT Skillnet and partner companies. A second Learn + Work programme, BSc in Process Instrumentation and Automation, was successfully validated at ITB in May 2017.
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2. Research
Number of Postgraduate Research Students
By the end of 2017 our total funded research numbers were 22. These researchers were funded through the ITB postgraduate seed fund.
Total Informatics Engineering Humanities Business
Total active between 22 6 4 10 2 2016/2017
ITB staff led two Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Projects during this period:
1. SR2: A Low Speed SR Generator for Marine Renewable Energy (Dr. Garett Brady)
The SR2 project will design and build a novel electrical generator that could help wave energy devices generate electricity more effectively, and will test it under simulated ocean conditions in the lab. The project aims to develop a generator for use in these wave energy devices that is simpler and cheaper than what is currently on the market and better able to withstand the hostile environmental conditions of the sea. The plan is to build a prototype and test it in the lab here in ITB, using a ‘programmable power train’ to simulate the irregular, ‘wild-speed’ forces that a generator in a wave energy device on the ocean would experience.
2. Cloud Stream (Dr. Christina Thorpe)
The Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (ITB) and University College Dublin (UCD) are working together on a project, whose technical goal is to demonstrate how Software Defined Networking (SDN) concepts can be used to monitor and adapt a VoIP service and the networks that carry the traffic to provide a holistic view of the service ecosystem.
Through a competitive call of the AIB Innovation Fund, a number of projects received funding to enhance research capability in the Institute. This funding allowed students to work on projects over the summer months.
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3. Start-Up
• Completion of two New Frontiers Programmes in partnership with IT Tallaght:
• 48 companies supported through the Phase 1 programmes to identify and develop the opportunity
• 26 companies supported through the full-time programme bringing these companies from concept to either trading or investment ready
• Over 100 jobs created through these companies
• Occupancy reached 100% with over 13 companies in own door office units, 13 entrepreneurs hot desking, and over 150 supported through incubation space, clinics, mentoring and networking events
• The Enterprise Garage, ITB’s student business accelerator programme (http://www.itb.ie/IndustryInnovation/enterprisegarage.html), gave ITB students an opportunity to work on their business ideas under the expert guidance of a panel of mentors, industry experts and entrepreneurs at the LINC
Throughout this period the staff at the LINC have worked with local agencies and boards to enhance the industry network and also the supports to local industry. This has involved a close working relationship with Enterprise Ireland, the Local Enterprise Offices, Dublin Regional Skills Forum, the County Councils (Fingal and Dublin City), and Fingal Dublin Chamber of Commerce. Staff at the LINC also sit on the boards of the Drinan Enterprise Centre in Swords and the BASE Enterprise Centre in Mulhuddart. In addition, networks are maintained through THEA with the Industry Liaison Managers, the Incubation Centre Managers and the Research Managers of the other Institutes of Technology.
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Student Services
All ITB students, while pursuing academic goals, can avail of the extensive and varied sports and social events organised by numerous clubs and societies within ITB. ITB also provides professional support services that will advise and offer guidance to help students work, rest and play during and even after their studies.
Services and supports are available to students in various locations and departments throughout the campus:
• The Student Services Office • Student Counselling • Careers Office • Sports/Sports Facilities • Student Health Centre • National Learning Network Assessment Service • Student Clubs and Societies
The Student Services Office provides a range of financial, academic and personal supports for students attending ITB. The staff there are available to meet with any student who has individual difficulties, and aim to provide both advice and practical supports in a wide variety of circumstances. It is a totally confidential service and is free to all registered students. The Student Services Team can also provide information and assistance to students on funding initiatives including the Student Assistance Fund, the Fund for Students with Disabilities, and the Hardship Fund.
The Student Services Team can also offer special assistance for examinations to students with learning difficulties, disabilities or other special requirements, such as additional time or the provision of a scribe or separate room.
The Student Counselling Service at ITB offers a free, confidential, professional counselling service to all students attending the college. Counselling can give students time and space to explore any issues that might be of concern such as: Stress/Anxiety, Academic/Relationship Difficulties, Grief or Bereavement, and any other issues students may experience with their mental wellbeing.
The ITB Careers Office supports students and graduates of the Institute who are looking for advice and guidance on career-related issues. The team encourages students to come and talk to them about their future plans, and can assist students either individually or by providing class presentations and workshops.
The role of ITB Sport is to facilitate any student who wishes to partake in physical activity while they complete their studies in ITB. The Sports Development Officer, Ronan Keaskin, along with two sports interns (graduates from ITB’s Sports Management and Coaching course) work with ITB students to provide an excellent sporting environment. ITB’s new state-of-the-art pavilion building, located adjacent to the Sports Pitches, comprises a fully equipped Fitness Suite (185m²), changing facilities, an athletic therapy room, a sports science lab, and a number of lecture theatres.
The ITB Health Centre is a free service open to all registered students and apprentices. No appointment is necessary to see the nurse. This service is totally confidential and offers nursing services five days per week and GP services on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
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The National Learning Network (NLN) Educational Support Service works in conjunction with ITB Student Services staff to provide a holistic, inclusive and psychologically based service to ITB students. The service adopts a holistic approach and recognises that student well-being is intertwined with their academic experiences. The NLN Educational Support Service team includes educational psychologists, assistant psychologists and access to an occupational therapist to support students attending the college with both academic and personal needs that may arise during their college year.
With the excellent sports facilities available at ITB, the level of student participation and club membership has increased each year. Involvement in student societies is a great way to meet new people while developing more interests. A number of societies are already established in ITB, including: Computer Society / LGBT / Film / Photography / Golf / Poker / Piano / Surfing / Dynamic in Christ / Islamic / Geocaching / Dance / Airsoft / Horticulture / Harry Potter. ITB’s clubs include: Athletics / GAA / Soccer / Futsal / Pool / Basketball / Swimming / Athletics / Mixed Martial Arts / Rugby / Ultimate Frisbee / Badminton / Boxing / Golf / Olympic Handball / Ski Club.
Pictured: ITB Student Services Team
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Library
The period 2016/2017 was one of great activity in the Library. In the autumn, work began on a tender for a new Library Management System for all of the Institute of Technology Libraries in Ireland, as part of the Educampus Refresh Project. The ITB Institute Librarian was a member of the Tender Evaluation Team and after several months of competitive dialogue, the cloud-based, open source system Koha won the tender. The roll-out to the Institute libraries began in January 2017 and ITB began its intensive pre-implementation work and training during the summer of 2017. The system was successfully launched in ITB in September 2017, in time for the new academic year.
The Library plays a critical Teaching and Learning role in the Institute and its outreach to the student population continued in this period: 3 Library staff delivered 61 information literacy tutorials to 1,258 students. These sessions included training on the use of the Library databases, referencing and academic writing, and were complemented by online tutorials on the college virtual learning environment, Moodle. In this year for the first time, a Library staff member travelled to deliver information literacy tutorials to the first year Information, Advice and Advocacy Programme students. This course is delivered through the LINC. This involved travel to the NCI Dublin, Cork and Athlone, and 4 tutorials were delivered to 82 students. Library staff also conducted Library tours for 903 students.
In support of the First Year Experience, library staff collaborated with lecturing staff from the School of Business on the research project ‘ITB Investigates Academic Assignments’. The resulting comic book aimed to support students as they transition into college-level study habits. It mapped innate student know-how to the knowledge needed to recognise and implement the steps required for submitting a successful assignment. The comic book was disseminated in print and online formats.
In September, the library received a collection of over 200 volumes from Afri (www.afri.ie). This collection included a range of materials on the theme of social justice, including some rare booklets and leaflets. Additionally, Blanchardstown Public Library donated a range of useful resources from their Reference Collection.
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The Student Information Desk, which is located within the Library, dealt with a record number of queries from students during this academic year:
Phone & Student Letters Forms Password Counter Change of Lost & Assistance Banner Garda Month Issued Stamped Reset Queries Address Found E-mails Accommodation Fund Pin Vetting Totals Sep - 16 513 345 946 4500 38 66 950 45 144 315 12 7874 Oct - 16 165 150 260 1425 38 80 652 15 181 150 8 3124 Nov - 16 112 156 362 952 58 152 160 10 0 100 25 2087 Dec - 16 39 80 274 426 10 21 322 2 0 0 3 1177 Jan - 17 110 373 288 540 15 58 452 8 382 100 110 2436 Feb - 17 176 141 355 705 11 82 402 7 92 66 56 2093 Mar - 17 88 120 147 326 6 113 382 8 0 79 6 1275 Apr - 17 126 99 219 230 15 71 310 5 0 40 90 1205 May - 17 207 93 117 409 21 54 725 9 0 0 22 1657 Jun - 17 55 57 98 193 9 69 784 29 0 240 4 1538 Jul - 17 91 30 135 101 14 3 501 21 0 160 15 1071 Aug - 17 70 37 280 670 47 14 592 21 0 260 0 2021
Totals 1752 1681 3481 10477 282 783 6232 210 799 1510 351 27,886
ITB Library also sought to strengthen its ties with the local community in this period and held meetings with Fingal Public Libraries staff. Subsequently, Fingal staff spent a day in ITB exhibiting their library resources to students and staff. The Library’s civic engagement also increased that year as neighbouring Riversdale College Leaving Certificate students came to ITB Library during May and June to study.
Library and SID staff engaged in various training and development opportunities during the year. Courses attended included: Design Thinking; Risk Assessment; Manual Handling; Child Protection; Interview Preparation; Digital Analytics; Excel; Safe Talk, in conjunction with the National Learning Network. Staff also attended various library seminars and a Brexit seminar held in the LINC in ITB.
24 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Human Resources
The Human Resource Department supports and upholds ITB’s mission, vision and values by fostering a positive working atmosphere, improving efficiency and processes, and encouraging open communication, all the while adapting to the changing Higher Education landscape as we move along our TU journey. We have achieved this through flexibility, providing high quality service, building partnerships, and by supporting, developing and retaining our staff.
We operate a consistent, fair and supportive environment in line with ITB’s Strategic Plan, by creating conditions for staff to empower themselves through our transition to a Technological University.
With increased focus on TU designation and HEA criteria, the HR Department actively supported and encouraged staff to engage in further education, namely obtaining a qualification at level 9 and above. In addition to this, administrative staff groups participated in a number of change management and team building workshops to support them through this transitional period.
We worked with our colleagues in DIT and ITT to develop and deliver policies, processes and HR strategies for the benefit of all staff, post-designation, and we introduced the enhanced employee self-service and manager self- service module on Core HR as part of the sector-wide Educampus project.
Nevertheless, we ensured that our operational responsibilities remained consistent, stable and reliable. The graph below represents just some of the daily activities we completed during this period.
2016 - 2017
180 171 160 140 120 100 80 64 60 47 40 22 20 11 0 Recruitment Contracts Issued Staff Educational Staff Inducted Drives Development Support and Mandatory Applications Training Attendees
25 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Civic Engagement
Engagement is a core aspect of ITB’s ethos. Civic Engagement (referred to as CE in this report) is that part of engagement which seeks to collaborate in an interdependent manner with community partners in a range of activities, which are illustrated in Figure 1.
Knowledge Exchange
Volunteering Civic Service (Staff) Engagement Learning
Community Based (Engaged Research) Figure 1.
Knowledge Exchange
This form of CE relates to supporting the exchange of knowledge and skills through pro-bono guest lectures and training. Examples of Knowledge Exchange include: masterclasses for community partners, pro-bono training in social media and conflict management, and facilitation services.
ITB Staff Volunteering (Public Engagement)
This form of CE occurs when ITB staff in Legal, Marketing, IT, Accounting, etc. make their expertise available to community/voluntary/not-for-profit organisations to help people and organisation development. Examples are accepting directorships of companies limited by guarantee (CLGs) and positions on advisory boards.
Service Learning
Service Learning occurs when students, as part of their coursework, participate in a project that assists a community partner to achieve a goal. The student is seen to benefit from this type of learning if the work done for the community is aligned with the learning outcomes of the module he/she is undertaking. Such work for the community could be a service such as the development of a website, development of English language proficiency, or assistance with smartphone application development.
Community Based/Engaged Research
Civic Engagement can also occur when working in partnership with communities and organisations to understand/ solve challenges through mutually agreed research goals and methodologies.
26 Annual Reports 2016-2017
During the course of the year, ITB has been involved in a number of very successful Civic Engagement collaborative projects and some of these are described below.
Volunteering (Knowledge Exchange) and Public Engagement
Knowledge Exchange primarily took place through the strategic collaboration with Fingal County Council (Community Development Department) and community and voluntary organisations in the Fingal area. Examples are presented below.
Fingal Public Participation Network (Fingal PPN)
In October 2016, ITB hosted a one-day training event for the Fingal Public Participation Network. The training event, which was organised by Fingal County Council in conjunction with ITB, focused on helping participants understand the role of Fingal County Council in terms of how it works and how members of the PPN can influence policy. Concurrent workshops were held in the afternoon focusing on the themes of The Built Environment, Social Inclusion and Climate Change. Figure 2 shows trainers and participants at the training event.
Figure 2
Masterclass – Funding Sustainability
In December 2016, as part of the community focused masterclass series, a masterclass took place in the LINC on the theme of ‘Fundraising Sustainability – How to achieve it for your Non-profit’, which was given by Hugh O’Reilly. This was followed by another masterclass in April whose theme was Measuring Impacts and Outcomes.
Training for Fingal Public Participation Network in the use of Social Media
In April 2017, ITB colleagues (Aoife Fox, Robert Smith and Christina Thorpe) presented a workshop on skills development in Social Media. In thanking the team for presenting the event, Ms. Sinead Wiley from Fingal County Council said that it ‘was a fantastic opportunity for local community groups to receive hands-on information and practical experience in the field of Social Media’.
27 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Figure 3
Membership of Voluntary Organisations (Public Engagement)
Continuing with ITB’s commitment to community engagement, members of ITB staff continued to make expertise available to a variety of organisations.
Examples include chairperson of the Fingal Local Community Development Committee, Dr. Pat O’Connor, featured second from left in Figure 4, and director of Money Advice and Budgeting Service (Dublin 15), Dr. Francis McGeough.
Figure 4
28 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Jobnet
Jobnet is a programme designed to assist graduates and professionals to assess their career preferences and develop cutting-edge job seeking skills. The programme was designed by and is offered several times each year by Jobcare at their base in Dublin City.
As a result of the strategic collaboration policy between ITB, Fingal Libraries, the Base Enterprise Centre, community volunteers and professionals working in the areas of recruitment, coaching and career development, ITB offered Jobnet for the third time during the academic year 2016/2017.
Figure 5
The image shown in Figure 5 shows participants and members of the Jobnet team, who supported, organised and/ or presented workshops in the Jobnet programme hosted at the Learning and Innovation Centre (LINC) at ITB. Emer Melvin is shown having been presented with a bouquet of flowers for the outstanding contribution she made to Jobnet administration and facilitation. Vincent McNally (first person from the right in the photo) was the Jobnet Coordinator and anchored each of the Jobnet workshops. Both Emer and Vincent have volunteered their expertise and time to the programme along with table facilitators and career planning experts such as Brian McIvor (first person from the left in the photo).
29 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Service Learning
Smart Phone Applications to support independent living
The objectives of these projects were to design and bring to proof-of-concept stage smartphone applications to enhance the quality of life of older people. Three projects were undertaken by final year computing students who produced smartphone applications that would assist the elderly and those suffering from the early stages of dementia. The projects ranged from a companionship application geared towards older people that would allow them to find companions for social activities to a brain training app designed specifically for those suffering from early stage dementia. The projects were well received by the community partner (Age Friendly Ireland) and options to allow the continuation of the apps are being investigated.
Figure 6
Horticulture in the Community
This Service Learning module aims to give students the opportunity to learn in the community on a collaborative horticulture project. It is thus an ideal Service Learning module for which students receive 5 ECT credits. In January 2017, a collaborative group comprised of pupils from the Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Huntstown, local community members and ITB students working under the supervision of Ms. Rachel Freeman, commenced work on the horticultural development of the grounds around the school. Figures 7, 8 and 9 show some of the project activity. At the student project’s presentation event in May 2017, the principal of the school said the geography around each particular area of the school had been improved. He also said that the project had provided an incredible benefit to the school community. The module aims to give students essential skills such as team- working, creative thinking, presentation and communication so they can conduct themselves professionally in a team-based project. This module also aims to provide a supporting environment to the student so that they may develop intellectually, be capable of independence, and have high self-esteem.
Figure 7 Figure 8
30 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Community Based Research
An example of collaboration with the Football Association of Ireland (FAI): Social Return on Investment and the late night leagues
The Late Night League (LNL) is a diversionary programme incorporating soccer leagues at various locations across Dublin and across the country since 2008. It is aimed at encouraging ‘at risk’ young people to participate in meaningful activities, thus reducing anti-social behaviour in disadvantaged areas. The Late Night Leagues are open to young people aged 13–21, and take place during prime anti-social hours such as Friday nights. The initiative is based around the concept of using football as a tool for social inclusion and learning. Through partnership and interagency co-operation, the Late Night Leagues aim to:
• Divert youths from crime and anti-social behaviour
• Encourage ‘at risk’ young people to participate in meaningful activities, thus reducing anti-social behaviour
• Promote and further engage with youths and communities
While those involved in organising and running the LNL are aware of the huge social benefit being derived from the LNL, there has been concern that this is largely anecdotal. A research project was carried out based on interviews with key personnel involved in running the league in a designated area. The interviews highlighted the huge benefits that the LNL brought to the area. The FAI were able to use the evaluation report to help them retain sponsorship of the Late Night Leagues.
Some of ITB’s Community Partners
Citizens Information Age Action Final Public Service Participation Network Fingal County Department of Council - Sports Sacred Heart of Jesus Social Protection Primary School (Huntstown) BASE Enterprise Northgate Vehicle Centre Hire Fingal County Council - Community Football Association Development DeafHear of Ireland Jigsaw Connolly Hospital Age Friendly Ireland Bank of Ireland Fingal County Council - Libraries Fingal County Council - LCDC Boots
Fingal Ethnic Ulster Bank Network Scoil Mhuire Junior (Blakestown) CPL Learning and MABS 92.5 Phoenix FM Development
Foróige Fingal County Council Jobcare - Communications Department
31 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Campus Development
A number of significant Campus Development projects were undertaken in the period 2016/2017.
The Floodlighting & Infrastructure Works contract was completed. Floodlighting of our grass pitch has allowed matches to be held on winter evenings. At 500 lux, this has been particularly important for hurling and camogie. ITB will be hosting the O’Connor Cup Third Level Ladies Championship in March 2018. The introduction of this floodlighting has seen immediate interest and uptake in the use of the facility proving to be an extremely positive outcome.
The Sports building extension, with the building renamed Spraoi, was completed and opened in late 2016. This extension further enhanced the offering to sports and teaching here in the Institute. The extension introduced additional toilets, changing and shower facilities, physio room, meeting rooms, assessment rooms, large classroom, 24-person classroom, office space, meeting space, and an 80-person lecture theatre. This has increased our teaching capacity, and, together with the Floodlighting & Infrastructure Works, it has further enhanced the sports facilities on campus leading to numerous external bookings.
Throughout 2016/2017, design of a new Student Services building proceeded with Planning Permission granted in January 2017 and construction tenders returned in May. It is expected the building will be ready for occupancy in late 2018/early 2019. The 1800m2 building will facilitate an improved student experience on the Blanchardstown Campus while we continue as ITB, and as the Blanchardstown Campus of a Technological University. The building will house a number of direct student contacts such as admissions, exams, school secretaries, and the Student Information Desk. It will also house Heads of Departments, Heads of School, the Registrar, and the President. The building is a pilot for SEAI’s EXEED (Excellence in Energy Efficient Design) Certified Programme.
The Department of Education & Skills and Higher Education Authority conducted a Review of Capital Requirements in Higher Education Institutions in 2016/2017 (DES/HEA Circular 1 2016), with which ITB engaged extensively.
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Technological University for Dublin
Technological Universities are being established as a new type of higher education institution in the Irish higher education landscape. The main distinguishing characteristics of an Irish Technological University are:
• An emphasis on practice-based learning, with programmes of study closely related to labour market skills needs and incorporating work-based learning/internships/work placement as appropriate
• A strategic commitment to the provision of career-focused and practice-led programmes of education at levels 6 to 10 on the National Framework of Qualifications, ranging from Higher Certificate to Doctoral Level, and including modern apprenticeship programmes
• A priority placed on the employability of graduates and on the development of generic work-related competencies
• A focus on enterprise-aligned courses of study, and on industry-focused research and innovation that is directly relevant and contributes to the economic, social and cultural development of the university’s region
• A commitment to work closely with industry, enterprise, community, and other HEIs in the region to support national objectives for higher education as they relate, for example, to the provision of increased access, transfer and progression opportunities for learners, the promotion of coordinated academic planning at regional level, and enhanced institutional cooperation and collaboration to leverage the strengths of individual institutions and improve the performance of the system as a whole
In moving forward, the Institute also recognises the strengths of working with partner Institutes of Technology DIT and ITT to form TU4Dublin. The TU4Dublin (our current working name) will become a new type of university for Dublin and will be built on an already significant higher education profile.
The profile of the TU4Dublin Alliance will include:
• 27,000+ students, including 13% of higher education students nationally and 1 in 4 in the Greater Dublin Region (GDR), with undergraduate provision across the major disciplines as shown here
• TU4Dublin will support 7% of the research students in GDR and 42% of research students in the Institute of Technology sector
• Over 1 in 3 of new entrants in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) in GDR will be registered with TU4Dublin and over ½ of NFQ Level 6 and 7 students
• More than 1 in 5 of new entrants in TU4Dublin will be in nationally-targeted socio-economic groups, with almost 15% of new entrants as mature students
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• There will be 2,300 staff within TU4Dublin, of which 1,200 will be academic
• TU4Dublin will continue to operate across its 3 main campuses, while developing an enhanced digital campus
• TU4Dublin will be a leader in lifelong learning and executive education opportunities
TU4Dublin Alliance anticipated undergraduate provision
Our TU4Dublin
The three TU4Dublin partners are working towards creating an exciting, vibrant and modern university that will provide cohesive and differentiated technological education in Dublin. TU4Dublin will be deeply embedded in the economic, civic, social, creative and cultural life of the Greater Dublin Region. Combining the collective experiences, capabilities, passion and resources of the three institutions, student-centred learning environments are being developed on three physical campuses and through the TU4Dublin digital campus.
TU4Dublin also aims to enhance its contribution to the Greater Dublin Region and the country as a whole, through globally significant research and innovation that supports enhanced competitiveness. Our TU4Dublin will provide practice-led and research-informed higher education of the highest quality, for a new style of university graduate, who is innovative, creative and entrepreneurial.
Key strategic actions need to be taken by all three Institutes to align functions to those of a Technological University and to ensure the criteria for designation is achieved.
TU4Dublin
Designation DIT
ITB ITT
For further information, please visit the re-designed TU4Dublin website: http://www.tu4dublin.ie/.
34 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Student and Staff Profile
Student Profile
A brief overview of the main student statistics is presented below.
Total Student Numbers for 2016/2017
The Institute has maintained student numbers over the period of 2016/2017, with full-time student numbers reaching 2,514 with the total full-time equivalent figure of 3,245.
Total Student Numbers 2016/2017
4000 3500
3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Full - Time Part - Time Remote Total
Full - Time Part - Time Remote Total
New Entrants
There were 749 new entrants (full-time undergraduate) for the 2016/2017 academic year. Most first year students are from the immediate locality, with 70% of full-time students coming from Dublin. A breakdown of new entrants by discipline is given below.
% New Entrants by Discipline 2016/17
Social Science, Business & Law 24% Science, Mathematics & Computing 29% Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction 8%
Agriculture 2%
Health & Welfare 29%
Services 8%
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Postgraduates
In the academic year 2016/2017, there were a total of 197 students at postgraduate level, of which 35% were pursuing a postgraduate higher diploma, 45% were pursuing a level 9 taught masters, 15% were pursuing a level 9 research masters, and 6% were undertaking a doctorate.
% Postgraduates by course level 2016/17
35% Postgraduate Cert/Diploma Masters (Taught) level 9 45%
Masters (Research) level 9 15%
PhD level 10 6% Total Students 197
Undergraduates
Of the undergraduate population of 3,168 in the 2016/2017 academic year, 12% were pursuing level 6 courses, 37% were pursuing level 7 courses, and 45% were pursuing level 8 courses.
An average of 25% of the total student population were on flexible learning programmes, i.e. part-time, distance learning, e-learning and in-service courses. The international student numbers remained steady at 53 in 2016/2017.
% Undergraduates by course level 2016/17
Cert/Diploma level 6 12%
Ordinary Degree level 7 37%
Honours Degree level 8 45%
Occasional 6%
Total Students 3,168
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Conferred Awards
A total of 947 students graduated on 11 November 2016 in a conferring ceremony held in Block C.
Number of Full-Time Number of Part-Time Award Total % Total Students Students
School of Business 185 55 240 26.5
School of Humanities 193 51 244 27 School of Informatics 64 110 174 19 School of Engineering 137 112 249 27.5 Total 579 328 907
Pictured: ITB Graduates attending Conferring 2016
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Staff Profile
An average of 287 staff were employed by the Institute over the period of this report, with a 50:50 ratio of male to female staff. An average gender profile based on category of post is given below.
Staff Gender Profile
Research/Specialist Non Academic
Research/Specialist Academic
Non Academic
Academic Staff
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
% Male % Female
Of the 82% of full-time academic staff that hold a level 9 or higher, 60% are male and 40% are female.
Of the 24% of full-time academic staff that hold a level 10, 66% are male and 34% are female.
Academic Staff Qualifications
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0% Level 10 Level 9
% Male % Female
38 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Of the 131 Core funded academic staff, 8% were senior lecturers, 65% were lecturers, and 27% were assistant lecturers. A further breakdown based on gender is shown below.
Academic Staff by Grade
Assistant Lecturer
Lecturer
Senior Lecturer
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
% Male % Female
Of the 78 Core funded non-academic staff, 3% earned >€106,000, 19% earned between €76,000 and €105,999, 40% earned between €46,000 and €75,999, and 38% earned <€45,999. A further breakdown based on gender is shown below.
Non-Academic Staff by Pay Grade
<€45,999
€46,000 - €75,999
€76,000 - €105,999
>€106,000
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
% Male % Female
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% of Staff with a disability under the definition in the Disability Act 2005
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 2013 2014 2015 2016
Section 47 (1) (a) of the Disability Act 2005 states that A Public Body shall, in so far as practicable, take all reasonable measures to promote and support the employment by it of persons with disabilities. ITB has taken the following measures to comply with this provision:
• All new works on campus must attain a Disabilities Access Certificate
• Plans are in place to upgrade existing facilities for disabled staff and students, i.e. toilets for disabled staff and students
• ITB has made provision for an improved workspace for a staff member with severe mobility challenges following a planned surgery – the staff member was provided with a ‘stand up desk’
40 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Diversity
All public bodies in Ireland have responsibility to promote equality, prevent discrimination and protect the human rights of their employees, customers, service users and everyone affected by their policies and plans. This is a legal obligation, called the Public Sector Duty, and it originated in Section 42 of our founding legislation, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014.
ITB has embraced this responsibility by signing up for a number of initiatives, i.e. The Athena SWAN Charter and The Diversity Charter Ireland.
In a major national initiative supported by the Higher Education Authority, the Athena SWAN Charter was launched in Ireland in early 2015. Figures published by the Higher Education Authority highlight gender inequality as an issue for the sector. Across Irish universities, only 19% of professors are women. In Institutes of Technology, women make up 45% of academic staff but just 29% of senior academic staff. ITB committed in writing to the Athena SWAN principles and intends to apply for the expanded Athena SWAN Charter award in November 2018.
The Diversity Charter Ireland was launched in October 2012 by eleven organisations, representing the broader business community and including IBEC, the group that represents Irish business. The signing of this charter is a voluntary commitment by organisations to effective diversity management, preventing discrimination and promoting equality with respect to all their stakeholders and the environment in which they operate. In signing this charter, organisations in Ireland join their counterparts in twelve other European countries in publically stating their commitment to diversity.
The objectives of the charters can be summarised as follows:
• Continually work to ensure we have a corporate culture that is characterised by respect and appreciation for our diversity
• Promote our commitment to diversity in the workplace by training management and staff as appropriate
• Respect and promote the application of all aspects of the principle of non-discrimination in organisations
• Endeavour to reflect the diversity of society at every level of our organisation
• Involve our employees, customers and suppliers in our diversity and equality initiatives
• Reflect, where appropriate, within company reports our commitment to non-discrimination and diversity
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The Diversity and Equality Working Group met seven times during the academic year September 2016 to August 2017. One group member delivered a session on equality and diversity at ITB as part of staff induction in September 2016. Two members of the group attended the European conference on diversity held in Dublin Castle on 18–19 October 2016 where Eileen Quinn, on behalf of ITB, signed the Diversity Charter Ireland. In March 2017 David Stanton, Minister of State for Justice with special responsibility for Equality, Immigration and Integration, visited ITB to celebrate the Institute’s official signing of the Diversity Charter Ireland.
Minister Stanton met privately with the President and representatives from the Institute’s Senior Management Group, the Governing Body and the Students’ Union before addressing staff, students and guests in the Institute’s Learning and Innovation Centre (the LINC) to acknowledge the Institute’s public statement of their commitment to improve equality and diversity within the organisation.
Following an invitation from the Diversity and Equality Working Group, Dónal Rice, Public Sector Duty Manager from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), delivered a workshop in ITB in January 2017 around the implementation of the public sector duty.
The Students’ Union President raised the issue of gender-neutral toilets on campus and the Diversity and Equality Working Group engaged with the LGBTIQ+ Colours Society to discuss the issue and possible solutions. Other issues raised and discussed during the academic year 2016/2017 included disability issues around wheelchair access on campus. In June 2017, the group made a presentation to ITB’s Top Management Group around the Diversity and Equality Working Group, its background, activities and possible next steps for promoting diversity and equality at ITB.
These initiatives will prevent discrimination, promote equality and protect the human rights of our staff, students and other stakeholders.
The next steps following on from the signing of these Charters will be to conduct an assessment on our current practice and policies regarding equality and diversity (i.e. what are we doing at present in relation to promoting equality and diversity for students, the workplace and the community?), review our policies that relate to Equality, Diversity and Human Rights, and start reporting on how we include positive approach to equality and diversity in ITB.
Pictured: ITB President Dr. Diarmuid O’Callaghan with David Stanton, Minister of State for Justice
42 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Energy Efficiency Progress and Overview of Energy Usage 2016-2017
ITB has continued to make significant progress in its energy efficiency performance with 61.8% improvement in 2016 over its baseline figure.
Energy Usage 2016 1,738 mWh of electricity 3,327 mWh (Gross) of fossil fuels
Actions undertaken 2016
From 2016 to 2017 the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown undertook a range of initiatives to improve our energy performance, including:
• Additional meters have been installed (OPW’s Optimising Power @ Work Programme) to monitor energy consumption in different buildings on campus – this will be used to identify areas for further reductions in energy consumption
• Energy awareness initiatives were highlighted through the Green Campus Committee
Actions planned to improve energy performance
The Institute of Technology Blanchardstown intends to further improve our energy performance by undertaking the following initiatives:
• Survey of existing infrastructure to aid in the detailed measurement of electricity and gas consumption
43 Annual Reports 2016-2017
External Funding Received from other Government Agencies
Date Funding Source of Purpose of Amount of Funding Total Funding Balance Award Received Funding Funding Received in this period Awarded Remaining
22/03/17 Department of Floodlighting & €48,075 €193,000 €144,925 Transport, Infrastructure Tourism and Sport Works
08/05/17 Department of Floodlighting & €132,275 €193,000 €12,650 Transport, Infrastructure Tourism and Sport Works
External Consultancy Firms
For the period of 2016/2017, ITB spent €22,000 on external consultancy contracted to carry out investigations and mediation on internal matters. €27,000 was spent on external consultancy fees paid to external parties providing advisory services, €24,000 was spent on PR/Marketing and €3,000 was spent on Pensions.
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Formal Representation of the Institute on External Boards/Groups
Purpose for Membership of Start End Name External Board/Group External Board/Group Date Date
Aiden Carthy DIT Graduate Research School Sept 16 Sept 19
Mairead Youth Work Ireland President of Youth Work Oct 13 Nov 16 Cluskey Ireland/Chair of Board of Directors
Richard ITAC Representing ITB’s apprentice 2016 Ongoing Gallery interests at a national level
Shauna Student Learning with ITB Representative for Access 2016 Ongoing Garry Communities DIT & Civic Engagement
Geraldine Data-Enabled Student Success ITB’s point of contact for Oct 17 Ongoing Gray Initiative (DESSI) DESSI, a T&L National Forum initiative
Geraldine Ethics Committee, ITT Review applications for ethical Oct 14 Ongoing Gray approval
Ronan Confederation of Student Services Represent ITB Student Sept 14 Ongoing Keaskin Ireland (CSSI) Services and SSI
Ronan Student Support Ireland (SSI) Represent ITB and National Sept 10 Ongoing Keaskin Student Body
Aine Lynch Irish Innovative Users Group User Group for Irish libraries 2014 2016 Committee using products of Innovative Interfaces Inc. Denise Social Care Ireland President since 2013 1996 Ongoing Lyons Denise Irish Association of Social Care Promote best practice within 2000 Ongoing Lyons Educators social care education
Denise Sport Ireland Institute – To peer review and approve Sept 2013 Ongoing Martin Professional Accreditation applications for Accreditation Committee of Sports Science Professionals to work in High Performance Sport
Hugh Phoenix FM Board of Directors Provision of Digital Media Jan 2017 Ongoing McCabe Expertise
Francis Greater Blanchardstown Area Member of the Board Dec 2015 Ongoing McGeough MABS Diarmuid O’ Technological Higher Education Member of the Board Sept 2016 Ongoing Callaghan Association (THEA) Margaret O’ Fingal County Childcare Early Childhood professional 2017 Ongoing Donoghue Committee support Philip Engineers Ireland Member of Accreditation Sept 2014 Ongoing Owende Board
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Robert Smith Irish Deaf Research Network Group chairperson – group June 2017 Ongoing (IDRN) purpose is to nurture and promote research on Irish sign language, its users and the Irish Deaf community on a national and international scale
Sheila Coyle Development Perspectives (NGO) Chairperson/Director of the Sept 2012 Ongoing Board
Bronagh THEA SFC Group SFC of ITB April 2017 Ongoing Elliott
Bronagh EduCampus Programme Steering SFC representative from April 2017 Ongoing Elliott Board THEA SFC Group
Bronagh Higher Education Programme SFC representative from April 2017 Ongoing Elliott Board THEA SFC Group
46 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Selection of Notable Highlights
This Annual Report contains a wide variety of achievements from both staff and students. From Best Student Film at Fingal Film Festival to ITB lecturers being honoured at Ireland’s National ‘Teaching Hero’ Awards, these achievements showcase the talent and success of our various departments and their staff and students.
There have been innovative programmes such as Sports Management and Coaching students raising over €7,000 funds for Bumbleance, the world’s first children’s interactive ambulance service. Almost 800 children and adults from the local community and primary schools from Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Louth and Wicklow took part in the events. In planning and running these events the students gained practical experience, while ITB continues to develop strong links in our local community.
By sharing our success stories in the media, over social media and with our stakeholders we will continue to celebrate and highlight the achievements of our staff and students
Date Title URL
22/09/2016 ITB Lecturer wins Research http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16778 Funding
27/09/2016 ITB Social Care Students bag third http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16779 prize at National Social Enterprise Awards
12/10/2016 ITB Lecturers honoured at http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16781 Ireland’s National ‘Teaching Hero’ Awards
12/10/2016 Creative Digital Media student wins http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16782 Best Student Film at Fingal Film Festival
01/11/2016 ITB Project nominated for 2016 http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16784 Fingal Business Excellence & CSR Awards
ITB’s newly launched MEng http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16789 08/11/2016 Programme in the Internet of Things Technologies bags two GradIreland Higher Ed Awards 2017 Nominations
16/11/2016 Engineers Ireland sponsors ‘ http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16790 Achievement of Excellence Award’ for ITB
ITB Lecturer to publish in top http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16792 15/12/2016 International Journal
ITB Lead the Way for Young http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16819 03/02/2017 Women in Technology
New Children’s Author Discovered http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16822 03/02/2017 at ITB
47 Annual Reports 2016-2017
06/02/2017 Inaugural meeting of the 5th ITB http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16825 Governing Body
27/02/2017 ITB Collaborates with the http://www.itb.ie/NewsEvents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16693 Immigrant Council of Ireland and Dublin City Council on new research detailing the impact of social housing-related racism
04/04/2017 ITB Department of Informatics http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16836 holds Third Annual ZeroDays CTF,
Ireland’s Biggest Cyber Security
Challenge
02/05/2017 ITB Fourth Year Sports http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16838 Management and Coaching Students Raise Funds for Bumbleance
18/05/2017 ITB School of Business to host http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16842 Brexit in Blanchardstown briefing on 29th May
24/05/2017 ITB Computing Student wins http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16847 scholarship to 2017 Unite Europe Games Conference
24/07/2017 Three ITB Soccer Stars Selected http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16855 for the World University Games 2017
26/07/2017 93K Capital Funding to support http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=16856 plumbing apprenticeship programmes at ITB
48 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Selection of Staff Publications
Books
Ní Chonaill, B. and Buczkowska, T. (2016) Taking racism seriously: experiences of racism and racially motivated anti- social behaviour in social housing. Dublin: Immigrant Council of Ireland.
Book Chapters
Gray, G., McGuinness, C. and Owende, P. (2016) ‘Non-cognitive factors of learning as early indicators of students at- risk of failing in tertiary education’ In Khine, M. S. Ed., Non-cognitive factors and educational attainment, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, pp. 199-237.
Murray, C. (2017) ‘What’s wrong with equality? Developing a critical conceptual understanding of equality of condition in early childhood education and care’ In Smith, K., Alexander, K. and Campbell, S. Eds., Feminism(s) in early childhood: using feminist theories in research and practice. Singapore: Springer, pp. 89-104.
Journal Publications
Brogan, M., Markham, C., Commins, S. and Deegan, C. (2016) ‘Changing lanes: generating steerable environments in video-based driving simulation’. Simulation, 92(5), pp. 407-415.
Clear, C., Hughes, M.D., and Martin, D. (2017) ‘Attacking profiles in elite hurling’.International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 17(3), pp. 319-333.
Darby, F. (2017); ‘Are you listening to how I look? An exploration of the impact of emotional labour on educator effectiveness in higher education’, AISHE-J, The All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 9(1), pp. 2821-2827.
Darby, F., McSweeney, D. and O’Reilly, K. (2017) ‘The dominant educational discourses underlying the Cassells Report’, Dublin Business School Business Review, 1, pp. 122-129.
Dubiel, B. and Guilfoyle, E. (2017) ‘Language strength in bilingual children: The Child HALA test’. Heritage Language Journal, 14(1), pp. 1-29.
Goslin, K. and Hofmann, M. (2017) ‘A Wikipedia powered state-based approach to automatic search query enhancement’, Journal of Information, Processing and Management, 53(5), pp. 1005-1025.
Gray, G., McGuinness, C., Owende, P., and Hofmann, M. (2016) ‘Learning factor models of students at risk of failing in the early stage of tertiary education’. Journal of Learning Analytics, 3(2), pp. 330-372.
Mangan, S., Malone, S., Ryan, M., McGahan, J., O’Neill, C., Burns, C., Warne, J., Martin, D. and Collins, K. (2017) ‘The influence of match outcome on running performance in elite Gaelic football’. Science and Medicine in Football, 1(3), pp.1-8.
49 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Martin, D., Swanton, A., Bradley, J., and McGrath, D. (2017) The use, integration and values of performance analysis to GAA coaches’. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 12(2), pp. 492-501.
Murray, C. (2017) ‘Conscious noticing: anti-bias from policy to practice’. International Critical Childhood Policy Studies, 6(1), pp. 22-37.
Ní Chonaill, B. and Harris, R. (2016) ‘Inequality in the Irish higher education system: a case study of the views of migrant students and their lecturers on how English language proficiency impacts their academic achievement in an Institute of Technology’. Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies, 16(2), pp. 79-90.
Patel, S. Nolan, B., Hofmann, M., Owende, P. and Patel, K. (2017) ‘Sentiment analysis: comparative analysis of multilingual sentiment and opinion classification techniques’. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Science Index 126, International Journal of Computer, Electrical, Automation, Control and Information Engineering, 11(6), pp. 624 - 630.
Power, A., Keane, A., Nolan, B. and O’Neill, B. (2017) ‘A lexical database for public textual cyberbullying detection’. Revista de Lenguas para Fines Específicos, 23(2), pp. 157-186.
Conference Proceedings
Appleby, L. and Dervan, P. (2016) ‘Embedding high definition videoconferencing in higher education to create Global Graduates’, Higher Education in Transformation Symposium, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.
Bergner, Y., Lang, C. and Gray, G. (2017) ‘A focus on methodology in learning analytics: building a structurally sound bridge discipline’ [editorial], In The CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 1915.
Bergner, Y., Lang, C. and Gray, G. (2017) ‘Workshop on methodology in learning analytics (MLA)’, In Proceedings of the Seventh International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference, Vancouver, Canada.
Campbell, N., Egan, T. and Deegan, C. (2017) ‘The application of digital accelerometers for wired and non-wired Mechanomyography’, In IEEE Signals and Systems Conference (IEEE), Tralee, Ireland. (Award: Best Paper ISSC, 2017)
Carthy, A. (2016) ‘Creating emotionally intelligent colleges’, In The International Conference on Engaging Pedagogy, Maynooth, Ireland.
Carthy, A. (2017) ‘A whole new ballgame: does engagement with a walking football club lead to increased levels of social engagement?’, In The Football Association of Ireland National Stakeholders Conference, Dublin, Ireland.
Clifford, W., Deegan, C. and Markham, C. (2017) ‘Smart detection of driver distraction events’, In The Proceedings of the 19th European Conference on Eye Movements, Wuppertal, Germany.
Clifford, W., Deegan, C. and Markham, C. (2017) ‘High speed reconstruction of a scene implemented through projective texture mapping’, In The Irish Machine Vision and Image Processing 2017, Maynooth University, Ireland.
50 Annual Reports 2016-2017
Deegan, C. (2016) ‘Designing innovative engineering programmes: a review of the process for the development of a multi-campus MEng programme’, In The Higher Education in Transformation (HEIT) Conference, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.
Dubiel, B. (2016) ‘Timeline of changes in heritage lexical acquisition across the primary school years: evidence from Polish-English early sequential bilinguals’, In The IRAAL Annual Conference: Paradigm Shifting in Applied Linguistics: New Theories and New Methods, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
Dubiel, B. (2017) ‘Language strength and maintenance in early sequential bilingual children’, In The International Symposium on Bilingualism, Limerick, Ireland.
Dubiel, B. (2017) ‘Assessment of language maintenance in bilingual children’, In The Multilingualism in the Early Years Conference, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin.
Goslin, K. and Hofmann, M. (2017) ‘A comparison of automatic search query enhancement algorithms that utilise Wikipedia as a source of a priori knowledge’, In The 9th Forum for Information Retrieval Evaluation (ACM), Bangalore, India.
Gray, G., McGuinness, C. and Owende, P. (2016) Learning analytics to inform teaching and learning approaches, In The 2nd Higher Education in Transformation Symposium, Toronto, Canada.
Hanratty, J., Deegan, C., Walsh, M. and Kirkpatrick, B. (2016) ‘Analysis of glottal source parameters in Parkinsonian speech’, In The 38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Orlando, Florida, pp. 3666-3669.
Jameson, A., Carthy, A., McGuinness, C. and McSweeney, F. (2017) ‘Employability and graduate work readiness: developing a tailored approach to social and emotional competency development in final year undergraduate students’, In The University-Industry Interaction Conference, Dublin, Ireland.
Jameson, A., Carthy, A., McGuinness, C. and McSweeney, F. (2017) ‘Emotional Intelligence and graduate employability: employer’s perspectives’, In The Annual Conference of the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology, Dublin, Ireland.
Keane, M. and Hofmann, M. (2017) ‘An investigation into third level module similarities and link analysis’, In The 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’17), Valencia, Spain, pp. 1121-1129.
Lawless, L. and Carthy, A. (2016) ‘A survey of emotional wellbeing among Irish third level educators’, In The Higher Education in Transformation Conference, Oshawa, Canada.
Martin, D., O’Donoghue, P.G., Guerin, S. and McGrath, D. (2017) ‘Searching for the applied performance analyst’ [abstract] In The European Congress of Sport Science, Essen, Germany.
McCabe, H. (2016) ‘Integrating work experience into the digital media curriculum: a case study’, In The Higher Education In Transformation Symposium, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.
McGeough, F. (2017) ‘Cutback management in Scottish and Irish local authorities: a case study approach’, In The European Accounting Association Annual Conference, Valencia, Spain.
51 Annual Reports 2016-2017
McGeough, F. (2017) ‘Resilience in the face of austerity: the case of Glasgow and Dublin City Councils’, In The British Accounting and Finance Association Annual Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Mulvey, T. (2017) ‘Location and layout: the Siamese twins for manufacturers and supply chain managers’, In International Conference in the University of Applied Science, Emden, Germany.
O’Brien M. and Hofmann, M. (2017) ‘The potential of learning outcomes analytics’, In EdTech Conference (Irish Learning Technology Association), Sligo, Ireland.
Patel, S., Nolan, B., Hofmann, M., Owende, P. and Patel, K. (2017) ‘Sentiment analysis: comparative analysis of multilingual sentiment and opinion classification techniques’, In The 19th International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Power, A., Keane, A., Nolan, B. and O’Neill, B. (2016) ‘A lexical database for cyberbullying detection’, In The 5th International Conference on Meaning and Knowledge Representation, Gran Canaria, Spain.
Power, A., Keane, A., Nolan, B. and O’Neill, B. (2017) ‘Offensive animal metaphors and similes in public textual cyberbullying’, In The 6th International Conference on Meaning and Knowledge Representation, St Petersburg, Russia.
Sheridan, S. and Keane, A. (2017) ‘Improving the stealthiness of DNS-based covert communication’, In The 16th European Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security (ECCWS), Dublin, Ireland.
Singh, L. and Hofmann, M. (2017) ‘Dynamic behavior analysis of Android applications for malware detection’, In The International Conference on Intelligent Communication and Computational Techniques, Jaipur, India.
Yourell, P. and Hofmann, M. (2017) ‘Do gender and the presence of children have an influence on telecommuting practices?’, In The 44th Annual Conference “Sociological Futures” (Sociological Association of Ireland), Belfast, UK.
Webb, N., Carthy, A. and Cox, D. (2016) ‘You’ve got a friend in me: peer mentoring and the first year experience’ In The Higher Education in Transformation Conference, Oshawa, Canada.
52
Annual Reports 2016-2017
Appendices
Governing Body Meeting Record 2016/2017
The Governing Body of the Institute held seven meetings during 2016/2017 and the attendance of members is set out below:
Governing Body Meetings in 2016/17 (7 Meetings) Number of Meetings Attended Jason Aughney (SU President) - (Resigned Friday 17 Feb 2017) 4 Conor Dempsey - (Replaced Jason Aughney 12 Jan 2018) 0 Paddy Bowler 5 Rose Callan 3 Maura Cassidy 6 Annette Clancy 1 Tom Collins (Chairperson) 7 Naomi Dixon 4 Cepta Duffy 2 Joe Fox 3 Joe Halvey 3 Eoghan Hanrahan 4 Peter Hodson 4 Vincent Jackson 3 Ronan Keaskin 3 Ivan Keatley 1 Hayley Keogh 4 Pamela Kelly 3 Mary McCamley 3 Paul McEvoy 4 Sharon McGrath 4 Tom Mulvey 4 Brian Nolan 2 Mark O’Brien 3 Mike O’Byrne 3 Diarmuid O’Callaghan (President) 7 Sarah Reilly 3 Pat Ward 1
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