In the “Co-Design for Inclusive Innovation programme” CITI-GENS fellows engaged in a highly interactive collaborative deep dive into inclusive innovation across 3 days. The sessions were delivered by Claire Harris, Innovation Consultant at the Graduate School and Peter Worth, a Learning Experience Design Consultant who has previously worked in Stanford’s d.school, via Zoom, with some small face to face group coaching sessions at the Graduate School.

Working in cross-disciplinary teams both in and outside of the sessions, the cohort learnt to apply a Design Thinking process, take action, and try on design and equity mind-sets toward a real-life challenge set by Belfast City Council on reimagining the waterfront area of Belfast.

CITI-GENS fellows also had the opportunity to reflect on their learning and explore how this practice might integrate with their own research and practice.

At the end of the session the cohort presented their proposals back to Belfast City Council’s Andrea Thornbury and Deirdre Ferguson (both representatives on the CITI-GENS Independent Advisory Board) who noted the significant effort and innovative outcomes of the short session.

The sessions were delivered by Heather McGregor and began on Day One with framing the term Leadership with discussions around the definitions of leadership and images of leadership and looking at intersectoral leadership through the use of some impact case studies. The cohort then reviewed the Kouzes and Posner model of leadership, a research-based leadership development framework which consists of 5 leadership practices developed through qualitative and quantitative research methods.

On day two, Professor Margaret Topping, Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Graduate Studies & Dean of Graduate School and CITI-GENS Co-Director joined the group to set a challenge which acted as a vehicle to support leadership development over the next two days.  The challenge asked the group to look at the future use of the Graduate School post pandemic. This enabled Practical application of the leadership model through team-based learning with an opportunity for feedback from colleagues with the cohort split into 5 groups and a leader assigned for each session.

On Friday 2^nd July the cohort came together in the Great Hall at Queen’s University for a socially distances breakfast and an opportunity to deliver the outpus of their group work on the Leadership Challenge to the CITI-GENS Co- Directors Professor Margaret Topping and Professor Muiris MacCarthaigh and Conor Mullan from the Graduate School Engagement Team.

The researchers will also complete a Leadership Practice Inventory next year, once they have had an opportunity to practice some leadership skills, by asking contributors to rate their own leadership skills and will be given a report on the feedback they receive

For research funded by the European Union, ethics is an integral part of research from beginning to end and ethical compliance is pivotal to achieve real research excellence. 

The session was delivered by Heather McGregor alongside Kathryn Taylor from the University’s Governance Ethics and Integrity team.

The session began with a review of learning outcomes which included; considering ethics as a branch of philosophy and specifically research ethics and integrity; enabling SPaRK Fellows to share ethical issues and questions in relation to their current research projects and disciplinary areas and creating a learning environment which supports dialogue and diversity of opinion in relation to ethical questions, through the use of case-studies and ethical dilemmas.

The group looked at some real life case studies of malpractice including the Milgram Experiments 1961 before discussing how the focus of ethics has shifted from malpractice to integrity.

Following this the group took part in a debate where they argued a real life ethical dilemma before looking at ethical choices and the difference between Consequentialism, Deontology and Virtue ethics.

The Concordat to Support Research Integrity was examined more closely with the values of Honesty; Rigour; Transparency and open communication and Care and respect discussed in relation to research.

Kathryn Taylor then presented on Ethics policies within Queen’s University Belfast and the group examined the Cambridge Analytica Case Study,

To end the day, the group formed an Ethics Committee and two of the fellows presented their research and answered ethical considerations posed by the committee which gave the researchers a great insight into this process.

The next training session will be on Leading Across Sectors on Monday 25^th and Tuesday 26^th March.

Day 1:

Forestside Cookery School

The week began with a fun trip to Forestside Cookery School where the group prepared ciabatta and spciy mexican beans together, this was a great opportunity to work as a team and once the food was prepared the group were able to enjoy their own work by breaking bread together. 

Cross Cultural Competence

This session was led by two ESR's from within the cohort, Lucia Klencakova and Homer Wagenaar and examined cultural differences, stereotyping and reframing of feedback. Heather McGregor also delivered a session on understanding each other across national cultures examining Hofstede's Dimesnsions of Natural Culture and Erin Meyer's Culture Map. Deepak Singh ended the session by showing some highlights of the documentary Salam.

Day 2:

Marie Curie Collaborations: MISTRAL

Members of the team from MSCA ITN at Queen's, MISTRAL attended and delivered a session on the work they are doing, how they work in partnsership with other colleagues and some of their ESR's delivered short presentations on their research. This was an excellent opportunity to work with another MSCA funded project at the University.

Virtual Collaboration Using MashMe

Dr Dan Corbett showcased the MashMe platform to the group as a practical means of virtually collaborating. The group first interacted as an audicence participating in live polls and group breakouts. After this the group went to the David Keir building to view the platform from the delivery perspective and dicussed further how they could use the platform to enhance their own research. 

Grant Writing

Dr Lydia Lepeuchel from Research and Enterprise delivered an invaluable session on wrtining grant applications with tips on where to source grants and advice on how best to prepare applications.

International Men's Health Day Event

The cohort was invited to attend an event organised by Spark ESR Shane O'Donnell at the Queen's Film Theatre as part of the University's International Mens Day events which examined transformative film making and mental health,

Day 3:

Careers Session

Day 3 kicked off with a session delivered by Dr Lilian Simones, Careers Consultant at the Graduate School. The session inlcuded content on how to search for jobs followed by a session on how to succeed in academic interviews. 

Research Collaborations

For this session the Cohort were joined by a number of their academic upervisors who outlined their experiences of international collaboration in their research careers to date. This led onto a discussion with SPaRK Fellows in relation to the following areas:

• Building international collaborations and partnerships
• Research Collaborations
• Working in multidisciplinary research teams
• Working with international NGO’s and governments
• Working with industry

SPaRK Fellows received some great insight into how they build partnerships, the steps involved, the challenges they can expect and ways to overcome.  

Day 5:

Student Led 

 The student led session was coordinated by Apolline Malevez and Giorgio Zacari. The first session was a round table discussion with the cohort split into 3 groups to discuss the following topics

• Planning and work-life balance
• Changing in topics/methodologies - how to deal with them
• Engaging with partners 
• Imposter Syndrome

The groups then shared their input with each other and discussed the topics in more detail, sharing insight and tips. 

Following this, Dr. Tom Hulme  from the School of History, Anthroplogy, Politics and Philosophy delivered a workshop entitled "The Soldier, the Constable, his Prisoner and his Lover: Queer Belfast in 1917" where the group had the opportunity to examine and interpret archive documents in order to establish a storyline of events during this period, it proved to be an interactive and enjoyable way to end the weeks activities. 

A huge thank you to all of the speakers and contributors who gave their time to the programme!

Day 1:

Working in Partnership- Impact outside academia

This session was delivered by colleagues from the Science Shop, Dr Emma McKenna and Eileen Martin with input from John Eversley, an external consultant and examined The Value of Partnerships to Address Global Challenges. The group looked at partnership models and how to make it work.

Gender Balance in your Research Career

Professor Karen McCloskey of Queen’s Gender Initiative delivered a presentation on the QGI Initiative and Athena Swan. Karen also examined how to achieve gender balance when organising conferences and events

"The Conversation-How to Pitch"

Judith Rance from Strategic Marketing and Communications delivered a session on how to Pitch to the Conversation. This included some group work around pitches on current news headlines and has already led to some submissions form the cohort!

Day 2:

Engaging as a Researcher

Paul Monahan from Staff Training and Development and Dr Eimear Barrett, Impact Office from Research and Enterprise delivered this session on Research Impact which gave the researchers some practical tools including preparing a research statement and tweet. The session also included a multi-disciplinary panel with Professor David Johnston from the School of Arts English and Languages, Professor Alistair Ruffell from the School of Natural and Built Environment and Dr Claire McEvoy from the Centre of Public Health.

Influencing Policy

In this session, Kevin Fearon from QPOL, Queen’s Policy Engagement blog, gave the Cohort an overview of the blog and a guide to Policy papers including formatting. Kevin then invited the cohort to develop some policy paper concepts in interdisciplinary groups.

Day 3:

Careers Insight Panel

Day 3 kicked off with a Career Insight Panel from some Early career researchers from the University. The panel included Dr Elton Santos from the School of Maths and Physics, Dr Stephen McMahon from CCRCB (both Queen’s fellows) Dr Alice DuBois from the Postdoctoral Development Centre, MHLS and Dr Ali Fitzgibbons from the School of Arts English and Languages. Chaired by Heather McGregor the panel allowed the cohort to get answers to pertinent questions around mobility, stability and other key issues in their early career.

Activism and Neutrality as a Researcher

Dr Michael Pierse delivered a fascinating talk on activism and neutrality as a researcher which included practical examples and tips of how to achieve a balance, particularly in early academic careers.

The Art of Public Speaking

The day ended with a voice workshop with Rosie Pelan with some fun exercises to improve our voice with breathing, relaxation and resonance practice.

Day 4:

Mid Term Review

On Thursday 16^th May we hosted Daniela Radu, Project Office from the REA, European Commission for the SPaRK Project Mid Term Review. 10 of the fellows presented their projects, background and the impact on their future career of the action.

Day 5:

Student Led – Culture Exchange

On Friday Cohort 2 organised a day of cultural activities for the entire cohort. These included a scavenger hunt, noise activities, a talk on Myths about Spain and Myths about Ramadan and some games to end the day. This day of fun proved the perfect way to end the immersive training week and blow off some steam!

A huge thank you to all of the speakers and contributors who gave their time to the programme!

The SPARK project funds PhD places which focus on leadership, innovation, creativity, and mentoring by sectoral leaders at their core.

Every SPARK project is interdisciplinary, involves training and development programmes, and involves meaningful engagement with a non-HEI partner.

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