Our network was officially launched on the 4th of October 2023. We had attendees from over 16 Higher Education Institutions on the island of Ireland and a few from further afield! In total we had over 300 people who signed up for the launch and we’d like to thank everyone who attended.
You can watch back the launch here
Speakers
Gillian Riddell
Technician Commitment Manager
Gillian is currently the Technician Commitment Manager at Queen’s University Belfast, and is on the Steering Group of the All-Ireland Technical Staff Network. She graduated Dundee University in 1994 with a BSc (Hons) 2:1 in Environmental Biology & Ecology. On returning to Northern Ireland, Gillian took up a position as Trainee Environmental Consultant with Belfast-based MarEnCo, but soon returned to Higher Education taking a post in Queen’s University as a Research Technician in Animal Behaviour and Ecology. From 1999 until September 2022, Gillian was a permanent technician in Ecosystem Biology & Sustainability, in the School of Biological Sciences, responsible for managing research laboratories and organising and teaching on residential undergraduate field courses. When Queen’s University became a signatory to the Technician Commitment in 2017 Gillian took on the role of Institutional Technical Lead, striving to embed the pillars of the Technician Commitment into the culture of the University
Dermot Barry
Technical Officer
Dermot is a Technical Officer at Munster Technological University, and is on the Steering Group of the All-Ireland Technical Staff Network. After graduating from Cork Regional Technical College in 1993 with a Computer Science Degree, he returned six years later to work in what was then known as the Cork Institute of Technology. Dermot completed an MSc in Computing in Education in 2007. He is actively engaged in representing and promoting technical staff during the transformative process of becoming a new university.
Andy Connelly
Skills Development Librarian
Andy currently works as a Skills Development Librarian at Northumbria University. Before this he was a stay-at-home dad and, in his life before nappies, he worked as a technician in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. It was during this time that he became fascinated in the history of technicians and technical staff and started writing about it. You can find all his writing on technicians on his blog technicianjourney.com.
Original Invite
You are invited to the online launch of the new All Ireland Technical Staff Network on Wednesday October 4th at 12.30.
The All-Ireland Technical Staff Network is a collaborative network of technical staff in higher education and research on the island of Ireland. The network welcomes technical staff, whatever their job title, from disciplines that include the arts, engineering, medicine, science, technology, trades & social sciences.
The higher education and research sectors of Ireland and Northern Ireland benefit from a highly skilled and motivated technical workforce. Yet, for too long their technical expertise has been hidden away. We aim to shine a light on the critical role that technical staff play.
The launch on October 4th will begin with introduction to the network by Dermot Barry (MTU) and Gillian Riddell (QUB).
The main talk on the history of technicians by Andy Connolly, who will look at the lives and work of three female technicians whose contribution to microbiology, high energy physics, genetics respectively are significant but mostly forgotten. Together their lives span nearly 200 years and give us a clear picture of how technician status and recognition has improved but also where things haven’t changed as much as they might have.
There will be time for some questions and discussion.