About IARU

Presidents' Meeting 2022

For the first time in two years, the IARU Presidents were able to meet in person (with Peking University joining online), to discuss and share ideas on common challenges and areas of interest.

In Downing College, Cambridge, the Presidents heard first- hand about how international scientific collaboration has been fundamentally changed as a result of the pandemic through a joint presentation by Professor Sir Andrew Pol- lard (University of Oxford), the chief investigator in the clinical trials for the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vac- cine, and Dr Tonya Villafana (Vice President, Global Fran- chise Head, AstraZeneca) who led the late-stage develop- ment of the vaccine.

A session led by Cambridge’s Professor Ian Leslie focused on crucial questions around sustainability and how to balance effective academic collaboration while also lead- ing by example in reducing the carbon footprint of univer- sities.

The attendees continued their conversations over dinners in the picturesque medieval grounds of Trinity Hall and Queens’ College. After visits to the Wren Library at Trinity College and evensong at King’s College Chapel, a final tour of the Sainsbury’s Laboratory of

plant sciences gave attendees the opportunity to learn about one of the University’s cutting-edge scientific facilities.

The meeting generated exciting ideas for fresh dialogue in areas of common interest, and several suggestions for the sharing of strategies and data. The Presidents are looking forward to developing these ideas at their next meeting in January 2023 at ETH Zürich.

The Future of Work

The huge changes brought about by the pandemic have left a lasting impact on the work culture of all IARU institutions. Professor Kamal Munir, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cambridge, gave a presentation on how Cambridge has coped with adopting hybrid working patterns and the implications for teaching and research. Professor Henrik Wegener, Rector of the University of Copenhagen, explored the changing nature of work culture at Copenhagen and outlined how the university had dealt with the challenges that had arisen during the pandemic.

This session provided the Presidents with an opportunity to compare the situations in their own institu- tions. The discussion then widened to consider the implications of hybrid working for academic teaching, team cohesion and inclusion.

Building a Mentoring Culture

The President of the National University of Singapore, Professor Eng Chye Tan, and Associate Professor Sau Kim Lum, led an engaging session on how NUS approaches the subject of mentoring for its early-career academics. This was a topic of great interest to the other IARU Presidents who shared their own perspectives and procedures for supporting on junior academics at the crucial early stage of their careers.

The benefits of academic staff development and retention, the intense competition for tenured academic posts, and the challenges of changing an institutional culture were key themes of the session.

The attendees agreed that the mentoring of researchers could be a promising future area of collaboration for IARU members.

ALH and Librarians' Contact Group Updates

The Presidents were very pleased to be joined by Dr Louise Lafortune (Group Lead and Cambridge repre- sentative for the Ageing, Longevity and Health Initiative), who gave an overview of the current work of the group.

In their research into healthy ageing, the ALH Initiative has benefitted greatly from the truly international membership of IARU. This has meant that the group has been able to translate their fundamental under- standing of the challenges around ageing into different settings around the world, building upon each other’s knowledge.

Joining the Presidents online, Richard Ovenden (Bodley’s Librarian, Univer- sity of Oxford) outlined the im- portance of sharing knowledge and support in the Librarians’ Contact Group, focusing on their work on benchmarking and the ongoing discussion of the evolving role of libraries that was intensified by COVID-19.

Senior Officers' Meeting 2022

In the historic surroundings of Christ Church, Oxford, the Senior Officers gathered together for their annual meeting in September 2022, sharing regional updates and developments from their universities. Future plans for the Global Internship Program and the IARU Courses were discussed , and the proposals for the new Education Committee and Early Career Collaboration Grants were refined and approved.

The Senior Officers also discussed the update reports and funding requests from the IARU groups and initiatives, noting that as travel restrictions ease, the groups have been enthusiastic in returning to in-person meetings and planning new work.

Oxford was a very welcoming host and attendees were able to explore some of the famous landmarks of the city. The 17th-century Trout Inn pro- vided an atmospheric venue for the Welcome Dinner and the Senior Officers visited St Peter’s College for an enjoyable meal on the final evening.

Universities' responses to international crises

Renata Schaeffer provided an overview of Cambridge’s response to the war in Ukraine. Senior Officers compared the crisis response structures within their institu- tions, noting the importance of agility and adapting at speed. Some Senior Officers commented that there was now an expecta- tion for universities to respond more broad- ly to international crises, following the work they did during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, it was noted there were diffi- cult questions about why universities had not responded to past crises in the same way. Senior Officers agreed that manage- ment of communication was key to an effective response and that important les- sons had been learnt for the future.

The Oxford Character Project

Dr Edward Brooks, Director of the Oxford Character Project, led a discussion with the Senior Officers about approaches to leadership development, particu- larly within a university environ- ment.

The Oxford Character Project looks at the role of character and the key personal qualities that are part of effective and wise leadership.

Dr Brooks raised a number of subjects including how do we develop and educate our stu- dents as leaders, and how do universities provide this sort of training and then measure the results.

Senior Officers considered how these concepts could also be relevant for staff as well as stu- dents, and shared details of the leadership training models at their universities.

Updates from Groups & Initiatives

Ageing, Longevity and Health Initiative

In addition to maintaining and devel- oping bilateral collaborations, the ALH Initiative is writing a research strategy to guide their work on these topics over the next 2 years.

Also under development is their Early Career Researchers’ network to engage early career researchers across IARU’s membership and concretely integrate them into the ALH Initiative. This network was launched in October 2022 at the ALH Conference, hosted by University of Copenhagen.

Copenhagen also offered an online course on ’Sustainable Ageing’ as part of the ALH Initiative’s activities. This interdisciplinary course took place in October 2022 and gave students the opportunity to gain perspectives from leading age-researchers representing biology, medicine, social sciences and humanities.

Alumni Associations Network

After a series on online meetings over the past few years, the Alum- ni Associations Network plans to hold their first in-person meeting in 2023.

Cybersecurity Forum

The Cybersecurity Forum are look- ing forward to holding their 2023 Forum at ETH Zurich in the first half of next year, where they will share information on the areas of KPI and risk tolerance frameworks, connectivity, benchmarking, policy development and intelligence sharing. The group would also like to extend the invitation for its 2023 Forum to leading members of IARU Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERT) – please get in touch with group lead, Rui Brandao (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) if you or a member of your institution would be interested.

Gender Group

The Gender Group were delighted to be able to meet in-person in August 2022 at the University of Copenhagen. The agenda included updates from each institution on current gender equity efforts; what does science tell us about equity training and programs that succeed or fail; how institutions address gender-based harassment and bullying; and the effect of the pandemic on women’s research productivity and how IARU institutions have been addressing this.

The group is now planning their next meeting, which will potentially be held at NUS in summer 2023, where they hope to discuss the latest social science research on gender equity practices, how differing backgrounds relate to gendered outcomes for faculty career success, and how our different universities structure their staff roles that focus on gender, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Global Transformations

The signature activity of the Global Transformations Group, the Bor- derland summer school programme in Chiang Mai, Thailand, has been severely affected by the travel disruption of the pandemic. It is won- derful to see that the group are planning to reinstate the course in July 2023, in addition to beginning a number of new projects. Amongst the planned activities, the group hope to:

develop a new IARU Webinar format titled ‘IARU in Conversation’ addressing key 21st century challenges within the Global Trans- formation agenda.
launch a new seminar series hosted by UCPH, titled ‘Africa and Asia: Optimism’, building on the IARU Roundtable discussion held at the conference ‘Asia and Africa in Transition’ at UCPH in 2021.
produce a joint publication based on the experiences and contri- butions from the Borderland course and/or the new webinar series ‘IARU in Conversation’.

HR Consultation Group

The HR Consultation Group are also planning to meet in-person during 2023. In the meantime it has been meeting virtually to discuss post-COVID-19 challenges. These include how universities can remain competitive and attract and retain top talent in light of the flexibility offered by creative and innovative employers.

Librarians' Contact Group

Through the pandemic IARU libraries have shared information and support to maintain excellent services to our communities. The group worked on a report on services provided to IARU staff and students during COVID-19. The report is online and enables IARU community members to access information on e-services during the pandemic as well as sharing innovations initiated in libraries.

Over the past couple of years the group has also been developing a Passport to IARU Libraries that will enable IARU students and academics visiting other IARU universities to discover library collections, research resources, open access materials and the study assistance that is available when visiting, either online or in-person. It is available at https://library-admin.anu.edu.au/iaru-passport/. The group is thankful to all IARU libraries for contributing information and Patrick Byrne at ANU for designing the website and adding and updating the content. You can use the site to find information on:

Collections, e-resources & databases
Searching online resources
Open access resources
Training and guides
Borrowing services
Branches and opening hours
In-person assistance
Contact

The Group has also produced a Green Library guide for members and is planning a Libraries Exchange Scheme for staff in member libraries.

Lifelong Learning Group

This group is planning to meet infor- mally as part of attending the annual conference of the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) held in Washington DC in March 2023. This will be followed by an in-person meeting of the Lifelong Learning Group in Cambridge (Autumn 2023), where it hopes to focus on enhancing inclusive practice in lifelong learning, and develop effective collaborations in the delivery of lifelong courses between IARU members.

These meetings will allow the group members to ensure that they are following best practice in lifelong learning and adapting to the changing environment in this sector as a result of the pandemic. Longer term, the development of the group’s activities will foster a culture of co-delivery and participation in lifelong learning between member institutions.

Real Estate Working Group

After meeting online over the past two years, the Real Estate Working Group intend to schedule an in- person conference in 2023, possibly in collaboration with the Sustainable Campus Initiative. The group are also working on a staff development and exchange programme, which they hope to launch in next year. Recent discussions have included hybrid working challenges, digital masterplans to improve space efficiencies and the unique economic and environmental contexts that vary from country to country.

Sustainable Campus Initiative

2022 has been the first year of ‘The Future of Workspace’ project (a joint project with the Real Estate Working Group) which has included a desktop study (undertaken by a post graduate student specialising in real estate), joint meetings between SCI and REWG to share projects and ideas, and the preparations of detailed interviews with IARU members which will commence shortly. A presentation and summary report will be prepared by the end of 2022 to publish the initial findings of the project.

The SCI’s Scope 3 Carbon Emissions Working Group aims to collaborate on potential solutions and best practice tools and methodologies for some of the biggest common challenges when it comes to Scope 3 emissions in universities. The working group will focus primarily on air travel, the procurement of goods and services, and construction.

Virtual Museum Tours

We are excited to announce that the ‘Letter to a Cycad’ video, produced by the University of Copenhagen as part of the IARU Virtual Museum Tours, has continued to earn recognition and awards. The video has very recently won the Gold Lovie and People's Lovie awards in the 360 Video category at the 12th Annual Lovie Awards, which celebrate the best of European digital content.

In the spotlight: Getting to know our IARU members

Roxanne Missingham

University Librarian
Director, Scholarly Information Services Australian National University

IARU Librarians’ Contact Group Lead

I am thrilled to be working at the Australian University as University Librarian and Director, Scholarly Information Services. My portfolio includes ANU Libraries, Archives, ANU Press and Digital Scholarship. Before joining ANU I was the Commonwealth Parliamentary Librarian responsible for the Parliamentary Library and Research Services.

Librarians' Contact Group

Collections, e-resources & databases
Searching online resources
Open access resources
Training and guides
Borrowing services
Branches and opening hours
In-person assistance
Contact

The Group has also produced a Green Library guide for members and is planning a Libraries Exchange Scheme for staff in member libraries.

The new IARU Education Committee

The IARU Education Committee held an initial brainstorming session online in October. This new committee was proposed by the Secretariat in 2021, partly out of a desire to re-energise work in education in the wake of the severe disruption caused by the pandemic. Senior Officers agreed that there was a need for single, ongoing point of coordination within the Alliance for our range of educational initiatives: IARU courses, the Global Internship Programme, the Global Transformation Field Course, and the joint online courses that have been organised between a few institutions in recent years. The committee’s current membership includes colleagues from ANU, NUS, PKU, UCB, UCPH, UCT and Cambridge. Anne Bruun, International Director at Copenhagen and former Global Summer Programme Coordinator, has kindly agreed to lead the committee going forward. It is envisaged that the committee could improve the efficiency and value of IARU’s education work by doing the following:

Look to the future and make suggestions for new initiatives as appropriate.
Maintain up-to-date knowledge of what is happening in IARU’s educational offering as a whole, how it is working, and acting as a source of general advice. The committee would also serve as IARU’s institutional memory about what has been tried, what has succeeded and what could be improved.
Act as the primary point of communication and coordination in IARU on education, keeping initia- tives informed about each other’s work and identifying opportunities for cooperation.
Serve as a forum for all colleagues working in education to identify, and work together on, oppor- tunities and common problems.
Help to reduce the vulnerability of initiatives anchored at a single institution and/or with a single individual.

The committee’s first meeting saw an extensive discussion of what a distinctively IARU educational offering should look like, the key considerations in running any education programme, and a commit- ment to frame the next discussion in terms of what core principles and guidelines should inform our education initiatives. The responsibilities and remit of the committee will also be established. Any colleagues who are interested in joining the committee, especially at institutions which are not yet represented, are very welcome to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..