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Trinity Long Room Hub Strategic Plan

Trinity Long Room Hub Strategic Plan 2011-2014 (Third draft)

Executive Summary

This document aligns with the Trinity Strategic Plan 2009-2014 and is written to inform College Board of the priorities signed off by Hub partners for the period 2011-2014. It is not written with a view to public consumption.

The Trinity Long Room Hub is the research institute for the Arts and Humanities at Trinity College Dublin. In an international context, the Hub is unique in providing a close partnership between a Library of outstanding collections and a world-class community of scholars across a range of disciplines.

In four years’ time the Hub should be known for the innovative ways in which it helps bring arts and humanities research to cross-fertilise within and outside the university to address questions about the human condition, creativity and identity in global and local contexts.

The Hub facilitates cross-disciplinary research initiatives within the arts and humanities and across faculty divides. We provide support for individuals and groups, including but not limited to those seeking national and international research funding.

We enrich the research environment for our partner researchers by operating a visiting fellowship programme. We provide a home for research fellows, post docs and post-graduate students affiliated with Trinity research projects. Through the academic year we run a series of lectures and colloquia.

The Trinity Long Room Hub helps spread the results of research for the benefit of Irish society and the world. We engage with business and public partners. We provide a first port-of-call for questions about arts and humanities research at Trinity.

The Strategic Plan has three parts:

- an aspirational section setting out the context and aims for 2011/2014,- an implementation section identifying actions, timeline and budget,- a set of six Key Performance Indicators to be reported on annually to the Board of

Trinity College.

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ContentsExecutive Summary..................................................................................................................1

1. Introduction......................................................................................................................3

2. Vision, Mission, and Values..............................................................................................3

Our vision..........................................................................................................................3

Our Mission......................................................................................................................3

Our Values........................................................................................................................4

3. Context.............................................................................................................................4

4. Trinity Long Room Hub Governance.................................................................................5

5. What Does the Hub Do?...................................................................................................6

6. A Physical and Human Infrastructure to Underpin Excellence..........................................8

7. Challenger: Enriching the research environment.............................................................9

8. Communicator: Increasing the impact of Trinity College Arts & Humanities research.....9

9. Incubator: Fostering and supporting projects, networks and ideas................................10

10. Initiatives: Supporting cross-disciplinary themes........................................................11

11. Implementation Plan..................................................................................................12

12. Key Performance Indicators........................................................................................19

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The Trinity Long Room Hub Strategy for 2011-2014

1. IntroductionThe Trinity Long Room Hub is a dedicated facility for arts and humanities research at Trinity College Dublin. The ‘Hub’ facilitates Trinity College’s strategic development of research in the arts, humanities and social sciences through the fuller exploitation of the College’s rich research collections and provides additional resources to an outstanding community of scholars across a range of disciplines.

The Trinity Long Room Hub is a partnership of the Trinity Library and seven academic schools which capitalises upon the strengths Trinity College Dublin has in a very active but diverse research area. The seven schools are the School of Drama, Film and Music, the School of English, the School of Histories and Humanities, the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, the School of Religions, Theology and Ecumenics, and the Department of Philosophy.

The strategy of the Trinity Long Room Hub is guided by the broader College aim, expressed in the College Strategic Plan 2009-2014, to further strengthen its reputation as a university of global consequence. Trinity Research Institutes are a key component of this platform, unique in their capacity to make a global impact in research. The Trinity Long Room Hub’s strategy builds on the successful realisation of the Hub strategy plan of March 2009, which provided guidance for the Institute’s activities up through the opening of the Trinity Long Room Hub building in September 2010. The Strategy is informed by the School and Library strategic plans and completed after consultation and submitted documents from partners.

2. Vision, Mission, and Values

Our vision To ensure that arts and humanities research at Trinity College is at the leading edge of knowledge and maximises the contribution of humanities to society, thereby helping to realise the creative potential of Trinity College as a great national and international institution.

The Arts and Humanities provide world-class, externally-reviewed research. The Trinity Long Room Hub helps support and project this excellence, so assisting College to be a university of consequence: to the city, to the country, to Europe, and to the intellectual community worldwide.

Our MissionThe mission of the Trinity Long Room Hub is

To support and promote the full spectrum of arts and humanities research at TCD internally, nationally and internationally,

To help secure that research feeds back into society

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http://www.tcd.ie/Library/


To enhance access to Trinity research materials and enable the future development of the collections,

To play a leading role in ensuring that the contribution of the arts and humanities to society is both sustained and understood.

Our Values We support the pursuit of excellence and new frontiers in research, We champion the role of all researchers and academic freedom in intellectual

inquiry, We promote and facilitate the scholarly activities of our partner Schools and the

Library, We observe best international practice in developing a research institute for the arts

and humanities.

3. Context

University-based research institutes are a fairly recent development across the globe. The first were created in the 1970s but the majority have been established within the last ten years. While models and functions vary, most humanities research institutes have a focus on providing support for both individual and team-based research; they provide facilities for visiting research fellows; have a programme of academic lectures and strive to bring the best research to the attention of a wide audience.

Research is crucial to ensure that society has access to leading-edge knowledge and to train the next generation of critically-empowered graduates. The Trinity Long Room Hub is a catalyst to emhance research processes within the arts and humanities and with other faculties at Trinity.

Research in Trinity is normally carried out within academic disciplines. Disciplines have evolved through decades or even centuries, building on tested methods and techniques. However, new research themes and problems often do not fit neatly within tested structures and the Hub therefore helps promote research drawing on a range of disciplines, overcoming institutional and departmental boundaries.

The Trinity Long Room Hub exists to identify opportunities, help build critical mass, and increase the impact of research in the arts and humanities. Building critical mass for research in the arts and humanities is not a new concept within Trinity. Multidisciplinary research centres have attracted funding and provide an extra level of vitality for research in their specific thematic areas through light coordination and a shared vision. The Trinity Long Room Hub realises this potential on a larger scale, and should therefore strive to encompass and add value for all scholars within the arts and humanities and promote the collections of the Library. There should always be a productive balance between the Hub’s activities and those of the Schools and Library.

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The Trinity Long Room Hub was established as a Trinity Research Institute by Board decision in 2007 to realise the potential for arts and humanities research at Trinity College Dublin expressed in the 2006 external review of these areas. In 2008 The Hub received funding from the Irish Government Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI IV) of a total of €10.8 million. The funding enabled the building of a purpose-designed facility, opened in September 2010, some cataloguing of research collections, and an ambitious programme of research projects, lectures, conferences, and visiting fellowships.

In March 2009, after consultation with the Schools and the Library, the Trinity Long Room Hub Board of Governance approved a strategic plan for 2009-2012 with a special focus on the first 18 months. A report on the plan notes as major accomplishments the completion and launch of the Hub building by September 2010; the recognition of the Hub as a leading institute within Ireland and Europe through preparing major reports for the EU Directorate-General for Research and the European Science Foundation; the 6.8 million euro grant awarded under the PRTLI V for a Structured PhD Programme in Digital Arts and Humanities; the establishment of the Irish Environmental History Network; developing links with the cultural sphere, not least through a series of open lectures and Trinity Week; and the successful launch of the Visiting Research Fellowship Programme in 2010-11.

In sum, considerable advances towards the goals set out for the Hub have been made in the first years. The coming years will be challenging in financial terms. Priorities for the future must be set, based on the projected budget for the Hub, and the Strategic Plan must focus on adding value for our stakeholders.

4. Trinity Long Room Hub Governance

The Academic Director, appointed by College Board, has overall strategic and budgetary responsibility and is supported by an Executive Director for financial and administrative management.

The Trinity Long Room Hub is governed by the Board of Governance: The Board of Governance has overall financial and academic oversight. The Director

reports three times a year to the Board of Governance, which reports to the College Board. Membership is four external members, one of whom serves as Chairman, appointed by College Board and four internal members, appointed by the partner Schools and Library. Participating schools and the Library may submit a separate annual report to the Board of Governance.

The Institute has three advisory bodies, the Internal Advisory Forum, the External Academic Advisory Board, and the Foundation Board.

The Internal Advisory Forum is the main sounding board for the Hub and shall meet once a month during term. Membership is Directors of Research of the Schools and representatives of the Library. The IAF is chaired by the Academic Director.

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The External Academic Advisory Board advises on Hub academic strategy and meets once a year. Membership is nine academics, based on one nomination from each of the schools and two from the Library. The EAAB chair is appointed by the Board of Governance.

The Hub Foundation Board advises on fund-raising for the arts and humanities and its meetings are hosted by the Hub. The Board elects its own chairperson.

5. What Does the Hub Do?

The Trinity Long Room Hub is a research-enabling institute which provides three major services:

A home for visiting and internal research fellows An support structure of space, knowledge and resources that can help our partner

schools and the Library to achieve their strategic objectives Facilitation of new research initiatives

The Trinity Long Room Hub builds on and supports the research interests of the Trinity Schools and the development of Library facilities to support research. At the same time the Hub must provide leadership by identifying and supporting excellence and frontier research. The Hub must also ensure that a wide group of interested parties learn about, benefit from and interact with Trinity research.

Development of research is the core role of the Hub. The Hub does not carry out research itself, apart from the Academic Director’s own research, and is therefore not in the driver’s seat but provides a train of support which can be used by both individuals and teams. The diagram below illustrates that the Hub thrives when it is a meeting place and critical forum for research within and outside of Trinity. The Hub must therefore continue to develop formal and informal ways of engaging with, distilling and supporting research within Trinity as well as engaging with external stakeholders. It is very important to build on the success of the digital arts and humanities programme to develop links with cultural institutions and industry.

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Arts and Humanities Schools and Library

Research/Teaching Knowledge Transfer

The diagram below (Trinity Long Room Hub Value Chain) brings out how the Hub plays a critical role in all stages of the development of research areas from conception of a project through resourcing to dissemination.

Trinity College Research Centres

Ad hoc research forums

RESEARCH AND TEACHING EXCELLENCETCD & Visiting AcademicsPost DoctoralPost GraduatesResearch–led undergraduate teaching

NATIONAL OUTREACHCivil societyPolicy makersEducation ,Arts and Culture

BUSINESS & INDUSTRYCreative & IT IndustriesCultural heritageCommunications & Media

NETWORKSIrish universities (North & South), libraries, galleries and museumsLeading Humanities research centers across the globeStrategic alliances with top global research institutes

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The Value Chain diagram illustrates that the Hub provides value to research by support activities and developing initiatives.

Support activities are of direct benefit to all individual researchers by providing attractive meeting and lecture space, information and knowledge about funding opportunities, international networks such as Marie Curie exchange opportunities, opportunities for inviting and collaborating with visiting research fellows, and advice and consultation. The Hub will support not only projects that are directly targeted towards external funders but also provide support for new project ideas, for instance by facilitating a workshop or introducing new methodologies. Support includes the highlighting of library and other college collections which have potential as foci for research.

Primary activities are targeted support for individuals and teams who want to develop either major individual projects (funded perhaps through IRCHSS or the ERC grants for junior and senior researchers) or team-based projects (funded e.g. through European agencies).

The Primary and Support activities are delivered by a number of instruments which may be described in five categories :

- A Physical and Human Infrastructure to underpin excellence- Challenger: instruments to enrich the research environment at Trinity by bringing in

new ideas- Communicator: Increasing the impact of Trinity College Arts &Humanities research- Incubator: Enabling individual researchers within Trinity by supporting projects,

networks and ideas- Initiatives to align to funding programmes of scale

Each of these areas enables a specific type of impact to be achieved by the Hub, and requires specific actions to be pursued in their implementation.

6. A Physical and Human Infrastructure to Underpin Excellence

The Hub provides physical and electronic infrastructure as well as expert staff to support research. This programme ensures the use of and continued development of resources.

The Hub should continuously adapt the building usage policy in response to expressed user needs, such as after hour’s usage.

Both the knowledge infrastructure and the physical infrastructure are called upon to serve a very wide range of stakeholders, including both established and more junior Library and School-based staff, postgraduate students, College interests and a wide range of cultural and local externals. As part of the physical infrastructure, the Hub will support the development of research facilities in the Old Library building to enable the use of collections to modern standards.

The Hub building may be part-funded through external usage that does not conflict with academic use.

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7. Challenger: Enriching the research environment

Activities under this heading aim to ensure that our claims to international standing are confirmed through active engagement with international leaders in arts and humanities research.

Events: The Hub facilitates and invigorates academic life by mounting a vibrant programme of lectures and seminars. It is important that lectures are generally part of carefully branded series, planned in collaboration with School or Library champions. Single events occur as outstanding opportunity may dictate.

The Visiting Research Fellowship Programme aims to attract researchers of outstanding quality to Trinity. The programme should improve overall academic quality by drawing international experts to Trinity to stimulate new research avenues and to highlight research opportunities in Library and other collections.

The Hub plays a vital role in developing postgraduate studies by fundraising for studentships and supporting the Structured PhD programmes in Digital Arts and Humanities and Texts, Contexts, and Cultures.

8. Communicator: Increasing the impact of Trinity College Arts & Humanities research

The Hub aims to deliver professional and targeted communication. Publicly-funded research institutions are assessed not only on scholarly output, but on wider public reach and impact.

The Hub website is critical to the efficiency of Hub services to its constituency. It is the first port of call for external viewers (including prospective fellows and research students) and a unique information resource for events across the arts and humanities within Trinity. Although we have made a number of improvements over the past year (including a calendar and informational video on the home page), the website as a whole should be recast to facilitate users and to meet our changing needs.

The Trinity Long Room Hub newsletter, BeSpoke, has developed as a key outreach means for the Hub with a readership of 1200+. The newsletter should be kept as a biannual electronic publication, and fuller integration of the newsletter with the Hub website should be achieved.

Communication flows within the Hub stakeholder groups must be developed to overcome the differing nature of communication norms within the Schools and Library themselves.

The Hub has captured considerable audio and video content to populate its dedicated YouTube channel. Considering that College is developing its services on iTunes/YouTube, the Hub should await further developments while continuing to capture events and lectures for

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broadcast. These resources are valuable not only for the ways in which they reach different audiences, but for extending and making durable our investment in speakers and events.

The Hub has great potential to exchange knowledge between the arts and humanities with business and society.

The Hub should ensure international high-level visibility for TCD research in our core areas and develop its role as an international leader. The Hub is ideally positioned to take a leadership role in Europe based on the European Consortium for Humanities Institutes and Centres, which was founded at the Trinity Long Room Hub in February 2011 and elected the Academic Director of the Hub as its first President. The Hub should also maintain its membership of the global alliances of University-Based Institutes for Advanced Study and the Consortium of Humanities Centres and Institutes.

9. Incubator: Fostering and supporting projects, networks and ideas

The Trinity Long Room Hub should be a nurturing place for ideas that are not yet fully formed, as well as a place to encounter new ideas and new perspectives on old ones.

The Hub will play a role as an enabler of research, i.e. provide services such as fund-raising, and support for grant-writing. In the arts and humanities most research is carried out individually or in small groups. Basic, individual research is the lifeblood of the arts and humanities, but the individual or small group will often find administrative, budgetary and scoping requirements by funding agencies challenging. Support for developing research projects is therefore central to the Trinity Long Room Hub’s mission as is support for the generation of catalogues and digital resources for research.

In supporting ideas, the role of the Hub should not be defined by availability of research funding but by academic priorities. The Hub must help researchers to access external funds and, when funding or research needs require critical mass, the Hub must enable the formation of teams.

Non-Exchequer sources of funding, such as the EU and private foundations, often have a bias for the natural, medical, and engineering sciences. The Hub must evaluate the potential for Trinity researchers in funding calls and other opportunities, investigate interest for such calls, and support researchers in developing research ideas and funding bids. Drawing on the lessons of successful applicants in the arts and humanities is critical, and the Hub should assist junior researchers to draw on help from senior colleagues.

To the extent that the Hub generates non/earmarked external funding in support of research, a priority must be to facilitate research leave or buy-out. The Hub should look into the potential for external funding for internal fellowships.

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10.Initiatives: Supporting cross-disciplinary themes

The Hub needs to have a dynamic interaction with the Schools, able to prove value to them, but also to challenge them and stimulate academic research to go to unexpected places. As a way to focus interaction it is useful to identify broad cross-cutting initiatives. These initiatives must be developed and selected by the Hub partners. Given the need for widespread discussion to identify themes that would resonate both inside and outside the College, the focus in the first year of the Strategic Plan should be on identifying the possibilities and the process of developing themes.

The Hub will provide support for strategic initiatives agreed between the Hub partners. While there is agreement that prioritisation must take place to enable the Hub to maximise its services, and agreement that digital research agendas must be pursued, schools differ in their recommendation of research themes. The initial consultation process in the winter of 2010-2011 has brought forward support for the following themes: Eighteenth-Century Studies; Children’s Literature; Constructions of Europe; Medical Humanities; Environmental Humanities; Cultural and Creative Industries; Languages of Ireland; Visual, Oral, and Performing Cultures; and Religions, Ethics, and Cultural Engagements. There will be a continuing consultation process in the autumn of 2011. At the same time, the College Research Committee has agreed to a list of College-wide research initiatives. Three themes will have humanities champions (Digital Humanities, The Human Condition, and Cultural Heritage & Arts), while other themes have considerable humanities interest such as Creative Technologies, Arts & Entertainment, Smart & Sustainable Cities, International Development, Sustainable Society, and Human & Social Networking.

To identify and support developing themes, the Hub shall facilitate Research Forums (open meetings of interested researchers) to develop themes, identify principal investigators and critical mass within Trinity, and identify funding opportunities. Framework 7 themes and other opportunities for funding of scale must be carefully evaluated for their potential for Trinity researchers. The Hub should help map research strengths across partners, potential to develop and bring resources to key library collections, and potential to achieve international standard.

The theme of Digital Arts and Humanities has matured rapidly at Trinity College over the past five years, and lessons may be learnt from this process to develop new initiatives. Progress was made using a broad suite of Hub instruments. Methods Seminars introduced the Trinity community to leading experts and technologies, small grants were provided to support individual research projects, and the Hub helped to bring critical mass together in a Digital Forum comprising a large 60+ community of digital scholars meeting in a town-hall format. In addition non-Hub initiatives such as the Arts Technology Research Laboratory helped provide much-needed infrastructure. Strong national and international leadership potential is now in place. Some projects are largely self-sustaining, while other fields still need Hub support. Other cross-cutting initiatives should come to fruition in the course of this strategic plan.

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11. Implementation PlanProgramme Activity Delivery date Evaluation method

(by Board of Governance)

Stakeholders Agree an annual research support agreement with partners

Annual Presence/Absence

Two ’town-hall’ type meetings for Trinity academics a year to identify new research initiatives

Annual Quantitative

The Hub should have one collaboration project with cultural institutions or industry partners per year.

Annual Case study

Challenger: Events At least three branded events series per year, with one lecture each per month during the academic year

Annual Quantitative

The programme should be regularly monitored to ensure that it reaches different and relevant audiences within and outside College.

Annual Case study

The programme should emphasize the identification of emerging research themes and opportunities and target multi-disciplinary research fields or new methodologies.

Annual Case study

Challenger: Visiting Research Fellowship programme

The attractiveness of the VRF programme should be built through an

annual Quantitative

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increase of investment (above the €35K allocated in 2009-10): this funding must be raised from philanthropic sources. The Hub must ensure that Visiting Fellows are integrated into the academic programmes of the Schools and the Libraries, and that their presence is used strategically by Schools.

Annual Case study

VRF grants must be allocated in accordance with peer-review standards following an international call for applications

Annual Case study

The terms of reference for the Hub VRF committee should be discussed and signed off at an IAB meeting


VRF applications should be assessed a VRF selection committee consisting of one representative of each Hub partner; Library and School Research Committees should receive a set of relevant applications within their School at least three weeks before the selection committee meets and may advise the selection committee on their preferences


Applicants should seek the support of a school as a formal part of application; the preference is for VRFs to spend most

Annual Presence/Absence; Quantitative

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of their fellowship during teaching term.

Collections-based research should be prioritised.

Annual Case study

host 12 visiting researchers for min 1 month (total 30 person months)

Annual Quantitative

Create induction process for visiting fellows Annual Presence/Absence

host 20 lectures, host or co-host 1 international conference (total audience of 600)

Annual Quantitative

Challenger: Postgraduate studies The Hub must provide national and Trinity leadership in the development of the DAH programme as defined in the PRTLI V documentation and the TCC structured PhD programme.

Annual Qualitative

Communicator: internal communication and electronics

A full redesign of the website should be undertaken

January 2012 Presence/Absence

The newsletter should be produced as a biannual electronic publication

Annual Quantitative

The Hub should develop its internal consultation framework to increase visibility of and feedback to the Hub’s activities at all levels within the Schools

Annual Case study

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and Library

Newsletter 'Bespoke', 2 editions per annum, circulated to at least 800 readers Annual Quantitative

Website, hit counts over 400 per month Annual Quantitative

Podcasting/Videocasting Annual8 new events captured and made available

The Hub should investigate ways to fully utilize the AV systems in the new building to continue podcast ‘publication’ from events series

June 2011 Presence/Absence

Communicator: knowledge exchange Forums dedicated to bring together leaders in business, culture and society to meet Trinity researchers and develop new agendas.


Partnership links with leading academic centres within international networks.


The European Consortium of Humanities Institutes and Centres should be prioritised as an interface between the European Union, the European Science Foundation and research institutes

annual Case study

The Hub should engage with funders to attract attention to the excellence and

Annual Case study

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impact of Trinity research

Incubator The Hub should help identify funding opportunities and complete application processes. A report mechanism to monitor the extent and success of such assistance should be put in place

Annual Quantitative

The Hub should propose a scheme for Internal Research Fellowships facilitated by research leave or buy-out schemes for School approval before the academic year of 2011-12. Internal research fellows must be offered space in the Hub building.

June 2011 Presence/Absence

The Hub should work with Schools and Library to develop cross-disciplinary research strengths

Annual Case study

Infrastructure All security issues must be resolved to allow permanent academic staff easy access to the building

September 2011 Presence/Absence

User groups should be regularly consulted to fine-tune the use of the building.


Measures of impact should be developed to monitor the use of the

Annual Quantitative

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building

Integration measures should be sought to ensure that users are not just adjacent physically, but sharing intellectually to make the most out of their residence.

Annual Qualitative

A clear mapping of the Hub’s stakeholders, and their role in determining Hub activities, should be undertaken and agreed with internal and external interests.


Hub staff should be kept abreast of national and international funding mechanisms

Annual Case study

The Hub must work with Trinity Research & Innovation to ensure best use of limited resources for funding expertise.


A business plan for external use must be agreed with Hub partners

October 2011 Presence/Absence

Initiatives Research champions for cross-disciplinary research areas must be identified.


The Hub in consultation with the Internal Advisory Forum should facilitate


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broad ‘town-hall’ type meetings to develop cross-disciplinary research initiatives

When schools and the Library select key initiatives, the Hub should direct available resources to host events and seminars which attract audiences from across disciplines

Annual Case study

The Hub should help attract funding to generate catalogues, discovery tools and digital resources in support of key initiatives

Annual Case study

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12.Key Performance Indicators

To be reviewed by Board of Governance at annual meeting and submitted to College Board.

Activity Aim Assessed by

Stakeholders The Hub should have one collaboration project with cultural institutions or industry partners per year.

Case study

Challenger: Events At least three branded events series per year, with one lecture each per month during the academic year

Quantitative target

Challenger: Visiting Research Fellowship programme

host 12 visiting researchers (total 30 person months)

Quantitative target

Incubator The Hub should help identify funding opportunities and complete application processes. A report mechanism to monitor the extent and success of such assistance should be put in place

Case study

Initiatives The Hub should assist schools and the Library to identify and develop cross-disciplinary research areas

Case study

Communicator Website, hit counts over 400 per month Quantitative target

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