Work Smarter Together 2021 (WST21) Overview
Work Smarter Together 2021 (WST21) offers a full line-up of online events during the week of 08-12 March – we hope you can join us for some or all of these. The week will bring you, the UCD community, together to hear from each other as well as some guest speakers about what it takes to “work smart while being apart”. With this as our theme, WST21 is an opportunity to celebrate the creativity, innovation and collaboration across the University during what can only be described as an unprecedented year.
At the heart of WST is having a chance to connect with colleagues, new and old, share stories and experiences, and learn from each other. WST21 will be no exception, taking full advantage of our digital environment, to provide the UCD community with opportunities to connect beyond the sessions – bringing the ‘corridor conversations’ we once knew back to life.
Check out the WST21 programme for full details of the events. More sessions may be added over time, so be sure to keep an eye on the website.
Make sure to register via Eventbrite to receive details of how to access all the WST21 sessions – you don’t need to register for sessions individually.
Programme highlights
The Registrar will open the event on Monday 08 March at 10.00am, followed by a session showcasing how colleagues from across the College of Arts and Humanities, in the form of the CAH Exchanges Working Group, came together in the face of the cancellation of autumn-trimester exchange programmes.
| We are delighted to welcome two guest speakers: | |
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Wednesday 10 March at 10.00am: Breda McCague is an ex-Military Officer, Co-Founder of Lean In Ireland, a Cultural Transformation Specialist and an Emotional Intelligence coach. Breda’s session is Minding You, an inspiring session on tools, tips and coping techniques to help us manage – and make the best of – this time of remote working. |
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Friday 12 March at 10.00am: Ross Gaynor is an actor, theatre-maker, and educator. He is also Artistic Director of The Lock Inn – a live, online, and interactive events venue. Ross’s adaptability and creativity proved to be key to his success in 2020 – he will share his story in: How to Stay Creative, Positive and Open whilst Locked Down. |
We also have, on Thursday 11 March at 10.00am a panel discussion on Different ways of doing ‘Lean’ – stories from Higher Education and beyond. Joining us at this session will be:
- John Hogg, University of Strathclyde, Chair of the Lean HE European Committee
- Michelle Nelson, UCC, Service Improvement and Change Manager
- Michael Sinnott, UCD Agile
- Along with an industry panellist (tbc)
As with our WST live events, we’ll have a Poster Exhibition running alongside our main sessions. We will be making use of a Google Currents community as a virtual space to browse poster submissions, ask session facilitators questions, or just “bump into” fellow attendees, just as you would at an in person event! During sessions you will be able to post your observations and questions in real time under the #WST21 hashtag. This space will allow you to keep the conversation going between sessions and after the event has finished, so you don’t miss out on anything.
Key dates
- 18 January – call for participation opens
- 25 January – Information session for potential contributors
- 5 February – submission deadline
- 15 February – registration opens
- 08 – 12 March – WST21: Work smart while being apart
The WST tradition
Work Smarter Together, as an expression of the great things which go on within the UCD community, is all about celebrating and supporting the collaboration and creativity that help make UCD a great place to work, to teach, to research, to study. (You will see lots more on this in the rest of the WST website). We are really happy and excited to be able to continue the WST tradition started in 2014, built upon in 2017 and 2019, and now transforming into a digital WST21.