As Trinity’s former Dean of Research, and former director of the CONNECT research centre, Prof Linda Doyle has had countless conversations with university staff and students about what matters to them.
It is these skills of listening and collaboration that Doyle hopes to bring to her provostship as one of three candidates campaigning to be the next head of Trinity.
In an interview with The University Times, Doyle says: “I do feel that the kind of leadership that I have, and I say this a lot, it’s about being in service rather than about power.”
“It’s about empowering people. It’s about collaboratively working. It’s about drawing on all the talents.”
Doyle wants to re-align Trinity around teaching and research, what she calls ‘the core mission of the university’
Doyle’s campaign manifesto, published last Friday, encourages readers to “Imagine Trinity in 2031”. Doyle breaks down her vision for an improved Trinity into seven themes, alongside specific ideas for how to achieve each theme. When asked if she has a favourite point in her manifesto, Doyle says it is the intent of the manifesto as a whole that she wants people to take away.
“Trinity has loads to be proud of. We’ve achieved loads and imagine how much more we could be by addressing some of the challenges that we have”, she says. “It’s that kind of motivation, you know, to be even more.”
Some of the primary challenges Doyle plans to address are the heavy load of administrative work and complicated bureaucratic processes that plague academic and professional staff alike. In a recent survey of 100 voters conducted by The University Times, 42 per cent cited administrative and bureaucratic difficulties as their top priority in the upcoming election.
To accomplish this, Doyle wants to re-align Trinity around teaching and research – what she calls “the core mission of the university”.
Doyle believes that it is critical that systems like Academic Registry work seamlessly. To make this happen, she says, will require a ‘behaviour change’
“A lot of what’s in my manifesto is about taking back time, so we can focus on teaching and research. And the way I think about it is for every single hour that we free up away from activities, administration activities or other activities, every single hour that we free is an extra hour you can either focus on a student, or focus on research.”
To do this, Doyle says she “looked into the different reasons that people are wasting time on administration they shouldn’t be doing”.
She found that overcomplicated, inefficient systems, a fondness for bureaucracy and a lack of clarity on who is actually responsible for certain tasks seem to be major culprits, and that “each of those things require a slightly different solution”.
Doyle believes that it is critical that systems like Academic Registry work seamlessly. To make this happen, she says, will require a “behaviour change”, an interest in decluttering and removing unneeded processes. Finally, she adds, it will be important to exactly delineate people’s responsibilities and then clearly and efficiently communicate those roles to everyone.
“I think at the moment, the vast majority, or the larger portion of our budget is at the centre and the lesser part is in faculties and schools. And I think that that equation is the wrong way around.
However, Doyle notes a major part of accomplishing these solutions requires decentralising some of the College’s power and resources.
“I think at the moment, the vast majority, or the larger portion of our budget, is at the centre and the lesser part is in faculties and schools. And I think that that equation is the wrong way around. We need to adjust that because I think an awful lot of the real challenges we face are down there at the faculties and schools level”, she says.
Doyle believes that in order to understand the challenges being faced by members of the college community, decision-making must be inclusive. She hopes to solve challenges that affect the entire university, not just the majority academic electorate that votes in the provost election.
“I think there are lots of people who don’t have a voice in the election, but it would be crazy for anyone to have any vision for the future of Trinity that didn’t take all of those people into account”, she says.
“I think, basically, if we can imagine how much more we can be, it’s about everybody being the best they can be. And that is every single person in the university, whether that’s our students, whether it’s our professional staff, whether it’s our academic staff.”
“I think there are lots of people who don’t have a voice in the election, but it would be crazy for anyone to have any vision for the future of Trinity that didn’t take all of those people into account”
One example of Doyle’s inclusive approach is her plan to overhaul both the academic and professional promotion systems.
“The academic promotion system that we currently have is just completely not fit for purpose,” she explains. “I’m really interested in kind of a merit-based, discipline-sensitive promotion system.”
Doyle proposes a system that includes flexibility for things like maternity and paternity leave and recognises that accomplishments and contributions to the university look different between disciplines.
She also recognises the plight of professional staff, though she acknowledges that she mainly focuses on academic promotions in her manifesto.
“It’s not like the promotion system is the be all and end all of absolutely everything, but it encodes our values, and basically, the values it’s encoding at the moment are really, really, I think, not great,” said Doyle.
“The fact that we don’t even have a kind of clear promotion system for professional staff, that’s encoding a value of not caring.”
“The academic promotion system that we currently have is just completely not fit for purpose,” she explains. “I’m really interested in kind of a merit based, discipline sensitive promotion system.”
This ethos of accessibility and inclusion also extends to students. “All students should be able to experience their education in its fullest way”, says Doyle. “I believe this anyway, whether it’s an able-bodied student or not, that it’s the whole student that we educate in the university. Part of your learning is in the lecture theatres, but a huge amount of it is out and about, networking, socialising, and being involved with clubs and societies.”
Doyle is also a strong advocate for improving access to Trinity, “in terms of the mix of students who come in”.
“I think access and excellence are not two opposing things”, she says. “It’s about recognising excellence in all its different shapes and forms.”
An unusual feature of this year’s provost election are the dual crises that the new Provost will face over the next ten years. The most immediate effects are those of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but the longer-term effects of climate change are pressing enough to have earned a place as an entire theme in Doyle’s manifesto.
“I think access and excellence are not two opposing things”, she says. “It’s about recognising excellence in all its different shapes and forms.”
The main challenges arising from the pandemic, according to Doyle, are the financial hit to the university and the lingering effects of the disruption of university life. She believes it will be important to remember “that kind of longer-term effect on the individual – their mental health, their wellbeing, or the physical disruption to their education, or their teaching or their research”.
In terms of climate change, Doyle says she has learned a lot more about how much Trinity students and staff value a commitment to climate action in their next provost, and that those conversations inspired her to double down on making Trinity a “climate-first” university.
In spite of these challenges, Doyle is enthusiastic about the future of Trinity. One big project for the next provost will be the development of Trinity East, a project where Doyle sees room for innovation and a place to build infrastructure that the university currently lacks.
“I think that it’s really, really important we start to look at any project we do, and especially [Trinity East], with that climate-first perspective”, she says. “We really need to think about it, like for the next 100 years, or the next 400 years, we need to think, ‘what is that second piece of the campus that we’re building?’”
“I think one of the things you will find is that as candidates, there’ll be lots of things that we equally care about.”
In the short term, Doyle is eager to listen to the university community and capitalise on some of the changes that have come about in the last year.
“I think what’s great about COVID is that it’s shown you can do things a different way”, she says. She cites how some people have found working from home to improve their work-life balance, and that certain elements of online learning suit students and staff well. Doyle proposes changes like incorporating exams into the semester rather than having them in a large block in the RDS.
Reflecting on the start of the election campaign, Doyle says: “I think one of the things you will find is that as candidates, there’ll be lots of things that we equally care about.”
“But for me, it’s the way you go and tackle those issues really matters. And I do think I have a way that is about inspiring people, it’s about bringing out the best in them. It’s about making us work as a team.”
“I see all these things as kind of starting points for people to kind of open up the conversation”
Doyle is open to innovation as she embarks on her campaign, stating that she doesn’t even consider her manifesto “fully done”.
“I see all these things as kind of starting points for people to open up the conversation and to come to a conclusion of where we want to go with all the best information and the best ideas brought to bear.”
Jane Cook is the Science & Research Editor for The University Times, and will be covering Prof Linda Doyle’s campaign in this year’s provost elections.
