Pre-Summit Workshop for Deans and Department Heads
Click here for a detailed program
Every year, jointly with the ECSS main Summit, Informatics Europe organises a special Workshop for Deans and Heads of Informatics Departments to address specific challenges they encounter in their role. The workshop is a unique networking forum for leaders of Informatics institutions, and focuses on concrete issues and practical solutions.
The 2018 workshop was held on October 8 at Chalmers Conference Center, co-chaired by Erika Abraham, Computer Science Department, RWTH Aachen University, Gregor Engels, Department of Computer Science, Paderborn University, and Mehdi Jazayeri, Faculty of Informatics, University of Lugano.
The theme of the 2018 Pre-Summit Workshop is
Personal Development
with main focus on special skills and management training needed by deans and professors on the one hand; and PhD strategy and career training on the other hand.
Focus:
Deans need a variety of special skills to lead and represent a Computer Science faculty or department, but they usually do not get any special training before they start their term. They must be able to unite and lead professors who are leaders themselves, students and other faculty/department members, and represent their opinions and interests within and outside their university. In the first half of the workshop we offered a platform for inspiration, exchange and discussion of problems and best practices, covering topics like:
- How to be a leader of leaders?
- How to organize management structures in faculties/departments? How to create a collaborative support culture? What environments enable people to do good work?
- How to represent Computer Science to the outside? How to strengthen it strategically inside the university?
- Which typical problems do deans face and which solutions exist?
- How to handle the multiple demands/stress of being a leader?
The contents and forms of PhD education in Europe are diverse. The second half of the workshop was devoted to the discussion of different approaches and strategies:
- How to recruit good PhD students?
- What are the forms and contents of the PhD training? Do lectures need to be visited? Secondments and internships? English required? Paid or unpaid? Besides research, which skills should be trained, how and who pays for it? Thesis or cumulative dissertation? Exams at the defence? External examiners?
- How to train PhD students for different career paths?
- How to deal with increasing interdisciplinarity?
- What is the role of industry in doctoral training?
- How to organize and lead training networks (like the European Marie Curie Networks)?
Format:
The workshop was a mixture of talks, discussions/knowledge sharing/exchange in smaller groups and a consolidation and presentation of the results to all participants.
Benefits for participants:
- Learning best practices from heads of prominent Informatics departments and research labs;
- Taking advantage of a networking platform for heads of European Informatics departments and research labs;
- Inspiration for developing as a leader and for improving departmental processes.
Confirmed Speakers:
- Michael E. Caspersen, It-vest- networking universities, Denmark
- Michel Chaudron, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
- Gregor Engels, Paderborn University, Germany
- Geraldine Fitzpatrick, Vienna University of Technology, Austria
- Manfred Nagl, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
- Enrico Nardelli, University of Roma "Tor Vergata”, Italy
The workshop was held at Chalmers Conference Center on Monday, 8 October 2018.
The slides of talks given during the workshop are available for download on the program below
08:30-09:00 Registration
Session 1: Leading Leaders
09:00-09:10 Welcome
9:30-10:30 European Deans’ Café: Round-table Dialogues on Leading Informatics Departments/Faculties
10:30-11:00 Coffee break
Session 2: Leading Leaders
11:00-11:30 Reports from the European Deans’ Café
12:30-13:30 Lunch
Session 3: PhD Education in Europe
15:00-15:30 Discussion
15:30-16:00 Coffee break
Session 4: Informatics4All