Open Practices in Academic Professional Development Programmes

In this reflective practice work, we will examine critically the process of evaluating and redesigning academic professional development programmes through the lens of open educational practices and resources. For over 15 years, the DIT’s Learning Teaching and Technology Centre (LTTC) has offered a suite of accredited postgraduate programmes and modules for staff. Demand for these programmes and modules has increased since 2013 with 187 participants graduating and a further 221 completing modules for continuing professional development (CPD). DIT was the first higher education institution (HEI) in Ireland to state a requirement that newly appointed lecturers complete a postgraduate qualification in teaching and learning. During 2018, formal evaluation and review of these programmes has taken place, and we are now redesigning and revalidating our offerings. The evaluation and redesign process has followed a formal methodology inclusive of a desk study, data collection with graduates and other stakeholders, an institutional quality assurance review and ongoing reflection by the team

Towards a European Cancer Information System: Status October 2016

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the European Union. In 2009, the European Commission adopted the Communication on Action Against Cancer: European Partnership which defines several objectives for reducing the burden of cancer in Europe. Evaluation of measures to implement this goal is critically dependent on accurate and comparable European cancer data available for derivation of incidence, prevalence, survival and mortality statistics. For this purpose, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), in its role as a scientific service to the European Commission, and in close collaboration with the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), is supporting the creation of a cancer-information system for Europe to be built upon existing experience, competence and cooperation of national and regional cancer registries.JRC.F.1-Health in Societ

DIT Programme Re-Design initiatives in Case Studies of Programme OF/FOR/AS Learning Assessment Approaches.

The Programme Re-Design Initiative process differs from other team based methods in that it adopts an holistic approach to programme design. Initiatives aim to develop the practice of curriculum design and development in expanded, multi-disciplinary teams. This process is based on the Oxford Brookes University CDI Model and links to the Deakin University Live the Future: Course Intensives

Application of foodborne disease outbreak data in the development q and maintenance of HACCP systems

Abstract Five-hundred and thirty general foodborne outbreaks of food poisoning reported in England and Wales between 1992 and 1996 were reviewed to study their application to the development and maintenance of HACCP systems. Retrospective investigations of foodborne disease outbreaks provided information on aetiological agents, food vehicles and factors that contributed to the outbreaks. Salmonella spp. and foods of animal origin (red meat, poultry and seafood) were most frequently associated with outbreaks during this period. Improper cooking, inadequate storage, cross-contamination and use of raw ingredients in the preparation of food were the most common factors contributing to outbreaks. Classification and cross tabulation of surveillance information relating to aetiological agents, food vehicles and contributory factors facilitates hazard analysis. In forming control measures and their corresponding critical limits, this approach focuses monitoring on those aspects that are critical to the safety of the product. Incorporation of epidemiological data in the documentation of HACCP systems provides assurance that the system is based on the best scientific information available

Defining the roadmap towards revision of ENCR coding standards and training for cancer registries

The European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) jointly support harmonising the activities of the European population-based cancer registries (CR) in providing reliable and valid data on cancer. The process to supply valid, complete and comparable data in different European Countries, implies that CR implement common rules to define and code cancer and receive similar training. For this reason, one of the main activities of the ENCR-JRC is to provide CR staff with specific recommendations on coding along with training. For ENCR-JRC the objective of this workshop was to collate previous and current requests from CR and provide advice on the most pressing issues relating to recommendations and training. The workshop was planned during the ENCR Steering Committee (SC) meeting, which took place on November 2014, and JRC (the Secretariat of ENCR) was requested to organise it. A group of experts on cancer registration was identified. This group included the ENCR-SC members, representatives from Institutions and cancer research projects which collaborate with CR (i.e. IARC, Eurocare, Concord, Rarecare), representatives from national networks of CR, members of the Cancer Information group at the JRC, and other specialists in the field. Prior to the workshop, an anonymous questionnaire was sent to the group of experts. Moreover, all directors and staff of CR were invited to complete the questionnaire and provide comments in order for ENCR- JRC to get a more comprehensive overview of the situation. The questionnaire invited respondents to specify the five most urgent topics, to be addressed, on both recommendations and training. During the workshop, participants (around 30 people) were split into two groups: one to focus on recommendations and the other to focus on training. For each group a moderator facilitated the debate presented the responses to the questionnaire, which were discussed in detail using the Metaplan method. The results of the discussion were summarized in a final plenary section, where further clarifications were given and all the participants were involved in the discussion. In summary, the topics to be addressed by the ENCR-SC, in relation to recommendations, either as updates of current recommendations or for new specific ones, were: Multiple primary rules; Staging; Registration/reportability criteria; Death Certificate Only cases (DCO) – Death Certificate Notified cases (DCN); Date of incidence in relation to diagnosis; 'Complicated' cancers (e.g. bladder, etc.); Haematological cancers; and coding of borderline malignancies. The group on training suggested that all the issues that were raised (Cancer Registration; Haematological malignancies; Analysis; Stage; Quality; Multiple primaries; many on Specific cancer types; and Grading) should be addressed making available on the web high quality, reliable and training-oriented documentations. JRC offered to translate these documents, if necessary, into other European languages. For training on specific technical methodology (analysis, data quality) it was suggested that traditional face-to-face courses be provided. The workshop highlighted that recommendations and training are interlinked and this implies that, in the future, any new recommendation should be issued together with training documentation to explain its practical application. The technical proposals made at the workshop will help the ENCR-SC to prioritize the future supporting activities to the real needs of CR.JRC.I.2-Public Health Policy Suppor

Cancer burden indicators in Europe: insights from national and regional information

With more than 3 million new cases and 1.4 million deaths estimated for 2018 , cancer represents the second most important cause of death and morbidity in the EU-28 . Population-based cancer registration represents the 'gold' standard for the provision of unbiased information on cancer burden in a defined population and how it is changing over time. Population-based cancer registries (PBCRs) collect, manage and analyse data on patients diagnosed with cancer within a defined geographical area over a certain calendar period. They are invaluable resources for the clinical and epidemiological investigation of cancer and have a unique role in supporting public health officials and agencies in the planning and evaluation of cancer prevention and control programmes. The European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR) , in operation since 1990, was established within the framework of the Europe Against Cancer Programme of the European Commission. The ENCR promotes collaboration between cancer registries, defines data collection standards, and supports cancer registries as data providers for the supply of information necessary to quantify and monitor the burden of cancer in the European Union and Europe .JRC.F.1-Health in Societ

ENCR European Network of Cancer Registries: Newsflash February 2017

This NEWSFLASH updates the recipients on the 2015 ENCR Call for Data and the development of new quality check software. By the end of January 2017, cancer data has been submitted by 123 cancer registries from 29 EU countries. These data are now being checked in the JRC for quality and feedback reports will be sent to all registries in the coming months. The NEWSFLASH also updates the readers on upcoming events including summer courses in cancer epidemiology and conferences.JRC.F.1-Health in Societ

When staff are the students: engaging staff as student partners in the design of academic professional development programmes

For over 15 years, the DIT’s Learning Teaching and Technology Centre (LTTC) has offered a suite of accredited postgraduate programmes and modules for staff. Demand for these programmes and modules has increased since 2013 with 187 participants graduating and a further 221 completing modules for continuing professional development (CPD). DIT was the first higher education institution (HEI) in Ireland to state a requirement that newly appointed lecturers complete a postgraduate qualification in teaching and learning. During 2018, we have been reviewing our modules and programmes to revise and revalidate them. We have also undertaken a substantive quality assurance review of our Centre. In the case of academic professional development programmes, academics are the students. Through our review and redesign, we have been mindful of recent research and the development of the “students as partners” perspective as well as the differing contexts in which academics are working (Bovill, Cook-Sather and Felten, 2011; HE Academy, n.d.; Healey, Flint and Harrington, 2014). We have seen this process as an opportunity to revise our offerings but are also aware of the meta-learning. We can reflect on the experience of designing in this way and bring our learning to our engagements with other programme teams. In this paper, we explore how we have taken a partnership approach with current and former students on our programmes in order to inform the review and redesign. We have conducted questionnaire-based research as well as focus groups and desk studies to evaluate the programmes. Our findings were distilled into a formal report for quality assurance purposes, but also informed the design of a CPD Framework extending beyond the traditional provisions. The Framework takes account of the unaccredited professional development opportunities also open to staff, and aligns with the National Professional Development Framework recently introduced in Ireland (National Forum, 2016)

Editorial: Full-scale investigations in water and wastewater treatment

Through a series of engagements with strategic players in the global water community, the International Water Association identified an innovation gap in the water sector, specifically relating to the scale-up and implementation of newly developed water treatment technologies. The gap exists between laboratory scale research and small-scale piloting of technologies, and the end point of full-scale operation, whereby new technologies are adopted by the market. This creates a situation where, at times, the sector is forced to import market ready solutions from other sectors, such as oil and gas, because of this innovation gap in our own sector. As such, the issue of water technology scale-up, implementation, and commercialisation was identified as a key area of concern

Selective aliphatic/aromatic organogelation controlled by the side chain of serine amphiphiles

The influence of two structural features of N-Fmoc-L-serine lipoamino acids on organogel formation were investigated. These were (i) the nature of the group on the serine side chain (hydroxyl compared to O-tert-butyl) and (ii) the length of the aliphatic chain (C-14 compared to C-18). O-tert-Butylated derivatives preferentially gelled saturated hydrocarbon solvents, while compounds with the hydroxyl group in the side chain promoted the highly unusual gelation of solely aromatic solvents. Extension of the chain length of the lipoamino acid (from C-14 to C-18) decreased the selectivity observed for the shorter chain homologues. Spectroscopic analyses of these systems indicated that H-bonds, aromatic π–π stacking and van der Waals interactions are involved in the gelation processes. Rheological characterization of the gels revealed the aromatic solvent gels to be more stable than their aliphatic counterparts. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) imaging of the xerogels showed that the structure of gels formed in aromatic solvents differs significantly from those formed in aliphatic ones. The different self-assembly modes of the gelator molecules could be induced by steric effects which depend on the functional groups on the side chain. The organogels obtained were thermoresponsive, moldable and capable of self-healing. In addition, the lipoamino acids studied were phase selective gelators in biphasic mixtures of water/organic solvent and efficiently removed water soluble polluting dye rhodamine B from the aqueous phase