rcsitogether

The following is a message from Barry Holmes – Director of Human Resource – 25th March 2020

Hi All

Thanks to all of you who contacted me following my previous e-mail on this concept, the team and I appreciate all the suggestions and links to content. We will be in touch with you to help curate future bulletins.

There is so much great content already posted on Workvivo and coming to us from other sources but for our first one, we are going light on content and highlight only a few items under the four themes mentioned before. This is for you to digest, in your own time if of interest to you. There is no obligation and we know a number of you are busy supporting our students.

  1. #RCSItogether Learning:

    2. ABT: Our colleague Padraic Dunne from the Centre for Positive Health and Psychology is hosting a a one hour session on Attention-based Training (ABT), a meditation-like technique for mental and physical health at 4pm today. This technique is based on his previous research in the area. The link to join the MS Teams session is here – ABT week 1 MS Teams, and the session contents can be found here: ABT folder material

    LinkedIn Learning: As many of you are possibly already finding, one of the challenges when working from home is managing your time and so our first learning recommendation is the LinkedIn Learning course “Time Management: Working from Home”. This course looks at your workspace set up, daily schedule, collaboration with remote co-workers and importantly the need for boundaries and balance. We’re still all figuring out what works best for us and our teams, hopefully this course will give you some useful tips.

    Online Teaching: For our academic colleagues, Dara Cassidy has been publishing updates on Workvivo relating to how to get the most out of BlackBoard Collaborate (BBC). Check out the section on Moodle dedicated to improving your online teaching experience (BbC Link). You can access a range of resources. There is a recording of the session held yesterday on large group teaching via BlackBoard and another session on small group teaching tomorrow (Thursday 26th March 2.30pm) will be broadcast from the same link.

  2. #RCSItogether Health Science:

    3. We will be using this section to share with you some interesting research topics and articles that will be suitable for everyone no matter what your role. As part of this initiative, it is our desire to incorporate and share some of the high calibre research from colleagues across RCSI. As well as being informative it may also generate cross collaboration and bring #RCSItogether. HR will be working with our colleagues in the ORI and Library to curate relevant material.

    For today, we want to share with you Dr Annie Curtis’s research on the Body Clock. As you will be aware, Annie has developed and delivered useful materials for staff as part of our RCSI Inspire programme. Please find attached her useful tips for ‘Being Body Clock Wise’. As a leader in her field, Annie was invited to speak with Claire O’Connell from Irish Times this morning about body clocks and health and the effect restrictions/social distancing can have on our body clocks. We will share this topical article with you through WorkVivo when available.

    On the same topic, we encourage you to view a TedTalk on ‘The Neuroscience of Sleep’ delivered by Professor Russell Foster who is Head of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Director of Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute. In this talk, Professor Foster shares three popular theories about why we sleep, busts some myths about how much sleep we need at different ages – and hints at some bold new uses of sleep as a predictor of mental health.

  3. #RCSItogether Minding Others:

    4. We all have people in our lives we care for in one way or another. We will focus on tips for those of us with childcare considerations these days in another bulletin. For now be aware that the EDI team manage a “Parents and Carers” network and now may be as good a time as any to join – click here on Workvivo

    If your mobility or movement is compromised, there are some great ways to become active from the very chair your sitting in now! Here are a few suggestions from Age and Opportunity for those with compromised mobility or who don’t have a lot of space or time.

  4. #RCSItogether Minding Yourself:

    5. There are a number of actions we can take to protect our mental health and maintain a more positive sense of wellbeing while adjusting to home working. It is so important for mental health and wellbeing to keep exercising, on top of your nutrition and being present and mindful. The RCSI gym team are here to help and are now offering free online personal training for staff and students. They are waiting for you to get in touch – email gym@rcsi.com

    As we spend more time being present in our homes, now may be the time to brush up on your knowledge of Ireland’s birds. Here is a link to birdwatch Irelands page to help you identify different varieties

If you are going outside to exercise, remember that for social distancing 2 meters is very often a bigger span than you may think, around the same height as a standard door.

Take care of yourselves and each other,
Barry

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