Build the Critical Infrastructure to Enable Resilience Education and Research (WP2):

Agency: NUID UCD

While limited in person-month participation, establishing the critical infrastructure is fundamental to enabling a sustainable and effective research partnership. Leaders of each of the member organisations of the BRTE consortium have already met and agreed the concept of BRTE. Teams of senior management from the two universities have shared needs assessment and priority areas of education and research for inclusion in the programme. The initial activity to be undertaken by the BRTE research is to develop the critical infrastructure to facilitate building the education infrastructure. This includes general administration, library, IT, UCD CHA’s Humanitarian Innovation Hub, research administration and education administration will be assessed. In a shift from the traditional approach that would see experts travelling to Ethiopia, the BRTE proposes that a team of senior administrative officials visit UCD and pair-up with their counterparts to familiarise themselves with the UCD systems. Some of the more senior colleagues will stay for a limited duration but it is hoped that some administrators can stay for an extended period where relevant. They will work with counterparts in UCD to familiarise themselves with the functioning of the university and agree on plans for sharing education and research programmes over the period of the BRTE programme. It is hoped that UCD administrative staff will be able to engage in reciprocal visits to support staff to apply their new knowledge and to support the development of communications networks and administrative procedures between colleges and schools participating in BRTE. These staff will continue to liaise over the 48-month period ensuring that the enabling infrastructure continues to evolve to meet emerging infrastructural challenges.

The agree deliverables for this work package are presented below.