We are pleased to announce that Dr Kate Gleeson has been appointed as the new Director of the Doctoral College with effect from 1 August 2019.
Kate is a member of the School of Psychology and previously held the role of Associate Dean for the Doctoral College for the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. She is also a member of the Doctoral College Board and works closely with the Doctoral College Directorate to ensure that the Doctoral College’s activities and institutional frameworks support researcher excellence and employability across the doctoral, and early career stages of the researcher journey
Reporting to the Vice-Provost, Research and Innovation, Professor David Sampson, this role will work closely with colleagues across the University to deliver an excellent experience for our doctoral and early career researchers at Surrey.
Commenting on her appointment Dr Kate Gleeson said: “I feel incredibly fortunate to have been given the opportunity to take the Doctoral College forward into the next phase. I believe the task that has been handed on to me is to take it even closer to realising its potential to become an intellectual hub that sits at the heart of the University, reaching out towards all researchers at whatever stage in their development to ensure that they have the right conditions from which to launch an exceptional research career.
“Nourishing a research environment requires an infrastructure that is fluid, flexible, unobtrusive and equally supportive to the incoming new researchers as it is to the established research teams that welcome them in. This means providing training and support to supervisors that is meaningful and worth investing in while also facilitating training for PGRs and ECRs that anticipates the skill and knowledge demands of a rapidly developing research landscape in their own specific research area.
“Effective and efficient core functions such as selection and recruitment, marketing, governance, regulation and research training will provide the conditions that enable PGRs and ECRs to thrive but will also make Surrey a liberating and exciting place for all researchers to work in. I am looking forward to working with the highly skilled team who have already made the Doctoral College what it is, and I am filled with excitement about what it will eventually become.”
Professor David Sampson commented: “Ensuring we develop talented researchers capable of dealing with the world’s future challenges and opportunities is one of the most important, and rewarding activities we do at the University and it is for this reason that the Doctoral College is at the heart of our Research and Innovation Strategy.
“I am very much looking forward to working with Kate as we seek to expand our postgraduate researcher population, and to position Surrey as a best-in-class institution for early-career researcher development.”
