NUI Galway fears over burnout among researchers

Burn-out among researchers has been identified as an issue by management at NUI Galway.

Údarás na hOllscoile, the university’s governing authority, which is responsible for managing and controlling all affairs of NUIG, has been briefed on the problem.

It was stated at a Governing Body meeting last December that “there had been a high turnover of staff in the Research Office as a result of burn-out”.

It was said that a “solution for this problem must involve cross-functional training of replacement staff as a means of broadening the expertise available to the office”.

At the December 2015 Governing Body meeting it was noted that the university’s Support Services Annual Report made no reference to “gaps in research support services, especially in the Research Office.”

NUIG President, Jim Browne, said that the University Management Team “was aware of the problem” of burn-out among research staff. He suggested the Vice-President for Research, Professor Lokesh Joshi, “should brief the incoming new Údarás na hOllscoile on the work of the Research Office and the strategic and operational challenges it faces”.

In President Browne’s report to last February’s meeting of the Governing Body, it was noted that the university had won a “further research grant” of €650,000.

“The meeting warmly congratulated the member concerned,” said the minutes, which were released under the Freedom of Information Act.