Dear staff,
It’s brilliant to see the jacarandas blooming across our campuses once again.
Those purple flowers are always a handy visual reminder for our students that exams are almost upon us – and, for staff, it’s an indication that the summer holiday season isn’t too far away.
A week of great news
This week we received the news that UQ has climbed one place to be ranked 53rd globally in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings. (This comes after jumping six places last year, to be equal 54th.) These improving results are a credit to all of you – our UQ staff – and a reflection of the sustained excellence across our teaching, research, and community engagement programs.
It was also announced this week that UQ received 18 Investigator Grants in the latest NHMRC funding round, with a total value of $28.9 million. Congratulations to all of the successful applicants.
In other great news, Honorary Professor Henrietta Marrie was awarded a significant grant under the ARC’s Discovery Indigenous scheme. Her research project will build community-based databases to help protect and preserve Indigenous and traditional knowledge of plants.
Congratulations also to Professor Di Yu and Professor Jason Roberts, who have both been elected as Fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences this week.
I’m also pleased to report that Professor Susan Rowland has been appointed to the role of Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching & Learning). She will commence in the position next week, as Professor Pauline Ford steps into her new role as Deputy Provost.
Annual Performance and Development process
If you haven’t already done so, it’s now time to undertake your 'Self-Assessment’ in Workday as part of the Annual Performance and Development (APD) process.
This is an opportunity to reflect on your own performance, record your achievements, and consider how you might like to develop and grow in the future. It’s an important step in the process of preparing for your APD conversation with your manager.
Confirming Christmas closure period
I am sure everyone is looking forward to the end of the year and the opportunity for a break. After consideration, I can now confirm that UQ locations will close from 5pm on Friday 23 December 2022 and open again on Tuesday 3 January 2023 to ensure staff can take a well-earned break.
This year, staff will be asked to take three days of recreation/annual leave during this period. The leave days are Wednesday 28 December, Thursday 29 December and Friday 30 December, providing a 10-day break with public holidays and weekends.
Human Resources will provide details next week about the Workday process, arrangements for staff who need to work during this period, and options for those who may not have a sufficient leave balance.
End-of year events and festivals
Before we get to that holiday period, however, we have a lot to celebrate on campus.
Next Wednesday, 19 October, is our annual Giving Day. On this day, we’ll be inviting people from across our community to make a gift towards a UQ cause that they’re passionate about.
Planning for the 2022 ‘UQ Thanks You’ events is underway (scheduled for the last week of November and first week of December), so look out for the invitation in your inbox, over the coming weeks.
The UQ BLOOM Festival 2022 gets underway tomorrow, with a range of events planned across our campuses over the next fortnight. This year, the Great Court at St Lucia will be the focal point for light displays and activities.
And we’re also currently putting a focus on health, safety, wellbeing, and mental health by running a program of events to mark UQ Safe Work Month throughout October.
I’d like to urge everyone to get involved in the activities that are planned across our campuses over the next two weeks – as we celebrate both BLOOM and Safe Work Month.
I hope you have a great weekend.
With best wishes
Debbie
