place to work and learn, so that we can make the biggest and While you shouldn’t need The way she describes the first time she had the idea of boldest impact on the world.’ other people to tap you on becoming Provost, it almost sounds like a member of the Her manifesto was the shoulder and say that faithful doubting the call of responsive to, and an outgrowth of, a culture that “you should go for it”, a vocation. ‘I tried to ignore it,’ she says. ‘It was a feeling already exists within Trinity. they did, and I’ll be of “you can”, but not being ‘There is something about the democratic ethos in this forever grateful sure about it. My role as Dean of Research was the first occasion university that makes everyone I really began to think about it… An want to have a say… A constant desire exposure to all parts of college whetted to push and do things better. You see this my appetite for more. And, while you shouldn’t everywhere. A huge proportion of people buy into need other people to tap you on the shoulder and say that who we are. There’s a real sense of a shared ownership of “you should go for it”, they did, and I’ll be forever grateful.’ the organisation.’ Indeed, she says that she adopts the same approach to She believes not just in everyone having their voice heard, but in fostering a collaborative ethos too. ‘At both undergraduate and post-graduate level, there is a great others now – encouraging them to ‘go for it’ no matter the challenges when, perhaps, they themselves are blind to their own potential. opportunity in Trinity to take your knowledge further, to mix things. Most problems in life can’t be fixed by the expertise of one discipline alone.’ She cites the example of Covid and how an interdisciplinary approach needs to be brought to bear when tackling the pandemic. When she did win the office of Provost, one topic of discussion was foremost in press coverage – the fact that she became the first female Provost in Trinity’s 429-year history. ‘That the candidates for the role were all women removed the question during the campaign, In this regard, she draws on her own experience as an engineer with a keen interest in the arts and its practical applications. ‘The pure technical side of engineering wasn’t enough [for me]. I wanted to expand into policy impact, and that then led me to the arts. I’m interested in creative arts practices, and how you can use them to interrogate the technical world around you.’ Dr Doyle’s own area of research was wireless communications, and mention of her first job at Siemens – when mobile phones were an emerging technology, and telecommunications was a rapidly-changing field – leads her to reminisce about her very first start in life. ‘I had the most wonderful parents,’ she says. ‘I come from a very grounded, stable, loving family. My dad was a printer who did an apprenticeship, and my mother had to leave school early. My brothers and sisters are all amazing, too; loving and caring people, and that set me up for life. It’s what makes me who I am.’ She’s from Togher, on the southside of Cork city, and although she says she hadn’t especially defined herself as a Corkonian until now, certain other high-placed people in public life were not going to let her accession to high office pass without mentioning this aspect of her identity – Taoiseach Micheál Martin even because the winner was always going to be a woman. But the coverage afterwards was larger because…’ she pauses, then continues with implied italics, ‘… of the woman thing . I don’t want to just be known because of the woman thing, but at the same time that’s important to me. Lots of women and young girls have taken and will take notice. But the key thing to me is that women, and people from all backgrounds, are capable of doing anything and everything that they want to– it need not to be an extraordinary thing anymore.’ Every Provost enters into the role in the context of a wider set of social concerns, which can, and must, dictate policy to a great degree. In the 2020s, climate action and social justice are the two dominant themes of public discourse. These issues are integral to Provost Doyle’s philosophy, and will be central to her approach too. ‘Climate change will affect everything – how we teach, what research we do and how college operates. We will appoint a Vice President for Biodiversity and Climate Action. Everyone needs to be thinking about climate. It’s really important that in everything we do – on actions that affect climate, or on how people are treated – we live the kind of changed world we want.’ acclaimed her election victory ‘a win for Cork’!
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