Welcome to the web-pages of the Universitas 21 Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies (DDOGS).

The U21 DDOGS have formed a network to enable us to share ideas and information, and enhance knowledge, contacts and the skills-base across our membership.  We aim to identify ways in which U21 members can support each other and, ideally, share resources in such areas as professional development materials or programmes, information systems, and core policies and procedures.  To that end, we have launched a number of specific initiatives, of which those currently running include a Visiting Researcher Postgraduate Protocol, a collation of Graduate Fellowships and travel opportunities, the development of an on-line Research Integrity Project, Graduate Research Conferences and the U21 Joint PhD Project.

The U21 DDOGS have held five formal meetings.  The initial meeting took place in November 2001 in Noosa, Australia (hosted by the University of Queensland), and involved DDOGS and Research Managers.  A second meeting was held in Glasgow, Scotland (jointly hosted by the Universities of Glasgow and Melbourne) in July 2004.  The third meeting took place in November 2005, hosted by the University of British Columbia in Vancouver the fourth in Lund, Sweden in May 2007 and we met most recently in Hong Kong in November 2008.  Reports from these meetings are available by clicking below.

The DDOGS are also responsible for organising the Graduate Research Conference Series that was inaugurated in 2008.  The first U21 Graduate Research Conference, held in Birmingham in 2008, was on the theme of water.  The 2009 U21 Graduate Research Conference will be held in Melbourne and Brisbane and will be on the theme of Sustainable Cities for the Future

The DDOGS network is currently chaired by Professor Christopher Thomas, Directors of the Graduate School and Professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Birmingham.