UCD Festival@home 2021

The unique and award winning UCD Festival brings the global UCD community of students, alumni, future students and the wider general public together to join us for over 100 free online events.

The UCD Festival@home 2021 took place from 27 – 29 May. For the second year we were not on campus but instead brought you all the inspiring, fun and informative activities of the regular festival through a virtual platform.

You can now watch back the exciting and engaging events that ran across the weekend, there is something for everyone in the family to enjoy including workshops, demonstrations, workouts, performances and more.

Visit https://festival.ucd.ie/ to join in the fun.

The Choral Scholars – New Album Launch

The Choral Scholars is an internationally acclaimed chamber choir of gifted student singers led by founding Artistic Director, Dr. Desmond Earley, based at University College Dublin College of Arts & Humanities. Scholars come from various academic disciplines and commit to an intensive programme of choral study.
Be all Merry is one of three new pieces especially composed for the Choral Scholars. This lively carol for choir, orchestra and violin by Irish composer Eoghan Desmond evokes the joyful play of Christmas in the lines ‘Be all merry in this house/Exultet celum laudibus!’. The recording contains a remarkable setting of the Advent plainsong hymn Christe Redemptor Omnium for tenor solo, chorus, violin and violoncello by Ivo Antognini, crafted for Choral Scholars with the kind support of the Swiss Embassy in Dublin.
The Adoration of the Magi by American composer Timothy Stephens is a breathtaking setting of W. B. Yeats’ poetry. A beautiful Irish-language lullaby – Cró na Nollag – set by father and son, Adhamhnán and Uinseann Mac Domhnaill, and the much-loved Scottish tune simply titled Suantraí, are also included. The Irish Chamber Orchestra are also featured on a number of tracks including The Wexford Carol and Carol of the Bells. The choir closes the album with the song most associated with friendship, hope and the promise of a new year, Auld Lang Syne.
You can purchase the album, Be All Merry, by clicking here.

Making Belfield – Space and Place

Belfield 50 marks the five decades since University College Dublin transferred its administration and the faculties of Arts, Commerce and Law from Earlsfort Terrace to join Science on the Belfield campus. To celebrate this special anniversary, alumna and professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, Finola O’Kane, along with architectural historian, Ellen Rowley, have written and designed this beautifully designed book. It focuses on the campus’ evolution since the late 1960s, and explicitly since 1970.

For the past generation or more, the original Belfield masterplan by Andrzej Wejchert has not been analysed or appreciated, and public opinion has often misunderstood the architecture as a ‘concrete jungle’.

The book ‘Making Belfield’ examines the architecture from an academic perspective, to focus on the origins and importance of UCD’s architecture, collections and libraries, and also, to raise awareness of the excellence of the Belfield campus and its original architectural components.

The essays will evoke memories of Belfield and of time spent there in the various spaces and places and will give the reader a deeper understanding of the place that has shaped so many.

Order Making Belfield directly from UCD Press by clicking here.
Alumni can avail of a special rate of €25 including postage (RRP €40) by emailing ucdpress@ucd.ie directly.
For more details on the launch of the Belfield 50 outdoor exhibitions, click here.

UCD Connections 2020 is here!

Your chance to get a printed copy of UCD Connections 2020!

For those alumni based in Ireland, our annual UCD alumni magazine will be available with The Irish Times on Friday, 11th September and with the Sunday Business Post on Sunday, 13th September 2020.

As there will be a reduced amount of printed copies this year, please do pick up a copy.

For alumni abroad, our updated UCD Connections website (www.ucdconnections.ie) will be live on the morning of Friday 11 September, when you can read the articles online.

Olympic Ad Astra Sports Scholars Achievements

Our 8 Ad unnamedAstra athletes participating in Rio 2016 Summer Olympics – representing about 10% of the Irish Olympic team – took the international stage by storm, and brought home Olympic silver for Ireland. We’re delighted Stage 4 Physiotherapy student and Ad Astra Sports Scholar Paul O’Donovan, along with his brother Gary secured Olympic silver in the Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls. Paul trained at the Ad Astra High Performance Gym over the past four years, while also skilfully managing his academic progress. Paul went on to secure gold at the World rowing championship. Continue reading “Olympic Ad Astra Sports Scholars Achievements”