Q&Alumni

Chiamaka Onyinyechukwu Ofojimba is a first-class honours graduate of BSc in Microbiology, who graduated third in her class. She also has a Masters Degree in Biotechnology and is passionate and committed to the world of science and scientific breakthroughs to improve the life quality of patients in her home country, Nigeria.

MA in Theatre Practice graduate Thalia Gonzalez Kane is a writer, actress and theatre performer. She is a councillor for ACTRA Toronto and ACTRA National, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, as well as the co-chair for the outACTRAto committee, a committee dedicated to raising awareness about queer performers. Her new play At Birth which she co-wrote, produced and will star in will come to Ireland in May.

Disha Bose graduated with a Masters in Creative Writing from UCD. She has been shortlisted for the DNA Short Story Prize, and her poetry and short stories have appeared in The Galway Review, Cultured Vultures and Headstuff. Her travel pieces have appeared in The Economic Times of India and Coldnoon. Bose was born and raised in India and now lives in Ireland with her husband and daughter.

Nicholas Shadowen attended UCD Sutherland School of Law in 2017 as part of UCD’s International Exchange Programme with the University of Miami School of Law. Nicholas is a nationally recognised attorney, pioneering new lawsuits in gun trafficking litigation and other areas of international human rights litigation. Most recently, he has filed lawsuits in Massachusetts and Arizona on behalf of the Government of Mexico to help stem the flow of unlawful weapons across the US southern border.

Akane Kagawa graduated from Tokyo’s Waseda University with a politics major. Following graduation she worked for the Japanese Rugby Union, starting out as an accounting assistant. She went on to become the team manager for the Japanese women’s rugby 7’s. Akane has an MBA from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. She currently lives in Tokyo.

Javier Gonzalez Garcia has a Masters in European Economics, Public Affairs and Law. He has lived and worked all over the world and currently lives in Madrid with his family. 

Khaing Min Thant worked as a Programme Officer for the Irish NGO, Trócaire in Myanmar for over seven years. He is currently Programme Management Senior Officer with UNOPS, a non-profit organization that helps the UN and its partners provide humanitarian and development solutions. He received a fellowship award to study for the MSc (Agr) in Environmental Resource Management at UCD and graduated in 2018.

Class of 1987 MVB graduate and Dean of Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (RUSVM) Sean Callanan, MVB, CertVR, MRCVS, PhD, FRCPath, DiplECVP was recently selected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS). Dr Callanan has been a leader in veterinary medicine, research and pathology for 35 years, with more than 100 research publications and several leadership positions with the European College of Veterinary Pathologists, London’s Royal College of Pathologists and the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges.

Dorothy Conaghan’s career has spanned over 30 years, including time as a French and mathematics secondary school teacher, and a music lecturer at TU Dublin. She is also a violinist and conductor. She holds a PhD in Social Justice (2020), an MSc in Equality Studies (2015), and a BMus and BA (1979). Her PhD research focuses on policy, provision and barriers to access to instrumental music education in Ireland and in Europe. Dorothy is also an Affiliate Research Scholar at UCD, a Board Member of the International Music Council and Dublin Choral Foundation, and an Associate Member of the UCD Centre for Human Rights. Finally, she is on the Management Committee of the Patient Voice in Cancer Research (PVCR), based at the Conway Institute at UCD.

Patricia Munatsi graduated from UCD Sutherland School of Law in 2020 with an LLM in International Human Rights Law. She is the Policy Lead for the Irish Network Against Racism. She is also a researcher, speaker, writer, gender activist, equality, diversity & inclusion advocate, and an anti-racism trainer.