Year: 2019

TO HONOUR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AND CELEBRATE SUCCESS

From Sport to Science, Business to Arts and Humanities, Law to Engineering and Architecture, we honour nine alumni in 2019 whose remarkable accomplishments are worthy of recognition

THE UCD ALUMNI AWARDS were created to honour outstanding achievement in a variety of fields. This year’s nine recipients will be celebrated at a special black-tie ceremony at UCD’s O’Reilly Hall on Friday, November 22. Each has excelled in her or his respective area of expertise and their remarkable accomplishments deserve wide recognition. Now in its sixth year, the Alumni Awards are voted on by UCD’s vast body of alumni, numbering over 279,000, living in 169 countries around the world, as well as students and staff. The success of the Alumni Awards shows that the UCD network is thriving, influential and truly international – and it’s a reminder to the University’s current student population that the benefits of studying at UCD can last a lifetime. We caught up with the nine awardees to ask them for their UCD memories, the high points of their career to date and what advice they have for future graduates.

International Diplomacy – Dr Sinéad Walsh

MSc 2005

Dubliner Dr Sinéad Walsh is the EU Ambassador to South Sudan. Before that, she was Irish Ambassador to Sierra Leone and Liberia. She has worked extensively for the Department of Foreign Affairs and in the charity sector. She is co-author of the book, Getting to Zero, which detailed her experience of the Ebola crisis. Have you fond memories of UCD? “I had been working for Concern on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border before doing my masters at UCD and I remember how wonderful it was to study there and the great professors who helped expand my mind.” What life skills did you pick up at UCD? “Meeting people. You can never underestimate how good it is to get to know as many people as possible and I met so many international students there. Today, I’m meeting with the governor of the Central Bank here in South Sudan and he’s someone I first met in UCD in 2003.” Career highlights? “Working on the Ebola crisis. I think I did some good work, but I also made mistakes. And it was tough to write about it [in her book, Getting to Zero] especially when I had to acknowledge those mistakes.” Where do you see yourself in five years? “Right now, I’m asking questions like ‘How can I have an impact on alleviating poverty?’ and ‘What about issues like climate change?’” What advice do you have for graduates? “It might not be fashionable to say this, but ‘work hard’.”

Inspirational Hockey Star – Katie Mullan

BSc 2017, ME 2018

Katie Mullan, former Ad Astra Sports Scholar and captain of the Irish hockey team, led her country to sporting triumph last year, a silver medal in the World Cup. It was an achievement that led to increased governmental funding. Katie, who is from Derry, and helped UCD win several trophies, aims to get Ireland to next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. What did you enjoy most about your time at UCD? “I enjoyed making many new friendships during my time in UCD, starting with those I made through living on campus with other Ad Astra athletes, to the girls playing UCD hockey and of course the engineers – all lifelong friendships that are invaluable to me.” How important was UCD in developing your sporting talent? “UCD was incredibly important. I progressed most as a player and person during my time at UCD.” Did you learn any ‘life lessons’ at UCD that have stood to you since leaving? “Probably the biggest life lesson was that all the sacrifices made are worthwhile. As an elite athlete my university experience differed a lot from the typical student. After six years of managing my studies with the demands of international hockey we won a World Cup silver medal. I wouldn’t change anything about my journey.” How do you manage to combine top-level sport with your more ‘regular’ career? “Time management. UCD helped me with that. I was constantly managing my hockey career with my undergraduate or postgraduate studies.”

Agri-Food Entrepreneur – Caroline Keeling

BSc 1990, MSc (Agr) 1992

As CEO of the Irish-owned Keelings, Caroline Keeling is steeped in the food business. Keelings employs over 2,000 people and supplies a large list of customers with fresh fruit and vegetable products. Caroline is on the board of several organisations, including Bord Bia and the Export Trade Council. What are your primary memories of UCD? “Two words: fun and friends. It was a great time – you meet so many new people from all walks of life, including boys, which was new for someone coming from a convent school!” Is there a key ‘take-away’ from your time there? “Much of the learning, particularly science, was presented as, ‘This is the current theory – we don’t know everything.’ That was really revelatory for me and it set me up for lifelong learning. There’s always more to learn.” What are you most proud of career-wise? “It gives me such pleasure to see people come in here to work and how they evolve over, say ten years. It’s so heartening to see people go above and beyond expectations.” Would you do anything differently? “There are things that I wish I tackled earlier, even something like really understanding yourself – what your make-up is, what your drive is, how you interact with people.” Do you have advice for new graduates? “Whatever career you choose, look for people to help you. You’d be amazed that 80 to 90 per cent of the people you ask really will.”

Cultural Strategist – Dr Barbara Dawson

BA 1979

The first female director of Dublin’s Hugh Lane Gallery, Dr Barbara Dawson has been one of the most significant figures in the Irish art world in recent decades. She oversaw an expansion to the Gallery and helped to develop the world-renowned Francis Bacon studio there. She is Adjunct Professor at UCD’s School of Art History. What do you remember most about your time at UCD? “The great friends I made at UCD I’ve kept to this day. The camaraderie was wonderful. I have great recollections of the History of Art Department – it was so small and intimate. It was a privilege to be taught by these great scholars.”How has your time at UCD served your career and life? “Obviously, there was the academic work, but it was learning from your setbacks – and it’s terribly important to do that learning then. Looking back, I see UCD as a big learning ground – not just for art, but for life.” What career achievements make you proud? “I was very proud of Francis Bacon’s studio and for building a new wing at the Hugh Lane which really allows it to take its place as a leading institution in the visual arts in Ireland. I’m proud of the fact that I was the first female director of the Gallery. The challenge was to come and do something that wasn’t so familiar and that could be nerve-wracking at times.” Do you have advice for today’s graduates? “It’s very valuable to travel and to allow time to do that because once you get seriously into your career that opportunity may be curtailed. Be open and receptive and if you are, you have an advantage over others. Engage with the creative industries, the plays, the operas, the arts – they are different tools with which to navigate the world.”

Global Business Influence – Colin Ryan

BCL 1997, DBS 1998

Colin Ryan joined investment bank giant Goldman Sachs after leaving UCD. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and is Co-Head of Mergers and Acquisitions: Americas. He was a recipient of the Ireland Funds Distinguished Leadership Award for 2019 in recognition of his philanthropy and remarkable business achievements. Your strongest memories of UCD? “The camaraderie among my BCL class. I made great friends while obtaining a world-class education which provided the foundation for my professional life. I was also fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in the BCL International exchange programme at De Paul Law School in Chicago which gave me my first taste of life in America and a better understanding of the opportunities available outside of a traditional legal career.” What ‘life lessons’ served you well as a result of attending UCD? “The emphasis placed on independent research as part of the BCL programme fostered a greater appetite to be a self-starter, a skill which enabled me to build teams, develop client relationships and grow businesses over the course of my career.” What advice have you for new UCD graduates? “Be expansive and ambitious – you have earned the right to compete on the global stage.”

Transformational Innovator – Noelle Walsh

BE 1985

Noelle Walsh leads the Cloud Operations and Innovations operation at Microsoft, a role that includes supply planning and strategic acquisition as well as global construction and data centre operations. Previously, she spent 25 years with the Dow Chemical Company, where she worked across multiple businesses. Memories of UCD? “I have many fond memories – the camaraderie, positive environment set by the administration, even the hard work we all were required to put in. The many lifelong, enduring friendships are what I treasure most.” Is there a characteristic you attribute to UCD? “UCD requires students to work very hard, individually and in teams. I think demanding that level of effort creates a sense of determination and I credit that determination for getting me where I am today, to keep pushing forward each time I am faced with a new opportunity.” Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? “It’s a very exciting time to be at Microsoft, as the company transforms to a mainly cloud-driven business. I also look forward to giving back more meaningfully, to causes that are important to me. I’m a big champion of diversity and inclusivity and giving back to the communities in which we live and work. That might mean joining a public board.” What advice do you have for today’s graduates? “Take the leap. Think big. Stand up for what you believe in.”

Global Leadership – Shaun T Kelly

BComm 1980, DipPrAcc 1981

Belfast native Shaun T Kelly was the global COO of KPMG International. He ran the US tax practice and through his leadership, KPMG served a long list of blue chip American corporations. He is on the board of the Ireland Funds of America and the Irish Arts Centre in New York and he is the chair of the Northern Ireland US Advisory Council for the East Coast. What are your abiding memories of UCD? “Coming from Belfast to Dublin felt like a huge change. It was liberating. I’d played minor football for Antrim so I played a bit at UCD but wasn’t good enough to get on the team for the Sigerson Cup. I remember as a freshman being marked by [former Dublin player and manager] Pat O’Neill.” Did you pick up any life lessons at UCD? “It was a great confidence builder and it taught me that meeting people from different backgrounds could be invaluable. Moving to Dublin opened my eyes to travel and that eventually brought me to the US.” What are you most proud of in your corporate career? “Running the US tax practice for KPMG was great, but so too was coming back to Belfast in the 1990s and effectively running a start-up business there. It was an exciting time for the city.” What would you say to future graduates? “Don’t be afraid to take opportunities as they come up. Take a chance, take risks, be versatile. There’s a lot of disruption in many industries now so, to paraphrase Darwin, it’s not so much the survival of the fittest but the survival of the most adaptable.”

Sustainability Strategist – Dr John Bell

BA 1986, MA 1988

Dubliner Dr John Bell is the ‘Healthy Planet’ director at DG Research and Innovation at the European Commission in Brussels. He has held a variety of top roles at the Commission for the past 26 years and was Chef de Cabinet for former Commissioners, Máire Geoghegan Quinn and Maglena Kuneva. What are your memories of UCD? “It really was a catalyst for opening up so many opportunitiesin my life. UCD was responsible for my academic career and was where I met my wife. As students, we had access to the top people in their fields, like Gus Martin and Terry Dolan. They weren’t just scholars, but very innovative people too.” What life lessons did UCD help with? “It gave me great confidence to be the best I could be. There was such openness there. People would tell me that I could do whatever I wanted in life if I really applied myself and that message stayed with me.” Of what aspects of your career are you most proud? “The grounding I got at UCD really helped me be a policy strategist because language is so important. Most strategic thinkers in the Commission come from the humanities. They’re used to paying attention to language. They’re more open and confident in their outlook.” What do you say to new graduates? “I believe if you work and network and do your best, no matter what your corner is, that you can take it forward. No matter whether you’re in the arts or the sciences or any other discipline, if you apply yourself you prepare yourself for whatever direction you take in life.”

Medical Education Leadership – Prof Mary Horgan

MB BCh BAO 1986, MD 1995

A world-renowned expert in infectious diseases, Professor Mary Horgan is the President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) – the first female in this role since its establishment in 1654. She is a consultant in infectious diseases at Cork University Hospital and was Dean of the University College Cork School of Medicine. What are your abiding memories of UCD? “So many! I remember Newman House having a great disco scene in the 1980s during term time and then becoming a daunting exam hall in May/June. I remember being in Earlsfort Terrace and Professor Coakley being a fantastic anatomy teacher.” What life skills did you pick up at UCD? “As a country girl from Kerry, I learned to fend for myself, but in a wider context, UCD taught me the importance of networking and communicating with people. At this stage of my career, it’s remarkable the number of UCD alumni that I meet.” Of what career achievement are you most proud? “It was a huge privilege to be elected president of the RCPI. I think it was a reflection of their trust for me to take on the role and to make changes. I like to remind people that I am a UCD alumna and if I can achieve this without any major connections, there’s no reason why you can’t push boundaries also.”

THE  WORD  VISION comes from the Latin visionem, meaning a sight or thing seen. Having a vision is being able to see past certain events in expectation of a greater outcome. When the 19th-century educationalist John Henry Newman wrote “The Idea of A University”, he might not have had a precise picture of the masterpiece he was shaping but he had a sense of it. In his mind’s eye, he did not have the finished product as we know it today but he could imagine the essence of it.

More than 160 years later, for UCD President, Professor Andrew J Deeks, halfway through his ten-year term, having a clear vision of the future represents the most important part of his fantastically complex job. Leading a multi-faceted global University as one UCD, bringing together students, alumni, six Colleges, faculty, five Global Centres, world-class researchers, industry partnerships in a long-standing tradition of independent scholarship and academic freedom, requires vision and a skillset that would be beyond many  CEOs. In addition to striving for excellence in academic education and research, the role involves engaging with public policy makers, industry and business. There’s the drive to accommodate more students and engage more faculty and, in the climate of a deficit in government funding for third level, there’s a requirement for university presidents to be involved in the quest for yet more non-exchequer funding and philanthropic support.

Professor Deeks has set out a multi-faceted UCD Strategic Campus Plan to communicate the broad direction of future physical development of the Belfield campus in terms of the facilities required to support the vision of being a global Top 100 university.

While UCD has always engaged in capital projects to serve the investment in intellectual capital, with growing numbers of students and faculty and increasing engagement with the community on a local, national and global scale, a more fundamental conceptual masterplan to futureproof the University was required.

“Whatever we decided to do, we wanted to make sure it would not stand in the way of future development, or result in ad hoc developments that would not complement each other,” says Professor Deeks.

A decision was taken to launch a major international UCD Future Campus architectural competition to attract the best global minds to the challenge.

An international jury panel was formed, among them Professor Hugh Campbell, UCD Dean of Architecture; leading architect Sir David Adjaye, responsible for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington DC; Malcolm Reading, architect and director of Malcolm Reading Consultants, the organisers of the competition; Ann Beha, principal of Boston-based Ann Beha architects; Professor Orla Feely, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact and Professor of Electronic Engineering; Dermot Desmond, Chairman of International Investment and Underwriting, and Ballymore founder, Seán Mulryan.

The brief was to deliver a blueprint for bricks and mortar development that would enable new and improved ways of teaching and learning, allowing the decommissioning and transformation of outdated spaces and to manage and develop the campus using best practice sustainable policies.

“The competition had two components,” says Professor Deeks. “One was a masterplan for how the academic character of the campus would develop, and the second was for an iconic Centre for Creativity, and adjacent Centre for Future Learning building, that would become a frontispiece for the campus and would represent to the external world the exciting things that are happening within the University.”

This desirable piece of architecture would punctuate the new entrance …

In effect, as well as setting down a cohesive, integrated plan for the overall campus, minimising its environmental impact and maximising the utilisation of space, this desirable piece of architecture would punctuate the new entrance to Belfield, orienting UCD outwards and creating a visible, exciting new landmark. Its key element, the Centre for Creativity, would be a symbol of the capacity for creativity that UCD has among all disciplines. The Centre would house the creative programmes such as architecture and engineering but would also express an exciting vision of the future which is interdisciplinary.

“It gives us an opportunity to put in place facilities that are transformative, which learn from modern pedagogy,” says Professor Deeks.

From a field of 98 submissions from many of the world’s most prestigious architecture firms, New York and Beijing- based Steven Holl Architects  (SHA) emerged the winner. SHA’s placemaking strategy focused on creating an iconic Centre for Creativity as a gateway presence which links to seven new quadrangles of open green space, designed to enhance the campus’ historic features and woodlands. A new pedestrian spine, parallel to the campus’ original spine, creates an H-plan organisation, lined with weather canopies that double as solar connectors, forming the infrastructure of an energy network.

Cafés and social spaces are located along paths for informal gathering; landscape spaces are animated by water-retention ponds, weather-protected seating areas and preserved specimen trees.

Steven Holl said: “We are very honoured to have won the competition. It’s a very important and inspiring project for Steven Holl Architects. Our masterplan and the new UCD Centre for Creativity respond to the particulars of the site to create place and space and reflect on the history and quality of UCD’s campus.”

Past SHA campus projects include the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s expansion and Glassell School, the  Lewis  Arts Complex at Princeton University, and the Reid Building at the Glasgow  School of Art. Holl’s design for UCD, the 8,000 sq m Centre for Creativity, entrance plaza and pool and seven new quadrangles of green space is bold and dramatic. Inspiration comes from a number of sources, including the Giants Causeway and James Joyce, as well as from the well-known dodecahedron Water Tower, probably the  University’s most recognisable landmark.

Holl’s new building with its nine-storey tower, will be a visible beacon on the UCD skyline. Professor Deeks has described it as an exhilarating presence at the entrance to UCD, designed to invite the public to campus for all types of public engagement.

For many alumni and faculty, introduced to the Future Campus plans at the UCD Festival in the summer, it was clear that architecture was a powerful way to transform the campus for the future. Steven Holl gave a presentation on the scheme and observers could examine a scale model. Professor Hugh Campbell, Academic Lead for the Centre for Creativity and Dean of Architecture, which will be an anchor tenant of the building,  commented.  “Architecture,  and a well-designed building, has the power to change not just how we perceive something physically but how we feel.”

“Society is changing and that drives the change needed in the education that universities like UCD provide.”

While the University’s growth inspired the immediacy of the need for additional infrastructure, it is exciting that the competition flushed out so much potential to create new buildings fit for new pedagogogical purposes. “Society is changing and that drives the change needed in the education that universities like UCD provide. Discussions with many employers, domestic and multinational, are telling us that people will need skills to work in diverse multicultural teams, to show leadership, to have resilience, to be flexible, active and dynamic,” says Professor Deeks. “These are not things learned in a lecture theatre. They are learned in active learning environments and by new methods. We want to be adaptable for the future.”

Professor Eilis Hennessy, Academic Lead for the Centre for Future Learning, a new building which will be located next to the Centre for Creativity, explains: “In digitised educational settings, the classroom will be a place where students spend more time in discussion, critical analysis, and collaboration than in passively  listening to lectures. The focus on peer group engagement and problem solving will also make classroom activity more similar to workplace activity than it has been in the past.”

Professor Hennessy also noted that student wellbeing is an important aspect of the development of the Centre for Future Learning. The building design will, therefore, facilitate collaborative work as well as independent study and will provide students with the opportunity to engage with peers from every College in the University. “Students in the universities of tomorrow will learn about the world by investigating and researching solutions to challenges both on their own and as members of a team. They need to be comfortable working with groups of individuals from different backgrounds and being able to show their leadership skills.”

UCD will have not only the workplace in its sights in terms of educating students, according to Professor Deeks, but society in general. “We are preparing people to take their place in society. Most graduates will have several careers and will need to be educated with interdisciplinary skills to make a positive contribution to society. This is a global trend.”

It’s also a global opportunity. With the potential to become the biggest English- speaking university in the European Union after Brexit, UCD must recruit and support students of oustanding potential at all levels, whatever their background.

Professor Deeks explains: “We have real competitive advantage here. At this particular point in time where some English-speaking countries are becoming less welcoming to people, Ireland remains a friendly, welcoming country. Our domestic students will have an advantage too in that they will be in an environment with people from a variety of different backgrounds.

In one sense we are educating the world by bringing people here where they can get a quality Irish education that prepares them to take their place in a global society. On the other hand, we are ensuring that more and more of our students spend time abroad as part of their experience.”

As Ireland’s Global University, UCD has further expanded its outreach activities with the establishment of five Global Centres, in the US, China, India, Malaysia and the Middle East. There are now more than 279,000 UCD alumni in 169 countries worldwide.

“It is through the support of our alumni that we will be able to achieve the standing on the world stage that UCD really deserves,” says Professor Deeks. “I attend alumni functions all over the world and I observe how our alumni are extremely positive about their experience at UCD. They are actively engaged through the 40 Overseas Chapters to help us build the international student population at the same time we build the Irish student population.”

UCD’s progress and this vision for a fundamentally new era on campus cannot be impeded by a lack of government funding, emphasises Professor Deeks. He refers to the awareness amongst philanthropists, whether alumni or not, of the need for funding of universities in Ireland.

“Philanthropy from private donors is a significant aspect of being able to fund this new Future Campus phase,” says Professor Deeks. “We are also looking to the government through the Higher Education Strategic Infrastructure Fund to fund part of it, and we will fund some of it through University operations. The balance will come from the European Investment Bank which  is supportive of Irish higher education. They have indicated their continued support, particularly as it relates to these sorts of transformative pieces of infrastructure that strengthen the academic experience.”

This year, UCD has also received the largest donation from a single donor that the University has received in its history. The donation supported the Future Campus architectural competition and it will also help fund the Centre for Creativity. “[The philanthropist] saw this as good for Ireland,” says Professor Deeks.

As well as the masterplan for the academic character of the campus, the University plans to create residential places for 3,000 more students, with the construction of the first third now underway. Plans for sports and student amenities include the long-awaited running track, also fully funded by a  donor.  Not only is the build covered, but also its maintenance for a minimum of 17 years.

The generosity of UCD’s benefactors has been forthcoming in part, says Professor Deeks, because UCD has a clear vision and executable masterplan that philanthropists can believe in. “We have to deliver our part. A strategic campus development plan that is integrated, well considered, properly costed, and transformational for both the University and the country.”

Written by Jane McDonnell
Photography Simon Watson

WHEN THE  UCD University  Club opened its doors this summer, it quickly established a loyal and regular following among alumni and the wider UCD community of faculty and staff. The first of its kind in Ireland, the concept for UCD University Club was the vision of UCD President, Professor Andrew J Deeks who was inspired by similar clubs at top universities all over the world. The aim of such clubs is to provide comfortable surroundings and flexible spaces where members can gather and avail of well-appointed amenities delivered with the personal touch and, uniquely, a link to their alma mater.

UCD University Club’s convivial atmosphere is reflected in the warm welcome from its general manager Paul O’Rafferty and his team. “Our aim is for alumni to feel this is a real home from home where they can order ‘the usual’ or choose their favourite table and we know exactly what they mean,” says O’Rafferty.

The Club is located minutes from Dublin’s city centre in the heart of Belfield, adjacent to O’Reilly  Hall, with magnificent views of the lake. The contemporary building, designed by architects Scott Tallon Walker, is configured so that the UCD University Club and O’Reilly Hall are compatibly inter-connected, facilitating business meetings small and large, including conferences for up to 1,000.

UCD University Club membership is open to all alumni, as well as to staff and faculty of UCD and to corporate members and friends of UCD. It’s  the perfect place to pop in for coffee, lunch or dinner, or to socialise, relax, dine, entertain and host business meetings large and small.

“Our aim is for alumni to feel this is a real home from home where they can order ‘the usual’ or choose their favourite table.”

The Club’s contemporary café with full daytime service, and a comfortable bar, are situated on the ground floor with an elegant fine-dining restaurant on the first floor. Other amenities, including the members’ lounge and five meeting rooms (with state-of-the-art audio- visual capability), deliver comfort and convenience. All spaces are designed with flexibility to cater for members’ events, workshops, private dining and special occasions.

THE GROUND FLOOR

The Café A bright space offering early morning coffee and breakfast and all-day healthy, delicious dishes.

Open Monday-Friday from 7.30am-6pm; Saturday 8.30am-3.30pm.

The Bar With views of the lake, the Bar is the ideal spot for pre-or post-dinner drinks. The barfood menu is available daily from 6pm Monday-Saturday.

THE FIRST FLOOR

The Members’ Lounge Reserved for members only, The Members’ Lounge is the place to meet up with

colleagues and fellow alumni or to avail of a quiet space. With high-speed broadband and WiFi, it’s easy to transition from work to relaxation.

Open Monday-Saturday from 7.30am-11.30pm.

The Restaurant The elegant Restaurant is open for lunch and dinner from Monday- Saturday, with creative, seasonal menus featuring locally-sourced Irish produce.

EVENTS, HOSPITALITY, MEETINGS

UCD University Club’s well-appointed amenities include five flexible spaces for events, hospitality and meetings in addition to the adjacent facilities of O’Reilly Hall. A number of packages suit all requirements. Packages include main room hire, WiFi, AV facilities, complimentary stationery and pens. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea options are available.

Private Dining Dinner packages have a choice of menus and wines, and groups of 6-80 guests can be accommodated for fine dining with waiter service in stunning lake-view rooms.

Receptions Private room hire is available, typically from 5pm-8pm for drinks receptions. Packages are tailored to requirements.

Meetings and Events Meetings and conferences of all sizes can be accommodated in our flexible spaces, from boardrooms to the conference-ready O’Reilly Hall which has capacity for up to 1,000.

The Oak Room Seating up to twelve for dining or conferencing, The Oak Room offers hi-spec private facilities with all the convenience of easy access and parking, and premium catering.

The Birch and The Beech Rooms These rooms can be booked individually or opened into a larger single space accommodating up to 70.

The Cedar and Cypress Rooms On the first floor of the UCD University Club, these rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows enjoy beautiful views of the lake and can be booked individually to accommodate 40 people for dinner or open into a larger single space accommodating up to 80.

In addition, The Cedar and The Cypress rooms can also be linked into the restaurant to accommodate larger events for up to 160.

The Rowan Room A private event room on the first floor of O’Reilly Hall with plasma screen and video conferencing facilities, it can accommodate up to 40 people for private dining or conferencing.

O’Reilly Hall The imposing O’Reilly Hall is ideal for major conferences, meetings, product launches and exhibitions for 100 to 1,000 attendees. The Main Hall is a blank canvas, allowing you design your event to your individual requirements. Competitive delegate packages coupled with an experienced events team will ensure your every need is catered for. UCD University Club members also avail of discounted rates.

Members of the UCD University Club are also entitled to a number of additional benefits including access to the network of the Association of Colleges and University Clubs (ACUC) worldwide, with reciprocal privileges at clubs throughout the US, Canada, Australia, Sweden, UK, Israel and the Netherlands.

Members of all generations enjoy UCD University Club’s many attractions. As well as easy accessibility and parking, and the comprehensive suite of facilities, there’s the beauty of the surrounding landscape to enjoy. General manager Paul O’Rafferty notes that many members walk around the campus before enjoying a cappuccino or breakfast at the Club or make a date for lunch at The Café.

“It is a great place to meet people by arrangement, but also a fantastic place to bump into people you haven’t seen for ages.” Members can also host family occasions in The Restaurant or in the private dining lake-view rooms, The Cedar and The Cypress. “We find that members appreciate the options to host birthdays, anniversary parties and other family get-togethers in the Club. They say it’s more convenient than a hotel, and has a distinctive, friendly atmosphere offering privacy and comfort.”

“This is one of the best things to happen in Belfield for years,” says UCD alumna Professor Gerardine Doyle, Director of the Michael Smurfit Business School and Associate Dean of UCD College of Business. “It has transformed how I do business. I can book a meeting room or a table in The Restaurant and host visiting academics or corporate partners. The team look after our requirements and the Club is convenient, comfortable and has all the essentials.”

UCD alumnus Enda Scott (BSc 1999, MBA 2008) is managing director of the medical devices division of  DCC  Vital and places great value on the company’s corporate membership of UCD University Club. Having worked in the US, UK and Europe and now based in the UK, the Club’s international-standard facilities are key for Scott, who hosts meetings with corporate partners and clients in the Club as well as internal meetings. “It is a superb venue, professionally equipped and staffed but with the personal touch.”

“We always get a lovely welcome,” says UCD alumnus Professor Niall O’Higgins, Professor Emeritus of Surgery, UCD and recently appointed Chair of the National Screening Committee. One of six brothers, he and his wife, Dr Roisin Healy, retired paediatric emergency medicine specialist, often meet his siblings in The Café. “It has a very pleasant atmosphere and very good service,” he says. Brothers and UCD alumni, Kevin O’Higgins, former judge of the Circuit Court, High Court and European Court, and Jim O’Higgins, solicitor, have also taken up Club membership.

For many members, a visit to The Members’ Lounge represents an opportunity for colleagues to “get away from the office”. A group from the School of Veterinary Medicine appreciate the comfortable setting and the chance to have a casual meeting or read a newspaper, away from the bustle on campus. John Buckley and colleagues Susan Caffrey, Oisin MacDonnacha and Karen O’Connell are known to the team  at the Club now: “The sense of collegiality is special – it has the effect of making you relax, and putting your guests at ease.”

Alumna Eleanor Flew, Director of Fundraising and Communications at Our Lady’s Hospice and Care Services is also a fan. “The Club is particularly useful for meetings away from the office.”

Architectural photographer Alice Clancy uses the Club for informal meetings. “I meet colleagues here and we can work and talk in a quiet environment. I love The Café for its light and airy space.”

Members from the School of Computer Science are also regulars: “You can get lovely coffee, lovely food and the surroundings are peaceful,” says Imelda Huggins, who is often joined by colleagues Rosemary Deevy and Ian Bonar.

The Club prioritises excellent service and creative cuisine. In both The Café and The Restaurant, menus celebrate seasonality and Irish food provenance with exciting and healthy menu selections. There are also various catering packages as well as bespoke options designed for all events hosted by members, including private dining occasions, dinners, receptions, workshops and meetings.

The Club also hosts a variety of members-only social, professional and educational activities, including fascinating talks from high-profile alumni, networking events, themed wine dinners and live music.

UCD University Club membership is open to all alumni. We warmly invite you to join up and enjoy the UCD University Club’s comfortable surroundings and excellent facilities. Don’t wait!

UCD UNIVERSITY CLUB MEMBER PRIVILEGES

• A welcoming atmosphere to relax, dine, work and socialise
• Stylish and varied rooms for dining, meeting and entertaining
• A curated schedule of members’ events
• Members are entitled to host three guests per visit
• Hot desk facilities in The Members’ Lounge and high-speed WiFi throughout
• Reciprocal benefits worldwide via ACUC
• Reduced room hire rates (subject to availability)

MEMBERSHIP ENQUIRIES

• For membership enquiries, please contact Anne Marie Fisher on +353 1 716 2187 or email club@ucd.ie
• Individual alumni membership, €75 per annum; Corporate membership, from €800 per annum
• Members who join before 31 December 2019 will be deemed founder members with their annual membership rate fixed for five www.ucd.ie/universityclub

OPENING HOURS

• The Café

Monday to Friday 7.30am-6pm Saturday 8.30am-3.30pm

• The Bar

Monday – Saturday 10.30am-11.30pm

• The Restaurant

Lunch: Monday to Friday 12.30pm-2.30pm
Dinner: Monday to Saturday 6pm-9pm

Enquiries to +353 1 716 2826

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE

PRINCIPAL: Professor Joe Carthy, Principal, College of Science.

If you’re passing through the College of Science, you’re likely to hear the sound of music. We have a magnificent Steinway grand piano that students, staff and alumni from across the University play. Lunchtime and evening recitals are a regular occurrence, from classical string quartets by Ad Astra performing scholars to contemporary experimental performances by our sound artists and composers in residence. The UCD community choir began here and meets every Tuesday lunchtime to rehearse; always welcoming new singers, the choir is a core part of our open and inclusive culture of creativity.

Our University-wide Artists-in-Residence programme also began in this College and since its launch in 2012, we’ve hosted some of Ireland’s most esteemed painters, sculptors, performance artists, choreographers, composers and sound artists. Art workshops, modules, talks, performances and exhibitions are part of the holistic educational experience of our students and future scientists. Working across traditional disciplinary boundaries is crucial to the development of science: one of our key objectives is educating students in collaborative cross-disciplinary environments.

Advances in science have always been dependent on continuous questioning of accepted norms, leaps of imagination and the ability to make connections across multiple ways of thinking. The project EIRSAT-1 is one such example. A team of space science and engineering students, supported by industry partners and academic mentors are currently designing, building, launching and operating Ireland’s first satellite as part of the European Space Agency’s Fly Your Satellite programme. As well as making history in their field, these students are developing the creative and critical thinking skills that are highly sought after in industry.

The scale of research in this College is vast, so bringing people together from different areas of expertise and experience is crucial. This happens formally through research and learning but equally through encounters like our brown bag lunchtime talks, community gardening, tree tours, guided nature walks, science bake-offs and open studio days. The College of Science proudly supports initiatives where people can create and enjoy, reflect and converse, discuss and experiment, fail and be confident; activities core to living a creative life.

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

PRINCIPAL: Professor Tony Brabazon, Principal, College of Business.

In the College of Business we seek to nurture creativity and the capacity to think in critical and solution-oriented ways. We love the opportunity to get students from different disciplines together in class, for example, engineers and business students in our module on Entrepreneurship in Practice led by Dr Orla Byrne. This year we will offer an Enterprise Internships Scholarship with NovaUCD and the Mont Kavanagh Trust.

Our MSc Bord Bia students are working with small firms, live in the market. Our new MSc Retail is about leadership and seeing opportunity in a rapidly changing sector. Too much learning is about “this is how things are done”. As a University, research, inquiry, critical thinking, problem solving, and discovery is in our DNA. It begins with curiosity and asking questions. As educators, a lot of our work is to help people unlearn and recover from rote learning.

We are also interested in responsible leadership and the connections between business, society and sustainability. The College recognises that some global challenges require not just creativity but also collaborative problem solving – bringing together people with different knowledge and skills. It is a hugely creative task to work together, and systems and tools can help. Sometimes the art of judgement and experience too quickly closes down creativity and the capacity to think differently. So we work with our students to deepen their capacity for hearing and being heard, and to see that collaboration itself is a creative act.

Students are required to make films, pitch ideas, debate from different perspectives, and work in teams to learn from each other, come up against different world views, systems and thoughts, and expand their collaboration capacity and field knowledge.

… we seek to nurture creativity and the capacity to think in critical and solution-oriented ways.

COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND LAW

PRINCIPAL: Professor Colin Scott, Principal, College of Social Sciences and Law.

Research and education in the social sciences and cognate disciplines are often identified as having a scientific character, with application of rigorous methods to understanding social phenomena. However, the identification of problems to research and of ways to address these challenges has a strong creative dimension, as does the design of educational programmes best suited to fostering student learning.

With education, significant innovations in recent years have included a shift towards more experiential forms of learning, for example with modules in Law which seek to simulate aspects of negotiation, enforcement and litigation processes, putting students in the position of key actors within the legal system. In the new undergraduate Social Sciences programme, an ethos of “students as partners” seeks to engage students more fully in the co-creation of learning experiences, drawing on their own experience and creativity to enhance learning outcomes.

With research, we recognise increasingly that major societal challenges are typically not addressed by single disciplines and so we find ways to draw together researchers from a range of disciplines to address issues such as migration, sustainability and the growing importance of data. There is considerable creativity required to find common languages between disciplines in casting the research challenges and identifying the most suitable methods to better understand them.

Over the past four years, many researchers in the College have engaged with Artists-in-Residence, appointed annually, who work with researchers on creative ways of expressing some of the ideas found in the research. Our current artist Catherine Barragry makes sculpture, performance and immersive events that consider survival while migration has been a theme explored by previous incumbents.

Our college vision is “to lead the advancement of human, animal and environmental wellbeing for the benefit of society” through creative research …

COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

PRINCIPAL: Professor Cecily Kelleher, Principal, College of Health and Agricultural Sciences.

The College of Health and Agricultural Sciences brings UCD’s health professionals under one banner, providing a wide range of educational and research opportunities. Our College vision is “to lead the advancement of human, animal and environmental wellbeing for the benefit of society” through creative and groundbreaking research and education. One Health is a worldwide strategy to expand collaborations and communications in all aspects of healthcare for humans, animals and the environment. The College has professionals along every link of the One Health chain, a unique position in Ireland.

For example, the Systems Biology Ireland lab has been researching ways to treat cancer. This year we saw the development of models based on a person’s own biochemistry. The creative new model is integrated with a computer algorithm which can predict, to a fairly accurate degree, how an individual might respond to various treatments.

The College has also been creative in promoting awareness of important issues. In April, the “UCD Get Sun Smarter” event took place, led by Professor Desmond J Tobin, Director of the UCD Charles Institute of Dermatology. A UV light box gave people visiting the stand an indication of the sun damage to their face. Systems Biology Ireland also provided a microscopic demonstration of what skin cancer looks like up close. These creative initiatives had a positive impact on drawing people into the event and strongly engaged the public in discussion about skin damage and cancer prevention.

Students from the School of Agriculture and Food Science were involved in creating the extraordinarily innovative exhibit garden at the 2019 Bloom festival. The garden was titled “UCD History of the Irish Diet in Plants” and brought to life the story of the Irish diet from the early Irish settlers to the introduction of farming. The garden was divided into five sections based on societal developments that led to dramatic changes in the Irish diet. The plants in each section primarily reflect evidence from archaeological science, highlighting changing food choices in Ireland over several millennia.

Building on the deep creative heritage of UCD Arts and Humanities, “Engaged Creativity” seeks to develop a critical ecosystem …

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES

PRINCIPAL: Professor Sarah Prescott, Principal, College of Arts and Humanities.

Creativity is one of UCD’s key values and is exemplified by many of the core arts subjects: music, literature, film, drama, and performance. The College of Arts and Humanities has ambitious plans for building on its excellence in cultural creativity and is working towards recognising research-based creative practice: composition, performance, directing and recording work as well as the work of colleagues in creative writing (for example, the recently appointed Professor of Fiction, Anne Enright). Building on the reputation and success of the masters programmes, creative writing was introduced as an undergraduate subject last year as part of the new four-year BA in Humanities. A creative-critical joint PhD programme is also being developed with our partner institution, the National College of Art and Design. The Arts and Humanities curriculum not only engages with cultural and artistic creativity and its practice but also develops students to be creative thinkers and problem solvers which will set them apart when they enter employment.

We are launching our “Engaged Creativity” research priority area with a series of workshops and interdisciplinary public lectures on the theme, “What is Creativity?”. Building on the deep creative heritage of UCD Arts and Humanities, the artistic energy of Dublin, and the international cultural reputation of Ireland, “Engaged Creativity” seeks to develop a critical ecosystem which intersects with government, English and Irish language media, business and industry through research, teaching, public impact and engagement. It builds on interest in creative practices as research among scholars and students across the college, in disciplines such as creative writing, literature, art, music, Irish language, film and drama.

This academic year we welcomed the first John Pollard Newman Fellow in Creativity, the poet Dr Julie Morrissy, who will deliver the inaugural lecture in the “What is Creativity?” series. A group of creative practitioners, including documentary makers, writers, filmmakers, film directors, composers, musicians, TV producers, actors, and festival directors will be affiliated to the College in September as Creative Fellows to work with faculty and students around the theme of creativity.

Many researchers in the College have engaged with Artists-in-Residence, appointed annually, to draw out creative ways of expressing some of the ideas found in research …

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

PRINCIPAL: Professor Aoife Ahern, Principal, College of Engineering and Architecture.

Creativity is at the heart of what engineers and architects do. Therefore, in the College of Engineering and Architecture it is vitally important for us to engender a sense of creativity and a respect for creative design in our students of both engineering and architecture. As UCD engineers and architects, our graduates will be faced with helping to find solutions to many of the challenges faced by the world today – in relation to global warming, information technology and sustainability. It is only by tackling these challenges with imagination, creativity and new thinking that solutions can be found.

The programmes taught in the College incorporate creativity in many ways. For example, our first year students in Engineering take a module called Creativity in Design, where they work together in small teams to look at how to tackle problems in ways that are innovative; and they learn how to present those solutions using physical models, drawings and presentations. Our taught masters students take a module in Innovation Leadership, where they learn how to manage teams of first year students from the Creativity in Design module. In this way our masters students develop skills in leadership and communication.

In UCD Architecture, students engage in design studios where they present their designs to each other and to practicing architects. As time goes by, these designs and projects become ever more complex, offering students ample opportunity to demonstrate and develop their skills of creativity.

IN UCD CONNECTIONS, the University’s flagship magazine for the vibrant UCD community, we explore the University and UCD people, from the changes on campus to how students, faculty and our alumni are making their mark globally. We profile and highlight diverse alumni – leaders, writers, policy shapers, risk-takers, entrepreneurs, medical and scientific pioneers, engineering and architecture influencers, innovators and humanitarians. In this issue, we offer alumni an understanding of the ever-changing life of UCD and its place in the world.

By sharing your #UCDStory in our recent survey, and letting us know how your time at UCD shaped the person you are today, we are able to give you richer ways to connect with your alma mater and with each other.

More than 5,500 alumni participated in the survey – we would like to thank each and every one of you. We learned how you made lifelong friendships, found love on campus, joined clubs and societies, and developed learning and skills. We have gleaned insights that are of great value to us, but may also interest you.

Your worldwide UCD network is a powerful one: you are one of 279,000 alumni in 169 countries and 30 per cent of you are overseas, the majority in the US, Singapore and the UK but also all over Asia, Australia, Canada and Europe.

You are seeing the value of keeping in touch and we love that you do. Over the past five years, alumni engagement has truly flourished: since 2014, the number of alumni events has grown from 40 to 161 last year, and attendees from 9,000 to more than 28,000. Our survey also demonstrates that more of you are actively engaged in volunteering for UCD; as Chapter representatives all over the world, as panellists speakers and also career mentors, giving your time and expertise to improve the experience of UCD students.

And, not only are our alumni giving of time and knowledge, but a growing number are directly supporting the student experience on a monthly basis by funding student supports and services like scholarships and mental health services. In 2014, €125k was raised from 125 alumni giving monthly to UCD to directly support the student experience. By the end of this year, more than 5,000 alumni will have contributed €3.3m to directly fund student supports. We are grateful for this generosity and heartened to hear in our survey that alumni want to know more about ways to volunteer and support UCD financially.

Thanks to your survey feedback we can improve our programme of alumni relations activity for you over the next five years. You said you wanted to hear more about what other alumni are up to, campus developments, UCD research and to hear from your School. You would like to go to more reunions, hear more about events related to your professional interests and attend more conferences like the annual Women in Leadership event. You want to hear more about the UCD University Club and would also like a more enhanced digital edition of UCD Connections. You want further opportunities to reconnect with your global alumni community online and at global events.

SURVEY RESULTS

Thank you, your valuable feedback will allow us to continue to improve our alumni programme of activities

UCD Alumni Chapters are an integral part of the UCD global network. Our volunteer Chapter Representatives organise activities and social events in their area ranging from casual drinks, networking receptions, panel discussions, to formal dinners hosting visiting academics. With locations all over the world, our Chapters facilitate communication between our alumni and the University, while keeping members up to date with campus news and developments.

If you are new to a city or interested in getting involved, check out the list above to see if UCD has a chapter in your area.

We are always delighted to welcome new members. If your city is not listed, please contact us to find out what’s involved in setting up a Chapter.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Email Michelle Power at globalalumni@ucd.ie;
more details at www.ucd.ie/alumni/chapters

“My UCD education and experience afforded me a great career and life. In retirement I welcomed the invitation by Alumni Relations to assist today’s students as they start out. Sharing some life experience has been a very positive experience for me – a chance to ‘give something back’.” Pat Macken, BSc Chemistry 1979, PhD 1983; Career Mentor, Alumni Buddy, Reunion Class Agent 

UCD IS SHAPED and sustained by the involvement of alumni across the University. We are so grateful to the 2,900+ alumni who have volunteered with UCD in recent years.

From mentoring students and speaking at events, to writing testimonials and organising reunions, alumni make a real difference to the University community in so many ways. By giving their time, alumni support students to settle into college life and to flourish in their studies, offering vital advice as they navigate the next steps in their careers. Through sharing their experience, alumni offer hope and motivation which enriches and inspires the next generation. By keeping in touch with fellow alumni and taking part in events and reunions, they nurture the lifelong friendships that are essential to our vibrant and diverse community.

Volunteering with UCD provides an opportunity to impact the lives of current students, but can also spark meaningful personal connections, advance skills and expertise, and cultivate innovative thinking and broadened horizons.

In our recent UCD Alumni Survey, 76 per cent of all respondents were interested in volunteering – both in Ireland and across the globe. We value this generosity and invite you to join UCD’s thriving community of alumni volunteers as we expand our bank of opportunities.

To register your interest in giving back and to learn more about volunteer roles to suit your schedule and interests, visit www.ucd.ie/alumni/volunteering, email Ria Flom at alumnivolunteer@ucd.ie or call +353 1 716 1232.

IN NOVEMBER 2014,  in my first year as President of University College Dublin, I launched UCD’s Strategy 2015-2020 and outlined our core ambition to become “Ireland’s Global University”.

Key to our vision in this strategy is that our graduates will be imbued with the knowledge, skills, experience and attitudes they need to flourish in present and future Irish and global societies. And, over the past five years, we have undertaken an in-depth programme of curriculum reform, expansion of student services, research support and global engagement.

Behind the statistics, set out below, is a story of remarkable progress.

With 14 subject areas in the Top 100 and six in the Top 50 in the QS world university rankings, the reach and impact  of our faculty  is growing. Additionally, last year we had our most successful year ever, achieving €122m in externally funded research awards.

To improve our educational and student experience, we undertook a University-wide consultation, introduced multi-disciplinary “discovery” electives, reformed the traditional BA into a suite of Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences pathways and restructured and expanded supports in student advising, health and counselling services.

I have placed a specific emphasis on restoring an acceptable student faculty ratio and am committed to a ratio of 16:1.

I am hugely proud of the expansion in our engagement with you, our alumni. Between our alumni chapters, our reunions and events organised by our alumni relations team, there are now over 160 events annually  – up from circa 40 five years ago. The annual UCD Festival now attracts 20,000 visitors and is the highlight of the alumni calendar. The opening of the UCD University Club this summer gives you a comfortable place on campus to meet fellow graduates and to engage  with  faculty and staff who are always delighted to welcome alumni back to Belfield.

As we drive forward as Ireland’s Global University, we now have a global centre in New York, with further offices in Chicago and Los Angeles, in Beijing, New Delhi, Kuala Lumpur and  Dubai. We have developed relationships with prestige partner universities and work with government agencies, partners and alumni to deliver on our mission.

As we prepare our strategy for the coming five years I want to thank the UCD community for your support and look forward to sharing our journey with you.

Litir Chuig Alumni

Dearcadh Uachtarán UCD, An tOllamh Andrew J Deeks, faoin dul chun cinn iontach a rinne an Ollscoil le cúig bliana anuas

I SAMHAIN 2014, sa chéad bhliain agam mar Uachtarán ar an gColáiste  Ollscoile, Baile Átha Cliath, sheol mé Straitéis UCD 2015-2020 agus leag mé síos ár bpríomhsprioc: “Ollscoil Dhomhanda na hÉireann” a dhéanamh de UCD.

Is cuid fhíorthábhachtach dár bhfís sa straitéis seo go mbeidh an t-eolas, na scileanna, an taithí agus an meon ag ár gcéimithe chun go n-éireoidh leo sa lá   atá inniu ann agus amach anseo in Éirinn agus ar fud an domhain. Agus, le cúig  bliana  anuas, thugamar faoi chlár cuimsitheach chun an curaclam a leasú, seirbhísí mac léinn a leathnú, tacaíocht a thabhairt do thaighde agus rannpháirtíocht dhomhanda a chothú.

Taobh thiar de na staitisticí atá leagtha amach thíos, tá scéal ann faoin dul chun cinn suntasach atá déanta againn.

Tá 14 réimse ábhair againn sna 100 ábhar is fearr agus sé sna 50 ábhar is fearr sa rangú domhanda ollscoile QS, agus tá cumhacht agus tionchar ár bhfoireann teagaisc ag dul i méid. Anuas air sin, bhí an bhliain is rathúla againn riamh an bhliain seo caite, nuair a fuaireamar €122 milliún i ndeontais taighde arna maoiniú go seachtrach.

Chun feabhas a chur ar ár n-eispéireas  oideachais agus mac léinn, thugamar faoi phróiseas comhairliúchán ar fud na hOllscoile, thugamar cúrsaí roghnacha “fionnachtana” isteach, rinneamar leasú ar an BA traidisiúnta chun réimse níos leithne sna hEalaíona agus sna Daonnachtaí agus sna hEolaíochtaí Sóisialta a thabhairt isteach, agus leasaíomar agus leathnaíomar amach tacaíochtaí maidir le comhairle mac léinn, sláinte agus seirbhísí comhairleoireachta. Leag mé béim ar leith ar chóimheas inghlactha idir mic léinn agus an fhoireann teagaisc a bhaint amach arís, agus táim tiomanta don chóimheas 16:1.

Táim an-bhródúil as cur leis an rannpháirtíocht atá eadrainn, a alumni. Bíonn níos mó ná 160 imeacht ar siúl gach bliain anois – méadú ó thart   ar 40 cúig bliana ó shin. Baineann na himeachtaí lenár gcraobhacha alumni, ár n-imeachtaí teacht  le chéile agus imeachtaí eile a eagraíonn ár bhfoireann caidreamh le céimithe. Meallann an fhéile bhliantúil Féile UCD 20,000 cuairteoir anois agus is í buaicphointe an fhéilire í ó thaobh imeachtaí alumni de. Le hoscailt Chlub Ollscoile UCD  an  samhradh seo, beidh áit chompordach agat ar an gcampas  anois chun bualadh le céimithe eile agus caidreamh  a chothú le foireann teagaisc agus baill foirne eile a mbíonn ríméad orthu i gcónaí fáilte a chur roimh alumni ar ais go Belfield.

Agus dul chun cinn á dhéanamh againn mar Ollscoil Dhomhanda na hÉireann, tá ionad domhanda againn anois i Nua-Eabhrac, agus tuilleadh oifigí i Chicago agus Los Angeles, Béising, Deilí Nua, Kuala Lumpur agus Dubai. D’fhorbraíomar caidreamh nua le hollscoileanna comhpháirtíochta ardghradaim agus táimid ag obair le gníomhaireachtaí rialtais, comhpháirtithe agus alumni lenár misean a chur i gcrích.

Agus ár straitéis don chéad chúig bliana eile á cur le chéile againn, ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil le pobal UCD as an tacaíocht a thug tú dúinn agus táim ag tnúth lenár n-aistear a roinnt libh sa todhchaí.

“THE NOVAUCD facility had been running at full capacity for several years and there has been a significant demand from ambitious entrepreneurs who wanted to locate their start-ups here to be part of our ecosystem of experienced mentors, founders, alumni, investors and sponsors who can help them grow their businesses globally,” said Tom Flanagan, UCD’s Director of Enterprise and Commercialisation in relation to the €6.5m development project to expand the centre which has just been completed.

This twelve-month project, to renovate and extend the hub’s eastern courtyard, has resulted in a 50 per cent increase in capacity to house companies and includes a dedicated co-working space, over 20 new business units and labs that together can accommodate up to 30 additional start-ups.

NovaUCD, based on the Belfield campus, opened in 2003 and since then has supported over 360 companies and early-stage ventures to grow and scale. The companies which operate in sectors including AgTech, CleanTech, FinTech, ICT, MedTech and Life Sciences, have raised over €760m in equity funding.

In 2018 the combined annual turnover of the companies supported amounted to over €113m and collectively they employed over 1,040 people directly and an estimated similar number indirectly.

Companies currently, and to date, supported through NovaUCD include BiancaMed, Carrick Therapeutics, Corlytics, Equal 1 Labs, Equinome, GMI, Life Scientific, Logentries, MagGrow, NovoGrid, Nuritas, OncoMark, OxyMem, Terra Solar and Vivid Edge. These companies (some of which are profiled opposite) range from those at the early-stage of their development, to companies which have secured significant investment and are in the growth phase, to companies which have been successfully acquired.

If you are interested in finding out more about locating your start-up at NovaUCD contact: helen.mcgrath@ucd.ie or visit www.novaucd.ie or follow @NovaUCD

EARLY STAGE COMPANIES

OUTPUT SPORTS shrink lab-grade athlete performance analytics into a wearable system so coaches can optimise athletes’ performance. Output Sports is an end-to-end system designed to streamline the off-field athlete performance optimisation process. It is capable of testing an athlete’s performance profile (strength, power, balance,  speed and mobility) and tracks their exercise programmes. The company, a spin-out from the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, was founded by Dr Martin O’Reilly, Dr Darragh Whelan, Julian Eberle and Professor Brian Caulfield, based on research carried out at Insight, the SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics.

MANNA, one of the latest companies to locate at NovaUCD, is planning to deploy custom-developed aerospace grade drones to deliver fast food. The company was founded by Bobby Healy, the former chief technology officer at CarTrawler. Manna plans to start with a limited-scale service in Ireland at the end of this year and is waiting for flight approval from the Irish Aviation Authority. It has announced a partnership with Flipdish, the food ordering software company. Among the VC firms to have backed Manna are, Atlantic Bridge, Elkstone and Frontline.

EQUAL 1 LABS, Ireland’s first quantum computing hardware  start- up, is developing a new type of quantum computer based on CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor). Unlike current quantum computers which require very high costs to operate quantum bits ‘frozen’ at a temperature of 15mK, the Equal 1 Quantum Processing Unit can operate at higher temperatures and this significantly reduces its size. The company founded by Dr Dirk Leipold, Dr George Maxim, Mike Asker and Professor R. Bogdan Staszewski is a spin-out from the UCD School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Atlantic Bridge has invested in Equal1 through the University Bridge Fund to support the fabrication of the company’s first quantum processor chip.

IN GROWTH MODE

CARRICK THERAPEUTICS, a life sciences company, has an ambitious patient-focused vision to serve cancer patients around the world with ground-breaking cancer therapies. It is pioneering a portfolio of unique treatments to target driver mechanisms of the most aggressive forms of cancer, tailored to an individual patient’s tumour. Carrick Therapeutics has secured $95m from investors including; Arch Venture Partners, Woodford Investment Management, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Google Ventures and Lightstone Ventures. In 2018, company co-founder, Dr Elaine Sullivan, won the EY Emerging Entrepreneur of The Year (EOY Ireland) Award. The company recently announced a move into the US.

OXYMEM was co-founded by Wayne Byrne, Professor Eoin Casey and Dr Eoin Syron as a spin-out from the UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering. The multi-award-winning start-up is a leading innovator in energy efficient wastewater treatment. OxyMem’s breakthrough technology, the Membrane- Aerated Biofilm Reactor, addresses the global need for a more energy efficient wastewater treatment. OxyMem has an impressive list of financial backers including Dow Chemical Company and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures and has clients in Ireland, UK, Europe, Japan, Middle East, Canada and Brazil and is in the process of growing employee numbers.

VIVID EDGE has developed a pioneering ‘energy efficiency as a service’ model for organisations using large amounts of energy. It provides the capital to enable them upgrade the efficiency of their buildings, beyond their own capital budgets, replacing such expenditure with a simple service fee. It has secured backing from a European energy efficiency fund with an initial €30m facility and has completed projects with multiple organisations, generating a multi- million euro revenue stream, and has a sales pipeline reaching into Europe, Middle East and Africa. In 2019, founder and CEO Tracy O’Rourke was a finalist in the Cartier Women’s Initiative to encourage female entrepreneurs.

SUCCESSFUL EXITS

BIANCAMED was co-founded in 2003 by Dr Philip de Chazal, Dr Conor Hanley and Professor Conor Heneghan as a spin- out from the UCD School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. It developed a contactless, accurate device for the measurement of sleep and breathing. At the core of BiancaMed’s technology was a sensitive motion sensor to detect respiration and movement without being connected to the human body. BiancaMed had raised significant funding when it was acquired in 2011 by ResMed, a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of medical equipment for treating, diagnosing, and managing sleep-disordered breathing and other respiratory disorders. Dr Hanley has recently raised over €40m for his latest venture FIRE1, to develop a remote heart monitoring product.

EQUINOME, an equine genomics company, was co-founded in 2009 by Professor Emmeline Hill, in partnership with Jim Bolger, the renowned Irish trainer and breeder, as a spin-out from the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science. The company was established to commercialise research which resulted in the identification of the ‘Speed Gene’ in Thoroughbreds and the development of the Equinome Speed Gene Test which predicts the optimum race distance of a Thoroughbred horse. By 2015, Equinome was working with many of the world’s leading thoroughbred training and breeding operations when acquired by Plusvital, the Irish equine nutrition company.

LOGENTRIES was co-founded in 2010 by Dr Trevor Parsons and Dr Viliam Holub as a spin-out from the UCD School of Computer Science after a decade of joint research with IBM. Based on the simple premise that there was tremendous value to businesses hidden within log data entries, Logentries developed a SaaS based, log management service for collecting and analysing big data and making this data easily accessible to improve IT and business operations. The company secured $11m in funding and was servicing tens of thousands of users in over 100 countries before being acquired by Rapid7 in 2015 for $68m.

Written by Micéal Whelan

PICTURESQUELY LOCATED ON the south side of St Stephen’s Green in the beautiful complex of historic buildings where the University was founded, UCD Newman House is soon to be the home of a new landmark institution: MoLI – Museum of Literature Ireland.

A major partnership between UCD and the National Library of Ireland, MoLI draws inspiration from the genius and influence of UCD’s most famous student, James Joyce, and is named after his best- known female character, Molly Bloom.

Opening on Friday 20 September (Culture Night), the Museum of Literature Ireland will celebrate Ireland’s internationally-renowned literary culture and heritage from the past to the present, inspiring the next generation to create, read and write.

Immersive multimedia exhibitions, priceless artefacts from the National Library collections, lectures, performances, cutting-edge children’s education programmes, digital broadcasting, cross-disciplinary artistic commissions and a café set in one of the city’s most beautiful gardens will make MoLI a major contribution to the local and international literary landscape.

Museum Highlights Include

• James Joyce’s ‘Copy No 1’ of Ulysses, the rarest copy of the most important novel written in the English language, inscribed by Joyce to his patron Harriet Shaw Weaver.
• Joyce’s handwritten notebooks for sections of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, giving insight into his unique creative process.
• Rare recordings from the National Folklore Collection.
• Exhibitions on Irish writing and writers past and present, including opening exhibitions on Kate O’Brien, Young Adult Fiction and the State and Irish Writing.
• William Butler Yeats’ Nobel Prize Medal for Literature.
• Historic setting in UCD Newman House, where famous Irish writers including James Joyce, Flann O’Brien, Kate O’Brien and Maeve Binchy were students.
• Historic ash tree where James Joyce’s graduation photograph was taken in 1902.
• Courtyard café serving local and seasonal dishes.
• Beautiful hidden gardens connecting to the Iveagh Gardens, a tranquil oasis in the heart of the city.

Visit MoLI

Open 7 days 10am–6pm (From 20 September 2019)

Admission €8 | Concession €6 | Members go free

MoLI | Museum of Literature Ireland
UCD Newman House, 86 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2 | moli.ie | 01 477 9811

OVER THE LAST five years, philanthropic support from more than 9,000 alumni, corporate leaders and friends, has contributed significantly to enhancing the student experience, establishing academic chairs, research and facilities across UCD. In this article, we explore some of the ways that your generosity has impacted our campus, supported groundbreaking research and innovation, and is helping to reduce financial barriers for students so they can complete third-level education.

For many, the assumption that Irish universities are significantly funded by the exchequer is an easy one to make. It is also unfortunately incorrect: the State contributes just 36 per cent of annual turnover, which means UCD relies on non-exchequer income to fund scholarships, research and capital projects. It is the outstanding generosity of our supporters that helps to fill this gap, allowing for investment in world-class facilities that attract top-performing students and internationally-renowned faculty. This generosity of alumni and friends is both critical and transformative, its impact felt throughout the University and beyond. Your support is truly the difference between a good university and a great one.

UCD FOUNDATION

In just the last five years, 9,000 alumni, corporate leaders and friends have given over €120m to UCD Foundation, in support of UCD.

SUPPORTING STUDENTS

The last five years has seen €9m raised in support of enhancing the student experience at UCD. Much of this support comes from regular monthly gifts from our alumni, whose generosity has been essential in providing scholarships for over 500 students, allowing them to fulfil their potential.

Students such as Claudine Duggan, third year Science student: “Being the first in my family to attend university, I had nobody to ask about how it would be. Having the support of UCD alumni made such a difference, both financially and psychologically. I can’t put into words how grateful I am.”

WORLD CLASS RESEARCH

Our world is changing and as a research university, UCD is meeting its responsibility to be on the frontline in tackling climate change and chronic diseases such as cancer, dementia and diabetes, while promoting clean energy and sustainable living. As Professor Tasman Crowe, Director, UCD Earth Institute, says: “There’s no time for equivocation: this crisis belongs to us all. The very least we should try to do for our children and grandchildren is leave them a world that’s habitable.”

Research at UCD addresses challenges and opportunities that shape the future of Ireland and the wider world. Your support helps us to engage highly skilled researchers working in our priority areas of environment; energy; agri-food; culture, economy and society; health and ICT. To this end, philanthropy has provided €4m in support of 55 Newman Fellows: high-calibre, post-doctoral academic researchers.

A MASSIVE DIFFERENCE

With a constantly growing student population, UCD must develop our campus to accommodate more students than ever before. In the last five years, our supporters have invested over €50m in capital projects that create world-class facilities for students. This incredible support creates extraordinary opportunity for students to grow and develop.

The UCD Moore Centre for Business, opening in September, is a new wing of the UCD Lochlann Quinn School of Business that features advanced interactive learning environments, extensive co-working zones, an Entrepreneurship and Innovation Hub, Media Suite and a 320-seat lecture theatre. “Our students have told us that when we change spaces, it changes how we teach and what is learned,” says Maeve Houlihan, Director of UCD Lochlann Quinn School of Business. “Through this extraordinary initiative, faculty and staff can meet our students where, and how, they learn best as we transform the traditional classroom.”

The UCD O’Brien Centre for Science, opened in 2013, created outstanding facilities that allowed the College of Science to not only increase student numbers by 50 per cent, but also to attract the top five per cent of science students to study at UCD.

Other recent capital projects including the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) at Newman House (page 60) and the model Confucius Institute (page 102), were made possible with philanthropic support. Our upcoming Future Campus investment (page 24) will ensure that UCD is prepared to accommodate a growing body of students, faculty and staff.

CLOSE TO THE HEART

UCD is proud that our alumni and wider community support the initiatives that mean the most to them. To say the ‘old’ UCD running track was hugely popular is an understatement. Despite its popularity, it could not be maintained for myriad reasons and closed in 2011. Now, thanks to a generous donation, the UCD track will reopen in 2020. The new track will not just facilitate the UCD tradition of producing Olympians but will deliver important physical and mental health benefits to all who use it.

“Our entire university community owes an enormous debt of gratitude to this donor, and to all donors to the University, for the remarkable generosity that is enabling us to transform the teaching, research and sporting facilities on campus for this generation and for generations to come,” said UCD President, Professor Andrew J Deeks.

THANK YOU

As we move into the next phase of UCD’s future, we look forward to sharing with you the many ways your financial support creates an outstanding educational experience for our students. Your commitment helps strengthen UCD and builds our reputation around the world, and we are grateful to every single supporter.

If you would like to learn more, we invite you to visit www.ucdfoundation.ie or complete the enclosed form.

SUCH IS THE kudos of making the cover of Forbes magazine, pop star Bruno Mars sang about it in his 2010 hit, “Billionaire”.

It was billionaires, who took big, bold, brave risks, that were part of the fascination for Bertie Charles Forbes and Walter  Drey when they founded the magazine that planned to “tell the vital stories of those who run successful companies, and to capture the human side of business and finance” in New York, in September 1917.

Prescient definitely, Forbes’ initial interest in the affluent has been matched by their predictions of next generation influencers. Within the Forbes media empire focusing  on business, investment, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and leadership, it is their annual lists which range from “The World’s Youngest  Billionaires”, “The  World’s Highest Paid  Entertainers” and  a “30 Under 30”, which now hold the biggest fascination. Once on a list, an organisation, individual, start-up or idea gains global recognition. Forbes’ USP, the founders claimed, was to be its humanity: “Business was originated to produce  happiness, not to pile up millions”. Forbes weighs up the value of candidates, both in terms of money and in their greater contribution  to society, before deeming them worthy of an accolade. Every individual on the list has achieved something substantially and quantifiably great.

Nominees for  the “30  Under  30” Europe list are selected from 34 European countries and 22 non-European countries. The odds of making it onto the list are tougher than entry to Stanford or Harvard universities. Ireland is well represented over the years (by actor Jessie Buckley, fashion designer Richard Malone, Munster rugby international Peter O’Mahony, MMA champion Conor McGregor, Feel Free Medical founder Edel Browne and Ciara Clancy, founder of Beats Medical, among others) and UCD increasingly so.

Lady Gaga, Ronan Farrow, Joseph Altuzarra and Mark Zuckerberg were high-profile honourees on the inaugural “30 Under 30” list established in 2011. The initial aim was to showcase 600 people under 30 who mattered  globally. It has now extended to include the top 30 people in 23 categories, from Art & Style; Consumer Technology; Education and Energy to Enterprise Technology; Retail & Ecommerce; Science & Healthcare; Social Entrepreneurs and Venture Capital. In 2016, 15,000 nominations were received for these lists.

UCD’S 30 UNDER 30 WHO FEATURED IN FORBES

UCD engineering graduate Colin Keogh was nominated in the Science & Healthcare category in 2017. “The first indication I was under consideration was when I received an email letting me know I had been shortlisted,” he says. Keogh is co-founder of The Rapid Foundation, which provides technology like 3D printers and low-cost electronics to those who need it most in developing countries. The Rapid Foundation has already reached  more than 5,000 people through education and outreach events and has trained more than 50 people in 3D printing, modelling and innovation.

When Keogh was invited to the nomination party in London, he couldn’t make it because of work commitments. “I like to be busy,” he says modestly (he is currently finishing his PhD to be completed in December) and received confirmation of his award via email. Since then he has participated in the frequent “30 Under 30” summits held in Asia, US and Europe.

“I go to as many as I can, most recently I was at the summer retreat in Bratislavia, Slovakia. It’s an amazing opportunity to access a global network.” Keogh’s inclusion in the Forbes “30 Under 30” Europe  list was just the beginning. In 2017 alone, he won Junior Chamber International Top Outstanding Young Person  2017,  the Nissan Generation Next Ambassador 2017 and IT & Tech Professional of the Year 2017 at the Early Career awards.

As UCD alumna and Forbes “30 Under 30” honouree Sally Hayden told The Irish Times, “This sort of recognition offers a boost: a reminder to carry on when things get tough again, as they undoubtedly will, and see what else we can achieve.” Hayden, who graduated from UCD with a law degree, was awarded in the Media & Marketing category this year and was in northern Uganda on assignment interviewing a south Sudanese rebel when she received the news.

An investigative journalist, Hayden has written on migration, conflict and humanitarian issues for Irish, UK and international titles including TIME, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Die Zeit and HuffPost. Most recently she was named Foreign Correspondent of the Year at the Newsbrands Ireland Journalism Awards, 2018. Getting into Forbes is hugely significant, but it’s not the whole story or the final chapter of her career. Since 2016, Hayden has been a mentor for the Refugee Journalism Programme, which helps exiled journalists restart their career.

The 2019 “30 Under 30” Europe list also featured Kevin Glynn, a 2012 law and business UCD graduate, co-founder of company Butternut Box which delivers home-cooked dog food. The former Goldman Sachs trader set up Butternut Box with a view to capitalising on the £1.3bn annual market in the UK for dog and cat food snacks, currently dominated by two companies. Glynn told The Independent, “Butternut Box makes it easy and convenient to ensure dogs get the very best diet tailored for each individual.”

Since its inception, the company has diversified into snacks, toys and wellness products. The company has raised €21m in funding to date, employs more  than 70 people, and has delivered more than eight million meals to dogs. Revenues are expected to grow by 300 per cent in 2019. In addition, for every new client, Butternut Box donates a meal to a sheltered or homeless dog.

Tech entrepreneur and UCD student Shane Curran had been used to success before being featured on the Forbes 2018 “30 Under 30” list and is the epitome of what Forbes calls a “young disrupter”. BT Young Scientist Individual Winner in 2016 and BT Young Scientist overall winner in 2017, he founded qCrypt, a company that promises next-generation post-quantum security solutions to businesses. He was initially inspired by Limerick brothers, John and Patrick Collison and  their  payment tech firm Stripe. He spent time in San Francisco honing his ideas, and is now focused on his start-up, Evervault, which provides developer tools and application programming interfaces that allow companies process personal data without seeing, storing or handling it.

Sam Blanckensee, a UCD veterinary nursing graduate, made the Forbes “30 Under 30” Europe list in 2017 for his activism in the Law  & Policy category. He describes the process as “surreal – someone suggested I put myself forward; it was not something I considered myself.

I wrote a short application piece and forgot about it as I was involved in other things.” At the time, Blanckensee was the National Development Officer of the Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI), and in this capacity he helped to have gender recognition legislation passed in Ireland. This legislation allows citizens to self- declare their gender and receive new birth certificates, a transformative human right for Irish transpeople.

Since Blanckensee’s award he has been invited to Forbes summits in Tel Aviv and beyond though has been unable to attend “When you work in the non-profit sector you have to keep going.” Blanckensee has gone on to become the National Membership and Campaigns Officer with the Irish Traveller Movement, and is still actively involved in the TENI community.

“This sort of recognition offers a boost: a reminder to carry on when things get tough again and see what else we can achieve.”

UCD alumni have been featured in Forbes, some as interviewees, others as authorities in their respective industries.

In 2104, his potential was recognised with UCD’s President’s Award for work advocating for the human rights of transgender students in and outside college. Being included on the 2015 “30 Under 30” list undoubtedly bolstered Donal O’Sullivan’s already stellar career. Having studied economics and finance at UCD, before pursuing a masters at the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, he went on to become director of mergers and acquisitions at Eli Global, the US investment company, at the age of just 28. In 2017, he won Consulting & Advisory Professional of the Year at the Irish Early Career Awards.

What can we learn from these UCD honourees? In addition to their talent they laid the groundwork for their enormous potential early. As Sir Ronald Cohen, the father of venture capital and keynote speaker at the 2017 Forbes summit in Israel said, “Start young. Think big. Stick with it. Do these three things and you’ll be successful.”

As a by-product of a Forbes award, honourees have access to private networking groups, summits and exclusive events. Keogh explains, “I’m part of two WhatsApp groups set up by Forbes for Social Entreprise and Energy, and also have access to private Facebook, LinkedIn and social media networks, where I have been able to connect with speakers and judges and get advice.”

If Forbes founders Bertie Charles Forbes and Walter Drey’s aim was to tell stories, to put “humanity” into business, several UCD alumni are behind the facts, figures and statistics of the business world.

In a Forbes interview in 2019, US-based UCD engineering alum Barry Canton discussed being one of five founders of billion-dollar company Ginkgo Bioworks, an organism design company that replaces manufacturing processes by using biology to re-programme cells. Aside from being an interesting story about the growth of a business, and scientific advancements, the interview delves into the human side of the story: Canton is an emigrant to the US, a former international student of MIT, who just missed the immigration-limiting impact of the Trump administration. Even with a permanent residency things would have been different for Canton had it all occurred a few years later. “My path  to being an employee and a founder at Ginkgo would have been substantially different if Optional Practical Training [a programme the Trump administration wants to curtail] was not around.”

Other UCD alumni have been featured in Forbes, both online and in print: some as interviewees, others as authorities in their respective industries.

In a 2015 feature on Irish design, Forbes spoke to Karen Hennessy, CEO at Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, who graduated from UCD with an MBA in 2002, about the changing design landscape, reacting to the recession and consumer demand. Grainne Conefrey, who studied Sports and Exercise Management in UCD and graduated in 2010, was cited in a Forbes article in 2015 as Orreco’s product development manager and co-founder of FitrWoman, an app designed to adapt the menstrual cycle into athlete’s training schedules. Dara Ó Briain, mathematics, chemistry and theoretical physics graduate of UCD, was featured in Forbes in 2011, when a clip from his 2008 DVD Dara ÓBriain Talks Funny – Live in London was shared. And in 2011, Denis O’Brien, who graduated in 1980 with a BA in History and Politics, was interviewed about his charitable causes, human rights and his Digicel business.

Taken in context, these interviews are significant. Forbes magazine has a magazine readership of 6.4 million, 71 million monthly visitors to the website from the US alone, and 40 licensed local versions of Forbes worldwide; its influence is vast.

That UCD alumni are part of the Forbes conversation and community commands respect and is validation of their work and formative education.

With such impressive precedents, it’s only a matter of time before a UCD alum is one of Forbes’ cover stars.

Written by Penny McCormick
Reporting Louise Lawless

BERNARD LOONEY’S first day at UCD, where he studied electrical engineering, didn’t exactly start smoothly, he recalls.

Newly arrived to ‘the big smoke’ from Ashgrove, near Kenmare in Co Kerry, where he grew up on the family farm, the 16-year-old missed his first day of lectures because he mistakenly went to the Belfield campus, when they were actually taking place in buildings that the University then had in the city centre, on Earlsfort Terrace. These days, the 48-year-old lives in London, where he is CEO of global energy giant BP’s Upstream division, which finds and produces oil and gas, while investing in renewable energy and cleaner technologies.

Within the industry, and in the media that cover it, he’s seen as one of several contenders for the top job at the firm in the near future. The company is no stranger to employing Irishmen in senior roles. Fellow UCD alumnus, the late Peter Sutherland, spent 13 years as its chairman.“Peter was very supportive and a key source of inspiration as a fellow Irishman who had succeeded on the world stage,” Looney recalls.

For now, Looney’s current role sees him in charge of about 17,000 staff and about 20 per cent of the approximately €260bn turnover of the firm. His division spends about €7bn to €8bn running its operations in 29 countries, and invests €11bn to €12bn on top of that.

He looks back very fondly on his time at UCD. “UCD was very formative for me in many ways. It gave me a sense of confidence that I didn’t have. I attended quite young, just before my 17th birthday, and graduated when I was 20. Coming from my rural background, it was my step into big city life, you could say.

“I went home every few weeks, it could be quite lonely leaving home on a Sunday evening, getting the train from Killarney to Heuston Station, and then a bus to Rathmines where I lived in a basement flat, which I rented for IR£11 a week. My landlady would give me a loaf of bread, and I would bring a couple of pounds of meat from home.

“I enjoyed being at home. Rural life in Kerry was fairly one-dimensional in terms of who we knew; there was little diversity. I was one of five siblings, and our parents had a small dairy farm. Only about eight out of our 90 acres were actually arable, on which we had 14 cows. My older brothers overhauled and sold on Ford tractors to help make ends meet.”

He found his lecturers very encouraging, he says, recalling his time at UCD. “Professor Paul Curran and Professor Mark O’Malley were relatively young at the time. They felt modern. My mother used to tell my brother I was no good at maths, and I persevered with a nagging feeling that I wasn’t cut out for engineering.

“But Professor Curran and Professor O’Malley were very supportive. That meant more to me than you can imagine. My time at UCD taught me that the ethic I already had about hard work from the family farm continued, and they encouraged that. It encouraged me to be inclusive and respectful of diversity, and aware of the importance of teamwork. I’m extremely grateful for that, and it’s thanks to them and my fellow students that I had that start in life.”

“I think that if I were studying engineering today, I’d be learning a lot more about business, societal impacts, and ethics.”

Earlier this year, Looney visited his alma mater, meeting UCD President, Professor Andrew J Deeks, and Executive Director, UCD Foundation, Orla Tighe. As someone who took an MBA at the prestigious Stanford University, and who spends half his time travelling the world in his current role, overseeing a huge and diverse global workforce, how does Looney view UCD’s education offering today?

“My overarching impression from that day was of the ambition of the University. Professor Deeks has a compelling and inspiring vision. Regardless of where it might be placed in the global university rankings, Ireland’s educational brand feels very strong in the world, and I think justifiably so.

“The global nature of the student population is encouraging. The earlier students can be introduced to people and ways of thinking from Africa, China and Latin America is increasingly important. I had a very interesting day hearing about the work going on at the Energy Institute, and in areas such as data science. I think that if I were studying engineering today, I’d be learning a lot more about business, societal impacts, and ethics. I think we need experts in the world who are deep engineers, and those who understand the world, society and its challenges.”

The fact that BP is the world’s sixth largest energy company means it has an important role to play in tackling those challenges. Looney emphasises some of his division’s work on reducing its environmental impact, while investing in renewable energy and cleaner technologies. Underpinning the strategy is an energy transition, where production of gas – a comparatively cleaner fuel – takes a lead over oil, which produces more carbon dioxide.

An example of this work has been the €25bn Shah Deniz 2 project to deliver gas from Azerbaijan to Europe. It involved 500km of new pipeline being constructed, and 28,000 people working for 180 million hours. It recently won the major project award by the Royal Academy of Engineering in London.

Climate change has perhaps never been discussed more in media and society than in recent months. One hundred companies are responsible for 71 per cent of global carbon emissions, according to the Carbon Disclosure Project’s Carbon Majors Report 2017, and BP is ranked eleven on that list.

“This is not a straightforward subject, and something like the idea that oil and gas can be banned overnight isn’t realistic, because the world isn’t that simple and straightforward. People in countries like Indonesia and West Africa have different needs to us in the West. The Pope has talked about how civilisation requires energy, but energy use must not destroy civilisation,” says Looney.

“Emissions need to go down, and quickly. We need to do that responsibly and sustainably. BP has many stakeholders: shareholders, society, and our staff. Their expectations are merging, and we will continue to look at business opportunities where we feel part of helping and accelerating investment in renewable energy and clean technologies. This is also a huge topic in our company, as well as in wider society. We’ve set ambitious targets for reducing our own emissions. In May this year, at our AGM, shareholders overwhelmingly voted for us to disclose how our business is consistent with the Paris Agreement [to keep the global temperature increase below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels].

“I believe we are part of the solution … As a leader I feel I should listen. ”

“I believe we are part of the solution. More and more I think, as a leader, I feel I should listen, in order to understand, rather than in order to respond because I feel I should have an answer. We believe in the net zero emissions target for countries in the Agreement,” he adds.

However, BP shareholders did not support it setting hard targets for emissions from its products. Critics point out that investing up to $1bn a year in renewables is less than 0.5 per cent of its revenues. Looney counters that it’s  $1bn, but out of a $15bn overall annual investment. He also highlights the fact that a $200m investment by BP in solar power firm Lightsource helped to leverage $7bn of projects around the world, the equivalent of powering three million homes in the UK or Ireland.

In aviation fuel, Looney is ambitious for an investment in Fulcrum Bioenergy, which makes jet fuel from household waste that cuts emissions by 80 per cent, though current production levels are relatively very low.

“Fulcrum is very much in expansion mode. Imagine if we can help aviation cut its emissions by 80 per cent,” Looney says. BP has also invested in Chargemaster, the UK’s largest electric vehicle charging network. It is adding 200 rapid chargers in the UK, to add to 450 existing ones among over 7,000 of its charging points.

Looney is a fan of electric cars, but actually doesn’t own a car himself, preferring to take taxis or public transport. He’s also a passionate advocate of emerging and cutting-edge technologies. Meeting him at BP’s central London headquarters, he enthused about everything from software bots and robotic pipeline crawlers to how it uses fibre-optic wires to monitor wells.

On a large touchscreen on one of his office walls, live data from all the Upstream division’s activities is streamed in real time, giving a picture of the performance of drilling and production around the globe and the related financial numbers.

A snapshot of recent work includes visits to India and Rio de Janeiro, and meeting the Prime Minister of Trinidad in London, as well as talking to staff in Houston about the aforementioned software bots.

Looney recounts how he spent time with technology investment arm, BP Ventures, in California, sharing insights with car companies including Mercedes and Renault, car parts maker Bosch and ridesharing app firm Uber.

“One thing we’re trying to do is become the first agile oil and gas company, empowering our people, removing management layers, and increasing staff autonomy. We’ve looked at agility in technology and banking, and we would say that 4,500 of our people – a quarter of my staff – are now agile in how they approach their work,” he explains.

He has worked for BP for 29 years, starting out as a drilling engineer in various locations, then working in Alaska in a senior VP role, rising to MD of BP North Sea, and then in development and production roles before his current one.

The charismatic Kerryman emphasises the importance of diplomacy and humility in a role where he often meets with heads of state. “We work with governments, but we are guests in their countries. Our job is to work with whoever is in power to do what we can to help countries achieve their objectives. We try to do it well, but we don’t always get it right,” he adds.

The only one in his family to go to university, he was encouraged to read everything he could by his mother, who was a big believer in education. “She said if I could read, I could do anything.” Neither parent stayed in school beyond eleven.

When asked about his idea of success, he frames his answer as a reflection on leading and managing people. “The thing I enjoy most about my work is meeting great people from all around the world, and helping them. At a dinner in Cairo last year, I met a young female mechanical engineer who had worked for BP there for twelve years. Her integrity, values and behaviour resonated with me, as did her management skills and efforts to become a chartered engineer.

“She recently came to London for a week to shadow myself and my team. She really contributed, including in some highly sensitive discussions. She will return home, having learned a lot. That gives me a lot of pleasure. A saying I recall is that your title makes you a manager, but it is your people who make you a leader.”

Written by John Reynolds
Photography Graham Trott

EVENTS EARLIER THIS year made the business world sit up and take notice. It wasn’t a good time to float a company on the public markets. Political uncertainty over Brexit, anaemic economic growth in parts of Europe, and nervousness over US-China relations all meant investors were in a sluggish mood.

So when Trainline, a transport technology company led by UCD graduate Clare Gilmartin, made the bullish call to price itself towards the upper end of its valuation when it floated, eyebrows were raised. When the stock took off like a rocket rising to £4.11 from £3.50 on the first day of trading, it became clear that something special was going on at Trainline. The rapidly growing company and its CEO, are now centre stage.

Gilmartin told UCD Connections that she has always been drawn to the working world, even while still a student in Belfield. “I always wanted to be out there, earning and doing something,” she says.

As chief executive of one of the UK’s fastest growing and most innovative transport technology companies, employing more than 600, over half of whom are travel tech specialists and engineers, Gilmartin has come a long way, in every sense. But the instincts that drove her when she was a UCD student, and the skills she acquired then, are still core to her professional life.

Gilmartin always wanted to understand more about business – why it thrived, and why it failed. “I’ve always had a deep-rooted interest in technology-driven businesses, in how they progress, and where they struggle, why they struggle. And where they do well, why they’ve done well.”

Gilmartin describes herself as the ultimate generalist, which drew her to a BComm degree, which she says “really opened my eyes and was probably quite influential in what I went on to do”.

“Twenty-two years later, I realise that as a CEO, I am a true generalist, and I quite like that – working with diverse teams and individuals across the business to drive growth.”

LEADERSHIP STYLE

Gilmartin describes herself as “a very customer-centric leader”. Throughout her career, she has sought out and put great value on different perspectives, moulding an approach to problem solving that involves viewing an issue from as many different angles as possible.

After graduation, she got a job with Unilever, and was placed on secondment to Asda Walmart as part of the conglomerate’s graduate programme. The company wanted its junior executives to experience a frontline position, not to be remote and detached from its customers’ perspective. Understanding what the consumer wanted, and how to react to that, was key. “I loved it. It gave me the customer view of the world, which was hugely helpful in going back into Unilever,” Gilmartin says.

Trainline allows its users to plan and purchase tickets for train and long distance coach journeys across the UK and Europe. While the front end process is seamless for users, the company is like the proverbial swan – serene on top, but beneath the surface, there is enormous and complex industry. Trainline works as a marketplace, connecting consumers with travel companies. Gilmartin’s job is to ensure that marketplace works well, which involves deep analysis of customer behaviour, world class online infrastructure, and an ability to manage relationships with both consumers and providers. It’s the perfect job for a generalist who puts huge stock in understanding the customer perspective.

After leaving Unilever, Gilmartin joined Ebay in 2003, when e-commerce was in its infancy. Again, she put a ground-up understanding of her customers’ point of view at the centre of what she did. Her first role was as head of Ebay motors – she immediately called and visited 40 different motor dealerships. There is a core principle underpinning her approach – that in a rapidly changing commercial world, first principles of business matter: know – and understand – your customer. “Particularly in technology and online, where there is so much change, literally every day, I have found that throughout the last 15 years, maintaining as a constant that ear to customers can be very grounding and has been a tremendous guide to my team in the decisions we have made all along the way.”

Today, Gilmartin travels widely, meeting train and coach carriers across Europe and the world. She also sits in on consumer research groups. “I believe you have to hear it direct,” she says.

If customer-centrality is one key aspect of her leadership style; another is what she calls “an innate restlessness”. “I’m always trying to improve the status quo, and I love innovation. I love finding solutions tomorrow for things that were hassle today. I like where tech can improve everyday life, and I love that it changes every day, and that what we do next year will be better than what we’ve done this year.”

Gilmartin places a great emphasis on exceeding expectations, yet rejects the culture which demands that long hours are spent in the office, to the detriment of everything else. “Things like focusing on hours worked are totally irrelevant,” she says. “I realised after I had kids that if success were to be measured in terms of hours worked or hours at a computer screen, then I wasn’t going to win. But if it were to be measured on impact on customer and impact on business results, then I probably had a chance,” she says. This is part of being a “human and grounded leader”. “I know we have built a very low-ego culture and environment here at Trainline and I think I had the same at Ebay. That’s important – we don’t think there’s any room for ego in business. Being humble and human and listening well is a really important part [of leadership].”

Before she started with Trainline, she spent a couple of days “just travelling around on trains and asking people questions about their travel”.

“I got very funny looks, not least because I was six months’ pregnant at the time,” she recalls. The approach goes to the core of Gilmartin’s leadership style; understanding how complex problems can be solved by seeking a wide variety of viewpoints. What she learned – and continues to learn – about the rail and coach transport sector makes her very excited for the future.

In 2012, she embarked on a family trip through Europe by rail, which she found “unusually difficult,” navigating clunky websites in different languages. Improving this experience is Trainline’s aim.

“When the CEO [of Trainline] opportunity arose, I relished the notion that this is a huge travel vertical globally, and yet it’s still very low online penetration, only 30 to 40 per cent, and that to me seemed a big opportunity,” she says. There are several big and important trends, Gilmartin believes, which will continue to drive the sector’s growth.

But beneath the surface, there is enormous and complex industry. Trainline works as a marketplace …

“As a generation we have all signed up to a massive reduction in transport emissions over the next several decades, and it’s fairly obvious to me that will only be achieved by a shift in travel mode, and in particular greater use of environmentally friendly transport like trains,” she says, pointing out that travelling by train produces around 1/20th of the emissions of air travel, and just one quarter of car travel.

Huge investment by governments in capacity expansion and high speed rail will also drive consumer behaviour, she says, citing the relative collapse of the Milan- Rome air route after high-speed rail was introduced, and how rail took almost 80 per cent of the London-Paris travel route once Eurostar was introduced. Politicians around the world are also committed to reducing congestion and improving urban transport systems. Navigating these new systems requires smart technologies that reduce friction for consumers, she says. Trainline aims to be the connective tissue between society’s new major transport arteries.

Gilmartin is also confident that Trainline can withstand any potential onslaught from the behemoths of the digital world. Google, Facebook, Amazon, and to a lesser extent Uber, are constantly looking for the next online growth segment, voraciously hunting a new corner of the internet where consumers will spend money and time. However, Trainline is no minnow, and won’t be easily consumed. Its sales were over £3bn last year, and Gilmartin says that it has built a system that would be difficult to replicate, even with the resources of a Google or Facebook. What’s more, the relationships and industry knowledge the company has accumulated are the product of years of work.

“We’re growing fast. Given our size, we have a huge amount of rail and coach specific data, which we’re able to leverage uniquely to create bespoke features for our customers, things like price prediction, platform prediction, even available seat prediction. We are uniquely in possession of that very rail and coach specific data which means we can create a user experience that is very hard to replicate,” she says.

“We can create a user experience that is very hard to replicate …”

EDUCATION AND GENDER

London is home, but Gilmartin retains a strong sense of pride in Ireland, including in the Irish education system, which she says is superior to its British counterpart, especially on numeracy. She also sees this as a key part in advancing gender equality in the workplace.

“I love the fact that maths is mandatory in Ireland right up to the point you leave school. In the UK, only eight per cent of girls take maths at A Level. If I think about the digitisation of the world, and the role of numbers in business, I think it’s a crying shame that we have so few female school leavers in the UK who have maths as part of their toolset.”

Making the world of business a more gender representative place, Gilmartin says, is key. “We still live in a world where the majority of leadership positions are held by men, and that’s something I would love to see change. Some of the basics have already been addressed by previous generations around maternity leave and flexible working. The job for our generation is to change attitudes and cultures around the workplace.”

Her emphasis on a corporate culture that emphasises results rather than presenteeism can be attributed in part to a desire to rebalance the gender scales in the business world. Female employees at Trainline now account for 40 per cent of the total. There is a business rationale, as well as a moral imperative, at work. “Diversity creates diversity of thinking which lends itself to better problem solving and better business results and ultimately better products for a diverse global customer base,” she says.

MEMORIES OF BELFIELD

When she was at UCD in the mid 1990s, the technologies that would later surround her and which she would use to forge a hugely successful career were in their infancy. “I loved UCD; it was vibrant and I think it set me up incredibly well for the career I’ve had since.”

These days, a blend of skills – human, business and technological – is core to her and Trainline’s success. Outside of the working world, her life is centred around family. “My ideal day in general is spent with my family. We love being out in the countryside, walking the dog, having picnics or pub lunches; that’s where I’m happiest.”

Written by Jack Horgan-Jones
Photography Jason Alden