It has been another incredible year for the College, with an important milestone reached and fantastic achievements across the Schools.
The 10th anniversary celebration of the establishment of UCD College of Health and Agricultural Sciences highlighted the long-term success of its foundational, radical premise: structural integration. Founded on the belief that 21st-century threats like pandemics, food insecurity and climate change cannot be solved by single disciplines working in isolation, the College co-located five distinct schools to drive highly efficient, interdisciplinary teaching, learning, and research. This collaborative approach directly culminated within just ten years in the UCD Centre for One Health being officially designated as a recognised World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre.
The milestone event brought together thought leaders, industry partners, and frontline practitioners to map out the next phase of this ecosystem. Headlining the evening was an evocative discussion with UCD alumnus and former WHO Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Mike Ryan. The gathering also celebrated a decade of answering these exact challenges, leveraging UCD’s elite global rankings built over the last ten years in Veterinary Medicine, Nursing, and Agriculture to create a more sustainable and equitable future. Two of the schools in the College of Health and Agricultural Sciences are in the Top 50 in QS World University Rankings by Subject: Nursing is now ranked 41, with Veterinary at number 44.
The new Registered Nurse Programmes Standards were published in August 2025. Associate Professor Mary Ryder, of UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, was integral to a new approach that will inform the undergraduate nursing curriculum for the next decade, shaping nursing care for the future.
In October, Minister James Lawless launched Precision Oncology Ireland, Phase 2 (POI-2). The €28M programme unites universities, charities and industry to deliver next-generation cancer care. Phase 2 comes after five years of impact from this unique strategic partnership.
A UCD School of Medicine project providing advanced training in pre-hospital emergency care of trauma-related casualties to civilian and military first responders in Ukraine was honoured with a state award by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, during his first official visit to Ireland in December 2025.
In December, UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science marked 70 years of physiotherapy and showcased sport as a tool for inclusion. Promotional videos launched in April on the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.
School researchers made waves globally, securing significant funding for groundbreaking research and being recognised for contributions to their fields, including Dr Alison Connolly, who commenced the Human Biomonitoring for Ireland environmental chemical exposure study in 2025.
Among six transatlantic research initiatives funded by the UCD-UC Davis alliance was a study exploring “AI in Veterinary Medicine for One Health”, led by Professor Conor McAloon, Director of UCD School of Veterinary Medicine’s Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology & Risk Analysis, and Dr Pamela Kelly, Associate Professor, in collaboration with Professors Claire Gormley and Brendan Murphy from UCD School of Mathematics and Statistics. Bringing together researchers from Ireland and California to tackle international hurdles in artificial intelligence, sustainable food networks and the One Health framework, the research will prioritise the creation of digital twin architectures and predictive modelling to optimise the simulation and identification of livestock pathogen surges.
In June, Minister James Lawless launched a groundbreaking new tertiary degree, the first of its kind in UCD, with UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, and Dunboyne College, at the Louth & Meath Education and Training Board.
The School’s centenary year celebrations also commenced, with the launch of the book A History of Agriculture at UCD, and an event at Government Buildings marking the University Education (Agriculture and Dairy Science) Act, 1926, which was attended by the Taoiseach and ministers.
■ ucd.ie/chas