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THE UCD ALUMNI NETWORK is influential, successful and vibrant – and with nearly 300,000 former students based in 169 countries around the world – it is truly international. Our graduates are the standard bearers of the University’s reputation and it is largely because of them that the value of every UCD degree continues to be enhanced. The successes of our alumni reinforce our position as Ireland’s leading global University and their loyal involvement continues to shape UCD’s future. Their passionate, ongoing support is invaluable.

The UCD Alumni Awards were created in 2014 to acknowledge that support and to honour outstanding achievements by our former students in a wide variety of fields. With the global pandemic of 2020 changing life as we know it, we feel it is more important than ever to celebrate their remarkable accomplishments. As students, our alumni made lifelong connections with classmates and with this institution. The UCD Alumni Awards celebrate this connection. Let us introduce you to the nine worthy recipients for 2020…

Delia Grace Randolph, Mvb 1990

Epidemiologist & Food Safety Expert

UCD Alumni Award – Health and Agricultural Sciences. Delia is Professor of Food Safety at the University of Greenwich. A veterinary epidemiologist and food safety expert, Delia’s work focuses on using a One Health lens to creatively examine how veterinary research can enhance connections for ecosystems, animal health and human health. What do you remember most from your student days at UCD? “Most of it was spent at the veterinary college, which was then located in Ballsbridge in a lovely 19th-century building. There were 56 in my class, so it felt like a big family. I had come to Dublin from Ballycastle [Co Antrim] and it was such a big culture shock. But I loved it.” What life-skills did you acquire at UCD? “I joined the debating society and that really brought me on as a person. UCD helped me mix and mingle and made me curious about the world. And I’ve never lost that.”Are there career highlights you’re especially proud of? “My first five years were spent in England – mainly in large animal practices – but much as I loved it there I knew I wanted to try other things, so I did something completely different and volunteered in Bangladesh for $90 a month and I stayed there for three years.” What motivates you today? “I know this might sound a little Pollyanna-ish, but trying to make things better is a great motivation. In Africa, you see a lot of avoidable illness and poverty and, yet, transformation is possible.” Do you have advice for graduates? “I know the pandemic has made everything very uncertain now, but I would say to graduates to embrace change. People might think that because they have trained to be an accountant, they have to become an accountant, but that need not be the case: discover what makes you happy.”

Sally Hayden, Bcl 2012

War Journalist, Photographer

UCD Alumni Award – Law. Sally is an award-winning journalist and photographer focused on migration, conflict and humanitarian crises. Her work has been published in the New York Times, The Guardian, Time and CNN. She has previously lectured at London College of Communication and New York University. What are your fondest memories of UCD? “Being a student ambassador, giving tours and encouraging secondary students to come to UCD – especially rewarding when they were set to be the first in their family to attend.” What key life skill did you pick up at UCD? “I loved meeting a wide range of people, in class, when playing with the orchestra and travelling for debating. I wrote for the University Observer. In my third year, I went on exchange to UNSW in Sydney. That taught me a lot about arriving in a place where you know no one and building something of a life.” What career achievements are you most proud of? “It’s hard to say I’m proud of anything – I always think of the people in desperate situations who I’ve interviewed – it’s rare anything changes for them even after a report comes out. However, I still believe in the value of journalism and my reporting has been used in legal challenges against governments and referenced by the US State Department and at the European Parliament.” Would you change any aspect of your career? “Journalism is in crisis – pay is low and it’s difficult to fund reporting. If journalism isn’t funded, wrongdoing goes unexposed.” Advice for today’s graduates? “Work hard. Be humble. Keep learning. Don’t be too proud to start from the bottom. Follow your passions instead of money. Give back. Amplify the voices of those who are overlooked.”

Mark Pollock, Mbs 2003

Athlete, Explorer, Speaker

UCD Alumni Award – Business. Mark is an explorer, motivational speaker and author who became the first blind man to race to the South Pole. He lost his sight in his early 20s and was paralysed after a fall in 2010. Now, working to help cure paralysis, he is the founder of the global race, Run in the Dark. Tell us a little about your time at UCD? “I completed a part-time masters in Business Studies at Smurfit Business School in 2002. I found my life experience was applicable to my studies, with personal experience and debate key components of the process.” What life skills did you pick up at University? “Creativity is the most critical skill we need in life, a way of thinking about the world. I have applied it to challenges I’ve taken on, from putting together expedition teams to race in deserts, mountains and the poles to building businesses and catalysing collaborations in science, technology and investments.” What career achievements are you most proud of? “The ability to adapt. After going blind in 1998 and becoming paralysed in 2010, I’ve had to reinvent myself twice. When I went blind, I created a speaking business based on my experiences as an adventure athlete. Now I’m paralysed, I’m bringing people together to solve the complex problem of curing paralysis in our lifetime.” Would you change any aspect of your career if you could? “Everything I do is about helping people build resilience and collaborate with others so they achieve more than they thought possible – it’s what motivates me to get up in the morning.” Advice for today’s graduates? “Sometimes we choose our challenges. Sometimes our challenges choose us. What we decide to do next is what counts.”

Cormac Kilty, Bsc 1975, Phd 1985

Biotech Entrepreneur

UCD Alumni Award – Science. Cormac is a biotech entrepreneur and manages a biotech investment portfolio. He is involved with two angel investment groups in Ireland. The founder of Biotrin, a virology diagnostics company, and Argutus Medical, he is Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine and Medicinal Chemistry at UCD. How do you remember your student years? “I really enjoyed the social and sports side and I played a lot of hockey – I still have a lot of friends from that time. I was very interested in science and learned so much in my zoology degree; and biochemistry helped lay the groundwork for my business career.” What life and career skills did you acquire at UCD? “I developed organisational skills running the Science Ball for a number of years and the Biological Society in 1975, then the biggest society at UCD. I also became more and more curious. Both curiosity and organisational skills help when it comes to what we call ‘scientific method’.” What do you remember about your early career? “I came back to Ireland in 1982 after a post-doc at the University of Texas. Biotech was really taking off. I set up a research lab for Baxter Diagnostics in Switzerland where a good boss and mentor taught me the business part of science.” Is there anything you would do differently in your career? “I would have focused on sales a bit earlier. In a way, the science is the easy bit. Getting what you’ve made accepted by physicians, insurers and the patient is difficult.” Advice for new graduates? “Don’t be afraid to take that first step out into the world. Don’t expect it to be the perfect one. Remember, UCD has given you a ‘trained mind’.”

Sharon Donnery, Ba 1993, Ma 1994

Deputy Governor, Central Bank

UCD Alumni Award – Social Sciences. Sharon is the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland with responsibility for leading its financial stability; economics and statistics and financial operations directorates. She joined the Central Bank in 1996 as an economist in the monetary policy division and was acting Governor in 2019. What do you remember best from your student days? “Friday nights at the L&H: those debates opened my mind to different views and really challenged my thinking. And of course, I met my husband at Belfield!” What skills for life and career did you pick up at University? “Moving from school to a large, diverse university, coupled with the need for self-direction, is something many students find challenging. At UCD I learned to make up my own mind on issues. Critical analysis is a crucial skill for the next generation of graduates.” What career achievements are you most proud of? “I’m proud that I have spent my entire career in the public service. I find it extremely motivating to work in the public interest, particularly in times of crisis, when our work is intrinsically linked to the wellbeing and prosperity of our country.” Would you change any aspect of your career if you could? “I would change how I maintained my University connections. Many turn out to be the stakeholders you engage with in your future career.” What advice would you give to those who have just graduated from UCD? “Today’s graduates are entering a very different world from that of 18 months ago. Being open to learning about others’ views and coming to your own; being flexible enough to continuously learn.”

Sandra Collins, Bsc 1991, Phd 1996

Director, The National Library

UCD Alumni Award – Research, Innovation and Impact. Sandra’s role as Director of the National Library of Ireland (NLI), making available the shared memory of the Irish nation at home and abroad by caring for more than ten million items, was preceded by her role as Director of the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) at the Royal Irish Academy, where she established and led an ambitious national research centre developing both policy and e-infrastructure for digital preservation of cultural and social data. What are your memories of UCD? “The freedom of being able to explore your subject, to follow your curiosity, and the feeling of wonder and joy in mathematics which has never left me. There were few female students or lecturers in mathematics at that time: I had to grow my confidence and believe in myself.” What skills for life and career did you pick up at UCD? “Studying mathematics at UCD, I gained great problem-solving and analytical skills. I learned to always look at the data, not to be afraid to ask why, and to always keep learning. I use these skills every day – they’ve travelled with me across disciplines and roles.” What career achievements are you most proud of? “My appointment as Director of the NLI. In this role I’ve had the opportunity to oversee some spectacular acquisitions, a €15m capital redevelopment project, a new Seamus Heaney exhibition and the opening of MoLI, the Museum of Irish literature, in partnership with UCD. It’s been an exciting and hugely fulfilling five years.” Would you change any aspect of your career if you could? “Not a single thing! I never look back or second-guess myself.” What advice would you give to today’s graduates? “Be brave! Follow your heart, don’t be afraid to take risks.”

Dr Jack Mccaffrey, Mb Bch Bao 2018

GAA All-Star and Doctor

UCD Alumni Award – Sport. Jack has been a key part of Dublin’s all-conquering Gaelic football side. At 26, he already has five All-Ireland titles to his name and last year he was on the team that won an unprecedented five titles. He plays club football with Clontarf and is a doctor specialising in paediatric medicine. What are your fondest memories of UCD? “My abiding memories are of playing alongside great friends on various Sigerson Cup teams [the long-running Gaelic football inter-college competition], going away to Africa in 2016 with classmates and working with GOAL and, after my medicine degree, getting a placement at the Mater Hospital.” What life skills did you acquire at University? “Self-directed learning would be a big one and being taught how to communicate effectively. Thanks to UCD, there was a lot of work done on empathy – and meeting people from diverse backgrounds has been invaluable in my career.” What are your post-UCD achievements that you are most proud of? “In football, it’s winning that first All-Ireland title in 2013 [when Dublin beat Mayo] and winning a fifth in 2019. I was very proud to be named Player of the Year for 2015. Medicine-wise, starting my paediatric training has been special.” Any regrets? “I would probably prefer if I hadn’t ruptured my cruciate in 2017 [which happened in the early stages of that year’s All-Ireland final] but, sure, these things happen.” What’s your advice to graduates? “Enjoy your time at UCD – it’s a fantastic spot. Don’t worry too much about staying in touch with everyone; when you meet up again you’ll be chatting away in no time.”

Dalton Philips, Ba 1990

CEO of Dublin Airport Authority

UCD Alumni Award – Arts and Humanities. Dalton is the chief executive of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) who kept Irish airports open to ensure that Ireland could receive crucial cargo and the vital medical supplies and PPE it required to assist in the fight against Covid-19. His retailing career began as a store manager in New Zealand and he went on to become chief executive of both Brown Thomas and UK supermarket chain Morrisons. What made UCD special for you? “It was the sense of independence – of choices, living, thinking.” Was there a ‘eureka’ moment at University, when it came to your future direction? “When I first went to UCD I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, and I studied Geography and Classics. I had a teacher who taught urban geography and he could see I had a real interest in business and I ended up doing my dissertation on retail distribution systems. I brought a lot of that learning to my early career and was fortunate to have a professor who allowed me to think laterally.” You have worked all over the world: wanderlust or necessity? “I wrote 50 CVs coming out of UCD – there were just no jobs. So I just kept moving from country to country with work. I’m happy to be back in Ireland.” What impact is the pandemic having on your work? “Over the course of the pandemic to date, DAA has accumulated losses of nearly €125m (where we lost €1m a day for more than 100 consecutive days). Trying to navigate what’s right for your company and your staff has been a real challenge.” What is your advice for today’s student? “Three things: Find courses that really interest you, work as hard as you can, and build a great variety of work experiences as a graduate.”

Róisín Heneghan, Barch 1987

Co-Founder, Heneghan Peng

UCD Alumni Award – Engineering and Architecture. Róisín is an Irish architect and designer and co-founder of Heneghan Peng Architects. She was shortlisted for Architects’ Journal Woman Architect of the year in 2014. She has won numerous awards and her work includes the Grand Museum of Egypt and the Giants Causeway Visitor Centre. What skills for life and career did you pick up at university? “I think the most profound realisation was that the work done in university is not only beneficial for the student’s personal development but can contribute to a wider social discussion. It is less about individual excellence, and more about a collaborative approach, more about ‘How can all this thinking/ production contribute to a greater good?’.” What career achievements are you most proud of? “Probably the most significant is winning the competition for the Grand Egyptian Museum. At the time it was the largest architectural competition ever held at the time – 1,557 submissions. It felt like a long shot.” Would you change any aspect of your career if you could? “It would have been good to have worked in a non-English speaking environment.” What advice would you give to today’s graduates? “Typically, my advice would be to travel. It’s good to get out of your environment, to have your assumptions questioned – but right now that is difficult. So, a reminder to question continuously: often we are told that something cannot be done and rather than accept that at face value, we find out why. So often, there is an underlying assumption that can actually change and that opens things up. Oh, and learn a language.”

www.ucd.ie/alumniawards

“IT’S BEEN INTERESTING,” says Lord Mayor Hazel Chu, who sits opposite me across a broad and shining mahogany table in a large room in the Mansion House, when I ask how the months since her appointment have been. Chu, a UCD alumna and a Green Party county councillor since 2019, was elected Lord Mayor on June 29 by the members of Dublin City Council. “Surreal,” she adds with a laugh.

Chu is the ninth female Lord Mayor, and the first Lord Mayor of colour. She and her partner, UCD alumnus Patrick Costello, a Green Party TD for Dublin South Central, moved into the Mansion House with their daughter Alex, nearly three, just weeks ago. Costello, in line with existing protocols where the office holder is the Lord Mayor and his or her partner the Lady Mayoress, is formally the Lady Mayoress, “which highlights the anachronistic nature of some of the legislation”, Chu says, while Alex is, informally, “Mini Mayor”.

Did she ever envisage a career in politics, or being elected Lord Mayor of Dublin? “No, is the short answer! But cheesy as it sounds, I went into politics to represent people, to do some good. John Hume said: ‘I thought very simply in terms of helping people.’  I’m not saying I am any John Hume, but that should be the motivation, and for me it was.”

Chu’s parents came separately from Hong Kong in the 1970s, with almost no English. “As with many migrants, when they move to a new country, they tend to integrate with other migrants,”  Chu says.  “That’s how my parents met.” Her parents worked in restaurants and lived with “my aunt and uncle, their three kids, and my other uncle, all of us in the house” until Chu was six, when she, her parents and her younger brother moved to Celbridge in Co Kildare.

As she talks more about her upbringing, it becomes very clear where the instinct to advocate comes from. “Detractors will say to me ‘you went to private school, you’re very middle class now’,” she says, “but private school was an accident. My parents didn’t read English at all,” she continues, “any letter that came from my school, I translated for them. This one letter, I don’t know how I missed it, was informing parents that they needed to apply for the local secondary school by such a date. When it was time for me to go, the school was full. My parents then thought, ‘ok well, everyone tells us about these private schools, so let’s find one of those’. But Mum and Dad didn’t know where to look, so I ended up looking at all these schools and talking to teachers, at the age of eleven. It was a very bizarre process.”

And so, from an early age Chu was interpreting the world for her parents, advocating for them, and for herself. It seems like a natural progression into politics? “Yes. In any political  role, you are advocating for someone, working for someone. This is what got me interested. To me, it was a natural career path.”

Chu went to school at  Mount  Sackville in Chapelizod (with a brief period in Rathdown in Glenageary), then on to study Politics and History at UCD. Later, she did a Barrister-at-Law degree at King’s  Inns and worked in a variety of roles, including fundraising manager for St Michael’s House (providing services for those with an intellectual disability), a marketing consultant in New York for Bord Bia, an adviser to the Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser, and head of communications for Diageo Ireland.

“UCD was one of the first places where I felt safe,” she says. “I was bullied in school and through my teenage years. In UCD, I found my tribe. I found people who were not just of the same mindset, but who were protective if anything happened to me.”

This didn’t happen immediately – “like everyone, I felt apprehension going into first year. My first year was spent trying to find my feet. It wasn’t until second year that I found my people.” One of those people is her partner Patrick, who studied Psychology. “We are getting married next June – we were supposed to be married last weekend but Covid [put paid to that]. I was sending out invites, and looking at the list, 30 per cent are friends from UCD.”

She was auditor of the UCD Politics society, joined the History society, and she and Patrick were both active in the L&H. “When I was looking for Patrick, or anyone, I would go to the student bar. Inevitably, U2’s ‘With or Without You’ would be playing, someone would be at the bar trying to trade their Foster’s dollars for something, and my mates would be in the corner. Even now, that scene always plays in my head, like a movie.”

But, she says, “It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. And there are a lot of students I speak to these days who say it’s a struggle for them in college – financially, for housing, with their mental health – and that there needs to be more services.”

So how might  UCD,  for example, take a pro-active anti-racist stance? “The thing with colleges and universities,” Chu says, “is that their best activists are their students. Students participate, they fight the good cause. When it comes to anti-racism, if the students decide ‘we are going to talk about racism and discrimination’, we want the university to support and recognise that. Governing bodies need to listen to the students. There needs to be an ongoing conversation. Constantly talking, reflecting and working together. Whether fighting discrimination or supporting students, the communication needs to be stepped up.”

Chu entered the world of politics cautiously. “I did the background stuff first,” she says. “I ran Patrick’s campaign in 2014. At that stage, I wasn’t even a party member. But the more I started working for the Greens, the more I thought that if I really believe in this, I should make the leap.”

Even then, she didn’t leap without looking. “I looked at all the parties, except those on the far right, and did my homework on each of them. And after that,  I decided ‘ok, it’s the Greens’. People often just see the ecological side, but for me, it was the social justice element that drew me. That has always been a big thing for me. You can’t grow up in Firhouse, nine people in a three-bedroom house, with immigrant parents, always struggling to put food on the table, and think you will eradicate those social justice issues out of your brain. The problems I grew up with are still problems now – housing, health, education, child poverty.”

Due diligence done, Chu joined the Greens in 2016. Even then, “I did not see myself as someone who would run. I was very interested in what happened in the background, and I ran for stuff internally: the executive council, then the chair of the executive. I founded the women’s group, then I was chairperson of the party. Finally, I thought, will I put my money where my mouth is, and represent the party externally as well? I took a long time to decide.”

What gave her pause for thought? “At the time I had a small child. I thought about my daughter and whether I had time. I talked to Patrick – we were going to be running two campaigns, mine and his; could we physically do this? Could we mentally do this? Family was a big question. Also, what do you hope to achieve? Are you going to be able to do good? and then there was a bit of me that thought ‘I’m not sure they’ll elect me, because I am different …’ Growing up in this country, I know it is a welcoming, collegial, warm place. As a people we are supportive, we see past colour and we are united. But there is a vocal minority who push a different agenda.”

Chu had experienced racism, but as isolated incidents rather than anything concerted. Enough, however, to know it was there. “At the back of my mind, I worried, will that minority surface? The people who bullied me when I was in school? The people who put my brother into A&E with broken bones when they beat him up when he was 15 because he was ‘yellow’? These aren’t everyday occurrences, but they happen. I did have that nagging thought – I’m about to put my face out there very publicly. It’s going to literally be on posters. Do I want to court that?” What persuaded her to go ahead? “Looking at my family and my daughter and thinking: ‘If I don’t do it, if others don’t do it, how are we supposed to set examples for her and others to do it?’”

Chu was elected with a record  33 per cent of the first preference vote. The overwhelming electoral support she received was, she says, “incredibly heart-warming. And then,” she adds, “a couple of months later, the job started, and the trolling came with it. It picked up– voicemails, phone calls, letters through the door.”And she has consistently called it out when it does, speaking the truth about racism in our society. “There is a need to be actively anti-racist,” she says.

“Racism is like any other big issue – you can no longer be an innocent bystander, and I don’t think you should be. Maybe people think, ‘I don’t want to get too involved in that,’ or ‘it would be weird for me to say it when I’m not the one suffering,’ but it’s not. Across the board, everyone is involved.”

Lady Mayoress Patrick Costello joins us now (“I think it’s hilarious,” he says of his title, then wonders if the Ceann Comhairle might call him “Lady Mayoress Deputy Costello”) and agrees: “Victims of racism,” he says, “partly because of their minority-excluded status, will find it harder to speak out. They need allies who find it safer to speak.”

As for the new Lord Mayor, she too will continue to speak out. “I’m in a very lucky position. The gravity of my role doesn’t escape me when I look around this room, full of portraits of Lord  Mayors from hundreds of years ago. When I am attacked and then speak about it, I have that credibility: people will listen to me.”

As Lord Mayor – a role that is highly symbolic – she says: “‘As first citizen, I would very much like to see councillors united in our common purpose – I plan to build a mayoralty and initiatives to help us on this path. I would like us to unite to tackle the housing and homeless crisis, to build a liveable city for all our citizens, to fight discrimination and protect those who are vulnerable.”

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.