{"id":8368,"date":"2024-08-26T09:08:08","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T08:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/?p=8368"},"modified":"2024-08-30T11:54:05","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T10:54:05","slug":"belonging-at-ucd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/2024\/belonging-at-ucd\/","title":{"rendered":"Belonging at UCD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Belonging is the need to be part of something, to experience real connectedness for who we are and what we bring to the world. Along with love, belonging is an irreducible need for all people. In its absence there is suffering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From clubs and societies to year groups and student unions, student life has always been conceptualised as a time of togetherness, affiliation, connection, and kinship. The university in these senses is much more than an abstract ideal. It is a concrete space where the energy of real-life places and rituals is paramount. Indeed, the sense that a person is doing something with others, as part of a broader experience that stretches and unites across time and space, has always been fundamental to the university as institution: from rituals of arrival (orientation and welcoming events) and departure (graduation ceremonies) to university mascots, mottos and generational folklore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a chartered psychologist, researcher and a founding member of Jigsaw, Ireland’s national centre for youth mental health, I have a particular interest in the lived experience of mental health and distress, both of which were negatively affected by the pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to explore how belonging would manifest in a post-pandemic university setting where the buzz of campus life had been interrupted. The Belonging Project, a joint venture between UCD School of Education, UCD School of Philosophy and the National College of Art (NCAD) began in late 2022, as the UCD community adjusted to being back on campus. The first step was to invite students, staff and alumni to write about a time they felt they belonged on campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative struck a chord. We received a huge number of short stories, poetry, essays, reflections and interviews describing how, when and where the writer experienced a sense of belonging. Of these all excellent submissions, 40 writers were chosen to be paired with a student from NCAD who would interpret their written words through their chosen visual medium \u2013 graphic design, illustration, video and painting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2023, The Belonging Project was launched with an exhibition at the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI). Contributors read their pieces and artists spoke about how they interpreted their words. I think belonging was something that people had been thinking about privately and we represented it in a powerful way that people understood. We have excerpted a selection of submissions here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more contributions, see belonging.ie<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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A Lifelong Journey of Belonging<\/h3>
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