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Excerpt from the Irish Times - see full article here. Dr Jennings has been named an Internet Pioneer at the Internet Society's 2014 Hall of Fame awards in Hong Kong. He joins some of the great internet developers and visionaries including Sir Tim Berners-lee (inventor of the World Wide Web), Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn (recognised as fathers of the internet) and former US vice president Al Gore. The Internet Hall of Fame celebrates the accolades of innovative thinkers from around the world who have contributed to the development and advancement of the internet. Established by the Internet Society in 2012, the awards programme has created a virtual museum which “celebrates the living history of the internet... its worldwide availability…

“My time in UCD was hugely beneficial to everything that came after and really impacted on my career since, both in social work and politics.” Frances Fitzgerald is first ever senior cabinet minister of Children and Youth Affairs in this country and the only senior cabinet minister in Europe with this portfolio. She is Fine Gael's most senior female politician and one of two female ministers at cabinet level. She is also a proud graduate of UCD and credits her college years with informing much of what was to follow.   She credits the breadth of her undergraduate degree in social studies, which also included economics, history and French, as conferring particular advantage on her subsequent involvements, from her years as…

Dear NUI Graduate, As you will be aware, following the outcome of the Referendum held 4 October 2013, Seanad Éireann is to be retained as an essential element of Irish parliamentary democracy.  Currently, three members of the Seanad are elected by graduates of the National University of Ireland and three by graduates of the University of Dublin. The Government has announced plans to introduce legislation for a single six-seater constituency and to extend the electorate to include all graduates. (more…)

Today, I have the pleasure of writing to you in my capacity as President of University College Dublin. It is an honour for me to join this great academic institution with a proud tradition of scholarship and contribution to society and I am acutely aware of the enormous contribution you, the alumni of UCD, have made to this reputation. I have come to UCD from Perth in Western Australia via Durham in the UK.  What drew me to UCD was the strong sense of connection this university has within Ireland and internationally.  It is my firm belief that universities are a community of students, staff and graduates who hold certain values, who foster creative thinking and who seek to have…

Paul Shovlin credits his pastoral upbringing in rural Donegal for much of what he has achieved in life. His dedicated and loving parents and the quiet rituals of country life were the twin supports that enabled him to forge his own path in the world. Paul has lived through a half century of rapid change, as Ireland metamorphosed from rural idyll to a bustling modern economy. In this honest and thought-provoking memoir, laced with a dry humour and intelligence, Paul looks back on his life, from his days as a student at the famous St Eunan's in Letterkenny, which has produced so many of Ireland's high achievers, to the fork in the road which led him to a successful career…

Donnybrook is one of the most iconic areas of south county Dublin, a suburban Arcadia known for its wide leafy roads and fine houses. It is a prosperous enclave well served by restaurants, pubs and cafés together with excellent schools, churches and sports facilities including the home of Leinster Rugby. But there is more to Donnybrook than that, and in this excellent book Dr Beatrice Doran takes the reader through its long and colourful history from the earliest times to the present day through a series of rare and beautifully produced photographs which show the ever-changing face of Donnybrook. 'Donnybrook A History' Dr Beatrice Doran grew up in Donnybrook and she still lives there. She was educated at Muckross and…

Jennifer Barrett - BA DBS Look into the Eye "It amazed me how deeply I could feel for the fictional characters in the book - they seemed so real to me. I genuinely felt such a responsibility for Richard, Melanie and the whales. I wanted to do right by them all, to help them through their difficulties, and get them out the other side - it was what drove me to finish the book, and to persevere through the lengthy process of trying to find a publisher. So I felt compelled to write Look into the Eye - both as a way to explore and try to understand the almost ethereal mystery and magic of these beautiful creatures myself, and…

Sir Richard Hely Lynch-Blosse, 17th Baronet of Oxfordshire launched the historical novel, Spellbound by Sibella, by Emeritus Professor Paul B McNulty and published by Club Lighthouse CLP, Canada in the The Campus Bookshop, UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4 on Thursday, 7th November. Spellbound by Sibella - A tale of her intriguing relationship with Sir Harry Lynch-Blosse, 7th Baronet of Mayo. "Following the successful launch of Spellbound by Sibella in Dublin, Galway and Castlebar, many have asked me where I found the story. The answer is quite simple. I found it when researching the Genealogy of the Anglo-Norman Lynches who settled in Galway. Because of the interest displayed, I have now published that background research on Amazon.co.uk and on Amazon.com which you…

James Gammons: I was an Engineering student in UCD from 1948 to 1951 (Trams still ran in my first year but the rails were lifted before I graduated). When I say UCD, I really mean the College of Science in Merrion Street with excursions to Earlsfort Terrance for Physics. The Aula Max, where I was given my scroll is now the Concert Hall and the College of Surgeons keeps in touch with me as the background to every big political story on RTE TV News. (more…)

Robert Burns Fellowship (from University of Otago, New Zealand) Robert Burns Fellow Majella Cullinane (BA 1996) couldn't believe it when she took the phone call informing her of her success. “I asked if she was sure she had the right person,” Majella says. “It's one of New Zealand's most renowned writing residencies so it was a real surprise.” Born and raised in Ireland, Majella became a New Zealand resident in 2008. She completed an MLitt. in Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, in 2006, and has won several awards for her poetry. She has also held Fellowship and Writer-in-Residence positions in Ireland and Scotland. In 2011, her first poetry collection Guarding The Flame was published in Ireland…