Past Events

Each year we welcome thousands of our alumni back to campus, for Mentoring eventsReunions, Choral Scholars or Symphony Orchestra performances, Spoken Word events, Alumni Awards and the UCD Festival, or simply to pay a nostalgic visit to relive those great memories of student days.

We are delighted to welcome you back and are always looking for ways of improving and evolving our event programme to make sure we have something for everybody.

We will keep you informed about our events as they happen. Make sure to update your details with us at the link below to ensure that you receive email updates and that you’re not missing out on that special event!


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UCD In Conversation: "COVID-19, Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing in a Crisis—A Practical Discussion"

Dr. Tony Bates, Founder and former CEO of Jigsaw and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at UCD, and Dr. Sarah Fortune, Senior Lecturer in Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, Dunedin appeared in conversation with Professor Eilis Hennessy of the UCD School of Psychology.

Click here to watch.

What it Takes… to upskill for a career in Tech

In our fifth episode of the What It Takes career-building series, UCD alumna and former Facebook employee, Ayse Dibek discussed how to break into the tech industry and what skills are in demand now and in the future.

Click here to watch.

UCD In Conversation: "The Transformative Power of Community Engaged Learning"

Dr Deirdre McGillicuddy, Assistant Professor in the UCD School of Education led a conversation with Gary Broderick, Director SAOL (Women’s Recovery and Education Project) and Dr Hilda Loughran, Associate Professor in the UCD School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, exploring the transformative power of community engaged learning.

Click here to watch.

What It Takes...to break into an Arts & Culture career

In the fourth episode of What It Takes, UCD alumni Grainne Humphreys, Pearse McCaughey and Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi discussed the creative industries they work in and how to break into this sector.

Click here to watch.

UCD In Conversation: "So What Next: Becoming Anti-Racist"

Dr Ebun Joseph, preeminent leader, race relations consultant, Career Development Specialist, and module coordinator for UCD’s Black Studies module (Ireland’s first) took part in a conversation with Dr Alice Feldman, UCD School of Sociology, Convenor of the UCD MA Race, Migration and Decolonial Studies, (a first in Ireland and Europe).

Click here to watch.

What It Takes...to get ahead with a Business Masters

In the third episode of our What It Takes career-building summer series,  we heard from UCD Smurfit alumni Seán Fitzpatrick, Sinéad Ryan and Rebecca Fitzpatrick. They discussed their diverse careers and how a business masters differentiated them in the jobs market, expanded their skill set and helped shape their career.

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UCD In Conversation: "The Climate Emergency & COVID-19"

Dr Cara Augustenborg, Environmental Scientist, Climate Change Champion, Broadcaster and Environmental Policy Fellow at the UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, appeared in conversation with Dr Lisa Ryan, Assistant Professor and Lecturer in Energy Economics at the UCD School of Economics.

Click here to watch.

UCD In Conversation: "Leadership in a Time of Crisis"

Sir Ciarán Devane, Chairman of the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Chief Executive of the British Council, appeared in conversation with Professor Orla Feely, Vice President for Research, Innovation and Impact and Professor of Electronic Engineering at University College Dublin.

Click here to watch.

What it Takes… to prepare for the recruitment process

In the second episode of our What It Takes series, we heard from Michelle Coen, Team Leader and Career & Skills Consultant in the UCD Careers Network. Michelle discussed who’s hiring at the moment, upskilling via online courses, volunteering and prepping for the graduate bootcamp.

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UCD In Conversation: "Crisis Driven Innovation: Adaptability Through Technology"

Dr Colin Keogh, co-founder of Open Source Ventilator and the Rapid Foundation and engineer at UCD’s School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, took part in an engaging and lively conversation with Colman Farrell, Head of Programme Development at the UCD Innovation Academy on Thursday, 28 May 2020. 

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What It Takes...to land a job in the midst of COVID-19

To begin our career-building Summer Series, UCD alumnus, Frank Farrelly, COO and co-founder of Sigmar Recruitment, offered insights on the current job landscape, what’s in your control, and tips to get hired online.

Click here to watch.

UCD Festival @Home 2020

In May of 2020 the UCD Festival team put together the next best thing to the amazing physical UCD Festival that takes place in the heart of Belfield campus every June. For three days the UCD Festival adapted to the COVID – 19 restrictions and moved to an online edition of the festival, UCD Festival @ Home embraced technology to continue in a virtual space. 

Although there were no physical events, all the inspiring, engaging, informative and fun activities of the regular festival remained. The team discovered new ways of presenting content while expanding the festival’s digital and worldwide festival audience and presented three days of exciting free events for everyone to enjoy at home and well beyond the festival weekend itself. 

You can continue to enjoy the UCD Festival@home content at www.ucd.ie/festival.

UCD In Conversation: "COVID-19’s Impact on Creative Spaces"

Author Colm Tóibín and UCD Creative Fellow appeared in conversation with Professor Margaret Kelleher, Professor of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama in the UCD School of English, Drama and Film in a powerful conversation on the past, present, and future of art and crisis, as part of UCD Festival @home 2020. 

Click here to watch. 

UCD In Conversation: "The Philosophy of Wellbeing"

Can philosophy help us during a global pandemic? Join us to discuss how philosophy can help us live well in the face of radical uncertainty and spiralling self-doubt. Dr. Emma Farrell, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UCD School of Education and Dr. Áine Mahon, Assistant Professor in Philosophy of Education, UCD School of Education will appear in conversation with Dr. Shane Bergin, Physicist and Assistant Professor in Science Education, UCD School of Education.

Click here to watch. 

UCD In Conversation: "It’s Normal To Be Different"

UCD alumna, Caroline Casey, award-winning social entrepreneur and founder of the Valuable 500, appeared in conversation with Martina Fitzgerald, political journalist, author and fellow UCD alumna.

Click here to watch. 

UCD In Conversation: "Our Genes and the Fight Against Chronic Disease & COVID-19"

UCD alumnus, David Kavanagh PhD, Director of Clinical Partnerships at Genomics Medicine Ireland (GMI) appeared in conversation with Professor William Gallagher, Director of the UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular & Biomedical Research, to give us front line details about how understanding our genes can help us in the battle with chronic disease and COVID-19.

Click here to watch. 

Arthur Cox UCD Women in Leadership

It was wonderful to welcome over 700 people to O’Reilly Hall on Thursday 13 February to celebrate the fifth UCD Women in Leadership conference. A stellar lineup of speakers discussed topical issues facing all women at every stage of their career, including Resilience, Women in Tech and Leading the Cultural Change.
Caroline Casey, Founder of the Valuable 500 and Caroline Keeling, MD of Keelings both delivered keynote speeches and Prof Orla Feely, UCD VP for Research, Innovation and Impact opened the conference. It was introduced and closed by volunteer and UCD graduate Eimear O’Flynn, founder of the conference.
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UCD Alumni Reception at UCC

On Wednesday 5 February UCD  co-hosted an alumni reception in the wonderful surrounds of UCC's Aula Maxima.      A great evening of reminiscing and catching up was had by all with new connections made!

 

 

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Career Mentoring Programme 2019/20 - Meet & Greet

Now in its 6th year, we are delighted to share that the 2019/2020 UCD Career Mentoring Programme has welcomed over 400 student mentee and alumni mentor applications. This includes 2nd year students from the UCD College of Arts and Humanities, the UCD College of Social Sciences and Law, and the UCD College of Science (Chemistry).

This year, the student-led matching process has been hosted on the UCD Alumni Network. Through this programme, mentors will share their professional experience to help develop students’ understanding of the workplace, enhance their employability skills and add positively to their experience as students.

Alongside representatives from UCD Careers Network and UCD Alumni Relations, alumni and students attended the ‘Meet & Greet’ launch event on Wednesday, 5 February 2020 where many met each other for the first time.

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France Chapter Alumni Event, Paris 2020

In February we were delighted to welcome Paris-based alumni to the Centre Cultural Irlandis for a debate marking the feast of Saint Valentine. Hosted by the UCD Alumni Chapter, members of the UCD alumni community gathered to witness a lively argument on the motion, “This House Moves That All We Need Is Love”. Debaters included Chapter committee and previous L&H Society members. The UCD team defended the motion against a team from various NUI institutions, Trinity and Oxford. Happily, those in favour of the motion were the winners on the night, and UCD were delighted to prove that love is indeed all we need.

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