Maynooth Alumni Bridge 2019

BRIDGE

The

Maynooth Alumni Magazine 2019

The Future of Connectedness MU Opens Ireland’s National 5G Test Centre

A Future-Ready Campus

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€57m new academic building and Arts Block refurb underway

Silicon Valley lawyer embroiled in US culture wars

Leonard Cohen Connections Abound The Webb Sisters sell out the Aula Maxima

MU Law celebrates 10th anniversary Intel – MU partnership strengthened The joys of outdoor swimming

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Maynooth University

Contents

22 Can artificial intelligence reduce anxiety in the

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workplace?

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President’s Message

How Tweets can identify personality, characteristics and anxiety levels in the workplace

Conferring 2019

24 Research Week 2019

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Maynooth academic appointed to the Council of State

26 Renaissance Ireland: a remarkably vibrant place

Welcome Class of 2019 – you’re Maynooth Alumni now!

World-class talks, enlightening exhibitions and brainy competitions

Dr Mary Murphy awarded warrant by President Higgins

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News to Note

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National 5G Test Centre launched at Maynooth

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Alumni Events

Prof Pat Palmer project brings 16th and early 17th Century Ireland to life

28 Might robots and ageing go hand-in-hand?

From a €25m building to a worldwide concerto

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A first of its kind in Europe

million School of Education

32 What was it like to go to the doctor in Medieval Ireland?

10 Maynooth grad advises An Taoiseach

Philip O’Callaghan follows his dream into politics

12 A Decade of Law

U Department of Law at the forefront of EU Law, M International Justice and Criminology

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34 Into the Blue Space: the joys of outdoor swimming

pro-bono case

36 Postgraduate Studies at Maynooth

erek Foran ‘91 finds himself embroiled in the American D culture wars, with reproductive freedom on the line

There’s always something to learn and we’ve got plenty for you to consider

16 Ireland’s place in a changing climate

38 MU Sport

MU oceanographer leads €2m climate project

MU athletes make their mark

18 The Problem with Ivanka

40 Gaeilge ó Inis Meáin go Iowa

Professor Maria Pramaggiore explores #unwantedIvanka

20 MU launches Kathleen Lonsdale Institute for Human Health Research

A multi-disciplinary approach to societal health probl ems

Dr Deborah Hayden of the Department of Early Irish explores life before vaccines, modern anaesthesia and popping out for painkillers Geographer Dr Ronan Foley explores the places and spaces where swimmers meet

14 Corporate attorney plays pivotal role in US

30 Ministers return to alma mater to open €14.1 Plus, David Pollard ‘12 uses tech to improve lives

Carols, Cohen and Class Reunions – a busy year of events on (and off) campus

Only a human-centred approach will do

Also MU Grads supporting MU Students

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Editor’s Note A chairde, Every year, when I sit down with my team here in the External Relations Office at Maynooth University to brainstorm which stories to include in the annual edition of The Bridge, I come away buzzing. As we jot down potential ideas, alumni to profile, and university milestones, the biggest challenge is narrowing down which stories to tell. The adrenaline flows from surfacing those nuggets, and finding new ways to share them with you–our big, broad, global community of Maynooth alumni and friends.

It’s especially exhilarating as we increasingly strive to do so in digital ways.

In recent years, we’ve quite intentionally moved to leverage the vast network of digital channels to better connect with our graduates. And while (in my mind anyway), there will never be a substitute for leafing through tactile pages of a print publication, the fact is that through our social media channels, digital content and university website we are able to connect with you more regularly, and in new and creative ways.

It’s no secret that GDPR has complicated this slightly, so I urge you to go on to the Development and Alumni Office website: maynoothuniversity.ie/daro to give us your consent to contact you, and while you’re at it, fill in your alumni profile and update your contact details.

Then, as the winter blues take hold and you could use that little buzz of pride, inspiration or motivation (!) you will be more The Bridge Editorial Team: Rebecca Doolin, Karen Kelly, Niamh Connolly, Lisa McVann and Daniel Balteanu Print – Essentra Design – Wonder Works

likely to hear about the transformative work going at your alma mater. It will come from our students, some of whom overcome tremendous obstacles to get to MU, and then go on to enrich their workplaces and communities. It will come from learning about the consequential research being conducted by our academics, and how they’re sharing those insights and discoveries with policymakers to help tackle challenges ranging from human rights and inflammatory disease to climate change and 5G. And of course, it will come from hearing about our 80,000 graduates making their marks all over the world.

So I hope that as you read about these and other stories in the pages ahead, you’ll be reminded about the power of a university education–and of a Maynooth University education in particular–and you’ll connect with us online, at one of our events, or by hiring an MU graduate yourself. After all, a buzz has a way of becoming addictive, and even a little bit contagious.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Doolin Director of External Relations Cover Image – Daniel Balteanu Special thanks to: Keith Arkins Photography, Jenny Barker Photography and guest writers, Arlene Harris and Peter Maguire Why not connect with us and be a part of the conversation? maynoothuniversity.ie/alumnicommunity

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President’s Message A

s I look back at the year, it strikes me as being very much a year of uncertainties and inconvenient truths—as so many of our public and political institutions appear unstable, and unable to tackle the range of problems and challenges that face us, and as we are confronted with the realities of a climate and ecological emergency.

Here on the Maynooth campus—just 25 kilometres from a major capital city struggling with these paramount concerns—we find ourselves very much embedded in these challenges. From our direct representation on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change via the ICARUS Climate Research Centre, to our Brexit experts, to our sociologists and economists actively working on policies related to housing, health, and privacy rights, Maynooth academics and graduates are at the table.

This year we opened RadioSpace, the nation’s 5G National Test Centre and its most advanced facility for R&D activities for radio and wireless technologies needed for 5G and the Internet of Things. We were proud to launch the Kathleen Lonsdale Institute for Human Health Research, a distinctively multi-disciplinary research centre named after a Kildare native and early pioneer in medical research. Our rapidly growing Law Department celebrates its 10-year anniversary, and we welcomed 300 Chinese students to our joint MU-Fuzhou University computer science and engineering programmes in China.

In the pages ahead you can read about many of these exciting developments, but remember that at the heart of those endeavours

are knowledge and learning; our students and the body of scholars who, through their work and discoveries, provide policymakers and the public the strong knowledge base from which to tackle the great challenges.

MU is actively preparing our students for these challenges, and we are also building a next-generation campus to meet the growing demand for a Maynooth education. I’m proud to report that in 2019 we received €25million from the state for a major €57million academic building project that also includes refurbishment of the beloved, if dated, Arts Block. This project will transform the campus, linking north and south, and more importantly, provide much-needed capacity for the fastest growing student population in Ireland.

I hope you enjoy reading about the success of your alma mater.

We need and appreciate the support of our alumni and partners in the community in building the infrastructure, research and student supports that will prepare the students of today to be the changemakers of tomorrow. Please find out more by visiting: https://www. maynoothuniversity.ie/daro/support.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Philip Nolan President, Maynooth University

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Maynooth University

Graduation 2019 Lily Lynch from Phibsboro, Dublin 7, graduated with a BA in Music Technology

Sister and brother, Marie and Sam Russell, who graduated with Postgraduate Diplomas in Arts (School Guidance Counselling), are pictured with Prof Philip Nolan, President of Maynooth University. A maths teacher, Marie is a Home School Community Liaison Officer at Beaufort College, Navan, while Sam teaches at Coláiste na hInse in Laytown, Co Meath. Sam received his fourth parchment from MU, having graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2006, followed by a return to his alma mater to obtain a Master’s in Media Studies and subsequent Professional Diploma in Education.

Irish Ambassador to the UK Adrian O’Neill is pictured with his daughter, Aoife O’Neill, who earned her BA (International) at one of MU’s 14 conferring ceremonies in September alone.

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Welcome Class of 2019 to the Maynooth University Alumni Community!

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President Michael D. Higgins appoints Dr Mary Murphy to Council of State

Be sure to keep your contact details up to date so you don’t miss out on future class reunions.

Join maynoothuniversity.ie/alumnicommunity

2,950 students conferred in autumn ceremonies MU held 21 conferring ceremonies in 2019, including the first graduating class of students from the new Bachelor of Arts (Media Technology), the first postgraduate diplomas in Global Legal Studies and in Comparative Criminology, and the new Diploma in Leadership, Defence and Contemporary Security. A total of 57 PhDs were awarded by the University in the September and October ceremonies. Worldwide, the Maynooth alumni base now exceeds 80,000.

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resident Michael D. Higgins presented Dr Mary Murphy with a warrant of appointment as incoming Member of the Council of State at an official event in Áras an Uachtaráin in April.

Dr Murphy, a senior lecturer in Irish Politics and Society in the Maynooth University Department of Sociology, was among the seven new appointees to the consultation body of the President, which was established under the Constitution.

Dr Murphy said:

“I am very honoured to be entrusted with this role and to be included among the seven nominees of President Michael D. Higgins.

MU Music student Tobias Barry was conferred with a BA (Music Technology) at a September ceremony attended by the Barry family, including his father, award-winning author Sebastian Barry.

“I particularly welcome the commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, which underpinned his selection of nominees. I very much look forward to the work of the Council of State over the next years.”

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Maynooth University

MU awarded €25m capital grant for new academic building at the heart of campus Technology, Society and Innovation project includes Arts Block renovation In August 2019, Maynooth University received the largest capital grant in its history–a €25 million capital grant from Government for a major new building project to support the University’s rapidly growing student population.

Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh, TD, and the Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD, announced the funding, which, along with €32 million in university and European Investment Bank funds, will deliver a landmark €57 million campus project.

The project comprises new 10,554 m2 academic building with the initial phase to open in late 2020 and an additional 5,670 m2 of existing arts and sciences buildings (adjacent) to be modernised by 2021. Welcoming the announcement, Professor Philip Nolan, President of Maynooth University, said: “This is a landmark development project designed to keep pace with rapidly growing

student numbers in the country’s fastest growing region, and to support the research and innovation skills needed to face fundamental societal challenges.

“The infrastructural project will further support Maynooth University’s research and innovation in areas vital to economic, social and environmental challenges, including climate science, environmental science, artificial intelligence, regional and urban planning, smart cities, the future of work, as well as services innovation, public policy and social change.

We welcome this important announcement from Government and its recognition of the important role Maynooth University plays in these areas of national and international significance.”

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News to Note InSPIREurope at Maynooth University supporting scholars at risk of persecution Maynooth University is hosting a new EU-funded initiative to support academics at risk of discrimination or persecution.

InSPIREurope is an alliance coordinated

by Scholars at Risk Europe and funded under the European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

As of August 2019, more than 580 scholars and researchers sought the assistance of Scholars at Risk. The organisation

successfully placed 115 scholars at universities globally in teaching or research posts.

The highest rate of applications came from Turkey, Syria, Iran and Yemen. Over 1,000 applications have been received from Turkey alone since January 2016.

Prof Philip Nolan, President of Maynooth University, said: “Maynooth University recognises the central importance of academic freedom in scholarship, research and teaching for the promotion and protection of democracy. With this ambitious Europe-wide initiative, we hope to make a difference.”

Master’s Task Force engages alumni employers The Maynooth University Strategic Plan 2018-2022 sets out ambitious targets for growth in taught postgraduate programmes that depend upon deeper engagement

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with private industry and public sector employers to build programmes that meet the skills needs of our society, now and in the future.

To meet these targets, MU established the President’s Master’s Task Force in 2018 to take a university-wide, multi-dimensional review of taught postgraduate education.

One initiative of the Task Force was the creation in May 2019 of the Maynooth University Postgraduate Employers’ Advisory Network. The network was designed to facilitate ongoing engagement with alumni and employers from diverse sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals to breweries to the Foreign Service. The University draws on their advice and experiences to inform the postgraduate strategy and offer recommendations for future innovations.

Network members are examining new and existing postgraduate programmes and thinking about how to ensure Master’s graduates are prepared to lead change across varied career trajectories. The network also serves to enrich new and existing linkages between the University and employers in areas such as research collaboration, career development for students and alumni, and initiatives to expand access to third level and, specifically, postgraduate education.

If you’d like to know more about this initiative or to participate, please email alumni.office@mu.ie.

Dr Ryan Molloy celebrates RTÉ lyric fm’s 20th birthday with world premiere of harp concerto Maynooth University lecturer and composer Dr Ryan Molloy celebrated RTÉ lyric fm’s 20th birthday with the premiere of his specially commissioned concerto, Gealán, at the National Concert Hall in May. Dr Molloy composed the concerto for Irish harp and orchestra which was premiered by renowned harper AnneMarie O’Farrell and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra at the gala concert.

From Tyrone, Dr Ryan is a lecturer in composition at Maynooth University, and is a traditional fiddle player and pianist as well as a composer. He was awarded €10,000 for his specially commissioned work.

Lecturer and composer Dr Ryan Molloy (centre) with Katie Neville, an alumna of the Department of Music, and Eoin Brady of RTÉ lyric fm

Composer and alumna Katie Neville was awarded €2,000 to write a work for the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra Cello Octet performed at the NCH event. Her choral composition is a setting of Michael Coady’s poem Though There Are Torturers.

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Maynooth University

Enter RadioSpace

MU opens doors to Ireland’s National 5G Test Centre Ireland’s National 5G Test Centre, RadioSpace, opened at Maynooth University in May, providing a unique, large scale, interference-free facility for scientists and engineers in industry.

The €1.5 million state-of-the-art facility is one of the first of its kind in Europe. Open to large industry SMEs and start-ups, both in Ireland and internationally, it is the country’s first large-scale facility for the research and testing of radio and wireless technologies for 5G and the future Internet of Things (IoT).

The facility consists of a specially constructed anechoic chamber that provides perfect isolation for radio signals; nothing can enter and nothing can leave. Combined with advanced test equipment and specialist engineers, this allows for very sensitive measurements that are essential for the development of modern wireless devices.

RadioSpace connects industry and academic researchers, with the aim of addressing the full range of challenges in developing new technologies and products for the next generation of wireless devices.

RadioSpace is designed to provide a full range of services to large industry, SMEs and developers of 4G mobile networks, IoT enabled products and future 5G and mmWave devices

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It is designed to provide a full range of services to developers of 4G mobile networks, IoT enabled products and future 5G and mmWave devices.

Professor Ronan Farrell, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering and Director of RadioSpace, said: “This facility will provide industry in Ireland and across Europe, as well as academics, a rare and valuable capability to develop new technologies, and also to explore exciting questions in radio physics and engineering. We look forward to RadioSpace being a catalyst for increased collaboration between academia and industry, nationally and internationally.”

The facility, which received €638,000 funding from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), is part of CONNECT - the world-leading SFI Research Centre for Future Networks and Communications.

Access to the service by SMEs can be facilitated via the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher scheme. This ensures that both SMEs and larger organisations can avail of the technology and expertise of researchers in Maynooth University.

Speaking at the opening of the 5G Test Centre, Minister John Halligan TD, Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development, said: This high tech facility is very

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impressive and will assist Irish industry in developing future smart technology. The development of smart technology is not slowing down and I’m delighted that Maynooth University is at the forefront of this research.”

Commenting on the launch, Professor Philip Nolan, President of Maynooth University, said: “Irish industry working in this space has needed to look abroad to avail of similar facilities and I’m proud we are now in a position to provide this centre of excellence right here in Maynooth. “This facility will serve as the National 5G Test Centre for Ireland, providing a space for next-generation wireless technologies to be tested, refined and applied on an international scale.”

Dr Ciarán Seoighe, Deputy Director General of Science Foundation Ireland, commented: “Science Foundation Ireland is delighted to support the opening of RadioSpace at Maynooth University. In Ireland we have a rich community of creative and talented experts developing cuttingedge technology that will help us prepare for an ever more datarich digital future. It’s crucial that we give our community the resources, infrastructure and testbeds to continue to explore, research and create. I’m confident that the new National 5G Test Centre will benefit Ireland’s research and innovation greatly.”

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Maynooth University

Summer Soirée 2019

The Webb Sisters and Friends remember Leonard Cohen through song and conversation A sold-out crowd of 400 alumni and friends filled the Aula Maxima on 20 June, 2019, as MU hosted a night of music and conversation celebrating the influence of Leonard Cohen, at an event titled, I Remember You Well.

Teaming up with the Department of Adult and Community Education, the Development and Alumni Relations Office organised a special night in the beautifully bedecked Aula. Charley and Hattie Webb–artists who played distinctive parts in Cohen’s return to live performances–brought their impeccable voices to the stage and then sat down to recall Cohen’s life and work in a conversation with playwright, novelist and poet, John MacKenna.

They were joined by novelist and poet Dermot Bolger, renowned songwriter and musician Kevin Doherty, and academic, writer and alumna, Dr Bríd Connolly. Prof Philip Nolan, President of

Maynooth University, presented the Webb Sisters with the 2019 Maynooth University Award for Arts and Culture, which honours individuals who have made distinctive contributions to the arts, culture or heritage that reflect the ethos and mission of Maynooth University.

The event marked the culmination of the Department of Adult & Community Education 2019 Summer School on the theme of ‘Popular Culture and the Making of Meaning - Social issues in the works of Leonard Cohen, Dory Previn and Paul Simon.’

Carol Service & Alumni Reception

Once again, alumni returned to Maynooth for the annual spectacle that is the Maynooth Carol Service. With tickets like gold dust, the lucky applicants for the alumni ticket lottery kicked off the festive season in the splendour of the College Chapel. A mulled wine and mince pie reception which followed the Carol Service ensured the bonhomie continued in Pugin Hall.

Like to attend the Carol Service? Make sure we have your contact details so we can tell you about it. Visit maynoothuniversity.ie/ alumnicommunity.

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Alumni Events Carols, Cohen, Culture and Class Reunions - a busy year of events for Maynooth alumni

The “Sublime” Webb Sisters, Charley and Hattie Webb, sell out the Aula Maxima.

Alumni Lecture

‘Leonard Cohen, philosopher’ On 7 February, in Dublin City Council’s Wood Quay Venue, the first alumni lecture of 2019–from the Faculty of Arts, Celtic Studies and Philosophy–took place. In a reprise of his 2018 professorial lecture entitled ‘Leonard Cohen, philosopher,’ Professor Philipp Rosemann engaged a packed room of alumni and friends with his exploration of the rich philosophy in the music of Leonard Cohen through the lens of ‘Steer Your Way,’ from Cohen’s 2016 album, You Want It Darker.

Alumni enjoyed a wine and canapé reception before proceedings commenced and the relaunched ‘Maynooth Philosophical Papers’ were available for sale on the night.

Beginning with an appeal to alumni by Grace Edge from the MU Access Office for alumni to support scholarships and bursaries for MU students, Professor Rosemann then took to the podium for an accessible and informative look at Cohen’s musical musings.

The Development and Alumni Relations Office were ably assisted on the night by volunteers from the MU Access Programme.

Department of Geography Careers Event

In collaboration with the Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO), the Department of Geography held its first student/ alumni-led careers event in Rhetoric Hall on 9 April. The keynote speaker was Emeritus Professor John Sweeney, who spoke about the contribution geographers have made to national debates on climate change. Prof Sweeney explained why he and colleagues set up the first interdisciplinary Climate Change Master’s degree 11 years ago, speaking of the necessity for training in both physical and social sciences for a proper understanding of climate change and its many challenges. Alumni from each of the MU Geography postgraduate programmes - Aideen Croasdell (ArcGIS) from the MSc in GIS and Remote Sensing, Victoria Ramsey (McCloy Consulting Ltd) from the MSc in Climate Change, Dave Flynn (eSpatial) from the MA in Geography, and Paul Alexander (CSO) from the PhD in Geography - described how their geographical training had prepared them, in specialist and sometimes unanticipated ways, for the demands placed upon them in their current careers and employment.

Continues overleaf ☞

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Maynooth University

The success of the event as an opportunity to connect means it is likely to become a highlight of the annual schedule of Geography and DARO events in the years to come.

A Conversation with Des Traynor ‘03

In a special event for alumni and students during Science Week at MU, Des Traynor (BSc 2003), Co-Founder (with fellow alumnus, David Barrett ’03 plus two others) and Chief Strategist, Intercom, returned to campus to share his reflections on a post-Maynooth journey to Silicon Valley during which he has elevated the industrydisruptor messaging platform to unicorn status, becoming one of only 200 start-ups worldwide to be valued at more than $1billion.

Andrew Parish (BSc 1991), self-confessed entrepreneur, founder and CEO ably delved into Des’s journey, posing perceptive and penetrating questions which held a capacity Eolas foyer engaged for a casual, but highly informative and enlightening evening.

Inaugural Library Alumni Reading

Renowned Irish novelist, poet, essayist, short story writer and Maynooth alumna, Mary O’Donnell (1977) read a selection of poems and extracts from her latest book Empire to a packed

2011 BA, 2012 Prof Dip Education, 2014 HDip Innovative Teaching & Learning Adviser to An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD

It was the morning after what could go down as one of the most consequential days in the career of his boss, An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD. MU alumnus Philip O’Callaghan, Special Adviser to the Taoiseach, sat down for a quick cup of coffee and reflected on how he happened to find himself working at the centre of power during such an historic (and unexpected) pivot point in Irish-British history.

After all, it was the third week of October, the latest Brexit deadline of Halloween inching closer, and a day earlier British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a last-ditch deal following a breakthrough meeting with the Taoiseach at Thornton Manor outside Liverpool. “If you talk about taking risks in government, well, going to the UK last week was a risk,” O’Callaghan said. “Working in a period this historical is huge.” Personally for O’Callaghan it’s been thrilling, exhausting, and yes, hugely consequential. The 29-year-old Castleknock native, now living in Coolmine, became a teacher after graduating from Maynooth but ended up chasing his dream into

Maynooth Alumni Reunion

One of the high points of the Maynooth alumni annual events calendar, the annual reunion took place this year on Saturday, 14 September. Returning to campus, the Classes of 1974, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 celebrated in fine fettle.

Galvanised by Senior Lecturer Emeritus, Proinnsias Breathnach, a special turnout of the first geography graduates (and lecturers from that first graduating year, Paddy Duffy and Willie Smyth) ensured a memorable night for all. Not even the Dublin-Kerry All Ireland replay stopped 1974 geographer Senator John (or Johnny as his classmates called him) O’Mahony, from missing his class reunion.

An entertaining and sometimes irreverent (only in Maynooth!) after-dinner speech was given by deputy head of the Geography Department and Maynooth alumnus, Dr Adrian Kavanagh (BA 1992, MA 1995, PhD 2003). A collaboration with The Party Mirror Photo Booth brought a fun element to the evening with proceeds from photos donated to MU Access Bursaries. Travelling from Glasgow and Malaysia, the class of 1976, rallied by Jim Cassidy, were well-represented. Already plans are afoot with Jim for the gang to return for their 45-year Reunion in 2021.

Alumni Profile

2014 Philip O’Callaghan

audience of MU staff, alumni and members of the local community in the John Paul II Library at her inaugural reading. Hosted by the Library Service, each year a Maynooth University alumnus with an international reputation in creative writing is invited to deliver this reading.

politics. He ran for Fingal County Council unsuccessfully in 2014, but when an opening came up in Varadkar’s office O’Callaghan left teaching to join him as a policy adviser.

At age 24, O’Callaghan followed Varadkar to the Department of Health and then the Department of Social Protection before running his last campaign for DublinWest. The day Varadkar was sworn in as Taoiseach is forever inked in his memory.

“You don’t know where life is going to take you. This chance won’t come around again so I have to give it my all,” he said.

And giving it all he is. O’Callaghan’s brief includes serving as the Taoiseach’s adviser on Education, Agriculture, Rural & Community Development and Disability Services, keeping track of projects and policy priorities in the Programme for Government in those areas and working with the relevant Ministers. He is also the main liaison to all TDs and Senators, in addition to overseeing the Taoiseach’s domestic diary and other duties such as prepping the Taoiseach for Leaders’ Questions each week.

at Maynooth that I think have been so helpful.”

No small task, but O’Callaghan says his Maynooth degrees certainly helped. He studied Geography and Music, earning his BA in 2011. After participating in the Washington Ireland Programme, he returned to MU to complete his PDE in 2012 and a HDip in Innovative Teaching & Learning in 2014.

Today, despite taking the fast train O’Calllaghan says he is trying to remember to enjoy the ride as well. He accompanied the Taoiseach on a trip to Washington, DC, meeting President Donald Trump in the Oval Office–a “surreal experience,” he said. Other stand-out moments include the opening of a series of new respite homes for children he’d worked hard to implement, and spending some time on a Navy ship patrolling from Cork to Galway, past the Cliffs of Moher. “You need to stop during these experiences and take time to take them in. They’ve over in a heartbeat,” he said.

“The analytical skills of Geography, the logic skills of Music, and of course the education degrees had an impact, but it was also the cross-cutting skills that I learned

Philip said he had very fond memories of his time in Maynooth University, a University that offers so much but yet maintains its unique characteristics.

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Class of 2009 - Marian O’Sullivan, Caoimhe O’Brien & Emer Donohoe

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Classes of 1976 & 1979

Save The Date

12th September 2020

2020 Alumni Reunion

We’ll be celebrating anniversary years for the Classes of 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 at next year’s Alumni Reunion.

Andrew Parish (BSc 1991) and Des Traynor (BSc 2003)

2001 BSc

Director, PwC Marie Taylor-Ghent graduated from Maynooth University in 2001 with a BSc in Mathematics. Today she’s a leader in her field, working at the cutting edge of product development using data analytics and tech.

As a Director at PwC, Marie leads a team focused on helping clients unlock the potential of their data through analytics.

“As we enter the fourth industrial revolution, all sectors are facing both huge disruption and huge opportunity. Having a background in mathematics has honed my logical and creative skills, empowering me to help my clients navigate this new era,” she said.

Prior to this role, Marie worked for a number of years at another Big 4 accountancy firm, leading the transformation from an exclusively people-focused business to a technology-centric people business. It’s the sweet spot where tech meets Big Data.

Specifically, Marie led efforts to re-imagine fund audits globally by using technology more effectively to analyse, segment and interpret clients’ increasing amounts of data. Putting her maths expertise to work, she designed a better way capture and integrate siloed client data to offer clients better, more insightful and faster advice in the auditing sector.

A passionate advocate for women in STEM, Marie credits her time at MU with supporting her career and interpersonal development.

“The problem solving and critical thinking I developed during my time at Maynooth University made my career possible,” she said.

Alumni Profile

2001 Marie Taylor-Ghent

If you’re a Maynooth graduate and you’d like to be kept updated about this event, email alumni.events@ mu.ie and we’ll make sure you don’t miss out.

In case you’re wondering, the Reunion, while specifically celebrating anniversary years is open to all alumni. It might not be your year, but it’s always your night. Just email us if you fancy coming along.

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Maynooth University

Dr Aisling McMahon, Prof Michael Doherty, Prof Claire Hamilton and Prof Tobias Lock

A Decade of Law

By Arlene Harris

The Department of Law celebrates 10 years at the forefront of education and research in pioneering areas such as law and technology, privacy and data protection, international justice, and criminology

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elebrating its tenth anniversary this year, the Department of Law at MU has carved out a distinguished reputation in the frontier areas of Law and Technology, EU Law, International Justice and Criminology.

But this is not the only change that Prof Michael Doherty has seen since he joined Maynooth University six years ago. The Law Department has flourished in size as well as stature. “When I first joined in 2013, we held the annual Student Law Ball in a plush hotel in Kildare,” he recalls.

“It was a lovely evening and we had a nice small space to dine. When we returned for the Ball four years later, the venue was absolutely packed, some students couldn’t get tickets

and we had two staff tables. I joked at the time that we would shortly need to investigate the availability of Croke Park!

But it was lovely to see the growth in numbers of staff and students, and this hasn’t changed the very collegiate and friendly atmosphere in the Department.”

A diverse range of law modules are available, many of which explore how changes in technology impact on law and the legal profession as a whole. They include data protection and privacy law, the impact of technology at work, criminology, property rights over our own bodies (including our organs and cells) and the future of the legal profession.

“When I, and most of my colleagues, studied law, the curriculum was quite traditional and not very varied,” Prof Doherty says.

“Now students have multiple options to choose from in almost every year of study. There is also a huge emphasis on developing wider skills beyond the traditional study of case law and legislation.

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“At Maynooth, students have modules in Negotiation, Moot Court, and Mediation, and all students participate in Mock Trials. These modules focus on communication and presentation skills.

“When we were students, there was quite a dominant focus on Irish law,” Prof Doherty explains. “Now, the legal curriculum has become increasingly globalized. At undergraduate and postgraduate level, our programmes have a strong focus on international justice.

Issues such as climate change can’t focus on only one jurisdiction.

Similarly, where once Tax Law focused mainly on domestic rules, now a key concern is how tax is collected globally, given the influence and power of large multinationals.”

These days law is studied in conjunction with other disciplines.

“This is particularly true at Maynooth where students can choose to study law with one of about 25 other subjects,” he says. “And even when students study law as a single subject, staff bring perspectives from other disciplines, emphasising that the law can only be properly understood by appreciating the social, cultural, political and economic context in which it is located.”

MU has always had a strong international and political outlook.

Brexit has been central to many lectures over the past number of years. Prof Tobias Lock, who specialises in European Law and Human Rights, and who is an advisor to a Scottish Parliament Committee on Brexit, notes the likely impact on Irish law.

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“After Brexit, Ireland will become the largest common law legal system in the EU,” he explains. “This means it will now be up to Ireland to ensure that EU legislation that is being adopted is compatible with the fundamentals of the common law system.

“And another area in which Ireland will feel the absence of the UK is the Schengen area, from which it has an opt-out. Again, Ireland will need to fend for itself in order to protect its opt-out.”

Prof Claire Hamilton, Professor of Criminology, explains that the MA in Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice explores how crime such as cybercrime, terrorism and organised crime is becoming increasingly transnational. “Also, at undergraduate level, I deliver a module on Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism where we discuss what is described as an increasingly ‘elastic’ relationship between the counter-terrorist and ordinary criminal justice spheres.”

Medical law and patent law are specialisms of Dr Aisling McMahon. She has introduced a new LLM module, Patents, Health and Biotechnologies, which examines the ethical and legal issues related to patents on health-related technologies, including the impacts of gene patents, and of patents on medicines and medical devices.

“I have also introduced the module, Contemporary Issues in Medicine and the Law, which considers ethical dilemmas faced by medical practitioners, patients and policy makers, and how law can or should respond to such scenarios,” said Dr McMahon.

With such a range of expertise in the Law Department, Professor Doherty says the future looks bright. Who knows, maybe Croke Park will be needed for the Students’ Law Ball after all?

The fashion-forward lawyer As a law student 2014 in Maynooth University, Rebecca Reid typed ‘Fashion Lawyers’ into Google’s search engine out of curiosity. Little did she know that it wouldn’t be long before she would feature prominently in that same Google search.

“I failed to realise that lawyers actually work within all industry sectors. So I googled ‘Fashion Lawyers’ and to my surprise, they existed. Little did I know that I would soon be on that Google search page.”

The Kildare woman ‘shaped’ the remainder of her degree towards a strong focus on intellectual property - the law on creations, inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, and symbols.

“It was paramount that I had a strong understanding of Intellectual Property law if I was to step into the fashion world,” she says. “I also shaped my solicitor training so I gained the commercial and practical knowledge needed by a fashion lawyer.”

Now a fashion lawyer in London for IMG, a global leader in fashion, sports, events, and media, Rebecca works on contracts for fashion shows, photoshoots, brand endorsements, advertising campaigns and even helps to ensure the smooth movement of models in and out of countries for bookings.

From Kilcock, Co Kildare, she says the course content at Maynooth University was so diverse that she could have chosen any number of different legal roles.

“I had just finished my second-year law exams when I asked myself what kind of lawyer I wanted to be,” she says.

During her time at Maynooth, she was a Judicial Intern for Supreme Court Judge, and interned with a leading commercial law firm. Also she was editor for the Irish Law Journal, and a legal advisor for FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centre).

“At this point I had studied EU, constitutional, criminal, and land law.

While I enjoyed these studies, I couldn’t see myself working in any of those areas for the rest of my life and momentarily thought about dropping out.

“Not only did MU allow me to shape my degree to an area I was fascinated by, but the Law Department also had established links within the legal profession which presented opportunities for students to get their foot in the apparently closed legal door.”

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Maynooth University

Corporate

1991 attorney Derek Foran (‘91) finds himself embroiled in the American culture wars, with reproductive freedom on the line

By Rebecca Doolin

The MU Law Department may be only 10 years old, but there’s a legacy of earlier Maynooth arts grads making their presence felt in courtrooms around the world.

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erek Foran’s life had taken unexpected turns before. So in 2016, when the highly successful corporate attorney found himself presented with the prospect of taking on a pro bono case involving a high-profile abortion rights organisation, he just went with it.

Little did he know he’d end up playing a pivotal role in a “scorched earth” four-year legal battle that sits at the heart of one of America’s deepest fissure points: reproductive health.

The case stemmed from an anti-abortion group running an undercover operation in which it secretly videotaped meetings with staff from groups such as Planned Parenthood and his client, the National Abortion Federation. The anti-abortion group claimed

to be acting as investigative journalists and that it had captured evidence of the illegal sale of fetal tissue.

It was difficult subject matter to say the least, but Foran said the legal argument was crystal clear.

“The whole thing was a massive lie intended to spark a backlash against Planned Parenthood to get their funding pulled from Congress,” he said.

He and his colleagues at legal giant Morrison & Foerster got to work. They ultimately managed to get a federal court injunction on releasing any footage from the group on grounds that the footage had been obtained fraudulently using fake aliases and other means to infiltrate the groups. The judge also took into account potential

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His work didn’t go unnoticed. In addition to national press attention (including a profile of Foran in the New York Times), in 2016 Foran received The Christopher Tietze Humanitarian Award for significant, lifetime contributions to reproductive rights. Prior winners of the award include a Supreme Court Justice, three United States Senators, and the ACLU. “Reproductive rights has become a passion for me. I considered myself pro-choice but I never had to grapple with what that meant. Some of these people who work in this area–professionals–have to wear bullet-proof vests to work or take different routes to work every day for fear of bombs in their car, and they shrug it off. I don’t know another body of professionals in the US that has to put up with that on a daily basis. It’s scandalous.”

While that case ignited a new passion for Foran, the 49 year-old was no stranger to scandals of the white collar variety. He has represented numerous Fortune 1000 companies and has been in the throes of many high-profile court cases, including one of the biggest anti-trust conspiracies ever prosecuted in the US in which he represented Japan-based client Epson. He has been recognized as one of America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators - Northern California, and has been honored multiple times as a Northern California “Super Lawyer.”

Not bad for someone who came off the wait-list to get into Maynooth at the lastminute and professes, “Anybody who knew me back then would laugh out loud.”

threats to the safety of the individuals in the tapes – which, by the way, a judge reviewed and found contained no evidence of criminal wrongdoing. The tapes were also found to have been heavily and misleadingly edited.

The injunction still stands today. It also paved the way the higher profile Planned Parenthood case to move forward.

“I’m very proud of that work because it stymied the effort to stymie Planned Parenthood,” Foran said. “There was a massive, time-intensive commitment on behalf of myself and the firm. We spent tens of thousands of hours on the case over four-and-a-half years. It’s been scorched earth. The other side appeals everything. It was very intense for a significant period of time.”

“I wasn’t the best student. I had a great time at Maynooth, but it was also a time of personal growth I suppose.

It’s a time of radical change in your life.

Relationships I started there are still very important to me.”

There was also something quite tangible in his Maynooth educational experience– studying English, History and Classics–that Foran says helped prepare him for his legal career today.

“There was a lot of reading and encouragement to really think broadly.

Maynooth gave me that space. I remember

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in the first English literature lecture I attended, the professor was teaching from the script of Chinatown and I thought that was fascinating,” he recalled. “It was the free-thinking approach for this kid from Greenhills.”

After graduating with his BA from Maynooth in 1991, he went on to earn his HDip in Irish Folklore from UCD–a degree that he credits with honing his story-telling skills and which serves him well in the courtroom today.

It was at UCD that he met the woman who would become his wife, an American from San Francisco, where the couple moved and started a family. Foran worked construction and other jobs to make a living before going to law school.

“I didn’t really wake up to my potential until my late 20s and I became a father,” Foran said, at which point he took the LSAT entrance exam.

His LSAT scores, coupled with his distinctive story as an Irish immigrant, saw him become the object of affection for some of the top law schools in the US He ended up at Cornell Law and his stock–not to mention his career satisfaction–took off from there.

“Any time you get in front of a jury it’s really a thrill… the opportunities to persuade, to question a witness in the front of a jury,” he said.

“Practicing in the Bay Area is one of the most satisfying parts of my job because your practice reflects the changes in society.

My law firm was involved in the Apple vs.

Samsung patent wars, Uber vs Waymo, the major Silicon Valley cases. One of the things I love about that is that you see the changes in society in the course of our practice day to day, big changes. You have to parachute into different industries and learn how they work, how they talk, so you can translate that into a compelling story for a judge or a jury. It’s a lot of fun.”

As for changes in Irish society since his move to the United States, Foran has looked on with surprise and delight. He cites the Irish vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment as an example and says he was elated by the result.

“I wasn’t surprised because I generally think most Irish people are fundamentally decent and fair, but I was absolutely thrilled. It was overwhelming to see the changes in society over the last 25 years or so.”

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Maynooth University

At the water’s edge Oceanographer Dr Gerard McCarthy’s brings “decadal climate prediction” to Ireland

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aynooth’s leadership in climate science continues to grow-just as public consciousness into the crisis (finally) starts to increase as well.

The latest contribution to scientific and societal understanding of climate change comes from a new €2 million research project led by Dr Gerard McCarthy of the ICARUS Climate Research Centre and Department of Geography that will improve our understanding of the links between Atlantic temperature trends and climate change.

Funded by the Marine Institute and the European Regional Development Fund, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Minister Michael Creed TD, said: “This funding will enable Maynooth University to increase the research capacity to broaden Ireland’s knowledge at a societal level, to better understand the ocean and climate change.

“The research will contribute to national climate adaptation as well as international climate policy, supporting enhanced forecasting capabilities and contributing to adaptation and mitigation strategies and actions.”

The ‘A4 Project’ will be supported by Professor Peter Thorne, Director of the ICARUS Climate Research Centre at Maynooth University, Professor Andrew Parnell, Dr Niamh Cahill, Dr Conor Murphy, and Dr Rowan Fealy. Maynooth’s lead team will utilise approximately two-

thirds of a total €2 million funding with the balance utilised by co-investigators in Trinity College Dublin, led by Dr Robin Edwards.

Guided by the goals of the Government’s national marine strategy ‘Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth’ and the ‘National Marine Research and Innovation Strategy 2017 – 2021’, the international ‘A4 Project’ marks a substantial investment by the Marine Institute in physical oceanography and climate change research in Ireland.

The project will bring the field of ‘decadal climate prediction’ to Ireland. This emerging field will lead to improved estimates of the future climate over the period of a decade by using the predictability of the ocean.

Dr McCarthy, who was recently awarded the prestigious Early Career Scientist medal by the International Association for the Physical Science of the Oceans, explained that over the next five years, the project will target three areas in which substantial progress can be made: ongoing Atlantic change, sea level rise, and decadal climate prediction. “As a small island on the edge of a large ocean, Atlantic changes impact Ireland more than any other country. When record global surface temperatures were reached in 2015, Ireland had below average temperatures due to a cool Atlantic,” he said.

“The reasons why Irish temperatures bucked the trend in 2015 requires a better understanding of Ireland’s place in a changing climate, and for this, we need to understand the changing Atlantic.”

The Atlantic’s future will differ from the rest of the world in response to a

changing climate, Dr McCarthy noted.

“This is primarily because the Gulf Stream system of currents, which gives Ireland its mild climate, is predicted to weaken. The time is ripe to build upon the observations of Ireland’s ocean, made by the Marine Institute over the past decades, to understand Ireland’s place on the edge of the changing Atlantic.” Advanced geological techniques will be adopted by the project team to reconstruct Ireland’s sea level, who will combine these estimates with the modern National Tide Gauge Network managed by the Marine Institute. This will allow us to better understand how sea levels have been changing around Ireland and the edges of the Atlantic. “Every nation needs to understand its own vulnerabilities to sea level rise as the effects are not the same everywhere,” Dr McCarthy said.

The ‘A4 Project’ is an important element underpinning implementation of the Marine Institute’s Strategic Plan 20182022 ‘Building Ocean Knowledge, Delivering Ocean Services’. The strategy aims to provide world-leading regional and localised forecasting outputs and services that support Ireland’s responding to changes in our ocean and climate.

The project name A4 stands for aigéin (oceans), aeráid (climate), agus athrú Atlantaigh (Atlantic change).

The project’s international partners are: National Oceanography Centre, UK; Scottish Association for Marine Science, UK; University of Bremen, Germany; BSH, Germany; University of Hamburg, Germany; National Center for Atmospheric Research, USA; Met Office, UK and Tufts University, USA.

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2016 BSc

PhD candidate (current) As the consumer and banking worlds increasingly move online, PhD student Hazel Murray is happy to be in the field that offers plenty of research and employment opportunities.

Graduating in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science and Maths Education, Hazel is now working on a PhD in the field of online password security and authentication.

“Security is so important in terms of our online world, and with the idea of Smart Cities and automated cars, none of that can happen without cybersecurity. We take for granted the process of authenticating ourselves online. There are so many areas of research open to us and I’m hoping that my

work will help solve some of the problems in the field.”

Hazel is developing a cost-benefit model for password policies. The standard password advice given by organisations is based on what they believe to be best practice but there’s scope for far more research in the area.

“Once I finish my PhD, I feel I could go into any sector with this kind of experience in cybersecurity. One of the areas I’ve looked at would be to become involved in making standards for authentication, and a lot of companies, certainly big companies, are hugely invested in their security online.

So I could be able to see some of the implementation of the research I’m working on.”

Hazel won a John Hume Scholarship for the first year of her PhD, and was awarded an Irish Research Council (IRC) Government of Ireland Postgraduate scholarship.

Alumni Profile

2016 Hazel Murray

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Hazel Murray with Dr David Malone, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics

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Maynooth University

#UnwantedIvanka The problem with Ivanka

Prof Maria Pramaggiore, Head of the Department of Media Studies at MU

The social media memes around Ivanka Trump’s G20 summit appearance reflect anger at her sense of entitlement, writes Professor Maria Pramaggiore, Department of Media Studies

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ur meme-driven global public sphere generated a potent hashtag on foot of this summer’s G20 summit in Japan: #unwantedIvanka.

Imaginative memes sprang up that photoshopped a serene, entitled Ivanka Trump into all sorts of unlikely places where her presence would be unwelcome and inappropriate.

She floats atop Freddie Mercury in the iconic four-shot of Queen singing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. She snuggles with the cast of the TV series Friends. She horns in on the budding romance between Jack and Rose on the bow of the Titanic.

One meme conflates the G20 summit with Take Your Daughter to Work Day. Writing for Common Dreams, Abby Zimet links the fictional historical chameleon character Zelig to this “Princess of Clueless Complicity”.

This meme fest responds directly to a video released by France’s Élysée Palace that was tweeted out by the BBC’s Parham Ghobadi,

which captures Ivanka’s attempts to discuss policy with political leaders such as Emmanuel Macron, Theresa May, Justin Trudeau, and Christine Lagarde. Whereas May politely looks Ivanka in the eye and speaks to her, Largarde stands in a dismissive profile, nearly rolling her eyes, and seeming insulted to be ambushed in this way.

In an interview with Elaina Plott published in The Atlantic in April, US president Donald Trump pre-mediated his daughter’s presence at the G20 meeting and the subsequent junket to North Korea. In the piece, Trump touted his daughter’s diplomatic skills and said that he had considered appointing her to head the World Bank, giving voice to a future political ambition.

“If she ever wanted to run for president,” the current US president said, “I think she’d be very, very hard to beat.” As Wired magazine’s Emma Grey Ellis points out, “Trump is the one copy-pasting his daughter into history. Twitter’s just joining in.”

Trump’s first term as President has seen the installation of his

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existent child sex ring run out of a DC pizza restaurant. The conspiracy eventually led to an armed man storming the restaurant.

Throughout the Democratic primaries and presidential campaign, critics deemed Clinton’s candidacy an attempt to create a “Clinton dynasty”. This was despite the fact that she had gained political experience and gravitas in her own right and was elected as a senator and appointed as Secretary of State.

This language of dynasty, some of which came from Bernie Sanders progressives, equated the Clintons’ rise to power in the 1980s with the four generations of the Bush family’s political influence, raising spectres of nepotism and plutocracy.

Ivanka’s yummy working mummy persona, as shaped by the media, the political punditry, and her own family’s PR efforts in 2016 and since, contrasts sharply with that of Clinton.

Yet Ivanka also is linked in sexual ways to a powerful man, namely, her father. More disturbingly, the incestuous implications often have been instigated by her father, for example, on The Howard Stern radio show and on TV chat show The View. During her stint as a White House advisor, she has been linked sexually to other powerful men. She forms part of the globetrotting power duo Javanka with her husband and is cast as someone hankering after Justin Trudeau (#thirstyIvanka).

But Ivanka Trump is part of an actual dynasty, although it is one based on celebrity, not politics (or at least not yet). Her roles as a surrogate First Lady for her father during the 2016 campaign and as White House advisor, invited to participate in all the important meetings with international dignitaries, feed into the view of Ivanka as the natural heir to her father. daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner in the White House as presidential advisors, although their qualifications and credentials, and even their ability to obtain security clearances, remain shrouded in mystery.

The derision aimed at Ivanka on social media reflect anger at her sense of entitlement, but do so through a specific narrative that inevitably employs sexuality to discuss women with access or proximity to political power.

From the earliest days of Trump’s campaign, Ivanka has been positioned as a presidential hopeful. She is the scion that would realise a Trump political dynasty, but also the heir(ess?) to Hillary Clinton’s historic aspiration to be the first woman president.

Ivanka’s ascent into the political limelight was intertwined with the dashed dreams of Clinton’s presidency and informed the debate about her father’s record of conduct towards women. She was the daughter who would humanise Trump and exert a liberalising effect, particularly on issues of climate, gender, race and sexuality.

But Ivanka’s influence–if she has indeed chosen to employ it–has failed to produce visible results, leading critics to mock her for her complicity, made most salient in the famous 2017 Saturday Night Live parody. The narratives that circulate around Ivanka - and indeed around most women with access to power - are fraught with sexual innuendo.

In the Pizzagate incident during the 2016 Presidential campaign, right wing Infowars founder Alex Jones linked Clinton to a non-

In the context of the Trump family brand, Ivanka is the child most associated with Donald’s business interests and political ambitions (and certainly hailed as the most successful).

It’s not what Ivanka has done but who she is that matters, which is what makes the #unwantedIvanka memes so viciously delicious.

They draw attention to her flawless presentation of clueless entitlement, which flies in the face of the idea that America is a land of opportunity for those with humble beginnings, including those who come to the US from elsewhere, who will be rewarded for hard work rather than favoured for their family ties.

The link between Ivanka and Donald offers a classic example of the way that, even in a contemporary era that is witnessing the resurgence of various feminisms, women’s access to power continues to be measured in sexual terms by proximity to a powerful man. It also speaks to the way that dynastic inheritance, rather than merit, has become a dangerously viable commodity in a nation that once prided itself on the American Dream.

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Maynooth University

Kathleen Lonsdale Institute for Human Health Research launched at MU Institute will offer unique multi-disciplinary approach to the study of key determinants of major societal health problems The Kathleen Lonsdale Institute for Human Health Research will address some of the major health problems facing society today, including obesity and antimicrobial resistance, as well as researching many chronic inflammatory diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.

Launched in October, the primary objective of the institute is to study key determinants of human health from childhood to adulthood, through to old age. Researchers at the institute will explore how environmental, psychological, behavioural and biological factors affect health.

Maynooth University President, Professor Philip Nolan, commented: “The Kathleen Lonsdale Institute for Human Health Research is an important development for Maynooth University in advancing research into major health problems and chronic disease.

“The institute draws on key disciplines and expertise at Maynooth, and the input of international academics, healthcare providers and industry stakeholders, to offer a holistic approach to the study of human health.” The institute will consist of approximately 40 groups featuring over 100 researchers from disciplines such as Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, and Computer Science as well researchers from other Maynooth University departments. While most of the groups will focus on the biology of diseases and treatment, researchers will also examine the various factors across the life course that determines health. Attending the launch, Kathleen Lonsdale’s son, Stephen Lonsdale, said his mother would have been delighted that the institute was named after her and spoke of her dedication to science. Professor Paul Moynagh, Head of the Department of Biology at Maynooth

University, noted: “Naming the institute after Kathleen Lonsdale is very appropriate as she encapsulates the ethos and culture of the institute in bringing together disparate approaches to address major health challenges facing society today.

“This uniquely collaborative approach that spans many scientific disciplines will provide a better understanding of these challenges as well as informing novel solutions. When we consider the common health issues affecting modern society, the research that will be conducted at the institute has significant potential and far reaching impacts.”

During the launch on October 25th, eight PhD scholarships were announced to work on human health related research as part of the new Maynooth University Doctoral Scholarships programme.

Blazing a Trail Born in Newbridge in 1903, Kathleen Lonsdale was a pioneer in the fields of chemistry and physics, and later applied her expertise to health issues of the day

By Arlene Harris

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Professor Paul Moynagh with Stephen Lonsdale, Kathleen’s son

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he late Kathleen Lonsdale’s son Stephen knows only too well how dedicated his mother was to scientific research throughout her life. Born in 1903 in Newbridge, County Kildare, few women of her era were science professors; fewer still would go on to make pioneering discoveries.

As a female academic in chemistry and physics, she was well ahead of her time and having made seminal findings in the use of X-rays to study crystals at the start of her career, applied this expertise to important medical and health issues in the latter part of her career.

“My mother, who moved to the UK as a child, was academically very talented but in addition, she had application and determination,” Stephen explained.

“Apparently she was back doing her

calculations just a few hours after giving birth to me.

“She was a crystallographer, which combines the disciplines of chemistry, physics and mathematics, and her main achievement, when she was in her twenties, was that she was able to prove the benzene ring was flat.”

This achievement was of considerable importance to organic chemistry, where it had been proposed before, but without proof. It would be the first of many ‘firsts’ achieved by Professor Kathleen Lonsdale.

“She was the first woman to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society (with Margery Stephenson), the first female president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the first woman president of the International Union of Crystallography.

“She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1956 and awarded the Davy Medal in 1957. And I believe she would be delighted and greatly flattered about the institute being named after her,” Stephen said.

Professor Paul Moynagh, Head of the Department of Biology at Maynooth

University and Director of the new Kathleen Lonsdale Institute for Human Health Research, commented: “We have a strong local connection with Kathleen Lonsdale but the fact that she was a female scientist is very significant as we are very proud that we won the Athena SWAN Bronze award (for gender equality) and many of our top researchers are women. The Institute fully supports women in science and Kathleen Lonsdale personifies this.”

Biologist Dr Fiona Walsh leads a study into antibiotic research and antimicrobial resistance which hopes to provide ways to stop the movement of resistance and help prolong the use of antibiotics to treat animal and human infections.

“Kathleen Lonsdale was a pioneer in using X-rays to study crystals, which was mainly a chemistry discipline then,” Dr Walsh said. “However, similar to the new institute, this technique can be used across disciplines to discover novel drug targets or understand how the outer parts of cells work. The new institute will help us look at scientific problems from several angles and find different novel solutions to problems such as antibiotic resistance.”

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Maynooth University

Can artificial intelligence reduce anxiety in the workplace?

Dr Souleiman Hasan and Dr Jon Gruda of the School of Business are exploring how Tweets can identify personality, characteristics and anxiety levels in the workplace

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nxiety levels, particularly at work, can often be overwhelming. It is widely known that the experience of high anxiety at work can lead to several negative personal as well as organisational outcomes, including burnout, sick days, absenteeism and high turnover.

However, the onset of anxiety is often not evident to the person experiencing it. If we are not able to identify the onset of our own anxiety, it makes it impossible for us to assess anxiety and the cause of that anxiety accurately. In addition, if asked to report

our anxiety levels after an important event (such as an important client presentation), we sometimes forget how anxious we were before.

Again, this makes it immensely difficult to establish a baseline for anxiety over time.

Finally, some people are just more anxious than others, and we need to consider these individual differences as well.

All of these reasons make it difficult to assess anxiety simply by asking others.

In our most recent research, we took on this challenge and developed a machinelearning tool to automatically detect the onset of anxiety levels through text.

So what does this mean exactly? Well, whenever we write to others about what we are currently doing, what we are thinking about, what or whom we have talked to, we generate and leave behind clues about

our feelings at the time. For example, when texting friends over the phone, many people do not use proper punctuation, such as a full stop at the end of every sentence.

However, whenever we’re angry or want to express that something is wrong, we begin to use full stops at the end of sentences, as if to say “pay attention, I’m using proper punctuation! Something is wrong!”

Although this marks a very small change, and the content of the message does not change at all, the person they are chatting to immediately knows that something is wrong.

As researchers, we can look back at such texts and make certain guesses about the texter’s feelings at that particular time. Over time, the accumulation of such clues can be used to identify participants’ personality and characteristics.

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Organisations could use an anxiety detection tool to help ensure employees’ well-being and prevent situations of excessive anxiety.

An ideal place to look for such clues is Twitter. It has over 330 million monthly active users, who produce on average 6,000 tweets per second or 500 million tweets per day. Tweeting is quick, short, and mostly captures what is going on at any particular moment. The question then becomes how we can get a machine to score anxiety within text, so the process can be automated. The answer can be found in the artificial intelligence domain of machine learning.

First, a set of tweets which are related to the workplace have been distributed to a set of human raters who use a scale developed within the psychometrics to measure anxiety.

Secondly, the resulting labelled tweets are used to learn a software model that can replicate how humans rated the tweets.

Finally, the learned model is run on new tweets and anxiety scores are predicted.

This research used publicly accessible tweets to demonstrate the concept as they allow us to measure anxiety levels in a noninvasive, naturally-occurring setting, and also give us more insight in the changes of anxiety in individuals over time.

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However, microblog-type data can be found anywhere, and specifically at the workplace.

For instance, many organisations now use Slack, which allows employees to discuss and share thoughts and expertise on various project issues. Data should not be interpreted at an individual level, but rather in an aggregated anonymised level to find patterns.

As with any other technology, cautions have to be taken. Firstly, artificial intelligence can make errors, which can statistically be more likely when considering an individual piece of text, than with many pieces of text.

Secondly, the privacy of users has to be respected. These two concerns lead in a direction where data should not be interpreted at an individual level, but rather in an aggregated anonymised level to find patterns such as increased anxiety in the organisation overall, for instance.

Organisations could use an anxiety detection tool to help ensure employees’ well-being and prevent situations of excessive anxiety. Knowing that employees are experiencing increased anxiety levels, organisations could ensure that training seminars or counselling services are provided to help reduce anxiety. Such actions could prevent burnout and sick days, as employees would feel that their employers care about their employees’ well-being.

MU and Intel strengthen partnership

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aynooth University and Intel Ireland signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in March to establish a strategic partnership for research and innovation, and to nurture future talent.

President Technology Manufacturing Group, marking a new chapter in the relationship between Ireland’s fastest growing university and the global leader in manufacturing and technology.

The President of Maynooth University, Prof Philip Nolan, said: “As neighbouring institutions in the fastest growing region within the fastest growing economy in Europe, it is fitting to put in place a

future.” Eamonn Sinnott, General Manager of Intel Ireland and Vice President of Intel’s Technology Manufacturing Group, said: “Since officially becoming the modern university that we know today in 1997, Maynooth has adopted a strong focus on research, innovation and on creating learning environments that are considerate of a dynamic and ever-changing society.”

The two organisations will co-operate to nurture research and innovation in areas of growth potential, such as Maynooth’s U-Flyte project on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (co-funded by SFI and industry partners), artificial intelligence, design and innovation.

The partnership also will seek to explore ways to work together on topics such as emerging skills and talent needs, and extending diversity in education, including the representation of women in STEMrelated education programmes and STEM careers.

The agreement was signed by Maynooth University President, Professor Philip Nolan, and Eamonn Sinnott, General Manager of Intel Ireland and Vice

Cillian Donnelly, graduate from the Department of Media Studies, Maynooth University and Senior Product Design Engineer, Intel; Tzirath Perez, Computer Science student at Maynooth University and framework howSinnott, Maynooth intern in Intel, for Eamonn GeneralUniversity Manager Intel Ireland; Professor Philip Nolan, President Maynooth University Alison Hood, into Deanthe of Teaching and Learning, Maynooth University and Intel can growand ourDrpartnership

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Maynooth University

Turkish writer and political thinker Ece Temelkuran who delivered the Dean’s Lecture, with Prof Colin Graham, Dean of Arts, Celtic Studies and Philosophy

Maynooth University Research Week 2019 Research Week 2019 showcased spectacular exhibitions, music, and world-class lectures spanning global politics, the search for new planets, as well as fun events, competitions and concerts.

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ward-winning Turkish writer and author of the acclaimed book How to Lose a Country – The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship delivered the annual Dean’s Lecture. She was welcomed by Prof Colin Graham, Dean of Arts, Celtic Studies and Philosophy, who paid tribute to her work.

Described as “essential” reading by Booker Prize-winning author Margaret Atwood, Temelkuran’s How to Lose a Country outlines how authoritarianism and populism have taken hold of politics in

Turkey and elsewhere in the contemporary world.

Prof Maria Pramaggiore in her Inaugural Lecture ‘Princess President? Gender, Power and the Meme-ing of Ivanka Trump’ discussed the world-wide impact of viral social memes that followed Ivanka Trump’s interaction with global leaders at the G20 summit.

Dr Paul Ryan shared his research on the growth of digital intimacy in Ireland in his talk ‘From Instagram to OnlyFans: The Creation

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MU Research By the Numbers University Rankings 300-350 Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019

50th in the world Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2019

Publications with Impact 2018 34 Books published 15% Of 2018 publications in top 10% of cited publications worldwide (field weighted)

52% Publications with international collaborators

Christopher Phillips and Shirley Howe, PhD students at the Dept of Geography with Dr Conor Murphy, Department of Geography and ICARUS

542 Publications listed in Scopus database

Innovation & Impact 2018 60 New collaborations with industry 7 Licence agreements

Talent Development 2017/18 115 New Postgraduate Research Students 86 Research Graduates

Research Grant Awarded 2018/19 €21,350,595 Total value of research

grants awarded

175 Research Grants

of Digital Intimacy in the Lives of Migrant Male Sex Workers.’

Fans of the next frontier of space exploration heard astrophysicist Dr Emma Whelan’s lecture on the search for planets outside our solar system in her talk, ‘Planet Hunters: How Maynooth University Astronomers are Searching for New Worlds.’ An exhibition of astronomical images taken by MU students in the Observatoire de Haute Provence, titled ‘Maynooth’s Eye on the Universe’ ran throughout the week.

Dr Iain McCurdy of the Department of Music outlined the results of a sonic survey of Maynooth University’s bats in his captivating talk ‘Encountering Maynooth’s Bats.’

Winners of the 3-minute thesis – Postgraduate (l-r); Sarah Jane Larragy, Department of Biology; Hazel Dunbar, Department of Biology and Chelsey Collins, Department of Early Irish

A blend of music and technology also inspired an interactive ‘Virtual Chapel’ recreating the acoustics and reverberant quality of St Patrick’s College Chapel.

Prof Sinéad McGilloway and Dr Catriona O’Toole discussed the latest research on child wellbeing in schools, while Dr Tatiana Andreeva from the School of Business hosted an interactive workshop on shaping a future healthcare system.

A host of fun events took place including ‘Ignite’ researchers’ quick-fire presentations of their work, a fast-moving 3 Minute Thesis competition, and ‘Dr Mindflip’s’ immersive physics learning experience in a custom-designed vintage caravan.

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Maynooth University

Ireland during the Renaissance: a remarkably vibrant place Ireland’s 16th and early 17th centuries may have been dominated by war and rebellion, but it was also a surprisingly bookish era, writes Professor Pat Palmer

I

reland never features in traditional accounts of the European Renaissance. While literature and the arts flourished elsewhere, all that happened in Ireland during the late 16th and early 17th centuries seems to have been war, rebellion, famine, defeat and plantation.

Early modern Ireland was a time of tumultuous change. The defeat of Hugh O’Neill and his Confederates at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, effectively ended Irish resistance to the Tudor conquest.

The subsequent exodus of the leaders of the old Gaelic families, including the O’Neills and O’Donnells in the “Flight of the Earls” of 1607 cleared the way to English rule across the island, and left Ulster open to plantation.

These changes were epochal. Gaelic society lost its power bases, the lordships of the Gaelic and Gaelicised élite that sustained and encouraged native culture and learning, and English law, language and landownership would transform every aspect of Irish society.

But what was lost in that dramatic and, for many, calamitous transformation?

Irish society in the years between Henry VIII’s assumption of the kingship of Ireland in 1541 and the Flight of the Earls was anything but a society in freefall heading inexorably towards defeat. Rather, it was a remarkably vibrant place, where several cultural traditions and languages flourished, sometimes in dialogue, sometimes clashing.

The English newcomers, agents of the conquest, funnelled the energies of the English Renaissance into what was a surprisingly bookish conquest: this was a conflict where words mattered as much as swords. When we think of the Tudor conquest of Ireland, we often only remember works written in English.

The colonial administrator and the epic poet Edmund Spenser wrote the greatest epic of the English Renaissance, The Faerie Queene, largely in Kilcolman Castle, which he was given as part of the spoils of victory during the Munster Plantation.

What of the Irish themselves? All too often, Irish culture doesn’t fully come into focus in accounts of this period. Yet, Irish culture

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The challenge for scholars is to capture the full complexity of Irish society in this period, in a way that includes the various ethnicities (Gaelic, Old English, New English, but also French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch), languages (Irish, English, Latin, Spanish, Italian) and cultural traditions active on the island.

The MACMORRIS project seeks to do exactly that by reassembling the full cast list of cultural players, across languages and cultures, active in early modern Ireland. The project aims to provide an annotated, interactive map of all cultural players – poets, pamphleteers, administrators, chroniclers, catechists, controversialists, theologians, translators, messengers interpreters, inventors, innovators, patrons and members of the aois ealadhan (the learned classes) – operating in Ireland from roughly 1541 to 1620.

IRC Laureate awarded to Prof Patricia Palmer for first-ever digital map of Ireland’s vibrant 16th century ‘Renaissance’

was notably dynamic at this time and writers in both Irish and, to a lesser extent, English, captured the drama and energy of the age.

Irish alchemist, poet and historian, Richard Stanihurst, wrote a Chronicle history of Ireland in a colloquial vernacular that captures the vigour of the English of the Pale. His experimental translation of Virgil’s Aeneid anticipates Joyce’s disruptive way with language.

But all too often, literature in Irish gets left out of the account.

The culture of early modern Ireland is narrated as though Ireland were already English-speaking. We rely largely on accounts of the English – in the State Papers as well as in literature – for the story of the country and its inhabitants. Inevitably, that is a partial and distorted account. The victors may write history but they do not – and cannot – write the full story. Irish sources for the period do but the dominance of English - one of the most dramatic consequences of the conquest - means they are often left out of the account.

Yet, schools of Gaelic medicine, law and poetry flourished. The lords of the Gaelic and the (largely Gaelicised) Old English aristocracy all patronised poetry: almost every lord had an ollamh or chief poet who served as a counsellor and adviser. Poetry was not just a recreational aside from politics; it was politics.

Image Credit: Creative Commons Licence

The poets, patrons and political activists of the most culturally rich and tumultuous period of Ireland’s history will be digitally mapped for the first time in a project created by Maynooth University’s Prof Patricia Palmer of the English Department.

The MACMORRIS project (‘Mapping Actors and Contexts: Modelling Research in Renaissance Ireland in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century’) was awarded just under €11 million from the Irish Research Council. The project sets out to recover the vibrancy and complexity of Ireland’s transformative years between Henry VIII’s assumption of the kingship of Ireland in 1541 and the Flight of the Earls in 1607.

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Maynooth University

E

verybody likes to feel at home. As people get older, they like, if possible, to stay at home–part of a community that knows and recognises them.

Now, SHAPES, a major new health research project led by Maynooth University, is undertaking research aimed at helping Europe’s ageing population to live actively and independently at home in their communities with the support of assisted living technology.

Cooke, Assistant Professor in Applied Psychology.

“The emphasis is on providing quality communities and living experiences which will lead to maintaining people in their homes,” says Prof Mac MacLachlan.

As part of a human-centred design approach, older people will drive the identification of the key challenges of ageing and how best to optimise the impact of technologies to empower and support people to live the lives they would like to lead.

“As of now, we have a lot of different technologies available to older people and people with disabilities. Someone might have a hearing aid, a wheelchair, home sensors and perhaps a ‘smart’ pillbox - but they don’t necessarily all work together.

We want to bring assistive technologies together with connected health.

“We’re looking at the interactions between humans and technology because, all too often, technology developers and innovators can come up with new devices that don’t meet the needs of ordinary people in their own contexts,” says Dr Michael Cooke.

The SHAPES acronym stands for Smart and Healthy Ageing through People Engaging in supportive Systems – it is about a positive approach to ageing.

“This might mean, for instance, that we have clinicians doing online assessments, with sensors providing them with information on respiratory rates and apps telling them about a person’s physical activity during the day.

Mac MacLachlan, Professor of Psychology and Social Inclusion at Maynooth’s Department of Psychology, and Co-Director of the Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute, is co-leading the SHAPES project alongside Dr Michael

For some older people, robotics could be helpful [to get them out of bed and onto their feet]. For others, it could be an app that connects them to activities in the community, whether that’s badminton, art classes or something else entirely.”

“We focus on usability so that older people can focus on what they can achieve with the technology, rather than worrying about how it is supposed to work.”

Maynooth is one of 36 partners across 14 European countries in the SHAPES consortium. SHAPES is funded to the tune of circa €21m, and is the largest European

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Might robots and ageing go hand in hand?

If you ask MU’s experts–and more importantly, the older people who use them–only a human-centred approach will do. The new €21 million MU-led SHAPES project is the largest ever European Commission-funded health research grant led by an Irish university, and aims to do just that.

By Peter Maguire

(l-r) Dr Michael Cooke, Assistant Prof in Applied Psychology; Dr Deirdre Desmond, Associate Prof, Department of Psychology and Co-Director of the ALL Institute; Dr Rudi Villing, Assistant Prof in the Department of Electronic Engineering and Prof Mac MacLachlan, Co-Director of the ALL Institute, with PAL TIAGo robot funded with the support of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)

Commission funded health research grant ever led by an Irish university. Irish partners include UCC and Access Earth Ltd (a Maynooth Campus Company); along with the University of Ulster and Northern Heath and Social Service Trust, in Northern Ireland. “This project is highly interdisciplinary,” Dr Cooke explains.

“Here at Maynooth, we are working with our Anthropology Department (Dr Jamie Saris), because anthropology has a tradition of carrying out research through closely engaging with people where they live and work. Around Europe, we are working with engineers and computer scientists in small to medium enterprises and large industrial organisations.”

Some of the biggest challenges are around ethics and privacy: who has access to information generated by apps or computer programmes and who controls it? This also has legal implication and Dr Delia Ferri, from the Maynooth Law Department will contribute to this important element of the project. “We need to ensure that products and systems are fit for purpose but also designed in such a way that

they are consistent with EU privacy and human rights regulations, while also maintaining the dignity of the individual.” says Dr Cooke.

Older people are a growing segment of society. Dr Deirdre Desmond, Associate Professor in Maynooth’s Department of Psychology and Co-Director of ALL, notes: “Opportunities to promote active ageing and address the challenges associated with ageing are of increasing importance and scale. I’m really excited about the potential for the SHAPES interdisciplinary approach to bridge the gap between technological innovations and their integration in the domain of smart and healthy ageing.”

This integration will also be strengthened

by ALL members from the Departments of Engineering (Dr Rudi Villing), Design (Prof David Prendergast), and another Psychology Department member, Dr Rebecca McGuire, all at Maynooth University.

ALONE, a charity that supports older people to age happily and securely at home, provides support, befriending and practical services. “Older people want to age at home

and in mainstream housing,” says Gráinne Loughran of ALONE. “Technology can be designed to be accessible and easy to use. There are a range of different home and wearable sensors, apps and devices that help us to monitor a person’s blood pressure, a home’s temperature and more.”

Loughran believes that initiatives such as SHAPES will become increasingly important: “Today, we can send a technology engagement officer or support coordinator if we identify problems. We also have an app called BeWell which asks daily questions about whether a person left the house that day, how their mood is and how they are feeling, which can help them to take care of their own health.”

However, SHAPES reaches well beyond scientific discovery and into implementation.

It’s main focus is on demonstrating how different technologies, community initiatives, and health and welfare services, can be combined to provide a healthy, positive and sustaining life as people age at home, in their own community.

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Maynooth University

2012

David Pollard

2012 BA

Innovation Projects Manager The Rehab Group Just how David Pollard ’12 came to be featured in a Forbes magazine article illustrates the round-about ways in which milestones in his life have often resulted from a perfect triumvirate of chance, luck and resilience.

In 2018, a journalist from Forbes wrote a piece offering businesses advice on how assistive technologies can make workplaces more disability-friendly. She wrote, “Once you hear David Pollard speak about helping people with disabilities, you’ll be a convert to the power of assistive technology. In fact, you will probably wonder why more U.S. companies aren’t doing exactly what he and his colleagues are doing in Ireland.”

Ministers return to alma mater to open €14.1 million School of Education T

wo proud alumni of Maynooth University: Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh, TD, and Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor, TD, returned to MU in February 2019 to officially open the €14.1 million School of Education.

The outstanding contribution of Maynooth University to the education system and teaching profession in Ireland was highlighted at the official opening of its School of Education. The Ministers paid tribute to Maynooth’s strengths in providing outstanding teacher education, innovative research, and in preparing a new generation of education leaders.

The centre is providing capacity for the rapid growth in student enrolment to the University’s three education departments, which have expanded from 700 to 1,400 since 2014.

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The article describes the innovative work Pollard, a 2012 Maynooth grad, has done in his myriad roles.

As Innovation Projects Manager at The Rehab Group, Pollard travels around centres in Ireland “understanding a person’s challenges as opposed to their disability” and looks for solutions, often with technology. Maybe it’s as simple as finding the best free app for someone who is deaf so others can communicate with them. Or maybe it’s something even more lifechanging.

The Forbes piece features Pollard assisting one of the people he works, Lisa, to improve her work and home environments and increase her independence.

He created a smart room for Lisa at the centre.

Using cheap and mainstream technologies like Bluetooth blinds from Ikea and linked via an Amazon Alexa, Lisa was able to control her environment more independently, which meant doing everyday things such as turning on Netflix, turning on and off the lights, or sending messages and calls using eye-tracking technologies.

“Lisa has challenges verbally communicating, but we worked out a system to enable her to communicate what she wanted, when she wanted,” Pollard said. “One day earlier this year, using the technologies provided to her, Lisa let the staff know remotely that she’d be late coming into the centre. An hour later, her mom called to tell them the same thing but they already knew because Lisa had done it completely independently. This might seem like a trivial thing to many of us, but having this independence to simply let someone know your plans is empowering.”

Small-scale interventions like this are at the heart of Pollard’s work, but it’s been through building networks online and in the start-up scene where his efforts are being magnified— and in a big way.

The Forbes journalist discovered him leading a Twitter chat about education, accessibility and inclusion that went viral.

He co-founded Learning Tech Labs, “a community of Educators, L&D professionals, Entrepreneurs, Developers, Designers, and anyone interested in changing the face of learning. With over 3,300 members, Learning Tech Labs is one of the fastest growing EdTech communities in Europe.” He recently stepped away from the company to found Start-up Week Dublin, supported by Dublin City Council and Enterprise Ireland. This sees over 5,000 people throughout Dublin attend over 70 events in the city over 5 days to celebrate entrepreneurship and innovation.

Without a doubt, Pollard has carved himself a unique career niche at the intersection to of accessibility, inclusion, technology, education and entrepreneurship. Getting there, however, was anything but straightforward.

The Offaly native failed maths on his Leaving Certificate and failed second year twice during his Arts degree at Maynooth. But in 2012, when he graduated with a degree in English and Geography after five years—“the longest arts degree in history,” he said—he focused on what he took from the experience, not where he came up short.

“Achieving my arts degree was one of my proudest moments, even though it took so long. It’s always been the foundation for me.

The fact I did it was so important for me, the resilience it teaches. If I hadn’t gotten through

With a history in teacher education dating back to 1926, Maynooth University is unique in Ireland as the first institution providing the full spectrum of teacher education from early childhood to adult education. More than 600 education graduates each year from Maynooth make a vital contribution to our education system.

This includes early childhood education, primary teachers, second level teachers, higher education teachers, guidance counsellors and school leaders. A centre for research in education, the university has over 80 people engaged in doctoral degrees in education, including adult education.

Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh, TD, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1992, and a Higher Diploma in Education in 1993, said: “Maynooth’s record in Irish education is a long and proud one – defined not only by excellence and evidence-based research, but by its understanding of the roles teachers can play in shaping lives and indeed communities.”

Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor, TD, who graduated with a Master of Education Degree (M.Ed.) in 2002, said: “Maynooth University has been a beacon of leadership in teacher education for generations and continues to innovate to show us the way into the future.”

Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh, TD and Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor, TD with Sarah McMorrow, B Ed Primary Teaching student in the Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education

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the arts degree I don’t think I would have gotten through my Master’s.”

On his academic struggles to that point, he said, “It was based on my own lack of understanding about how to learn.”

From then on, thinking about just how people learn became a theme in his work, as was the subject of resilience.

Through his Master’s degree he found some of the most resilient people he’d ever met, people within the disabled community. After sending out 50 applications for his teaching practice, he was placed by Rehab Group affiliate National Learning Networks to work with individuals with intellectual disabilities.

“I loved it from Day One. It was fun in the classroom with my learners, but I also saw first-hand the limitations set by society and that frustrated me so much.”

So Pollard started connecting these communities of people to the tech world, introducing 3-D printing, coding, and robotics. He started running an inclusive coding environment at TCD’s Science Gallery and ran an accessibility hackathon in Dublin with the support of the Dublin City Council.

Pollard reflected on his career path: “After college I reflected on my failures and realized that I hadn’t immersed myself into the learning contexts I was in and felt disconnected. To ensure this didn’t happen again, I decided to create my own immersive learning experiences, built a personal learning network around me, and asked questions of everyone I met. I accept that I’m privileged to have a second chance, so my goal is to create—I hope—positive opportunities and paths for others.”

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Maynooth University

What was it like to go to the doctor in medieval Ireland?

Dr Deborah Hayden of the Department of Early Irish explores life before vaccines, modern anaesthesia and popping into the chemist for some paracetamol

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collection of over 100 Irish-language medical manuscripts, copied between roughly 1400 and 1700, contain texts on topics ranging from anatomy and pathology to health regimen and herbalism.

Most of these manuscripts, now preserved in libraries across Ireland and further afield, were compiled as reference handbooks for practising physicians in Ireland and Gaelicspeaking Scotland, many of whom belonged to learned families involved in medical practice over successive generations.

Although the majority of the medical texts produced by these families were written entirely or mostly in the Irish language, a large proportion of them consist of translations or adaptations of Latin scientific works studied in the continental universities that emerged around the 12th century in places like Paris, Montpellier and Bologna.

The surviving Irish medical manuscripts do not contain many case-histories of individual patients. However, occasional notes added to the margins of some texts

do provide glimpses into the lives and experiences of their scribes, who often travelled to receive training, gain access to material not available at home or provide medical services.

While many of the Irish medical texts reflect familiarity with the curricula of the late-medieval universities, some material survives that sheds light on the practice of medicine in Ireland long before those centres of learning were established. Thus one medical manuscript compiled in the 15th century includes a unique copy of a legal text, first written down almost 800 years earlier, that details the compensation due to Irish physicians for treating various types of injuries.

The text explains that a particularly high fee would be payable to a doctor called upon to treat any of the so-called “doors of the soul” in the human body. These were evidently understood as places that were particularly vulnerable to injury due to the proximity of a major vein or artery, and where a doctor would have to demonstrate good training and skill in making surgical incisions. A small slip of the knife could have the serious consequence of causing substantial blood loss, potentially resulting in the death of the patient – here symbolised by the escape of the soul from its bodily prison.

In some cases, the Irish medical manuscripts preserve material that reflects belief in the power of charms and other kinds of magical practices to heal patients of various ailments. Such cures were often based on the idea that one could draw a symbolic likeness between cause and effect, as

Even medieval doctors’ handwriting was hard to decipher: remedies for eye ailments from a fifteenth-century Irish medical compendium (Image reproduced by permission of the Royal Irish Academy ©RIA)

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when a remedy found in a 16th-century medical manuscript advises men suffering from impotence to burn the testicles of a boar and drink the resulting ashes in wine. Here, the idea is seemingly that one might cure the afflicted part of the body by consuming the corresponding part of some animal considered to be particularly fertile (warning: don’t try this at home!)

While similar remedies are attested in medieval medical writings from other parts of western Europe and may reflect borrowing from a common source or from one language to another, they are often transmitted anonymously in the Irish manuscripts.

Occasionally, however, Irish medical scribes tried to situate the origin of their learning in a very local context.

For example, one compilation of herbal cures for various ailments attributes several remedies to the authority of members of the Irish supernatural race known as the

Túatha Dé Danann, whose activities are recounted in Irish mythological tradition from as early as the 9th century.

There is still much more that we have to learn about medical practice in medieval Ireland.

The majority of the surviving Irish-language medical texts have never been transcribed or translated for a modern audience, and there are many challenges involved in interpreting their contents.

As medieval medical scribes typically wrote on vellum, a material made from expensive calf-skin, they often sought to save space

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on the page by employing abbreviations that can be difficult to decipher. Many of their texts also contain technical terms that are unrecorded in modern dictionaries of the Gaelic languages.

The study of these texts is not an impossible task, however. Many recent technological advances, such as the availability of digital images of many Irish manuscripts through the Irish Script on Screen project run by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (www.isos.dias.ie), have been revolutionising the way that historians access medieval texts and analyse their contents.

Resources such as these have made it infinitely easier for scholars all over the world to unlock the many secrets, curiosities and tricks of the trade recorded by medieval Irish medical scribes, offering us an opportunity to paint a much more complete picture of Ireland’s cultural, linguistic and scientific heritage.

Podcast on: www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2018/1113/1010637-what-was-it-like-to-go-tothe-doctor-in-medieval-ireland/

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Maynooth University

Into the blue space: The joys of outdoor swimming We know the physical and mental benefits of outdoor swimming, but we should pay more attention to the places and spaces where swimmers meet, writes Dr Ronan Foley from the MU Department of Geography

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fter the first day of the long hot summer of 2018, most newspapers had images of leaping teenagers plunging into water. As well as being a rite of passage, there is general agreement that swimming is of value for physical and mental health.

Health psychology and neuroscience provide substantial evidence on the mental health benefits. In addition, organisations like Swim Ireland and Healthy Ireland promote swimming for its value as a life-skill, for health and safety and for fitness and physical activity.

As a health geographer, I would argue we need to pay more attention to the places and spaces where swimming happens and to think about why blue places and spaces are important in promoting swimming as a free, shared and caring activity for all.

The focus of my research has always been on outdoors and noncompetitive swimmers and reflects the increasing public interest in swimming. It’s a very Zeitgeist topic with the publication of new guides, the developing idea of ‘wild’ swimming and interesting

work by writers and artists like Ruth Fitzmaurice, Philip Hoare, Vanessa Daws and Gary Coyle.

Geography these days is less about capitals and rivers and more about places and spaces. My research explores the wider idea of therapeutic landscapes and what we might call health-enabling places, including “blue space”, and how particular locations and environments are seen and used to improve and maintain our physical and emotional health. If we think of urban parks as green spaces, then blue spaces are water-based, such as beaches, coasts, lakes, rivers, canals and reservoirs.

Research on blue space links activities such as swimming to measurable health benefits like stress-reduction, nature-connection or attention-restoration, while a recent ESRI paper argues that a view of the sea improves depression scores. My own research is based on interviews and oral history research with outdoor swimmers that incorporates new spatial video methods.

Questions on how swimmers value their swimming places were carried out at coastal locations like the 40 Foot, Seapoint and the Vico (Dublin), the Guillamene (Tramore) and the Pollock Holes (Kilkee), as well as inland places like the River Barrow and Lough Owel.

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All of these places and spaces have many things in common. They are public, open, free and shared, where people of all generations, shapes, sizes and capabilities all meet up in ways they might rarely do otherwise. Almost all swimmers describe the value of swimming to their health and well-being in lots of different ways. Most importantly, swimmers explain this really eloquently. They think they have nothing to say but as they speak a rich voice emerges from the water, echoing the depth of their own place connection.

For outdoor swimmers, there are clear physical benefits, especially for brittle older bodies, for which other forms of weight-bearing exercise are not possible. As one Guillamene swimmer put it, “it’s good exercise … in the sense that you’re not putting any strain on your joints... my wife often says to me, she doesn’t know anyone my age that isn’t on a stick”.

For people with disabilities, it is an especially important place where it becomes possible to make a body that is disabled on land becomes enabled in the water. At the 40 Foot, a swimmer noted a woman with multiple sclerosis. “Her great thing was to swim with her husband. He’d wheel her down in her wheelchair … every single day ... the water was life for her really … she could swim or she could stay afloat with little movements that she couldn’t do in

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the wheelchair”. A man with arthritis put it even more succinctly:

“The only time I don’t limp is when I am in the water.”

From a mental health perspective, swimmer’s stories reflect the typical benefits listed by psychologists, namely, de-stressing, attention-restoration and nature-connection. To de-stress is the opposite of distress; swimmers’ stories always mention escaping from the pressure cooker of everyday life and letting it all go in the water. In a wonderfully ironic way one swimmer said, “when things are complicated in your life and you have no solid ground to put your foot down, the sea is that for me’.

In the clamour of a world where attention is the new commodity, many swimmers express the value of swimming as a way to unplug and switch off. A phone signal doesn’t follow you in to the water.

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world by the Times Higher Education (THE)

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• Ranked in the Top 200 universities in Europe

If you’re thinking about a career change, a leg-up in your current job, or simply deepening your knowledge in a specific subject area – there’s no time like now. maynoothuniversity.ie/postgraduate maynoothuniversity.ie/postgraduate

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International archer sets sights on Tokyo 2020

2015

Alumni Profile

Kerry Leonard is targeting the 2020 Paralympic Games and has recently returned from an intensive training programme in South Africa 2015 BBS (Equine Business)

From Culmullen, Co Meath, Kerrie graduated with a BBS in Equine Business from Maynooth’s School of Business in 2015. She grew up on a farm and has been a wheelchair user since the age of six, having been injured in a farm accident.

Kerrie competed internationally in archery during her time in Maynooth and holds Ireland’s student archery record. Speaking about her disability she says: “I have grown up with it and it gives you a very different perspective on life…some of which has to do with the fact that I have to look up at everyone! It isn’t who I am but it has made me who I am.”

photo credit: Marc O’Sullivan

Brian Pennie 2017 BA (Psychology)

Brian overcame considerable challenges in life before he entered third-level education.

Growing up in Blanchardstown, Dublin, he was a talented footballer and planned to go to college, but at the age of 14, he found drugs.

“Several traumatic events as a child primed me for a life of anxiety, and when I was 17, I found heroin. It was the only thing that ever took the anxiety away,” he explains.

He held down a job as a ‘functional addict’ for many years, but in the end, he lost everything, including his health, his job, and every important relationship in his life. He finally decided to look for help, and on the 8th of October 2013, Brian spent his first day clean after 15 years of chronic heroin addiction.

While in detox, he became fascinated by human suffering, and how it might be alleviated, so instead of perceiving his addiction as a failure, he embraced a second chance at life and went to Maynooth University to delve deeper into his experience.

Brian came top of his psychology class in both his second and third years. He also won best dissertation and has since received Irish Research Council scholarships for his Master’s and PhD research in Trinity College Dublin. He also lectures in Trinity College and UCD teaching the neuroscience of addiction and mindfulness.

Brian is also a motivational speaker and his memoir will be released in spring 2020.

He says of MU: “I couldn’t have done it without Maynooth University. I was an ‘aggressive learner,’ but my lecturers were incredibly patient with me, and always gave me their time. I have such fond memories of my time in Maynooth.”

Alumni Profile

2017

After graduating from Maynooth, Kerrie worked at Dell Ireland and graduated in July this year with a Master’s in Marketing from Smurfit Graduate Business School. But right now, Kerrie is taking aim for Tokyo 2020.

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Maynooth University

MU Sport

Winning Maynooth Senior Team captain, Eimear Lafferty, raises the CUFL trophy

On the pitch or in the gym, MU athletes are standing out–and gaining some invaluable leadership skills to boot Soccer

Six MU intervarsity soccer squads competed in third level competition in 2018-19. With starts for all squads in a regional league group series of matches, semester 1 produced an actionpacked programme of games. The MU Men’s and Women’s Senior squads qualified for quarter-final and semi-finals respectively.

In February, the Men’s B and Fresher squads progressed to the Division 2 and Division 3 National Finals, which took place in the FAI headquarters at Abbotstown. The Men’s B squad were beaten in their final by a strong Ulster University Senior team, while the Freshers defeated IADT Dun Laoghaire to be crowned the Colleges and Universities Football League Division 3 Champions for the third time in four years.

It was a particularly outstanding year for MU women’s soccer.

The Women’s Senior Colleges & Universities Football League final took place in the Athlone Town stadium in early March, with Maynooth’s Lauren Kelly and Emma Byrne making their presence felt. Ably supported by a stalwart Maynooth defence, the final result went MFC’s way as they raised their third Women’s Premier Division trophy in five years. The squad also reached the Intervarsity Cup Final but were beaten by UCC on penalties.

Maynooth University Town FC (weekend football club) made great progress this year with the Men’s senior squad winning the Leinster Senior League Senior 1 Division, and achieved promotion to the LSL top Sunday division. Former Maynooth University Soccer scholar, Amber Barrett (BA 2017), signed a professional contract with German club, FC Cologne. Making a summer move to Germany this year, Amber has established herself as a vital goal scorer in the Irish senior women’s international squad.

GAA

The 2018-2019 GAA season was one to remember for the University’s Camogie Team. In semester one the team set their sights on the third-level CCAO Division One league. The team won all of its league group games, defeating DCU, UCD, DIT and UUJ to reach the league semi-final. A narrow defeat to an experienced WIT team in the league semi-final highlighted the immense progress the team has made in recent years.

The team’s attention then turned to the Purcell Cup championship campaign. The group stage got off to a fantastic start when MU defeated LIT 3-09 to 0-07 and UUJ 2-15 to 1-04 before defeating Cork IT away during exam period 2-10 to 1-03. The final group

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game came against a strong Garda College side, with MU pulling out a narrow one-point victory. The team packed their bags and headed to the Mallow GAA complex in Cork for the third-level championship finals.

A strong MU performance saw off a tricky DIT side in the semi-final, winning on a score line of 1-11 to 0-04. After a quick turnaround the MU fighting spirit was on full show as the senior team defeated the reigning 2018 Purcell Cup champions NUIG in the final to finally win the elusive Purcell Cup. Incredible performances were displayed by all MU players, particularly senior players (now MU grads) Cheyenne and Fia O’Brien (Meath Senior), Eve O’Brien (Dublin Senior), Niamh Doyle (Carlow Senior) and Sarah Walsh (Offaly Senior), ensuring they left MU with great sporting memories and an All-Ireland medal.

All-Star awards were awarded to team captain and all-round inspirational leader Linda Bolger (Wexford Senior) and Club chairperson and goalkeeper supremo, Niamh Doyle. The celebrations flowed as the team brought the coveted All-Ireland Purcell Cup back to campus and were announced as Clubs & Societies Club of the Year.

Rugby

The 2018-19 season was one for the MU Barnhall rugby history books with league wins for both the women’s and men’s XVs. MU Barnhall is now firmly established as one of the largest rugby clubs in Ireland.

The Women’s XV were victorious in their Leinster League Division 3 campaign after defeating Trinity in a well-contested match during Leinster Rugby women’s finals day at Naas RFC. Player of the season Lia Brannigan was a reliable influence in full-back and often showed an eye for counterattack. Maynooth had interprovincial representation through Keelin Brady, part of the Ulster Women’s squad, and Ciara Carbery and Katelynn Doran as part of the extended Leinster Women’s squad. Fielding two squads in

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Leinster Rugby competition for the first time ever, MU Barnhall Women’s Rugby is going from strength to strength.

Men’s Rugby had an historic season on a national scale, winning all of its matches in All-Ireland League Division 2B. The squad competed against some of the real powerhouses of Irish rugby. MU Barnhall stand-out players were Dan Murphy, Brendan McSorely, Darren Hudson. (Brendan had the added honour of representing the Irish Universities in their fantastic victory over Scotland at Queen’s Belfast.) Stand-out postgraduate students included Nathan Veltom, Adam Chester and Geoff Brookes.

MU Barnhall Premier male under 20s had an excellent season in the top tier, competing against the best up-and-coming talent in the country. Vital wins against Blackrock, Belvedere, Terenure and Clontarf ensured a very respectable 6th place. First-year students Paddy Duggan and Shane Stokes consistently delivered superb performances. Several Under-20 students were vital cogs in the record-breaking All-Ireland League season, including Dylan Smith, playing tighthead prop at age 18.

Another highlight this year was the tour of Italy experienced by MU Barnhalls’s fantastic Disability Rugby Team, which had the great fortune of meeting the Pope during their Italian travels.

Golf

MU’s Paddy Harrington Golf Scholars had another superb year with success at home and abroad.

Leading golf scholar Caolan Rafferty, ranked #15 in the world, had a brilliant season, notching up eight top 10 finishes at elite amateur championships. Rafferty’s was called up to represent Great Britain & Ireland to face the USA in the prestigious Walker Cup. The Walker Cup is highly regarded as the pinnacle of the amateur game, with some of golf’s greatest stars being represented on both sides, including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington. Rafferty is the second Maynooth scholar to play in the Walker Cup, following in the footsteps of 2015 alumnus Gary Hurley.

Maynooth teammate Ronan Mullarney had an impressive year, reaching the quarter finals of the Amateur Championship and winning the Irish Amateur Close Championship to claim his maiden senior title. Mullarney, ranked #54 in the world, navigated through stage one of the European Tour qualifying school in Portugal and plans to turn professional in early 2020. Mullarney has been a true stalwart of Maynooth golf, claiming an impressive four college titles during his tenure in the programme. Rafferty and Mullarney represented Ireland at both the European Men’s Team Championship and the Home Internationals in 2019.

On the domestic stage, golf scholar Ellie Metcalfe won the ILGU Hermitage Scratch Cup. She had a very consistent year, being named a reserve for Ireland in the European Women’s Team Championship. Metcalfe made her debut for Leinster in the Women’s Interprovincial, along with MU teammate Ciara Casey and MU grads Molly Dowling ‘19 and Meadhbh Doyle ‘18.

In September, Maynooth hosted a tournament at Carton House as part of the newly established Student Tour Series run by the R&A which aims to raise the profile of elite student golf across Europe. First-year scholar Josh Mackin won the men’s event in style, making a birdie on the first extra playoff hole to seal victory.

Teammate Aaron Ryan produced a career best 65(-7) in the final round to finish in a tie for third along with Maynooth’s Alan Fahy.

In the women’s event, Metcalfe and Casey both finished in the top five.

2017 alumnus Robin Dawson is being supported by the University’s Alumni Support Programme, which was established in 2019 to assist golf scholarship graduates in the early part of their professional careers. Dawson has been competing on the European Challenge Tour this season and his best performance was an impressive Top 30 finish at the 2019 Irish Open at Lahinch, taking home a cheque for €65,000.

Shanise Fitzsimons, Cavan Senior and MU Arts student in action against UCD in Third Level Camogie division one league

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Maynooth University

Gaeilge ó Inis Meáin go Iowa

I

Mí na Bealtaine 2019, d’fhógair an tAire Stáit don Ghaeilge, don Ghaeltacht agus do na hOileáin, Seán Kyne, TD, pacáiste maoinithe iomlán de €270, 129 thar thréimhse trí bliana chun gur féidir le hOllscoil Mhá Nuad an chéad chúrsa teastais ollscoile ar líne in oiliúint múinteoirí Gaeilge do fhoghlaimeoirí fásta a fhorbairt agus a chur i bhfeidhm.

Beidh an cúrsa ar líne forbartha ag Lárionad na Gaeilge: Taighde, Teagasc agus Tástáil i Scoil an Léinn Cheiltigh in Ollscoil Mhá Nuad agus bainfidh sé buntáiste as an teicneolaíocht foghlama is déanaí chun an pobal is leithne anseo in Éirinn agus go hidirnáisiúnta a shroichint.

Dóibh siúd a bhfuil spéis acu Gaeilge a mhúineadh do dhaoine fásta anseo in Éirinn agus thar sáile beidh siad in ann rochtain a fháil ar ábhar ar líne agus ar ghearrscannáin atá tar éis bheith forbartha ag saineolaithe san earnáil. Beidh an deis acu siúd atá

2018 BA, 2019 MA Díreach tar éis do Chlíodhna Duffy a bunchéim a bhaint amach sa NuaGhaeilge agus sna Meáin in Ollscoil Mhá Nuad, thug sí faoin Máistreacht sa NuaGhaeilge le Roinn Nua-Ghaeilge Mhá Nuad le cabhair ó Scoláireacht Alumni Mhá Nuad do Mháistreachtaí Múinte. Is ag ullmhú í féin do shaol gairmiúil sa chraoltóireacht agus san iriseoireacht atá Clíodhna agus tá sí go hiomlán tiomanta don Ghaeilge, ár dteanga féin atá go hiomlán ina beocht agus

lonnaithe in Éirinn páirt a ghlacadh i gceardlanna lae i mBaile Átha Cliath, i nDún na nGall, i nGaillimh agus i gCiarraí.

Gheobhaidh mic léinn in Éirinn gur mian leo teastas a bhaint amach rochtain ar ábhar breise ar líne agus cuirfidh siad tréimhse de chleachtadh múinteoireachta i gcrích, le cuid den chleachtadh tástáilte trí úsáid na teicneolaíochta.

Ag fógairt an tionscadail, dúirt an tAire Kyne: “Tá ríméad orm go bhfuil sé de chumas ag mo Roinn an fhorbairt an-spreagúil seo i saol theagasc na Gaeilge a mhaoiniú. Bainfidh múinteoirí Gaeilge agus foghlaimeoirí fásta anseo in Éirinn tairbhe as agus ciallaíonn sé chomh maith go mbeimid in ann tacaíocht a thabhairt do dhiaspóra na hÉireann.”

Tá Lárionad na Gaeilge: Taighde, Teagasc, Tástáil in Ollscoil Mhá Nuad freagrach as forbairt agus riarachán do na scrúduithe do Theastas Eorpach na Gaeilge (teg.ie) do dhaoine fásta a chuirtear ar fáil i 10 n-ionad thar timpeall na hÉireann agus sé cinn thar sáile, Los Angeles ina measc den chéad uair i mbliana. Ag trácht ar an gclár nua, dúirt Anna Ní Ghallachair, Stiúrthóir an Lárionaid go raibh an-áthas uirthi go mbeidh an Lárionad in ann tacaíocht a thabhairt do mhúinteoirí Gaeilge ó Inis Meáin go Iowa sna blianta amach romhainn.

ina beatha sa lá atá inniu ann dar leí. Ní amháin sin ach tá Clíodhna den tuairim gur féidir leí leanúint ar aghaidh faoi bhláth i ré Instagram agus Twitter, mar a léiríonn sí ina tráchtas Máistreachta “Nuatheicneolaíocht mar Uirlis in Athbheochan Reatha na Gaeilge” a cuireadh i gcrích i Mí Mheán Fómhair 2019. Agus feabhas curtha aici ar a scileanna cumarsáide agus ar a féinmhuinín ó thaobh na Gaeilge de, tá an dúchasach de chuid Chontae na Lú tar éis bheith ceapaithe mar Leas-Uachtarán don Ghaeilge le hAontas Mac Léinn na hÉireann.

Alumni Profile

2019 Clíodhna Duffy

Seán Kyne TD, amuigh ar champas Mhá Nuad i Mí na Bealtaine 2019 in éineacht leis an Dochtúir Victor Lazzarini, Déan Dhámh na n-Ealaíon, an Léinn Cheiltigh agus na Fealsúnachta agus Anna Ní Ghallachair, Stiúrthóir Lárionad na Gaeilge agus Ceann Scoil an Léinn Cheiltigh.

The Bridge

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Seo í an t-amhránaí traidisiúnta mór le rá Eithne Ní Chatháin – nó Inni-K mar a ghlaoitear uirthi go gairmiúil – ag canadh leí ag oíche cheiliúrtha do laoch amhránaíochta ar an sean-nós as Gaeltacht Chorcaí, Bess Cronin nach maireann.

Is alumna de chuid Ollscoil Mhá Nuad í Eithne, tar éis di céim sa Ghaeilge agus sa Tíreolaíocht a bhaint amach sa bhliain 2001 agus ghlac sí go flaithiúil leis an gcuireadh chun bheith i láthair ag an ócáid speisialta seo i Halla Renehan ar an gcampas theas a cuireadh in eagar ag an Dr Liam MacAmhlaigh agus an Dr Brian MacMaghnuis as Ollscoil Mhá Nuad i gcomhpháirt le Féile Leitheoirí Chill Dara i Mí Dheireadh Fómhair 2019.

MU grads supporting MU students S

uccessful 2019 applicants for the Maynooth Alumni Taught Master’s Scholarships, Janice, Maciej and Máire Claire, will continue their postgraduate studies at MU in the year ahead, as Maynooth continues to expand its bursary and scholarship opportunities and Maynooth alumni continue to support the next generation.

Janice Reilly Maciej Majnusz - MA - MSc Computer Science Professional Master in (Software Engineering) Education (Secondary) “I have always had a passion for Computer Science, so after taking some time out to raise my family it was an easy choice to return to Maynooth University. After speaking to some of my lecturers, I became aware of the Taught Master’s Alumni Scholarship and decided to apply for the MSc in Software Engineering. I knew that without this scholarship I would have to set my dream aside. I am deeply honoured and grateful to the Maynooth Alumni Community for this amazing opportunity to continue my studies to Master’s level.”

“I was very glad (and relieved) to receive the scholarship. It was the support I crucially needed to continue (and finish) my journey to become a mathematics teacher.

As I am living on a part-time salary, this means I will not have to worry about taking loans. More importantly, I can afford to NOT take up extra hours during holidays etc. and actually focus on my studies. I will remember this support as being an important factor in achieving my dream.”

Máire Claire Doherty - MA Nua Ghaeilge

“Táim iontach buíoch gur bronnadh an scoláireacht seo orm. Chuala mé fúithi ó mhic léinn eile agus ó mo léachtóirí. Tá níos lú brú orm anois, ó thaobh airgeadais de, agus ceapaim nach mbeinn in ann an mháistreacht seo a dhéanamh murach an scoláireacht seo. Tá mé in ann tumadh isteach i mo chuid oibre. Is deis den scoth í mar tá mé in ann leanúint ar aghaidh le mo chuid staidéir anseo i Má Nuad, sáráit a bhfuil pobal Gaelach láidir agus Roinn Nua-Ghaeilge iontach inti.”

Ollscoil Mhá Nuad Maynooth University

CHANGING THE FACE OF BUSINESS Maynooth University School of Business

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