Organic Chemistry Summer School

The UCD Organic Chemistry Summer School provides an opportunity for students from linked US universities to complete their Organic Chemistry requirements while spending 8 weeks of the summer period in Ireland at UCD School of Chemistry from mid-June to early August.

Classes are scheduled Monday to Friday and at weekends students may choose to travel around Ireland and/or Europe. Between the end of the the first module (OChem 1) and the start of the second module (OChem 2) there is a 4-day long weekend which enables students to take a longer trip (subject to visa requirements) and have a break between the modules. In 2025 students travelled at weekends to places such as diverse as Paris, County Cork, London, Amsterdam, Galway, Scotland and Croatia.

The UCD Organic Chemistry Summer School ran first in 2019 with students from University of California and in 2025 we were delighted to welcome students from four US Universities:

Students accepted on to the Organic Chemistry Summer School will be provided with:

• A confirmation of admission letter;
• Welcome and Orientation Events on arrival including a social reception, tours of campus and the school;
• A Welcome Pack including a laboratory manual, a reusable water bottle, a laboratory notebook;
• A lab coat (on loan for the duration of the summer school) and lab safety glasses;
• A dedicated school administrator for day-to-day advice and support (no appointment necessary) Monday to Friday;
• Support from the Programme Director and Deputy Programme Director & School Manager.

All aspects of the organic chemistry curriculum taught in the US are delivered via two four-week modules, each worth 7.5 ECTS. Students attend lectures, tutorials, problem-solving workshops and laboratory classes with homework, laboratory reports, laboratory performance and weekly tests combining with the written exam at the end of each module to give an overall result for each module. Students are mixed across their home universities in their allocation to labs and tutorials and these groups are changed up for the second module to encourage as much mixing as possible. 

Feedback on homework and weekly tests is routinely provided as soon as possible to aid further learning. At the end of the Summer School each student’s grades are compiled and formally reviewed and overseen to ensure consistency of grading. Results are then issued to each student's home university and a transcript provided to each student.

Lab Classes: Students are split into groups of 10-12 for lab classes with a dedicated demonstrator/ teaching assistant for each group. Senior demonstrators are present to help coordinate lab class activities. Dedicated technical officers prepare the lab facilities, equipment and chemicals for each class and are available to deal with any equipment issues that arise. Faculty visit lab classes regularly to oversee activities. Before each lab class students are expected to prepare by familiarising themselves with the details of that experiment and any further directions provided.  In lab classes each student works on their own conducting the experiment themselves using the glassware, chemicals and equipment provided with dedicated bench and fumehood space.

Tutorials: Students are split into groups of 12-15 for tutorials with a dedicated tutor. 

Faculty

As the largest School of Chemistry at university level in Ireland, our faculty (academic staff) are highly experienced in teaching chemistry at undergraduate, graduate taught and graduate research levels. They are all engaged in research and have strong records of publishing in high impact international journals. You can read more about all of our academic staff and those teaching on the Organic Chemistry Summer School (listed below) at https://www.ucd.ie/chem/about/ourstaff/academicstaff/

Associate Professor Marcus Baumann

Associate Professor Peter Byrne