Celebrating 21 Years of Newman Fellows
At an event in Newman House on Tuesday 20 April, UCD President Hugh Brady welcomed current and former Newman Fellows, academic mentors and donors to celebrate 21 years of the Newman Fellowship Programme.
Professor Brigid Laffan (Principal, UCD College of Life Sciences and former Newman Fellow) welcomed everyone to the celebration. She spoke about the Programme pioneering postdoctoral research in 1989 before there was significant government investment in research. It was a time when Ireland faced a deep crisis, there was reduced funding for higher education, embargoes on recruitment and a dearth of new blood for universities.
Professor Laffan spoke of her personal journey as a Newman Fellow, it being the first potential post that a political scientist could apply for in a nine-year period. The Irish Pensions Trust sponsored her fellowship, researching emerging European pension regulation. It was also the start of her own journey within UCD.
UCD President Hugh Brady extended a warm welcome to former President Art Cosgrove and former Registrar Caroline Hussey, both advocates of the Programme in its formative years. He paid special tribute to another former President, Paddy Masterson, who could not attend the event, but was represented by his wife and son. It was due to the vision of Paddy Masterson that the Programme got off the ground. He said that the Programme was of vital importance to UCD’s world-class research objectives and had already proven to be of enormous benefit to Irish society and the economy. The programme was founded in recessionary Ireland and now that we find ourselves in recessionary times once again, it is vital that the Programme continues to attract sponsorship to ensure its future footprint.
Speaking on behalf of the Programme’s donors, Áine McGirl (Head of Ireland, Merck Serono) spoke about how delighted Merck Serono is with the collaboration with UCD. As a global pharmaceutical company, R&D is their lifeblood and they are actively committed to bringing innovative therapies to market that will benefit patients.
Dr Stephen O’Brien (Dawn Farm Foods Newman Fellow in Food Safety) spoke on behalf of the Fellows. He thanked UCD and his donor for offering him the opportunity to make the change from industry to academia and he was lucky to work with Professor Seamus Fanning. Since taking up the Newman Fellowship this year, he has had many opportunities not usually available to people in industry, travelling to consult with universities and bodies overseas and the chance to chair sessions at international conferences. He believes that research results translate into findings and help to drive the knowledge economy that Ireland is striving to achieve. At the end of his Fellowship, Dr O’Brien hopes to return to industry where the knowledge and experience gained will be of enormous benefit.
The event was attended by over 100 guests from industry, business and philanthropy who used the opportunity to catch up with old friends and colleagues.
Dr Ben Collins (Agilent Newman Fellow in Quantative Proteomics), Christine Miller (Agilent Technologies) and Ben's UCD academic mentor, Dr Stephen Pennington.
Professor Diarmuid O'Donoghue (UCD) and Dr Danny Cheriyan (Ellie Brady Newman Fellow in Cancer Research) with Noel and Paul Brady.
Roisin Molloy (Merck Serono), Dr Petra Martin (Roche Products Ireland Newman Fellow in Oncology), Dr Sinead Noonan (Merck Serono Newman Fellow in Medical Oncology) and Aine McGirl (Merck Serono).
Professor Patrick Cunningham (Chief Scientific Adviser), Matt Dempsey (Irish Farmer's Journal) and James Slevin (Irish Centre for High End Computing).
John McGrath (Dawn Farm Foods), Dr Stephen O'Brien (Dawn Farm Foods Newman Fellow in Food Safety) and Alan Reilly (Food Safety Authority).
The Newman Fellows with UCD President, Hugh Brady. (L-r) Dr Taj Saber, Dr Danny Cheriyan, Dr Ben Collins, Dr Stephen O'Brien, Dr Sophie Gamwell, Dr Malik Mumtaz and Dr Therese Murphy.
