Inaugural UCD Global Engagement Seed Fund Awardees
20 Apr 2020
Professor Dolores O’Riordan, Vice-President for Global Engagement, and UCD Global are delighted to introduce the inaugural UCD Global Engagement Seed Fund awardees. As Ireland’s Global University, bringing the best of the world to Ireland and the best of Ireland to the world lies at the heart of UCD’s mission. This seed fund was established by the Office for Global Engagement to provide support to faculty and staff in developing initiatives and activities which advance that mission. Empowering the UCD community’s imagination and enthusiasm will nurture our potential to become leaders in global engagement. The innovative projects showcased below are testament to this, and we encourage you to engage with our awardees and their work across the coming year.
Commenting on the announcement, Professor Dolores O'Riordan said:"I am delighted with the great interest shown in the inaugural Global Engagement Seed Fund. While we would love to be able to fund all of the high-quality proposals received, unfortunately that was not possible. However, I am pleased to say that the successful applications are truly broad ranging and very innovative. They reflect our diverse campus and the many ways in which the UCD community carries out its global engagement. I look forward to their successful endeavours and invite colleagues to apply for next year's call."
Building Futures: A Samburu/Irish teaching collaboration
Claire Cave (claire.cave@ucd.ie - School of Archaeology)
Our aim is to create a cross cultural learning experience on UCD campus through a vernacular house building project led by women from Samburu, Kenya. This is an excellent opportunity to bring together UCD students from several different schools with representatives of an African indigenous community. Through building a traditional house with the students the women can share their building customs and skills and co-create a powerful learning experience addressing issues from heritage to climate change.
Bringing Irish Studies to the World
Stephie Forde (stephie.forde@ucd.ie - College of Arts and Humanities)
The College of Arts and Humanities will strengthen its partnerships with key US partners within the subject of Irish Studies by developing and delivering specialised workshops to college students within this region. The aim of these workshops is to highlight UCD’s excellence in teaching, research and learning to our U.S. partners, furthering their engagement with our specialised Study Abroad opportunities as well as highlighting postgraduate programmes at UCD. These workshops will also aid with the first steps to creating an Irish Studies joint MA with one of our key U.S. partners.
Developing a UCD Global Health Network
Brynne Gilmore (brynne.gilmore@ucd.ie - School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Health Systems) & Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila (ernesto.vasquezdelaguila@ucd.ie - School of Social Policy, Social Work, and Social Justice)
This interdisciplinary project brings together Global Health experts from across the University to create a UCD Global health Network. The objectives of the network are i) increase UCD’s international reputation in Global Health; ii) support and develop innovative teaching and learning activities around Global Health; iii) leverage internal, interdisciplinary research capacity for funding opportunities to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This project is jointly led by Dr Brynne Gilmore (Brynne.gilmore@ucd.ie) and Dr Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila (ernesto.vasquezdelaguila@ucd.ie).
Teaching and Researching with Medieval Manuscript Fragments
Niamh Pattwell (niamh.pattwell@ucd.ie - School of English, Drama and Film)
This project emerges from a research-led module on 'Medieval Manuscript Fragments' (ENG41950) taught on the MA in Archives and Records Management and builds on the symposium on 'Medieval Manuscript Fragments' held in UCD in October 2019. Dr. Niamh Pattwell (School of English, Drama and Film) and Dr. Elizabeth Mullins (School of History, UCD) will develop a cross-institutional project with Dr. Margaret Connolly (Snr Lecturer in Medieval Studies) and Ms. Rachel Hart (Snr Archivist) in the University of St. Andrews. The aim of the project is to develop a collaborative project on the study of fragments, which will enable us to study the nature and distribution of fragments in our respective libraries through the shared research strategies and pedagogical approaches.
The NovaUCD China Partner Programme
Simon Factor (simon.factor@ucd.ie - NovaUCD)
The NovaUCD China Partner Programme aims to add an innovation component to the successful teaching and research Global Engagements that UCD is recognised for. The goals of this project are to identify and develop key strategic partnerships with China based innovation platforms connected to leading Chinese Universities, Venture Funds and Industrial bases. These partnerships will enable NovaUCD to provide a bridge for UCD New Venture Teams and Entrepreneurs to access this important international market in a way that will increase their chances of success and limit their risk.