2021 Global Engagement Seed Fund Awardees
02 Jun 2021
Message from Professor Dolores O’Riordan, Vice-President for Global Engagement
'As Vice-President for Global Engagement I am delighted that interest in the Global Engagement Seed Fund has grown during what has been a challenging time for new ventures. The response to this second annual call reflects the enthusiasm, imagination, and ambition that our community has for international collaboration. Submissions covered every geographical region, with several proposing partnerships or activities in countries where UCD has previously had no engagement. Although I wish we were able to fund all of the high-quality and innovative proposals received, unfortunately that was not possible. However, I am pleased to say that the successful applications reflect the values and aspirations of a true global university. I look forward to seeing their successful endeavours and invite colleagues to apply for next year’s call.'
Building a Global Social Innovation Education Partnership
Jennifer Symonds (jennifer.symonds@ucd.ie) and Gabriella Martinez Sainz (gabriella.martinezsainz@ucd.ie) - School of Education
Social innovation education aims to develop and apply solutions to address systemic social and environmental issues that challenge equitable and inclusive societies. This project is a partnership between the UCD School of Education and the Temple University College of Education and Human Development to explore a summer module with an exchange feature for students to visit Philadelphia / Dublin. The module will educate students in how to promote social change with the key feature of a capstone social innovation project in partnership with an external public or private organisation.
Discovering localisation: a Self-Learning Resource for Students
Bettina Migge (bettina.migge@ucd.ie) and Eva Kilar-Magdziarz (eva.kilar-magdziarz@ucd.ie) - School of Languages, Cultures, and Linguistics
We will develop an engaging digital self-learning resource for students wanting to learn about the localisation industry including the different roles, processes and the skills required inside and outside of Ireland. This project is a collaboration with multinational subject matter experts from the field, ensuring the resource is up to date and showcases the industry. The resource will be available to UCD and other students on the SLCL Media Portal. It will be based on the latest universal instructional design principles to ensure accessibility and empower students with vital initial knowledge of the industry to enhance preparation for their future careers.
Embedding UN Sustainable Development Goals into the Stage One Academic English Curriculum at UCD's China Partnership Colleges
Alexander Runchman (alexander.runchman@ucd.ie) - Applied Language Centre
This project will develop a fully-integrated Stage One Academic English curriculum at UCD’s China Partnership Colleges based around the theme of sustainable development. Chinese and international teachers at the colleges will work in an intercultural partnership with the Applied Language Centre on curriculum and materials development, focusing on how the degree disciplines taught at each college can address the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The outcome will be a year-long English for Academic Purposes curriculum rooted in Education for Sustainable Development.
The Teaching of Chinese Characters in An Era of Online Learning
Caitríona Osborne (caitriona.osborne@ucd.ie) - Irish Institute for Chinese Studies
In collaboration with Dr Danping Wang, University of Auckland, and Dr Qi Zhang, Dublin City University, we will examine the handling of teaching Chinese characters in the CFL (Chinese as a foreign language) university classroom during the current era of remote teaching. While interventions to CFL classrooms during Covid-19 were made rapidly, many universities have since transferred all learning online, meaning that teaching Chinese characters – typically a main obstacle for CFL learners – has become more complicated at distance. Investigating these long-term character-teaching strategies currently implemented to CFL classrooms will also provide invaluable information for the new Leaving Certificate Mandarin course.
Learning Partnerships for Global Health
Cliona O’Sullivan (Cliona.osullivan@ucd.ie) - School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science
We are building on our existing partnership with Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda, to co-design and develop a high quality and inclusive online collaborative learning toolkit relating to Rehabilitation for Non-Communicable Disease (NCD). NCDs such as cancers or cardiovascular disease are the greatest cause of mortality and morbidity in high-income countries like Ireland. Yet, the global burden is far greater in low- and middle-income countries due to factors such as urbanization, sedentary lifestyle, and resource poor health systems. There have been calls for many years for greater collaboration between Higher Education institutes in high and lower/middle income countries to strengthen health systems and tackle global health challenges. The global move to online and digital learning in higher education because of the COVID 19 pandemic has given us a unique opportunity to drive meaningful learning partnerships for Global Health to build a healthy world.