UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Monday, 4 September 2017 at 11.30 a.m.
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR EOIN CASEY on 4 September 2017, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa on SIR CIARÁN DEVANE
President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Sir Ciarán Gearóid Devane is one of the most eminent, influential and visionary alumni of our great University, marked by an extraordinary life and career yielding substantial contributions to Engineering, cancer support, the voluntary sector, health care policy, culture and education. It is with great honour and, indeed pleasure, that we bestow on him today with a Doctorate in Science from his proud alma mater.
Ciarán had an early advantage in life, namely having two Kerry-born parents! A product of the Kingdom’s Devane and Ó Muircheartaigh clans, he himself was born in Dublin (on 25th October 1962), grew up in Coolock and attended the all-Irish, Choláiste Mhuire on Parnell Square and remains, I know, a proud Gaeilgeoir. Ciarán entered UCD in 1980 to study Engineering, choosing the discipline of Chemical Engineering after first year, before specialising in the newly emerging field of Biochemical Engineering after his second year. He graduated with a 1st Class Honours BE (Biochemical Engineering) in June of 1984. This was the era of the famous IDA advertisement: “The Irish: Hire Them Before They Hire You”. Curiously prescient. I would like to suggest that the choice of Biochemical Engineering characterised Ciarán as someone who had vision (this field being one of subsequent exponential growth worldwide, particularly in Ireland), but also as someone who sought to integrate the inventiveness, collaborative and problem-solving attributes of the Engineer with the complexity, interdependency, growth and spontaneity of living things.
Upon graduation, Ciarán took up an Engineering position in the UK with one of the UK’s largest companies, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), rising to a management-level position over his 8-year period there. While at ICI, Ciarán obtained chartered status with the Institute of Chemical Engineers in 1990, thereby reinforcing his standing within Engineering (He also subsequently gained a Master's degree in international policy and practice, George Washington University, Washington DC in 2006.). In 1992, Ciarán left ICI to practice as an Engineering Consultant, principally for Gemini Consulting (US), a large consulting group specialising in oil and gas, as well as chemical, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing industries. Here, Ciarán was engaged on programmes dealing with complex change in organisations and remained in consulting until personal tragedy struck as the new millennium beckoned, when his young wife Katy was diagnosed with cancer.
(It is always difficult to speak of publicly of another’s tragedy when in their presence, but I do so now in the hope that the example thereof serves as an inspiration to us here of the good and noble human response to such events).
For the last three years of Katy’s life, until she died in 2003, Ciarán dedicated himself to her full-time care, putting his career on hold. In an age where it seems that self-actualisation and self-promotion are our means to gaining esteem, how humbling it is to witness this example.
At this point it seems that Ciarán’s life was guided by the words of Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman, namely “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” The change that was to come was a major and transformative one in many ways. Ciarán accepted the role as Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support in 2007. This choice almost seems providential as Macmillan Cancer Support was founded in 1911 by a young man called Douglas Macmillan who had been witnessed the death of his father by cancer. The young Macmillan “wanted to see homes for cancer patients throughout the land, where attention will be provided freely or at low cost, as circumstances dictate... [and]... panels of voluntary nurses who can be detailed off to attend to necessitous patients in their own homes” Truly remarkable and revolutionary.
During his time in Macmillan (2007-2014) Ciarán transformed the effectiveness of the organisation, not just in terms of remarkable growth in income and extension and improvement of services to cancer sufferers, but by crucially doing (according to Ciarán) the little things better, or by seeking to “do a thousand things 1 per cent better.” Who ever said Engineers were not perfectionists! A keen outside observer could also witness Ciarán’s innate ability to ask the correct question in the maelstrom of complexity and find a means to answering it or in observing the patterns.
In recognition “For services to Cancer Patients” Ciarán was awarded a Knighthood in 2015.
In January of 2015, Ciarán was appointed as Chief Executive of the British Council, “The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.”
Time does not permit me to delve into his tenure thus far at the helm of this august body, but so far as to say his character is prepared for the meeting of this challenge. If I can conclude by offering one attribute of Ciarán’s which seems to present itself gently to me, it is that of courage. Not the courage of rare acts of valour, but in the decisions and actions taken daily. To quote again from Newman,
“Courage does not consist in calculation, but in fighting against chances.”
[Pause]
It is indeed a very happy occasion today for University College Dublin to recognise the extraordinary contributions of Ciarán Devane by conferring upon him the Degree of Doctor of Science.
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Praehonorabilis Praeses, totaque Universitas,
Praesento vobis hunc meum filium, quem scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneum esse qui admittatur, honoris causa, ad Gradum Doctoratus Scientiae; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.