Christine Lagarde inspires students and business leaders on visit to University College Dublin
- Date: Wed, Apr 9, 2025
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By Beth Kocher Gormley, PR and Communications Manager
On Wednesday, April 2, Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, was honoured in Ireland with the Business & Finance Media Sutherland Leadership Award for 2025.
As described by Business & Finance, “Christine Lagarde has redefined leadership on the global stage. Her vision and determination have helped steer Europe through unprecedented economic challenges, embodying Peter Sutherland’s values of collaboration, progress, and positive change. The presentation of this award recognises her exceptional contributions to global finance and leadership.
During her visit to Dublin, Madame Lagarde expressed her desire to engage in dialogue with faculty members, as well as master's and doctoral students from University College Dublin. She delivered a short address, which was followed by Q&A with the students.
“The visit was a unique opportunity for our students and colleagues at UCD to meet and hear from a global leader at the coal-face in finance and financial markets,” said Professor John Cotter, head of the Business and Finance Subject Area at UCD College of Business.
Xuejing (Bolor) Yu, a second-year PhD student in sustainable and climate finance at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, along with other doctoral students from the Finance and Economics Departments, attended the event.
“The European Central Bank has been actively promoting these areas in recent years and I was very excited to learn that Madame Lagarde would be visiting so I might speak to her on these topics,” said Xuejing. “She shared her unique perspectives on climate change, artificial intelligence, trade, and other pressing issues. Madame Lagarde kindly asked about my school and my programme when I met with her after the event.”
UCD Smurfit School Business & Finance Magazine MBA Scholarship recipients Ruth Baldwin and Ronan Lowe were invited to the evening event to hear Madame Lagarde deliver her keynote address. They also had the opportunity to meet the Irish Minister for Finance and President of the Eurogroup Paschal Donohoe.
On her visit in Dublin, Madame Lagarde posted on LinkedIn, “What a beautiful day I had in Dublin earlier this week! I experienced the céad míle fáilte or one hundred thousand welcomes. My visit to University College Dublin was especially memorable. Ad astra (“to the stars”) is the motto of the university and I felt surrounded by future stars as I answered questions from students.”
The awards are in association with KPMG Ireland and University College Dublin.
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