SPARC Winners

School of Veterinary Medicine SPARC Project

Since January this year, the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine has been running a UCD SPARC (Supporting Partnerships And Realising Change) Project. The Vet School’s project, Reflecting on Positive Practice: Framing the UCD Veterinary Community, is a visual project that aims to engage staff, students and graduates. The project brings together a range of positive images to represent life in the School, Vet Hospital and beyond, focusing on a diverse range of aspects of the UCD Veterinary Community.

The SPARC (Supporting Partnerships And Realising Change) programme enables staff and students to work together on projects that make UCD and the wider community a better place to work and learn. Following a successful proposal submission, a call was put out to staff, students and graduates of the School in early 2017, seeking thought-provoking and distinctive images. There was an overwhelmingly positive response from the UCD Veterinary Community, and the organising committee was then tasked with selecting twenty images from the submissions to form an exhibition. The project also set out to engage the School’s Alumni, particularly through a focus on participants in the School’s innovative Alumni Mentoring Programme and we were delighted that so many of our graduates decided to take part. The three most outstanding contributions were awarded iPad minis; the images selected by Professor Michael Doherty, Dean of Veterinary Medicine & Head of School, were from Nicola Fletcher, Máire O’Reilly and Alan Wolfe. Congratulations to these three worthy winners! The overall standard of entries was very high and the Committee would like to thank everyone who took the time to participate in the project. The images submitted show what makes being part of the UCD Veterinary Community unique and interesting and also what sets the Vet School apart as a place to work and learn – photos from the project are currently displayed around the School and a selection will also be available on our website in the coming months.

Professor Michael Doherty, Dean & Head of School and Dr Helen Graham, Communications Manager with SPARC prize winners Dr Alan Wolfe and Ms Renagh Kelly (on behalf of Mrs Máire O’Reilly)