University of Galway recently announced the recipients of Honorary Degrees at the 2022 Winter Conferring ceremonies – Margaretta D’Arcy, Lelia Doolan, Dr Jerry Cowley and Ronan Scully.  

Whose identity, experience and knowledge matters and how are we accountable for including diverse perspectives and characteristics? These are questions that Dr Helen Maher, Vice President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), addresses on a daily basis at University of Galway. We sat down with Helen to reflect on our progress to date, the steps still to take and the vital difference that EDI makes to a university community.

“We have one of the highest participation rates in the world in third-level education, but we are a long way off being one of the highest investors in that education. For the sake of this country and its young people we need to stop trying to do this on the cheap,”  says Deputy President and Registrar of University of Galway, Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh.

Cara, NUI Galway’s pilot digital assistant, helps the university to serve and encourage its students through every step of their university experience.  

John Clancy, a 1996 graduate of Commerce, Law and Human Resources at NUI Galway and founder and CEO of Chatspace, the Galway-based AI start-up that developed Cara, talks about how AI can benefit the educational experience. 

NUI Galway has a rich literary history and many of our graduates from the MA in Writing have published books nationally and internationally and have successfully gone on to win or be short-listed for literary prizes.

NUI Galway Alumni in the worlds of the Arts, Sport, Public Service, Irish Language and Academia were among the distinguished recipients of the NUI Galway Alumni Awards 2021. 

Image: Nicola Coughlan

Isabel Keane, co-founder of Izzy Wheels, talks about her positive experience of studying at NUI Galway as a person with a disability.

Karen Conway, Director of Technology, Fidelity Investments, Ireland talks to Cois Coiribe about her career in technology, and co-designing the AI for Managers Post-Grad course.

A roundup of some of the top university stories from 2011

LLM graduate Amanie Issa shares her experience of moving from Bethlehem to Galway to study at NUI Galway in the middle of a pandemic.

NUI graduate, Sean Morris, looks to the history of piracy on the high seas for pointers to the future of cybercrime.