25 years, 3,500 students and a 629-enrolment count per annum. University of Galway’s Access Centre celebrates encouraging routes to education for a quarter of a century. The Access Programmes were established in 1999, with the aim to provide a supportive, educational environment that prepares students academically and personally for a full-time undergraduate degree at third level. A critical milestone, this 25-year achievement sets the precedent for many more life-changing years to come. 

Based in University of Galway’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Cell EXPLORERS is a public engagement programme that aims to address science-related misconceptions held by some young people and provide positive experiences with hands-on science.

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.    

In 2019, i ndiaidh don Uachtarán an bhainistíocht shinsearach a athstruchtúrú, aistríodh an fhreagracht as an nGaeilge ó Oifig an Rúnaí go hOifig an Uachtaráin Ionaid agus Meabhránaí arb é, tar éis an Uachtaráin agus mar ionadaí dó, an ball is sinsearaí den fhoireann bainistíochta é. I bhfianaise na n-athruithe sin a thug ardú stádais don Ghaeilge i struchtúr bainistíochta na hOllscoile, bhí sé tábhachtach athbhreithniú a dhéanamh ar na socruithe rialachais sin atá i bhfeidhm don Ghaeilge san Ollscoil agus, chuige sin, thug an tUachtarán Ionaid agus Meabhránaí faoi Straitéis don Ghaeilge a fhorbairt i gcomhar leis an gCoiste Straitéiseach don Ghaeilge.  

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.

Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh became the 13th president of Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway in January 2018. In December 2019 / January 2020, he launched the University’s Strategic Plan 2020–2025, ‘Shared Vision, Shaped by Values’, at the outset of what was to become a challenging period for third-level education, shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now approaching a halfway point in our value-based strategy, Ciarán reflects on our achievements and learnings thus far, exploring what it means for the University to be rooted in Galway, while always reaching outwards towards the horizon.

“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.

‘The campus of my youth shaped me greatly and made me what I am today.’

Ireland’s offshore renewable electricity resource is at least five times greater than its demand. With green hydrogen, we can indirectly use that electricity to power our trucks, buses, factories, data centres, planes and ships, explains Dr Rory Monaghan, one of the partners responsible for Ireland’s first Hydrogen Valley – GH2. 

Community-engaged learning with a focus on sustainability is central to the curriculum at NUI Galway’s Civil Engineering, Energy Systems Engineering and Project & Construction Management degrees. Prof Jamie Goggins and Dr Magdalena Hajdukiewicz discuss the impact on both society and the students who partake. 

Apart of the Bloom festival, NUIG professor Derek O’Keeffe was giving the opportunity to demonstrate the cardiovascular system and dangers to poor health.

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.

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

A message from the incoming VP for Engagement at NUI Galway, Paul Dodd

Ukraine – Russia, Putin’s theatrical warfare: Dr. Brendan Flynn examines the implications and the real cost of war, and how Putin has captured the world’s attention like never before.

“We’re all engaged in looking and I think looking is the foundation of both science and art.”

Coming to live and study in Galway as the only international student on her course was made easier with the help of her college friends and staff.

Hundreds of patients are having their voices and coughs recorded as part of a global project using Artificial Intelligence to detect minute changes caused by Covid.

In planning for a more sustainable world, a key learning from the current crisis is that we must increasingly imagine the world in an interconnected global sense.

Eoin Rogers is a poet and writer based in Dublin. He graduated from IADT with a degree in English, Media, and Cultural Studies in 2012. He writes about film, literature, comics, society and runs his own web-comic Necromancy Most Foul. Image Credit: RTÉ

The CORRIB Core Lab – NUI Galway’s cutting edge vision, where academia, industry and healthcare connect – is pioneering the next generation of treatment for heart patients in a centre of excellence for innovation, research, collaboration and education.

Irish fiction is currently experiencing a new golden age, one in which new writers are coming forward to ask urgent questions. For this Cois Coiribe issue, we wanted to celebrate the work of three of those writers, bringing previously unpublished stories by them to our readers.

2020 marked the 175th anniversary of the foundation of the National University of Ireland, Galway. Here, we take a look back at the major milestones that have occurred throughout the history of the university

Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe joins a host of Ireland’s most celebrated poets in our literature series for Cois Coiribe. Image Credit: Daniel O’Connor, RTE

NUI Galway President, Prof Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh welcomes you to the Spring online edition of Cois Coiribe – shining a light on the journey of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Bianca Pereira sat down with Cois Coiribe to talk about the citizen science project Crowd4Access. The study is mapping footpaths in towns and cities where inaccessibility issues create challenges for wheelchair users, parents with young children, pedestrians with mobility issues, the visually impaired or blind, as well as the fit and healthy.  

As someone who spent many years teaching political science and sociology in NUI Galway, I feel a close bond with the university, an affection that stays with me to this day as I recall so many wonderful years of teaching and research there, as well as the lifelong friendships forged.