We would like to extend a particularly warm welcome to the inaugural cohort of students on our new BSc in Applied Sports Performance and Coach Education degree. These students will commence their studies on 14th September, primarily based at Cork College of FET, Tramore Road Campus, before joining UCC for Years 2 to 4 as part of this innovative tertiary degree pathway. There have already been several exciting developments associated with this new programme, including the launch of a fully digital promotional video and a recent Instagram Live event delivered in collaboration with our colleagues at Cork College of FET – Tramore Road Campus, available at https://www.ucc.ie/en/aspce/. Students can look forward to studying areas such as performance analysis, coaching, athletic development, industry readiness, and many other applied aspects of sport and performance.

The School of Education at UCC was delighted to host the 22nd ERME Topic Conference (ETC22) from 24–27 August 2026. The international conference brought together 51 researchers from institutions across 16 countries, including 11 early career researchers, for four days of research exchange, discussion and collaboration.

The conference, “Communication and Diversity in Mathematics Education: Exploring Language, Meaning Making and Methodologies,” focused on the increasingly diverse linguistic, cultural and educational contexts in which mathematics teaching and learning take place. It provided an important forum for examining how language and communication shape mathematical meaning-making, while also creating space for critical discussion of the theoretical and methodological approaches used to investigate these complex processes. The conference placed a strong emphasis on discussion and collaboration rather than presentation alone. This created opportunities for participants to interrogate ideas collectively, identify connections across research contexts and methodologies, and consider future directions for research on communication and diversity in mathematics education.

Praxis Week 2026 brought together staff, students, community organisations, international partners, educators and members of the wider UCC community for a week of dialogue, research, creativity and critical engagement with Global Justice Education.

Organised through the School of Education’s Irish Aid-funded Praxis Project, this year’s programme explored how education can respond to an increasingly fractured world marked by conflict, forced migration, inequality, climate crisis, racism and political polarisation. A particular focus throughout the week was the importance of partnership, solidarity and working across differences in ways that recognise questions of power, voice and reciprocity.

The week opened with a passionate and thought-provoking keynote from Lassane Ouedraogo, Chairperson of the Africa Solidarity Centre Ireland and University of Sanctuary Support Officer at Trinity College Dublin. Drawing on his extensive experience in migrant rights, anti-racism and human rights advocacy, Lassane challenged participants to consider the responsibility of universities to move beyond inclusion towards justice and meaningful social change.

Glór na nGael launched Ardán 2026, a new, national competition for Irish-language and Gaeltacht community groups, in June 2026. Ardán is the next step in Glór na nGael’s long-established tradition of celebrating and affording recognition to the Irish-language voluntary sector on a national stage, which began in 1961. Our colleague Hilary Ní Chonchubhair established ‘Céim ar Chéim’, a voluntary group for new parents, while on maternity leave in 2025. The group’s primary aim is to provide an informal and supportive space for new mothers who use Irish in their professional lives, enabling them to maintain a connection with the language during maternity leave and helping to ease the transition back to work. ‘Céim ar Chéim’ has been shortlisted for an award at the upcoming ceremony in Galway on September 19th. Céim ar Chéim is one of 32 groups selected from more than 100 entrants to attend the Ardán 2026 event, where a total funding pool of €83,000 will be allocated among participating groups. Ádh mór!

UCC staff participants in the Digital Badge in Global Citizenship Education and the 15-credit master’s micro-credential ED6082 brought their learning into public space through an ambitious programme of filmmaking, creative practice and exhibition.

Led by Dr Gertrude Cotter through the Praxis Project in UCC’s School of Education, the initiative explored film not simply as a means of presenting information, but as a participatory Global Justice Education methodology. Staff participants considered how film and digital storytelling could support critical inquiry, amplify different forms of knowledge, connect personal experience with wider structures and encourage informed public engagement.

The filmmaking process also required participants to engage carefully with questions of voice, consent, representation and positionality. They considered who was speaking, whose experiences were being represented, how people with lived experience could participate meaningfully, and how complex global justice issues could be communicated without simplifying them or speaking on behalf of others.

On 20th May 2026, Craig Neville, Lorraine Chadwick and Caroline Conlon, lecturers in the School of Education, welcomed a group of student teachers from the PME programme alongside their treoraithe to participate in an innovative Hackathon linked to our #SATLE-funded project, Smart Support? AI-assisted school placement.

A Hackathon is an intensive, collaborative, and time-sensitive process that brings together individuals with different forms of expertise to identify challenges and work collectively towards practical and creative solutions. While Hackathons are often associated with technology and industry, their use within teacher education offers exciting possibilities for collaborative professional learning and research-informed innovation.

The focus of this Hackathon was to explore how artificial intelligence might support student teachers and treoraithe during the school placement experience. Participants worked together to consider how AI could be used to develop professional competencies linked to planning, reflection, feedback, communication, and professional learning throughout placement. Importantly, discussions also encouraged participants to think critically about the ethical, relational, and pedagogical dimensions of AI use within teacher education contexts.

Our B.A (Early Years and Childhood Studies) students presented their capstone research on Tuesday 31^st March 2026 at the annual EYCS Student Conference. 

SPRING 3.0 promotes wellbeing and mental health for children, adolescents, and caregivers in southeastern Turkey, focusing on recovery following the earthquake and the Syrian war, using play and sport to build inclusive, resilient communities. Supported by five partners from academia, the NGO sector, public health networks and social sport foundations (Mercy Without Limits Turkey, The International Platform on Sport and Development, Fútbol Más Spain, University College Cork and EuroHealthNet), the initiative empowers professionals, coaches, and organizations to act as agents of social transformation.

Spring 3.0 poster

Dr Seanin Hoy with her supervisor, Dr. Steve O' Brien, School of Education, University College Cork, on the occasion of her Phd conferring.  Her Doctral study is entitled 'The Critical state of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Ireland’.

The research Project is called 'Fractured': Exploring Global Justice Through Film and Pop-Up Library Exhibition is a creative partnership between UCC students and staff, Cork City Library, and Cork Community Media Hub. Through workshops in filmmaking and global justice, students and staff will explore political, economic, environmental, and social justice themes. Their short films will feature in a pop-up, interactive space co-created with the public to spark dialogue, reflection, and shared learning. Hosted in both university and library settings, the project also contributes to research by exploring how creative, public-facing methods can deepen understanding of global justice and support inclusive, community-based education for transformative change. The exhibition will take place during the first week of May 2026.

https://www.researchireland.ie/news/new-foundations-community-research/