Dr Eoin Drea from the Wilfid Martens Centre for European Studies and Professor John O'Brennan from Maynooth University came to UCC to engage with secondary and third level students on the topic of Becoming a closer club or a bigger one – Is bigger better?

Both supporting opposite viewpoints on the benefits and disadvantages of enlarging the EU to 36, they challenged the students to reflect on the type of European Union they see for the future. MEP moments involve participants making recommendations regarding the way policy-makers could move forward on the issue and students provided plenty of ideas. 

In February 2024, the Hub visited secondary schools, Kinsale Community School in Co Cork and St Mary's College in Arklow, Co Wicklow as part of our outreach mission. We engaged students on all things European and were met with lots of enthusiasm. 

On 9 May 2024, the Hub welcomed 600 priamry school children from all over Munster to our Europe Day Festival. Several primary schools who had won our singing competitions came to perform. We also had our drawing competition winenrs who exhibited their work on the day. 

We were delighted to be joined by MEP Grace O'Sullivan and Deputy Lord Mayor Cllr Colette Finn who came to interact with our young citizens and discuss what the EU does and can do for them in their everyday life. Both politicians joined in the fun and answered all questions from our eager crowd of curious minds. 

The day finished off with an EU themed treasure hunt across campus and more EU games.

The Hub in Active European Citizenship travelled to Trento (Italy) in September for the 54th Annual University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) Conference. With 120 panels and over 400 presentations, the conference covered a multitude of topics.

The Hub hosted a workshop on ‘Toolkits for Teaching European Integration Across Educational Levels‘. The workshop showcased our interactive techniques for engaging adolescents in issues of European integration (derived from the DABtheEU programme). 

In a Communication and Culture panel, Dr. Philip Murphy presented a paper on ‘Expertise and Efficacy: A Study of Post-Primary teachers’ Experience Teaching European Politics’.