Annual Transition Year Experience Programme - School of Food and Nutritional Sciences

The School of Food and Nutritional Sciences holds an annual Transition Year Experience Programme which takes place towards the end of March/early April each year The week of activities is designed to promote an understanding and appreciation of both Food and Nutritional Sciences and to highlight career opportunities in these areas. The programme provides students with opportunities to conduct ‘hands-on’ experiments in our laboratories and includes a session in our bakery, a workshop in our meat processing hall, a day in Nutrition learning about techniques in nutritional assessment and performance nutrition, a day with APC exploring Futures Food, Microbiome and Health, a workshop on dairy processing, and pupils will also learn about the sensory analysis of foods while participating in a taste panel comparing food products.

The following link will allow you to view the schedule of activities from  TY Week  2025 (31st March to April 4th, 2025) as an example of how the week is formatted. Note, the activities may vary annually as we continuously update and improve our offering.  TY Week Sample Schedule from 2025

TY Week 2026

The TY programme will take place from Monday 13th to Friday 17th April 2026. 

Places on the TY week are limited and in very high demand. The week will appeal to students who have an interest in Food and/or Nutritional Sciences and would benefit from/enjoy a week-long programme of activities across both disciplines.

Students attending our TY week must be available to attend all 5 days.

To register an expression of interest in the TY programme for 2026, please contact the course coordinator Dr Therese Uniacke-Lowe (t.uniacke@ucc.ie or 021-4901385). Please include your full name and the name and address of the school you attend and all emails must include parent or guardian contact details (mobile phone numbers and email addresses).

Scroll through our Spotlight Carousel below to read some feedback comments from TY students who attended our week of activities in 2025