A Year in Review 2023: Staff Highlights

22 Dec 2023

Happening On 22/12/2023

As we bid farewell to another year, we reflect on some of 2023’s highlights at the UCC School of Law.  Now is the turn of key Staff Highlights. 

Our staff are the backbone of the School of Law, and we are delighted this year, as ever, to celebrate their achievements and welcome new colleagues to the team.

We were delighted to welcome new colleagues to the school in 2023:

• In July we welcomed Professor Femi Amao, Professor of Company Law and Sustainability, a key post in the Sustainability Futures appointments. Dr Talya Deibel, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher and Dr Felicitas Benziger also joined us as part of Dr Patrick O’Callaghans IRC Project team, Law and the Inner Self. Dr Samantha Morgan Williams started her new post as lecturer in Criminal Justice & Human Rights in July. 
• In September, we welcomed Dr Luke Noonan as a Lecturer in Law and Dr Cinzia Ruggeri and Dr Giulia Lasagni, Postdoctoral Researchers joined us as part of Professor Maria Cahill’s IRC project, SOCIETAS, Exploring the Potential Freedom of Association.  We also welcomed Lindie Van Rensburg, College Research Support Officer to the College of Business & Law team.
• In October, Dr Claire Raissian joined us on a one-year IRC GOI Postdoctoral Fellowship, with Professor Ursula Kilkelly as PI. We also welcomed Katherine Thackeray and Dr Nabin Maharjan to the School, who have joined Professor Aoife Daly’s ERC Project on Youth Climate Justice.
• In August, Aoife Guinee was appointed the post of Marketing & Communications Officer fulltime, and Ami Cronin was appointed as SEA at the School of Law in October.

In February, Professor Ursula Kilkelly was appointed the new VP for Global Engagement for UCC. We would like to thank her for all her work throughout the years as the Head of the College of Business and Law and wish her continued success in her new role. In September, Professor Thia Hennessy took up the role of Head of College of Business and Law. We look forward to working closely with Thia over the coming years.

We were delighted this year to congratulate 1 colleague promoted to Professor, Professor Aoife Daly, and 6 colleagues promoted to Senior Lecturer – Dr Dug Cubie, Dr Claire Murray, Dr Patrick O’Callaghan, Dr Seán Ó Conaill, Dr Catherine O’Sullivan, and Dr Mary Tumelty.

This year the school also appointed four new adjunct professors – Arran Dowling-Hussey, Meg Burke, Nicolas Espejo and Richard Martin.

We were sorry this year to bid farewell to our esteemed colleagues Dr Bénédicte Sage-Fuller, Dr Stephen Coutts and Professor Dagmar Schiek. We would like to wish them all the best for the future as they move on to new chapters of their careers and thank them for being excellent colleagues and for their contributions during their time at UCC.

In September, we celebrated the career of Professor Caroline Fennell, Professor Emerita of Law at The Royal Irish Academy. Academics, members of the judiciary, the Director of Public Prosecutions and other former students and colleagues took part in the event, titled Justice, Equality & Rights: Transforming the University for the Public Good. 

Awards

Staff at the School have done us proud this year by winning various awards for teaching, research and societal impact:

Dr Shaoming Zhu received the ‘Enhancing the Student Experience’ Award at the University Staff Recognition Awards in October for her Dissolving the False Learning and Cultural Boundaries for International Students at UCC Law This Inclusive Project is designed to support international students to dissolve the knowledge gaps, language barriers and cultural differences that they may face while studying in Ireland.

Congratulations to Prof Aoife Daly who was awarded the Researcher of the Year award and Professor Louise Crowley who was awarded the Impact Award at the College Research and Staff Recognition Awards in December. Congratulations to award nominees, Professor Mark Poustie (Leadership Award) and Kate-Liffey Faherty (Outstanding Colleague Award).

It’s been a busy year for Professor Louise Crowley and the UCC Bystander Intervention Programme.  In March we saw the programme roll out to Cork GAA clubs. In April Prof Crowley delivered the keynote address at the publication of the Good Practice Guide on ending Sexual Violence and Harassment in Higher Education.  In November, she hosted a Sex Ethics Training Course to the Irish Defence Forces and in June she received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her UCC Bystander Intervention work at the 2023 Irish Law awards. 

In November, Dr Luigi Lonardo, Acting Director of the Centre for European Integration, was mentioned in an Opinion by the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Joined Cases C‑29/22 P and C‑44/22 P KS and KD v Eulex Kosovo

In her capacity as Chair of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, Professor Áine Ryall participated in a number of events to mark the 75^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In October Professor Ryall contributed to the Human Rights 75 Regional Dialogue for Europe and Central Asia held in Brussels and organised by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in partnership with United Nations Environment Programme. In December, she participated in the Human Rights 75 High-level Event at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, which included a roundtable discussion on The Future of Human Rights, the Environment and Climate.  The High-level event was hosted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk. 

In December, Dr Marie Aronsson Storrier attended the COP28 in Dubai as part of the UCC delegation (along with PhD scholar Niamh Guiry - see Student Highlights 2023). We look forward to hearing her insights on the COP28 in January, on the School of Law podcast.