A Year in Review 2025 - Alumni, External Engagement, Events and Internationalisation Highlights

15 Dec 2025

As we bid farewell to another year, we reflect on some of 2025’s highlights at the UCC School of Law.  

Now is the turn of key Alumni, External Engagement, Events and Internationalisation Highlights

The School of Law continues to foster relationships and partnerships with universities across the world, providing students and faculty more opportunities to study and research abroad, as well as gain new insights and new perspectives.  

This year, colleagues made visits to Canada, China, Dubai, India, Turkey and the USA as well as to European states to further our global engagement. 

Rankings 

UCC School of Law ranked among the Top 100 Law Schools in the world for 5^th year running

The School of Law once again secured a Top 100 place in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025. The QS Subject Rankings identify the world’s leading schools in particular fields, taking into account academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact. UCC School of Law has been consistently positioned in the Top 100 University Law Schools for the past five years due to its strengths across these fields. 

In January, The School collaborated with the Southern Law Association (SLA) to host a Careers Information Evening for Law students.The event attracted a capacity audience to the Aula Maxima.   A special word of thanks is due to Juli Rea, Kieran Moran and Michelle Cross of the Southern Law Association and to Professor Áine Ryall, School of Law. The UCC Law Careers Information Evening will be held once again in the new year - 11th February 2026. The Centre for Law & the Environment was delighted to collaborate again with the SLA in organising a seminar on the theme Housing, Dereliction and Property Rights in May. The seminar explored a range of issues around housing, obligations referable to property ownership and issues impacting urban regeneration.  A reception hosted by SLA to welcome the visiting delegation from the University of Montana Alexander Blewett III School of Law rounded off the evening marvellously. 

School of Law, UCC hosts 19^th European China Law Studies Association Annual Conference

We were delighted to host the 19th European China Law Studies Association Annual Conference at UCC in September. Around 100 speakers from many leading institutions across the world including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, from across Europe, the United States and Australia presented their research over three days in 25 stimulating panel sessions with three excellent keynote speeches. The European China Law Studies Association is dedicated to advancing comparative and interdisciplinary research in Chinese law. Its Annual Conference is recognized as a premier forum for scholars, legal practitioners, and policymakers from around the globe to meet and debate the latest developments in Chinese law. 

School of Law hosts Brussels Alumni and Friends Reception

In September, the School hosted an Alumni and Friends Reception in the Irish Embassy to the European Union in Brussels. The event was attended by graduates working in a wide variety of roles both in the European institutions and in the private sector in Brussels; graduates undertaking postgraduate study in Brussels and Bruges; current students on work placement as part of the BCL (Clinical) degree; and friends of the School who engage with us and support our work in a variety of ways. Guest speaker for the evening was the European Commissioner for Justice, Michael McGrath. Ambassador Aingeal O’ Donoghue, the Permanent Representative of Ireland to the European Union, welcomed attendees to the event. Also in attendance were MEPs Billy Kelleher and Michael McNamara, and President Luc Lavrysen of the Belgian Constitutional Court. Be sure to sign up to our mailing list and connect with us on our social media channels to hear about upcoming similar events!

RDJ Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship - The RDJ Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship at University College Cork supports students from ethnic minorities and those who are under-represented in the legal profession in Ireland - now in its fifth year. Congratulations to this year's recipients Elena Falvey and Mohammed Naeem. 

Leading Irish law firm McCann FitzGerald LLP hosted UCC students in November as part of the innovative Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance (ESG) and Businesses: Law, Policy and Practice module, co-developed with UCC. The module was created in response to evolving regulatory requirements and the growing need for specialist ESG expertise, blending academic with practical industry insight. Delivered by the School of Law’s Prof. Femi Amao in collaboration with McCann FitzGerald partners, it offers students a robust understanding of ESG in contemporary corporate practice.

Matheson Innovation Partnership

In March, UCC was pleased to partner with leading Irish and global law firm Matheson to host the inaugural Innovation Summit, “AI Powered Transformation: Leading your Business into the Future” in the Aula Maxima. UCC President Professor John O’Halloran welcomed participants by reflecting on UCC’s contributions to the development of AI, which stretches back to Professor George Boole, and stressed the importance of equipping graduates with the tools and critical thinking skills to tackle the challenges and the opportunities of AI

We were delighted to recently co-host the Matheson and UCC Hackathon on campus for the third year in a row. With over 70 students, across multiple disciplines, students were asked to imagine a multinational company facing a perfect storm: new tariffs, AI-driven workforce changes, ESG scrutiny, and a geopolitical crisis affecting supply chains. Their task was to design a governance toolkit to help boards respond quickly and responsibly.

We are also delighted to welcome Laura Polcyn as the Matheson PhD Scholarship recipient. This scholarship is funded through the Matheson - UCC Innovation Partnership, launched in 2023.  

 IN FOCUS: UCC welcomes EU Commissioner Michael McGrath

European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath and his Cabinet with UCC President Professor John O'Halloran, and UCC academics on their visit to UCC.

In September, Michael McGrath, EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection and his EU team visited Cork on a team building visit. As part of this visit, the Commissioner and his team toured the UCC campus and met with UCC academics from The School of Law and the Department of Government and Politics. 

UCC alumnus and Cork native, Michael McGrath, European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, and his Brussels based Cabinet met with UCC President, Professor John O'Halloran, and had a guided tour of the UCC campus by JP Quinn, Head of Visitor Services. 

The Commissioner has been specifically tasked with coming forward with a European Democracy Shield later this year – which aims to strengthen electoral integrity and processes, strengthen citizen engagement and participation in democratic processes, tackle disinformation and FIMI, and improve critical thinking and media literacy.  

The delegation met with UCC academics working on governance, justice and consumer policy to discuss Ireland's role in EU policymaking and to deepen a shared understanding of the responsibility of safeguarding and strengthening democracies. 

Dr Liam Weeks, Head of Department of Government and Politics spoke about the challenges facing democracy both at home and abroad, especially in relation to the threats to the electoral process. He spoke of the ongoing research projects within the Department on electoral integrity, gender inequality, the European Union, and political campaigning.

Dr Luigi Lonardo, Lecturer in European Union Law and Acting Director, Centre for European Integration discussed the ongoing research on disinformation at UCC, in connection with EU law and with the protection of democracy in Europe, noting the synergies with recent and upcoming initiatives of the Commissioner. 

Professor Nessa Lynch, Matheson Lectureship in Law, Innovation and Technology Lynch gave an overview of her research and professional experience in the area of fundamental rights and emerging technologies in criminal justice systems, noting the centrality of the digitisation of justice to the EU agenda in the coming years. She reported initial findings from her involvement in a EU-funded project on the procedural rights of children in this context. 

Professor Noreen O’Meara, Synnott Family Chair in European Union Law presented an overview of her professional experience in academia and the EU institutions, highlighting research on judiciaries and judicial independence, challenges of addressing online disinformation, and on human rights and environmental law in the EU. Noreen welcomed further engagement with the School of Law and the Centre for European Integration, particularly during Ireland’s forthcoming EU Presidency in 2026.

 IN FOCUS: ‘ALL RIGHT ALL NIGHT’

Minister O’Donovan announces launch of new “All Right All Night” online safety training

All Right All Night

The Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan TD, announced the launch of a new online safety training resource for young people in April.  The training programme is a safety initiative which is funded by the Department’s Night-Time Economy Unit and developed by the Bystander Intervention Team in University College Cork.

The All Right All Night programme helps young people recognise problematic behaviour, whilst developing the skills and capacity to make safe and effective interventions to keep each other safe on a night out. The All Right All Night programme has been successfully piloted in schools, youth clubs and sports clubs across the country and is now rolling out nationwide. Through the workshops, participants gain a clear understanding of the diversity of lived experiences, and in so doing promote respect and inclusivity. This latest element of the programme, provides bystander intervention training condensed into a one-hour online training course. 5,000 places will be made available free of charge to people aged 18-24.

Professor Louise Crowley, UCC School of Law and Director of UCC's Bystander Programme said: 

“The Bystander team at University College Cork is excited to bring the impactful All Right All Night training to the online platform, making it immediately available to 18–24-year-olds across Ireland and allowing us to upscale our reach and maximise the programme impact. “The ability to better recognise problematic behaviour and the associated capacity to make safe and effective interventions will encourage and enable participants to contribute to an improved culture of respect and safety for all young people on nights out.” 

Those interested in learning more about bystander intervention or the new All Right All Night online training can find details on the new website www.allrightallnight.ie