School of Law success at UCC Research Awards

2 Jun 2023

The UCC Research Awards were held at Devere Hall on Thursday June 1st. 

UCC is an internationally competitive, research-led university that plays a key role in the development of Ireland’s knowledge-based economy and provides the insight and understanding on the challenges facing our society. The UCC Research Awards embrace this excellence in research, innovation and entrepreneurial activity, across the entire university research community and from all disciplines.

The quality and recognition of research success across the University, including outputs from individuals and UCC Research Institutes and Centres, is measured by key research metrics such as publications, citations, collaborative interactions, patents and spin-out companies. Researchers were awarded across 20 categories, five of which recognise specific achievements in entrepreneurship and innovation.

Huge congratulations to colleauges and students from the School of Law and the College of Business and Law who were awarded. 

Researcher of the Year - Professor Dagmar Schiek - Professor Schiek is the first legal scholar in Ireland to secure an ERC Advanced Award. Since her appointment as Vice Dean for Research & Innovation in the School of Law, the School has won two European Research Council Awards and two Irish Research Council Laureate Awards, with a combined value of €5,700,000. She is the founding director of the Centre for European Integration at UCC, which is also home to the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence.

Research Support Person of the Year - Dr Seán Lucey - Seán has demonstrated much leadership and commitment in transforming the College's research performance, in line with the College's research plan and Goal One of UCC's Securing Our Future, Strategic Plan, 2023-28. Seán has spearheaded a successful research funding strategy in the College of Business & Law. This has led to much recent success and since 2022 over €15 million in research funding has been won in the College from leading national and international agencies.

Best Publication of the Year Involving an Undergraduate Student as an Author - Ruairí McIntyre - The initiative shown by Ruairí McIntyre in researching and writing on the interaction between the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union as significant actors in the field of enforcement is to be commended. This is a truly outstanding piece of research and writing and far ahead of the standard expected from even the best undergraduate students. He brings the reader on a journey through both centralisation and decentralisation and back again to, as he describes it, the recentralisation of EU Competition law with the recently adopted Digital Markets Act. 

Research Collaboration of the Year - Dr Patrick O'Callaghan - To date, Dr O'Callaghan has led or participated in 15 international collaborative projects, several of which have been interdisciplinary in nature. In 2022, he led and collaborated in work on the right to freedom of thought. The right to freedom of thought is one of several rights that fall under the umbrella of personality rights. His collaborative work in 2022 will lead to two significant outputs.

The full list of UCC Research Awards 2023 winners is: