UCC Law students’ success in Irish Red Cross International Humanitarian Law competition March 2026

24 Mar 2026

Two teams of UCC law students took part in the annual Irish Red Cross Corn Adomnáin competition this weekend in the Irish Defence Forces’ Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin. 

The competition tests the students’ knowledge and application of the laws of war in a variety of challenging real-life scenarios, such as negotiating humanitarian access to civilian populations in need, access to detained prisoners of war and making real-time operational decisions in a video simulation of an armed attack. The competition concluded with an international treaty negotiation exercise, based on the proposed convention regulating Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS).

Now in its 10^th year, this all-island competition provides a comprehensive and high-level assessment of the participants’ knowledge and understanding of international humanitarian law. We were therefore delighted that Gloria Princess Sunny-Joe (LLM IHR) was presented with the Outstanding Individual award by Brigadier General Stephen Ryan at the end of the competition.

A total of 12 teams from universities across the island of Ireland took part in the competition. UCC Team A was comprised of Gloria Princess Sunny-Joe (LLM IHR), Tiyese Japhet Chirwa (LLM IHR) and Eimear Hogan (LLM IHR), and UCC Team B comprised of Vladimir Molnar (BCL2), Gearoid Clarke (BCLI4) and Patrick Kerry (BCLC4).

In advance of the competition, the teams undertook an intensive course in international humanitarian law led by Dr Dug Cubie and Dr Roila Mavrouli, and were kindly supported by Kate Holohan (BCLC2) and Jana Sirbu (BCLI2).

Congratulations to all our UCC law students who took part in the competition.

Gloria Princess Sunny-Joe (LLM IHR) and Brigadier General Stephen Ryan at the Irish Red Cross Corn Adomnáin competition in Dublin (21.03.26)