UCC student and alumna also win first ever Olympic Medal for Irish women's rowing

History was made in the small hours of this morning as Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy secured Ireland’s first ever Olympic Gold medal in Rowing at the Tokyo games. Paul is one of seven University College Cork students at the Olympics in Tokyo, meaning UCC has more students on Team Ireland than any other Higher Education Institute in the country.

A new historic walking trail – “The Cork Abolitionists Trail”- launches this week in Cork. The trail across the city has been created to trace the footsteps of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass who visited Cork in 1845, and the 12-stop route has been launched by City and County officials, a direct descendant of Frederick Douglass, and a star of the hit musical Hamilton.  

▪ Expected growth in market demand for talented graduates to continue

▪ €600k in funding will be distributed over a five-year period

▪ KPMG will support a Research, Learning, and Teaching Fund

Today, KPMG announced a five-year partnership with University College Cork (UCC) to fund further initiatives in support of its business education programme. The €600,000 bursary will see KPMG provide funds to the University’s Business School for a range of student engagement activities, including scholarships, work experience, and events.

University College Cork experts have been appointed to lead key areas of Ireland’s national public health response to Covid-19.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly recently announced the appointment of Professor Mary Horgan, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and Dean of the UCC School of Medicine, as Chair of the Expert Advisory Group on Rapid Testing.

Meanwhile, the Government’s Expert Group on the Role of Ventilation in Reducing Transmission of COVID-19 - chaired by UCC Professor of Chemistry John Wenger - has published its initial reports and recommendations. This group also counts Prof Mike Prentice, Chair of Medical Microbiology at UCC, as a member.

University College Cork, in association with Cork City Council, has unveiled a special city centre banner to show the Rebel County’s support for its Olympic hopefuls ahead of the Tokyo Games, which get underway next week.

A total of seven UCC students and five UCC graduates will represent Ireland at the Olympics in rowing and athletics, and the unmissable banner on Lapps Quay features the seven current UCC students who will all compete for rowing honours. UCC will have more current students representing Ireland at the Olympics than any other Higher Education Institute this summer.

• Kerry Group to sponsor two Masters students in 2021 through a new employment-based MSc in Dairy Process Technology at University College Cork.
• The students will be employed by Kerry Group while completing their Masters at the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, UCC.
• This partnership represents an excellent example of Ireland’s dairy processing sector working together with the University to invest in the next generation of dairy science leaders.

New research reveals that the alarming disappearance of marine sponges from one of Ireland’s incredible nature reserves, maybe being reversed.

A worldwide search for ambitious, innovative ideas to get people physically active is to be launched by University College Cork, in association with Sport Ireland and with UNESCO patronage - with up to €10,000 going to the best concepts.

The Global Design Challenge for Sport and Physical Activity is now open for registration, as part of a bid to engage more people in sport and physical activity following a year of lockdown and restrictions that have seen participation levels plummet. The challenge will run from June 21st-June 27th .

The Global Design Challenge for Sport and Physical Activity has Development Grants of up to €10,000 for the winning teams, and mentors and partner organisations ready to help turn the best ideas into real campaigns and initiatives.

€80M investment fund for next generation of global companies emanating from Ireland’s Universities cornerstoned by research and innovation UCC, TCD and UCD 

University College Cork, UCC today confirmed its involvement in the Atlantic Bridge University Fund II, the second university focused venture fund managed by Atlantic Bridge with a remit to invest in new companies emanating from University research. The fund aims to drive scaling and commercialising of these companies to lead the next generation of Irish deep tech companies with global growth potential. 

Atlantic Bridge University Fund II - 2021 follows on the path of the pioneering Atlantic Bridge University Fund I - 2016 which has invested in over 30 deep tech companies which have raised over €200m in co-investment to date.  Following this trajectory, both funds have the potential to attract up €500m euros of investment into high growth companies. 

UCC has one of the most beautiful university campuses in Ireland and the Head Gardener of UCC, Jack Murphy, writes this following piece with some gardening tips for the month of February.