2018
Royal Visit: The Prince of Wales to meet talented UCC students and alumni
A new harp piece has been commissioned by University College Cork (UCC) to mark the visit to Cork by HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall today (June 14).
Planxty Prince Charles was composed by UCC music graduate Dr Fiachra Ó Corragáin, who will perform the piece for HRH The Prince of Wales during his visit to the University.
The planxty, which is a lively air for the harp, will feature in a short video showing the University and iconic sights across Cork City. UCC will post the new video on its social media channels on the day of HRH's visit.
Dr Ó Corragáin studied Music and Irish in UCC as an undergraduate, combining these disciplines in his doctoral composition studies, which specialised in traditional Irish music.
In 2000, HRH The Prince of Wales revived an ancient Royal tradition of having a Welsh harpist, to foster and encourage young musical talent in Wales and the UK and to raise the profile of the harp, the national symbol of Ireland.
The University will showcase projects that demonstrate its culture of nurturing entrepreneurship and innovation. HRH The Prince of Wales will meet with students and graduates including Electrical and Electronic Engineering alumna Fiona Edwards Murphy, co-founder and chief executive of ApisProtect.
The company uses unique technology to help beekeepers prevent losses and increase productivity in their hives; multiple sensors provide an in-depth view of hives, allowing early intervention. In 2013, Edwards Murphy began her doctoral research into the application of sensors and networking in honey bee hives, and in 2016 she was the only Irish recipient of a 2016 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship.
Kanturk native Edwards Murphy is aiming to make a significant impact on the multi-billion-euro industry, which is under threat from climate change and disease.
“We’re rolling out 200 hives at key beekeeping locations in countries including the US, South Africa and the UK, with plans to target New Zealand, Australia, Spain, Canada and Germany over the next few years."
Business Information Systems graduate Paul Moore, founder of Cork food company Rebel Chilli, will present his products on the day. Emily Duffy, a Quercus Active Citizenship Scholar and Commerce student, will be talking about her invention: the Duffily Bag, designed for rough sleepers and which has led to the creation of an employment project in Dublin.
Speaking ahead of the visit, UCC President Patrick O’Shea said: “We are proud to count some of Ireland’s most dynamic innovators and entrepreneurs among our student and graduate communities; people who are carrying on the UCC tradition of independent thinking and making such a positive impact on the world.
“It is because of their stories and successes that UCC has become known as a hub for entrepreneurial excellence, and we are delighted to welcome His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales to our campus, to witness first-hand how UCC students are changing the world.”
The Prince of Wales will be brought to view the Cork limestone statue of Queen Victoria commissioned by architect Sir Thomas Deane as a gift to the new Queen's College, Cork (now UCC) in 1849, and the Great Book of Ireland, an extraordinary vellum manuscript which contains the handwritten work of nine composers, 121 artists and 143 poets.
HRH will also view the most extensive collection of Ogham stones on open display in Ireland in the University's Stone Corridor, before visiting An Bothán, a replica of the mud hut in which the poorest of the poor lived and died during the Famine in Ireland 1845-1849, which has been recreated by UCC.
The bothán is a replica of a Fourth-Class house, classified in the mid-1800's census as ‘having only one room’. The 1841 census records that Ireland had 1.3 million houses; 492,000 were classified as fourth-class.
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Media: For further information contact Ruth Mc Donnell, Head of Media and PR, Office of Marketing and Communications, UCC. Mob: 086-0468950.