The School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES) at UCC has announced that their website, which is one year old this month, has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award at the Eircom Spiders - Ireland's premier online awards.
The shortlisting in the 'Education' category recognises excellence and achievement in the field of online communication.
"I am delighted that we have been short-listed and that benchmarking our website in this way will ensure quality and challenge us to make further improvements in our communication, as well as providing an important insight into the work going on at BEES’ said Professor John O’Halloran Head of School of BEES ‘The Web site is a critical part of our communication platform with staff, students, the public and the global community."
The School of BEES was established in May 2010 and is composed of the academic disciplines of Geology, Environmental Science, Zoology, Ecology and Plant Science.
The School's web presence is an extension of the mission statement for the school, which is "to advance and apply our understanding of the natural world through excellence in research, teaching and innovation".
BEES run a comprehensive and informative website, along with a range of social media initiatives to further strengthen communication between the School; present and prospective students; research collaborators and wider society.
For example, the BEES Research Blog is an opportunity for researchers to write candidly about their research experience. With student and staff researchers based around the world, blog posts come from such diverse locations as Montana, South Africa, Scotland, Spain and The Burren.
The School of BEES Facebook and Twitter streams have also proven hugely popular with students since they were launched alongside the blog and website in November 2010.
The awards ceremony will take place in Dublin tomorrow (November 10th 2011).
