2014 Press Releases
Students win over the Undergraduate Awards
Two UCC students from Bishopstown and Togher, Cork City, have won out at The Undergraduate Awards (UA) 2014 as a further call is made for 2015 entrants.
David Jones from Bishopstown and Tadhg O'Laoighaire from Togher were among the 49 ultimate winners at the Undergraduate Awards, an international pan-discipline academic awards programme. They were up against a total of 5,000 submissions from over 200 universities worldwide, which were judged by more than 270 academics.
As well as these winners, 14 UCC students were highly commended across nine of the categories, marking them out as among the top 10% in their field.
David Jones has won the UA in the Chemical & Pharmaceutical Sciences category for his paper entitled “Preliminary Investigation into the Optimization of Sample Systems for the Study of the Vinyl Substitution Reactions of 3(2H)-Furanones”. He completed his undergraduate degree in the Chemistry of Pharmaceutical Compounds and just began a PhD in Organic Chemistry under the supervision of Dr Eileen O'Leary and Dr Tim O'Sullivan at UCC. He commented:
"I was thrilled to have won my Undergraduate Award. The piece I submitted was based on my final year research project and I was very happy with it. I found the research interesting and I'm glad the judging panel thought so also."
Tadhg O'Laoighaire has won the UA in the Philosophical and Theological Studies category for his paper entitled “Thinking Makes it So; A Defence of Narrative Reflection as the Appropriate Measure of Worthwhile Life”. Having studied philosophy for his undergraduate degree, he is currently doing a night course in psychology ahead of a master’s programme next year. He commented:
"I'm proud of the work I've put in during my undergrad degree, so partaking in the undergrad awards was a natural follow-on from that; if I feel like I've developed a worthwhile idea, it serves nobody to keep it hidden away. Ideas spread through sharing. In terms of winning, it's nice, but basically I just see the summit as a great opportunity to develop and disseminate ideas with others who are looking for answers and asking questions. Winning is just a gateway to further inquiry."
The prize
Each winner is recognised as the top student in their respective field globally for 2014 and is awarded a gold medal in recognition of this achievement. The overall winner of each category will be published in the 2014 UA academic journal. The winners are invited to attend The UA Global Summit, which is taking place in Dublin, Ireland from 19-21 November. The UA Global Summit is an opportunity for these excellent students and graduates to meet their peers across a large variety of disciplines and take part in a unique and inspiring event with thought leaders from around the world.
So you want to enter?
The 2014 Undergraduate Awards Programme is now open for registrations and submissions from current penultimate and final year students as well as 2014 graduates via http://www.undergraduateawards.com/submission/