Two graduates from University of Galway’s College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences have been awarded the prestigious Gold Medal for Civic Engagement, recognising their exceptional contributions to university life and wider society during their time as students. Summer 2025 graduates Dr Dylan O’Halloran and Faith Ugiagbe were honoured for their leadership in areas ranging from humanitarian advocacy and global health to mentoring, health education and cultural inclusion.  The Gold Medal for Civic Engagement is awarded annually to students who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to civic, social or cultural affairs during their time at the University.  Dr Dylan O’Halloran, from Galway City, graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, and Bachelor of Obstetrics (MB, BCh, BAO) degree. He has been a transformative force in student life, championing global health equity, anti-racism education and international solidarity.  As a leader of Voluntary Services Abroad (VSA), he helped raise more than €110,000 in two years to support medical facilities in Malawi and Zambia. He also introduced a pre-departure ethics training programme for students volunteering internationally, in collaboration with the University’s Societies Office. This initiative contributed to VSA receiving the Most Fundraised award at the 2024 Society Awards.  Dr O’Halloran re-established the Palestine Solidarity Society, organising large-scale events with UN experts and frontline clinicians, while also supporting efforts to secure new scholarships for Palestinian students and proposals for a human rights impact assessment for international partnerships. His work earned both the University’s ENLIGHT Inclusion Award and the University’s Nelson Mandela Leadership Award in 2025.    Dr O’Halloran said: “The rigours of medical education can distract us from injustice, but as future clinicians, we have a responsibility to contribute to society beyond the clinic. Activism is not separate from medicine - it is integral to it.”  Faith Ugiagbe from Castletroy, Co. Limerick, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Podiatric Medicine and was recognised for her wide-ranging contributions to student life and the broader community. Her work spans leadership, peer mentoring, health promotion, and cultural engagement, with a strong focus on inclusion and wellbeing.  As Class Representative, she consistently advocated for her peers and collaborated with academic staff to enhance the student experience. She played a central role in promoting the Podiatric Medicine degree at University Open Days over three consecutive years, engaging prospective students and their families with practical demonstrations and insights into the profession.  Her volunteer work at the University’s Teddy Bear Hospital brought podiatry to life for children and their families in a fun, accessible way, while her participation in the SEAS SUAS Programme, run in partnership with the ALIVE Volunteering initiative, equipped her to support mental health and wellbeing initiatives across campus, including Mental Health Week.  As a peer mentor, she helped junior students navigate the transition into university, both academically and personally. Her work with the African Caribbean Society was particularly impactful, supporting cultural awareness, representation, and a strong sense of community for students of African descent.  Faith Ugiagbe said: “I’m really grateful to receive the Gold Medal Award for Community Engagement. It means a lot to be recognised for work that has been such a big part of my university experience. Whether it was representing my course at open days, volunteering at the Teddy Bear Hospital, becoming a committee member for society’s or helping to promote mental health awareness through the ALIVE and SEAS SUAS programmes, each role taught me something new and helped me feel more connected to my community. It’s been incredibly rewarding to contribute in ways that support others and also reflect my own values.”  Professor Martin O’Donnell, Dean of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at University of Galway, said: ““Dylan and Faith have shown that being a healthcare professional goes far beyond academic excellence - it’s about empathy, leadership, and a deep commitment to making a difference. Their achievements in civic engagement are inspiring examples of how our students can be catalysts for positive change, both within the University and in society. We are honoured to count them among our graduates.”  University of Galway Vice-President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Dr Helen Maher, said: “Both Dylan and Faith exemplify the values we aim to instil in our students - compassion, integrity, and a deep sense of social responsibility. They have both left an indelible mark on this University through their tireless contribution.” Ends

University of Galway and TE Connectivity support facility to build on success of BioInnovate Ireland  University of Galway and TE Connectivity have entered a new partnership in support of the University’s Ian Quinn Centre for Health Technology Innovation, building on the success of the BioInnovate Ireland programme. Established in 2011, BioInnovate Ireland was created to anchor the medical device sector in Ireland by educating and training future entrepreneurs. To date, the programme has trained 159 Fellows and led to 35 companies, 24 of which are alumni-led high potential start-ups. The Ian Quinn Centre is building on the success of the BioInnovate programme and the wider medtech and digital health community by providing co-working space, mentorship and global connections to emerging start-ups, as well as being a venue for industry, clinicians and campus-based innovators to come together and accelerate health technologies. This new partnership will include mentorship, site visits and other opportunities for engagement between TE experts, and BioInnovate Fellows and alumni, as well as philanthropic support to help establish the new Centre. The new Centre is named in memory of the late Ian Quinn, a visionary in medical device design and innovation. He founded Creganna with his brother, where he served as chief executive for 25 years. Having witnessed the decline of the IT hardware industry and other industries in Ireland, Ian Quinn set about ensuring that the medical device industry would not suffer the same fate. Creganna would go on to become TE Connectivity following its acquisition in 2016.             Interim President of University of Galway, Professor Peter McHugh, said: “We are grateful for this new partnership with TE, which supports the development of the Ian Quinn Centre. This new Centre underscores the importance of our work for the public good and for fostering innovation which will greatly benefit future medtech solutions and development, both here in Galway and globally.”               Pat Duane, SVP and GM Medical, TE Connectivity, said: “TE is proud to support the new Ian Quinn Centre, honouring the legacy of Ian Quinn’s vision and investing in the future strength of the medtech sector here in Ireland and beyond.”             Martin O’Halloran, Executive Director of BioInnovate Ireland, said: “This new partnership with TE’s medical business is a great example of the importance of creating strong University-industry partnerships that strengthen the entire medtech ecosystem.”   Following a visit to Stanford BioDesign, Ian Quinn spearheaded the foundation of BioInnovate Ireland, along with Enterprise Ireland and University of Galway, bringing the BioDesign model to Ireland, with the aim of creating a fellowship programme to educate and train innovators in the sector. More than a decade later, Ireland has become a global hub for medtech and digital health, with more than 450 companies, of which, 60% are homegrown. One in 8 Irish medtech companies have come from BioInnovate Ireland. The BioInnovate programme, which is funded under Enterprise Ireland’s Innovators’ Initiative, takes in 12 participants a year to complete a 10-month specialist, medical device innovation training programme. It combines teams of high-calibre, experienced professionals from medical, engineering, business and technical backgrounds whose aim is to discover unmet healthcare needs and align them with market opportunities. The participants are rigorously selected to contribute their skills, knowledge and expertise as part of multi-disciplinary teams. During the programme they are awarded a scholarship and receive mentorship from industry, clinicians, venture capitalists, domain experts and academics. Each team focuses on one specific clinical area and they have the opportunity to complete 8 weeks of clinical immersion to identify unmet needs in that area at hospitals in Galway and nationwide. BioInnovate is supported under the Innovators’ Initiative Programme co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021-2027. Ends

Two University of Galway research projects have received funding from Met Éireann to further develop climate services and new flood forecasting models. The projects are among six at Irish universities which were awarded a total of €2.8 million in funding from the national meteorological service, with almost €1 million being awarded to University of Galway. The funding is being awarded to innovative projects aimed at addressing climate change, extreme weather events and environmental sustainability as part of Met Éireann’s Weather and Climate Research Programme, which aims to strengthen national research capacity and scientific expertise in weather and climate, through high-impact projects. The two funded projects are: Dr Paul Nolan leads the research project - T3UD: TRANSLATE-3: Underpinning Data. Dr Nolan is a climate scientist and project lead in the Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) at University of Galway - the national centre for high-performance computing. Dr Indiana Olbert leads the research project - IMUFF: Integrated Multi-model multi-hazard Flood Forecasting. Dr Olbert is a lecturer in Civil Engineering at the School of Engineering in the College of Science and Engineering at University of Galway. Dr Paul Nolan’s T3UD project will deliver updated climate projections and related products for Ireland over the next four years, using global data  It will also explore how these projections are used in practice across different sectors, addressing uncertainty and risk management. Ultimately, the work aims to enhance national climate services by producing user-relevant, scientifically grounded projections while communicating the limitations and confidence levels of the data. Dr Nolan said: “We are delighted that Met Éireann has chosen a team of climate researchers from ICHEC to deliver this project with the mission to deliver updated standardised climate projections for Ireland. The combination of high-resolution local simulations from ICHEC and historical data from Met Éireann means that we can provide the best insights from the worlds of physics and statistics to inform the climate adaptation plans of Irish local authorities, utilities, and other end-users." Dr Indiana Olbert’s two-year IMUFF project will address the growing threat of compound coastal-fluvial flooding – when rivers and streams burst. It will develop an advanced system for three day flood forecasts using AI-generated time series and water depth maps. More than 300 Irish communities at risk from this type of flooding and the project will aggregate diverse data sources - such as meteorological forecasts, river flows, tidal record and satellite data - directly supporting Met Éireann’s flood forecasting, strengthening community resilience and improving Ireland’s readiness for compound flood events in a changing climate.             Dr Olbert said: “I am delighted to receive this funding award from Met Éireann. As floods are amongst the most common and deadly weather-related natural disasters, the project aims to develop a state-of-the-art AI-based compound flood forecasting system. The project will support the forecasting work delivered by the Flood Forecasting Centre at Met Éireann, increasing resilience of Irish communities and better preparing for the growing threat of compound coastal-fluvial floods.” Professor Lokesh Joshi, Interim Vice-President for Research and Innovation, University of Galway, said: “We are delighted that two projects, led by Dr Paul Nolan and Dr Indiana Olbert, have been selected for funding under Met Éireann’s research programme. These awards recognise the strength of University of Galway’s research in vital areas such as delivering advanced climate projections and improving flood forecasting. Together, these projects will help deliver real benefits to communities in Ireland as we face more extreme weather events and a changing climate.” The Met Éireann Weather and Climate Research Programme was launched in 2018, initially through co-funding partnerships with other research funding organisations. With the Research Call 2024, Met Éireann's Research Call Scheme enters its fourth round, having already directly funded €10.3 million in research across Irish academic institutions. With nearly 80% of applications submitted by researchers new to the Weather and Climate Research Programme in 2024 Met Éireann welcomes the growing reach of the Programme and the increased number of active researchers in weather and climate science in Ireland. Ends