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Collaboration between University of Galway and Galway City Museum develops the first installation of its kind in Ireland A new exhibition, Survivor Stories: Tuam and Ireland's Institutional Past has opened at Galway City Museum, the first dedicated museum installation to focus on Mother and Baby institutions and their impact on Irish society.  The exhibition provides an insight into Ireland's treatment of single mothers and their children, focusing on the Tuam Mother and Baby institution and the legacy issues still faced by survivors today. Highlighting Catherine Corless's immense contribution to Irish history, the exhibition tells the stories of 18 survivors of the institution through audio and visual exhibits. An accompanying podcast series has also been created to allow for in-depth, personal engagement with survivors' stories.  Historian Catherine Corless said: “What a wonderful and vital project this is, to gather the life stories of the Tuam Home Survivors, which otherwise would be forgotten in time. This Tuam Oral History Project, created in University of Galway, by a dedicated team, led by Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley, will now be exhibited in the Galway City Museum, who have graciously given space and time for all Survivors.” The exhibition has been created with University of Galway's survivor-led Tuam Oral History Project, led by Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley and Dr John Cunningham, which has been gathering testimonies and other personal artefacts from institutional survivors, their families and those directly affected by this history since 2018. Through oral histories, photographs, documents, and personal objects, visitors are invited to engage with first-hand experiences of institutional life and its lasting impact across generations.  The exhibition is the first collaboration between Galway City Museum and the University of Galway since the agreement of a new memorandum of understanding to facilitate closer collaboration between the two organisations.  President of University of Galway, Professor David Burn said: “It is fitting that Catherine Corless and survivors of the Tuam Mother and Baby institution will now have a place beside heroes of Galway in our city museum. We are delighted to partner with Galway City Museum on this project as it encapsulates our shared commitment to enrich our cultural heritage by truly engaging audiences to help us all learn lessons from our dark past. “Belonging and Respect are two of our university’s core values where everyone should feel welcomed, supported, connected and valued as an integral part of our community. This dedicated exhibition acts as a powerful reminder of the historical absence of such values and why it is so important that the wider public gets to learn about these 18 survivor life stories.” The exhibition at Galway City Museum will comprise of photographic portraits of survivors, testimonies, audio alongside archival documents, and objects, including a detailed scale model of the Tuam Mother and Baby institution created by Catherine Corless and a very poignant lock of hair from writer and survivor J.P. Rodgers.  Acting Director of Galway City Museum, Adam Stoneman said: “We are pleased to share this important exhibition on the Tuam Mother and Baby institution, developed in close collaboration with a group of survivors through the Tuam Oral History Project. Their voices and experiences are vital to understanding this difficult history. Museums can be places of reflection and healing, as well as understanding, and this exhibition marks a first step in a longer-term commitment from Galway City Museum and University of Galway to develop greater public awareness and understanding of Ireland’s institutional histories.” The exhibition will run at Galway City Museum from July to September 2026 in the museum foyer and aims to engage Irish and international visitors. 29 US tour groups will visit Galway over the period specifically to see the exhibition and learn about Ireland's past.  A programme of public talks, workshops and screenings will accompany the exhibition. Further information is available at: GalwayCityMuseum.ie. Ends

Researchers at University of Galway have secured prestigious funding support through the European Research Council (ERC) to progress projects on an AI-assisted clinical support tool and improve next-generation regenerative medicines. The awards are among 182 projects across Europe which have been awarded ERC Proof of Concept grants to explore the commercial or societal potential of their research. One project, iChatRD, will develop a user-centred clinical decision support system for the diagnosis of rare and inherited metabolic diseases. The second project, GeIEV, will develop a new hydrogel technology that could significantly improve the delivery of next-generation regenerative medicine for tissue injury. The European Research Council Proof of Concept scheme is funded under Horizon Europe, the EU’s framework programme for research and innovation. iChatRD has been awarded a grant of €150,000 and will run for 18 months. The AI-assisted, fully transparent clinical decision support tool suggests expert-level rare disease diagnoses from unstructured patient descriptions within seconds. The overall goal of the project is to translate the research prototype into a practical, clinically relevant tool, which is also aligned with regulatory requirements and market needs. The team will develop ChatRD2.0 through best practices in engaged research, working side by side with metabolic disease specialists, paediatricians, and frontline clinicians to ensure the tool is shaped by the people who will actually use it. The project is led by Professor Ines Thiele and Research Fellow, Dr Cyrille Thinnes from the School of Medicine, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences and the Digital Metabolic Twin Centre at the University of Galway. Dr Cyrille Thinnes, University of Galway, said: “For patients with rare diseases, reaching a diagnosis can take years and involve consultations with a dozen or more physicians. This funding gives us the opportunity to turn ChatRD, currently a research tool, into something clinicians can, and want to, use in their daily practice. Our goal is to put a reliable decision support system in the hands of the doctor who sees a patient on day one, not year five. Crucially, every suggestion ChatRD produces is fully explainable, so the clinician can see exactly why a disease was flagged, which we believe is essential for fostering trust in AI-assisted medicine.” Professor Ines Thiele, University of Galway, said: “When exploring avenues for translating our fundamental research on digital metabolic twins into patient-focused applications, we kept encountering a major challenge: the richest clinical information exists as free text: the language of a human, not of a computer. ChatRD bridges this gap, by enabling metabolic modelling and natural language work together to suggest candidate diagnoses for inherited metabolic diseases. The ERC Proof of Concept grant now helps us take ChatRD into the real world, by working directly with clinicians to help shorten the diagnostic odyssey that may burden rare disease patients for years.” The second project, GelEV has been awarded a grant of €150,000 and will run for 18 months. It will focus on the development of a new technology that could significantly improve the delivery of next-generation regenerative medicines for tissue injury. The project aims to validate a novel hydrogel designed to deliver extracellular vesicles (EVs), tiny particles secreted by cells, allowing them to work more effectively. The project is led by principal investigator Dr Meadhbh Brennan and technical lead Dr Hannah Aris from the School of Engineering at University of Galway. Dr Meadhbh Brennan, School of Engineering, University of Galway, said: “By creating a delivery platform compatible with a wide range of EV therapies, the GelEV ERC proof-of-concept project has the potential to accelerate the development of new treatments for tissue injury indications, while supporting the growing extracellular vesicles therapeutics industry.” Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, said: “Many of today's innovations begin with a researcher asking a fundamental question. These 182 projects show that curiosity-driven science and real-world impact go hand in hand. With Proof of Concept funding, ERC researchers can test how their discoveries could become new treatments, technologies, services or solutions that benefit people across Europe.” Ends

The Dr Karen Guinee Library at University of Galway is to receive special funding from EBSCO Information Services to support the advancement of renewable energy and sustainability initiatives. The 2026 EBSCO Solar Grant programme is an annual initiative which supports libraries and educational institutions pursuing solar energy projects that reduce environmental impact, lower operating costs and create new opportunities for sustainability education and community engagement. University of Galway is among five libraries and academic institutions across three continents to receive funding as part of the 2026 EBSCO Solar Grant programme to advance renewable energy and sustainability initiatives. The funding will offset the cost of solar panel installation. The installation of solar panels in the Dr Karen Guinee Library builds on University-wide progress that has already seen energy efficiency improve by more than 50% across campus. It also supports the ambitions of the University's Sustainability Strategy 2026–2030, which sets out a vision for a carbon-neutral, nature-positive and healthy university. University of Galway has been recognised nationally and internationally for its sustainability leadership, including ranked #1 in Ireland in the Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ratings for the fifth year, as well as top 3 in the EU and top 100 in the world. The University has also renewed its AASHE STARS Gold rating for sustainability. Monica Crump, University Librarian, said: “University of Galway has been recognised as an SDG Ambassador by the Irish government due to our commitment to sustainability and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. That commitment has been strongly reflected in the design of our new library - the Dr Karen Guinee Library.    “We are delighted to have the support of EBSCO Information Services through the EBSCO Solar grant to ensure solar energy is a key component of the sustainability of our new building. We look forward to inspiring our students with the sustainability story of the Dr Karen Guinee Library when we open in 2027.” The addition of solar energy at the Dr Karen Guinee Library will support the University’s ambitious environmental goals and help power a next-generation learning and research space that will serve students, faculty and the wider community for decades to come. EBSCO is a leading provider of research databases, e-journal and e-package subscription management, book collection development and acquisition management, and a major provider of library technology, e-books and clinical decision solutions. Other recipients to share in the total funding package of $300,000 are Black River Falls Public Library in Black River Falls, Wisconsin; Cornwall Public Library in Cornwall, New York; Newburgh Chandler Public Library in Newburgh, Indiana; and Lupane State University in Lupane, Zimbabwe.  Ends