Trinity wins Postgraduate Design & Innovation Award

Posted on: 11 December 2017

The Innovation Academy team at Trinity College Dublin has won the GradIreland Postgraduate Course of the Year for Design and Innovation for the Postgraduate Certificate in Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

The programme, established in 2010, has been delivered to 500+ PhD students from 36 disciplines. The programme provides a unique opportunity for students to work on short-term industry projects designed to enhance their awareness and increase their career options associated with innovation and entrepreneurship.

Director of PharmaChem Ireland and judge, Matt Moran, presented the award to Business Development Manager, Trinity’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Hub, Ruth Kearney. The judging criteria included the overall impact of the programme, industry involvement, student experience, and career development outcomes.

This award recognised the dedication of a core team led by Chief Innovation and Enterprise Officer at Trinity, Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Hub CEO, Fionnuala Healy, including Programme Mangers Dr Dan Rogers and Louise Andrews, Student Liaison Officer, Catherine O’Brien, previous Directors, Dr Barry Mac’Mahon and Professor Paul Coughlan, Deans of Graduate Studies, Professors Neville Cox, Aideen Long and Veronica Campbell.

It is a product of committed student ambassadors working all over the world and the wider PhD and supervisor community across Trinity. It also represents a much wider network’ of ‘academic contributors who have supported the programme since 2010, including Professor Mary Rose Greville, Diana White, Dr Majella Giblin, Professor Eoin O’Neill, Professor Eoin O’Dell, Dr Gareth Bennett and Professor Kevin Kelly.

Also involved are an extensive range of industry partners that ‘continue to ‘provide the essential industry-led scaffolding around the programme that’ is key to student experience and the overall programme success.

A key highlight from the judges referred to the high level of student achievement. They referred to the programme by saying: “Innovative delivery and methodology – takes contemporary issues and practices such as design thinking and places them in a practical setting which leads to a high level of student achievement.”

Postgraduates can complete the full Postgraduate Certificate or take modules independently (taking 10 or 5 ECTS modules) and have a choice of a range of areas including: Creative Thinking & Innovation; Opportunity Generation & Recognition; Intellectual Property; Planning Your New Venture; and Creative Capital.

Ruth Kearney accepted the award on behalf of the team. She said: “This award recognises the design and innovation underpinnings of the programme. This course is delivered within a vibrant multidisciplinary environment, facilitating new ways of thinking and helping to uncover the value latent in the doctoral research.”

“This enables students to understand how knowledge and ideas from their research can be transformed into products, services and policies for economic, social and cultural benefit.”