Two Clare students were honoured recently at the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science annual prize giving awards ceremony.
The event took place in the UCD O’Brien Centre for Science and was attended by student and graduate prize winners, invited guests, award sponsors, industry stakeholders and university staff. Guest speaker Mr John Horgan, MD, Kepak and 2016 UCD Agriculture Alumni Award winner, addressed the attendees, offering his congratulations to the award winners and wished them well with their current studies and future career plans.
A total of 37 students and recent graduates received prizes based on the 2016/17 academic session. A number of the awards are sponsored by industry including The Fertilizer Association of Ireland; the Agricultural Economics Society in Ireland; the Agricultural Trust; Grant Thornton and the Institute of Biology of Ireland.
A number of new awards were established in 2017 including the AIB Best in Class Award; the Danone Nutricia Early Life Nutrition Human Nutrition Medal; the Glanbia Human Nutrition Medal, the Kerry Human Nutrition Medal; the Nutricia Human Nutrition Medal; the Grant Thornton Awards in Financial Planning and Control; the FBD Trust Health and Safety Awards and the Carbery Human Nutrition Medal. Additionally a number of scholarships are awarded by the School to commemorate the life and work of UCD staff, graduates and students who have sadly passed.
These include the Ian Gordon Award, the Hussey Prize in Agribusiness, the Paul Mulhere Award, the Patrick Dempsey Memorial Prize, the Patrick Hogan Memorial Scholarship, the Paddy O’Keeffe Dairy Business Project Award and Colm O’Loghlen PWE Excellence Awards.
In 2017 a new award was established – the Teagasc Denis Minogue Memorial Award and is awarded to a postgraduate student who delivers the most innovative project as part of their examination of Irish farming and advisory service practices. Lastly the PWE Excellence Awards also recognise a number of outstanding students who have excelled in their Stage 3 Professional Work Experience placement.
Local young people, Conor Cullen O’Reilly (Ballymalone, Tuamgraney), Stage three BAgrSc Horticulture, Landscape and Sportsturf Management student and Kate McCarthy (Moyriesk, Quin, Ennis) final year BAgrSc Animal Science student, were the recipients of awards at the recent UCD School of Agriculture & Food Science Student Awards Ceremony.