Trinity today Issue 17

Issue 17 OCTOBER 2012 www.tcd.ie/alumni

TrinityToday A PUBLICATION FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS

Putting Trinity

ON THE MAP

NEWS

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F E AT U R E S

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INTERVIEWS

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Trinity Today | welcome

Provost's Welcome Dear Fellow Alumni,

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t is hard to believe that it has been a whole year since I became Provost – and what an extraordinary year it’s been.

Undaunted by the challenging environment, we have continued to make real progress on many fronts and have seen many exciting initiatives get underway.

Some of my personal highlights are the events and developments featured in these pages. For example on page 30, the opening of The Lir, Trinity’s new National Academy of Dramatic Art, which will, I believe, help transform the opportunities for a new generation of Irish creatives. Another highlight of the year has been the wonderful progress made by many of the exciting research initiatives across College - I will single out Trinity’s Cancer Initiative on page 20, as a shining example of ground-breaking research enabled by innovative multi-disciplinary collaboration.

With over 90,000 alumni it’s never difficult to find graduates from across the faculties with engaging stories to tell. In this edition we’ve featured Mark Little, Mario Rosenstock and Belinda McKeon to name a few.

You will be pleased to know that Trinity is holding its own in the international rankings, you can read about how we are doing on page 13 where our Dean of Research Prof Vinny Cahill explains our success. Another recent development is the launch of our new Global Relations Strategy, meet our new Vice Provost for Global Relations, Prof Jane Ohlmeyer, who is championing the strategy on page 14. Many alumni have asked me how can they help promote Trinity – well the truth is that you already do – by your own successes, in which we celebrate.

I look forward to meeting many of you in the coming year – at branch events across the globe or when you come back to College for an alumni event or just to visit old friends.

Trinity Today is now available online visit www.tcd.ie/alumni/news.

Patrick Prendergast B.A.I., Ph.D., Sc.D. (1987) Provost

Find out what’s going on in the front cover image on page 5.

Editor: Lisa Martin Editorial Team: Amy Brodigan John Dillon Sally-Anne Fisher Michael McCann Caoimhe Ní Lochlainn Nick Sparrow

Photographers: Dave Cullen Frank Mullin Eoin Holland Paul Sharp

Alumni & Development East Chapel, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland t. +353 (0)1 896 2088 e. alumni@tcd.ie w. www.tcd.ie/alumni

Publisher: Ashville Media Group www.ashville.com

All information contained in this magazine is for informational purposes only and is to the best of our knowledge correct at the time of print. The opinions expressed in these pages are not necessarily shared by the Alumni Office or Trinity College Dublin.

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CONTeNTS | Trinity Today

20 Cancer research at Trinity

26 Little by Little

Former Students Union President Mark Little talks to Trinity Today.

28 social Media

An Academic Perspective.

Contents 4

campus News Find out what’s been going on in and around campus.

13 Trinity and the rankings What do they mean?

14 Putting Trinity on the Map

An interview with Jane Ohlmeyer, Vice Provost for Global Relations.

30 Units of Potential

Loughlin Deegan & Danielle Ryan talk about their vision for The Lir.

18 From Trinity to silicon Valley

34 Trinity in the News

20 championing the cause

36 all the World’s a stage...

Meet tech entrepreneur Joe Kiernan.

Learn about cancer research at Trinity.

A selection of headlines from another busy year.

Mario Rosenstock remembers his time in Trinity and DU Players.

24 student News

What have they been up to?

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Units of Potential

Belinda McKeon on Solace

44 The Library Tercentenary

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Trinity Today | CONTeNTS

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Putting Trinity on the map

mario rosenstock on Trinity

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former Students union President mark little talks to Trinity Today

38 a Different Pathway to Law

Paul O’Connell on the Trinity Access Programmes.

42 Family Matters

Father and daughter, Terry and Kathleen Gallagher on their Trinity experiences.

44 300 Years in the Making

72 class Notes

News from graduates around the world.

78 In Memoriam

R.B. McDowell 1913 - 2011.

80 One-on-One

Pro-Chancellor Mary Henry shares some of her favourite things.

© PeskyMonkey/collection/ thinkstock.com

Celebrating the Old Library Tercentenary.

46 solace in New York

Belinda McKeon on living in New York.

48 Twitter na Tríonóide

Diarmaid Mac Mathúna on social media and the Irish language.

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Trinity olympians past and present

50 a sporting Year in Trinity

Highlights and achievements.

54 The Olympic connection

Trinity Olympians past and present.

56 a Lasting Legacy

David Naylor remembers Sami Nasr.

©istockphoto.com/PeskyMonkey

63 Pictorial Parade

Photos from a range of alumni events.

70 alumni Branches Find one near you.

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NeWS | Trinity life

Trinity LIFe 2012 Photography & Video Competition ‘Trinity Life…’ was the theme for this year’s photography and video competition, open to students, staff and alumni of the College. The theme gave entrants artistic license to submit images or videos that captured the character and spirit of the College. Twenty images were selected for an exhibition in the

College Library during Trinity Week. The overall winner in the photography category was graduate Donald McQuillan, while best video was awarded to students Jessica Pitcher and Ken Wade for their video ‘Snapped’ which can be viewed online at www.tcd.ie/alumni/competitions.

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Photo Winner

DONALD MCQUILLAN

‘Rain, Hail or Snow, Trinity is alive’

Runner Up

CHLOE KEOGAN

‘Croquet on campus’

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SHORTLISTED ENTRIES

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1. Séamus Beirne ‘Fire show’ 2. Aoife Williams ‘St Patricks Day’

3. Aleksei Parahhin ‘Trinity Love/ Life’ 4. Peter Wolfe ‘Life’s a game’

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Campus | NEWS

Campus NEWS It’s been a busy year in Trinity, with so much going on we’re only able to provide you with snap shots here, for more news visit www.tcd.ie.

Trinity Students Celebrate the Colourful

Festival of Holi

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ondered what our front cover was about?

Students marked the spring festival of Holi, the Hindu festival of colours, with a celebration in Front Square that saw students throw coloured powder at each other. Organised by Trinity’s Indian Society, the Trinity celebrations for the Holi festival aimed to embrace and promote multiculturalism within the College and Ireland. Over 150 members of the student body joined in the celebration that also featured music and dancing.

President of Ireland Launches the Centre for Longitudinal Studies

Scientists Discover Material with Potential to Transform Flat Screen Technology

R Prof Frances Ruane, Director of ERSI with President Michael D. Higgins and Dr Patrick Prendergast, Provost at the launch.

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he Centre for Longitudinal Studies in Ireland was launched by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins in April. The centre has been established to promote evaluation in a range of Irish public policy areas drawing on longitudinal social science data to get better answers and solutions to important social and economic questions.

esearchers working in the Cleaner Energy Lab led by Prof Igor Shvets’ have discovered a material that could revolutionise flat screen technology and the efficiency of solar cells.

The research describes the fabrication of a new type of material with the potential to realise advances in devices such as solar cells, flat screen TVs, computer monitors, LCD panels, light emitting diodes utilising materials that can conduct electricity and at the same time are see-through.

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NEWS | Campus

Student Goes to New Heights to Launch Health and Sports Week

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CD Health and Sports Week was launched in March by Peter Linney from Trinity’s Climbing Club, who abseiled the College’s Campanile on Front Square, supported by his fellow climbing club members, staff and students. See Peter in action on page 49.

Trinity Hosts Pep Rally in Front Square O

ver 2,000 participants including college football teams, marching bands, cheerleaders and their supporters took part in a Pep Rally in Front Square in August. The colourful Pep Rally for the Global Ireland Football Tournament (GIFT) took place the same weekend as the Notre Dame v Navy American football game in the Emerald Isle Classic. 12 Championship high school and college American football teams took part.

Locals build the solar powered disinfection system.

Trinity Researchers Develop Innovative Water Disinfection System

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taff and Students from the School of Engineering have developed a new solar powered water disinfection system which could revolutionise the supply of clean, safe water in developing countries.

The solar disinfection unit is a low cost, low maintenance system which only requires energy from sunlight to run. The project was funded through the crowd funding website FundIt and raised over s24,000.

5% Increase in First Preference CAO Applications

Two cheerleaders take part in a Pep Rally in Front Square.

irst preference applications to Trinity were up by 5% in 2012. The increase in applications represents the fifth successive year in which first preference applications to Trinity College have increased. A total of 18,887 students applied to Trinity representing 26% of the total number of applications to the Central Applications Office.

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Campus | NeWS

© Orion-Nebula & Running Man II/istockphoto/ thinkstock.com

Trinity Astrophysicist Flies with NASA on Airborne Observatory SOFIA

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rinity College dublin astrophysicist dr graham harper flew on board the naSa and german Space agency, dlr’s new Sofia airborne observatory to make far-infrared observations of the massive red supergiant star Betelgeuse in an all night expedition last november.

Betelgeuse (also known as alpha orionis) is the second brightest star in the constellation orion, the eighth brightest star in the northern night sky, and one of the largest stars ever measured.

Researchers Launch New Smartphone Application For Viewing Images of the Sun

Actor Sir Christopher Lee Receives Gold Medal from The Phil

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esearchers from Trinity’s School of Physics and School of Computer Science and Statistics celebrated the launch of a new Smartphone version of SolarMonitor.org that allows users to view the most recent NASA and european Space Agency (eSA) images of the Sun from your Smartphone.

enowned actor, Christopher Lee, became an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society recently when he was awarded the Bram Stoker Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage. Bram Stoker was a former president of The Phil - a fitting tribute to the actor who became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films.

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NeWS | Campus Students, Stephen Hatton and Meagan Wiebe, show Minister for Research and Innovation, Seán Sherlock, the state-of-the-art facilities.

Light Projection Transforms Front Façade of Trinity A

n impressive light projection lit up the front façade of Trinity over the course of three days which formed part of the New Year’s eve celebrations in Dublin city. Using the backdrop of one of the city’s historic landmarks, the projection displayed an intricate array of moving clock parts that culminated in a visual and musical countdown to 2012.

New State-of-the-Art School of Medicine Opens

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rinity College Dublin’s new premises for its School of Medicine was officially opened by the Minister for Research and Innovation, Seán Sherlock in February.

Funding of just over s21 million was provided by the Higher education Authority/Department of education & Skills for the new building situated in the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute.

The School of Medicine delivers multi-disciplinary education across all levels of health care to 750 medical undergraduate and 550 postgraduate students, including Ph.D. and M.D. students.

Find out more about what’s going on in the School of Medicine at www.medicine.tcd.ie.

The Idea of a University in the 21st Century

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he School of english recently hosted a two day symposium on ‘The Idea of a University in the 21st Century’ which aimed to provide a platform for academics to discuss modern day universities. Provost Dr Patrick Prendergast opened the symposium and addressed the commitment of universities in serving the public good and questioned the role universities have within the Public Service as institutions working within a regulatory and funding framework created by governments.

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Campus | NEWS

Students Break World Record To Highlight Mental Health Issues

Carolyn Jackson, Prof Catherine Comiskey, Prof Agnes Higgins & Prof Gary Rolfe at the opening of the new centre.

Centre for Practice and Healthcare Innovation Launched

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newly formed Centre for Practice and Healthcare Innovation at the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity College Dublin was launched this year. The Centre will bring together clinical practice staff in nursing and midwifery, aligned with academic strengths in a partnership that aims to provide improved models of service delivery and practice for the benefit of all patients, service users and society.

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Guinness World Record was broken by 953 students who turned out to show their support for Mental Health Week. The group successfully broke the record for ‘the most amount of people to write a story’. Organised by the Students Union, the event aimed to reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues by highlighting that mental health is part of everyone’s story.

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ence The Sci of Bubbles S

cientists in Trinity have succeeded for the first time to turn the Weaire-Phelan mathematical foam model, a celebrated geometrical concept which received additional fame when used in Beijing’s Olympic Games iconic building the 'Water Cube', into real foam. The model now exists in reality, thanks to the work of a team led by Dr Ruggero Gabbrielli.

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NeWS | Campus

rs ta S k c o R e b ld u o h s rs e h c a Te T

en-time Academy Award winner Lord David Puttnam, who has 26 BAFTAs and a Palm d’Or to his name, paid a visit to the Bridge 21 project this summer. Bridge 21 encourages the creative use of technology to build innovative educational models for 21st-century learning.

Since the programme was born in 2007, more than 4,500 students from 30 schools have taken part in the project which inspires confidence, creativity, individuality and a desire for learning. In his address Lord Puttnam said that teachers should be rock stars as “executives charged with developing our nation’s future wealth and should be valued and rewarded as such”.

Find out more about Bridge 21 at www.bridge21.ie.

Lord Puttnam with students taking part in the Bridge 21 project.

Dublin TriniTy nEWS Contemporary ArCHiVES OnLinE @ Trinity D

uring the month of October, the main façade at Trinity College Dublin formed a unique backdrop to an artwork created specifically for the university as part of Dublin Contemporary 2011, displaying the latest work by Paris based, Yugoslavian born artist Braco Dimitrijevi entitled ‘Casual Passer-by I met at 3.46 pm, Dublin 2011’.

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his year the student publication Trinity News received a grant from the TCD Association & Trust to archive previous editions of the paper so they can be accessed online. The archive features every issue of Trinity News from the very first publication in 1953 to 1970 inclusive.

Visit www.trinitynewsarchive.ie to read a previous edition of the publication to relive your Trinity days.

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Campus | NEWS

Trinity helps Power Search for Higgs Boson

© LHC simulation/Hemera/ thinkstock.com

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esearchers in Trinity’s School of Computer Science and Statistics were part of the global effort to analyse the data generated by the Large Hadron Collider experiment and played a key role in the analysis leading to the recent announcement by CERN of the Higgs Boson.

In order to provide the computing power necessary to store and process this data, hundreds of sites around the world joined forces to create a giant computing system, known as a “grid”. Scientists can move data around the grid and run programmes on any one of the tens of thousands of computers that are connected. The School of Computer Science and Statistics has been involved in the “grid” since its earliest days.

TCD Finance - Student Loan Initiative Launched

All Nine Universities of Ireland honour Chuck Feeney

© nigelcarse/istockphoto.com

The universities of Ireland, North and South, jointly conferred an honorary Doctorate of Laws (LL.D.) on Charles F. “Chuck” Feeney, founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies in September.

This was the first time such an honour was conferred jointly by all the universities on the island of Ireland. The universities came together to honour Chuck Feeney’s remarkable contribution to Irish society, and in particular to the universities.

Since 1989, The Atlantic Philanthropies have donated almost s800 million to Irish universities, North and South.

A student loan initiative was announced in July in conjunction with Bank of Ireland which aims to help student’s access higher education by enabling parents to spread the cost of student contribution charges with payments of s100 per month for the duration of study.

Find out more about the initiative at www.tcd.ie/treasurers_office/fees/tcdfinance.

Chuck Feeney and Dr Mary Robinson, Chancellor of the University.

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news | By the Numbers

Trinity: By the Numbers

1592

41% male, 59% female Student Population

the year Trinity was founded

4.5 million

11,844 undergraduate students

printed volumes in the library’s collection,the most famous being The Book of Kells

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51acres

faculties exist in College: Humanities and Social Sciences; Engineering, Mathematics and Science; and Health Sciences

are occupied by campus

4,339 degrees were conferred in 32 separate commencement ceremonies in 2010/11

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Student societies in Trinity covering everything from Players to Pirates & 50 sports clubs

2,839 full time staff employed by trinity

44

Trinity Provosts to date

67,730 graduates received Trinity Today

4,903 postgraduate Students

22 Metres the Height of Campanile

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College rankings | trinity

TriniTy

AnD iTS PLACE in THE

WOrLD UniVErSiTy rAnKinGS By professor Vinny Cahill, dean of research.

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trinity College Dublin is ireland’s leading university

in the Qs world university ranking, the times higher education (the) world university ranking & academic ranking of world universities (shanghai)

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he importance of world university rankings has grown enormously in recent years as the competitiveness of the global higher education environment has rapidly intensified. in the most highly-regarded rankings of world universities for 2011/2012, trinity was cited as ireland’s number one university. tcd scored 67th in the world (down from an all-time high of 43 in 2009) in the Qs world university ranking 2012 and 117 in the world (down from 76 in 2010) in the tHe world university ranking 2011.

College’s academic standards and performance are higher than ever” rankings are based on a variety of metrics some of which are obtained by surveying academics and employers worldwide, for example, awards; citations; publications; reputation; staff/ student ratio; income; and international outlook. a closer look at trinity’s performance in the rankings reveals that while our research impact and number of citations is rising, the gap with other universities worldwide is closing. trinity is facing a more competitive international landscape than ever before, while at the same time operating in a climate of significantly reduced

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tCd's european ranking position

state funding for the third level sector in ireland. one difficulty with rankings is that it is all comes down to just one number. this number is a function of so many variables. a look at the performance of individual disciplines gives a more balanced picture of how the college is faring, for example trinity is in the top 1% worldwide in terms of bibliometrics in 18 fields assessed in essential science indicators (thomson reuters - september 2012 update). trinity also features prominently in the recently published

Qs subject rankings (June 2012), with top 50 rankings in english, language & literature; History; geography; and politics and international studies and top 100 ranking in a further fourteen areas. these results confirm that in spite of the recent fall in the global university ranking, the college’s academic standards and performance are higher than ever. also, we should not forget that there are limits to the control that we have over some of the factors which influence our score, for example, if the core grant from the state continues to decline, it will be increasingly difficult to maintain existing standards. nevertheless, as a global university, trinity cannot ignore the university rankings and the challenges they present to our international reputation. specific measures have now been put in place to address the college’s position in the university rankings. the growth and management of trinity’s reputation through initiatives such as our global relations strategy (read an interview with the vice provost for global relations on page 14); improvements in the performance of our publications and citations; and strategic staff appointments; are all areas in which action is being taken. we are working hard to grow the international reputation of the university.

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tCd's Qs world university ranking position

some alumni have asked ‘how can i help?’ and the answer is simple – you already do! we are grateful for the support of all our alumni. you represent a trinity education, so as you build your career and contribute to society, you strengthen the college’s reputation.

prof Vinny Cahill was appointed dean of research in september 2011 and will serve as dean for three years. he has responsibility for co-coordinating and overseeing the university’s research, innovation, technology transfer, and entrepreneurship strategies.

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FeATURe | Vice Provost for global relations

Jane ohlmeyer talks to louise holden B.a. (1995) about how alumni are central to Trinity’s global relations Strategy.

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t’s the Chinese Year of the Irish, or so you’d be forgiven for thinking. There has been a cascade of announcements on Sino-Hibernian linkages; in education, research, horse breeding, and the beef trade, amongst others. Jane Ohlmeyer, Ph.D., M.A. (j.o.) (1991), Trinity College Dublin's new Vice Provost for Global Relations, accompanied Taoiseach enda Kenny and his entourage to Beijing in March this year and marvelled, as she stood with the Taoiseach in Tiananmen Square, at the audacity of Ireland on the global stage.

“Trinity and the Taoiseach signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Beihang University, one of the top universities in China. The Irish and Chinese flags were flying on Tiananmen Square. I was very proud to be part of that,” she says.

Jane’s job is a first for Ireland, and couldn’t have come at a better time. “I’m essentially the Minister for Foreign Affairs at Trinity College,” she says. “Ireland needs a university of global consequence. We have so much potential and so many relationships to foster but have not done this in a coordinated way so far. I am working to leverage the totality of the University’s external relationships with alumni, philanthropists, students, corporate bodies and researchers.”

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Vice Provost for global relations | FeATURe

Putting on Trinity the

Map

All these areas are interconnected, but until now Trinity did not have a designated person taking the ‘helicopter’ view. The first task has been to draw up a global relations strategy at the highest level. “Our counterparts in edinburgh, for example, are five years ahead of us in this regard. They have been working to raise the visibility of Scottish higher education by focusing on one university. Now their student body is totally international. Ours is still at around 10%.”

“It’s a very competitive market out there,” says Jane. “eurocentric thinking is no longer enough – this is as true for Ireland as it is for Trinity. We have to look to regions like Asia. At the moment, we have about 150 Chinese undergraduate students and the same number of Indian students. This needs to be far higher.” This is a central tenet of the Global Relations Strategy – to double the number of

Ireland needs a university of global consequence” non-eU students studying at Trinity to 20% of the student population. Comfort with the english language makes U.S. and Indian students an obvious fit for undergraduate enrolment at Trinity College. The Chinese market is more challenging and requires a very creative approach.

“We need to offer foundation programmes with these non-traditional student communities in mind. The opportunities for undergraduate development in China are limited, so we need to look at other vehicles for student mobility, such as exchanges and R&D partnerships with China”. To bring these relationships to fruition, Jane is connecting with Chinese media, policymakers and higher education institutions, chiefly Peking and Tsingua universities.

“I have been back and forth to China bringing computer scientists and nanoscientists with me,” she explains. “The disciplinary focus in China is in the hard sciences, less on the arts and humanities, at the moment. However, I believe that’s changing. The Cultural Revolution in China devastated the cultural infrastructure in the country and Ireland has something to offer in that regard. We do culture well.”

One of the many outstanding aspects of Jane’s global tour so far has been the openness of alumni to her work. Building alumni relationships worldwide will be the second core ingredient of the Global Relations Strategy. “During my recent visits to Beijing and Shanghai, I connected with a small but well-positioned group of Trinity alumni who opened doors to media, government, business and education,” says Jane. “They had such a great attitude – what can we do to help?”

Next stop India. Although, as Jane points out, the relationship between the sub-continent and the Dublin university goes back a very long way indeed. “Trinity had a Chair of Oriental Languages in the 18th Century. Many of Trinity’s engineers, doctors and civil servants went to work for the east India Company and Ireland became a template for India’s freedom fighters. The Irish Constitution became the model for the Indian Constitution. There is immediate empathy between us.”

How to build on such a rich history? “Corporate relationship-building will be very important in the Indian context,” Jane explains. “We need to connect with high net worth individuals. We also need to reach out to those at high school and get them to consider Ireland as a study destination.”

In India, as in all Trinity’s target destinations, there is a need to encourage the kind of philanthropy which yields scholarships for students to travel and study in Ireland. The demand is there. India will need 800 new universities to meet the projected demand for places in the coming years.

Ireland can help build that infrastructure by educating key individuals, says Jane. “We can only take a fraction of the students whom India could send.”

“If students from China, India and elsewhere are to come to Ireland, we have to be absolutely confident in the quality of our product,” says Jane. “The experience must be world class in every aspect, from the tuition to accommodation to Trinity Today | 15

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feature | vice provost for global relations

Professor Ohlmeyer and Dean Katherine Bergeron sign the Brown Plus One Initiative.

wireless networking to visa structures. ireland must be seen as a safe and friendly destination. the expectations are high, and we are competing with high standards in the uk and north america.” she welcomes recent developments in visa regulation which will make it easier for students to come here, just as the uk visa structures are tightening up. “we need to present trinity to students from asia and further afield as a gateway to europe and the atlantic,” she says. north america will always be a vital partner at every level, even as relationships in asia blossom. along with frequent trips to beijing and delhi, Jane will continue to beat a path to chicago, new york and boston, with various colleagues and academics in tow. “other important destinations will be singapore and malaysia, where we have built strong links in the health sciences. many malaysian doctors were and continue to be

educated in trinity’s school of medicine.” trinity is about to open the singapore institute of technology, specialising in the area of physiology. the university is also nurturing relationships in russia, kazakhstan and brazil. a less obvious connection route is the ngo sector, Jane points out. on a recent visit to mumbai, she witnessed firsthand how a university in one country can become part of a development project in another. “we can provide students and researchers to develop projects. it’s very valuable and rewarding work for our students. there’s also a role for students from the humanities and social sciences in working to raise the visibility of these projects and tell these stories through media, social networking and research.” trinity has more to export than just manpower – the exportation of ideas will also help build the university brand.

Building alumni relationships worldwide will be the second core ingredient of the Global Relations Strategy” there are plans underway to develop eight international nodes of the very successful science gallery on pearse street. trinity’s most powerful export, however, is its graduates. “mobilising our alumni will underpin the entire strategy,” says Jane. “if you’re in Hong kong, singapore, boston, or mumbai, be part of the trinity family.” “anywhere i have travelled the energy from alumni has been tremendous. they all want to know, ‘How can i make my university prosper?’ there are so many ways, from putting us in touch with high level contacts in business and

Professor Ohlmeyer with an Irish delegation at Beihang University.

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Vice Provost for Global Relations | feature

government, to providing support for Trinity students on exchange programmes or selling the message of Trinity to local parents at recruitment fairs. We need to be a catalyst for all that activity. We are building up records of who is where and in the process of putting people in touch with each other in a way that they had not connected before. It’s very exciting.”

This bird’s-eye view of the world is an intriguing vantage point for a Professor of Modern History. “I have lived and taught in Santa Barbara and Yale and in Ireland. History is all about studying relationships and power. Humanities scholars are well-placed for jobs like mine. It’s high level work but it all boils down to relationships and interaction with people. Engaging with the alumni around the world is a highlight. When I see the enthusiasm and potential I realise that we are at the beginning of a very interesting journey for Trinity.”

Actor Salman Khan with Professor Ohlmeyer and Trinity students, during the filming of Bollywood blockbuster Ek Tha Tiger.

Some projects of international collaboration with Trinity.

Global Science Gallery Network

Following international recognition for the groundbreaking model of bringing science and art into creative dialogue to engage a young adult audience, Science Gallery is now entering a new phase to develop a Global Science Gallery Network with leading universities worldwide. The development funded by a million euro gift from Google. org, pioneered by Trinity College Dublin, to develop a network and create two new centres by 2014, with an ultimate goal of eight Science Galleries worldwide by 2020.

In 2012, Science Gallery and King's College London signed an Memorandum of Understanding to establish a Science Gallery in London at a spectacular site in the London Bridge quarter. Science Gallery is also in discussions with New York, Singapore, Bangalore and Moscow about establishing hubs in those cities.

Collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

Trinity and the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2012 committing to work together on common research themes, initially in the fields of Chemistry and Biochemistry related to nanoscience and drug discovery. The College is currently exploring how both organisations can utilise knowledge transfers and work together to compliment each other’s world class research.

The agreement will also see academics and students from both institutions visit the other to deliver lectures, collaborate on research and share resources.

A joint workshop took place in India in February 2012 and from that 3 research projects have started, another joint workshop will take place in Trinity in July 2013.

School of Engineering and Stanford University Funded by US alumni and board members, Dr Gar Bennet has been seconded to the Centre for Design Research Stanford University to learn how they run the ME310 course on Mechanical Engineering Design. The goal of the Stanford collaboration is for Trinity to become a designated European partner for Stanford, so Trinity and Stanford students can collaborate to resolve issues for major global corporations.

Trinity Engineering is also collaborating with Harvard Engineering. Dr Conor Walsh and Donal Holland, Trinity academics are currently developing research on design education projects in Harvard.

Partnership with Singapore Institute of Technology

Trinity College Dublin and Singapore Institute of Technology recently signed an agreement for partnership, which involves the School of Medicine delivering courses in Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy from September 2012. A delegation from Singapore visited Trinity in February 2012 to finalise the arrangements.

Two academic appointments have been made for the TCD programmes. Dr Alan Wong has been appointed the Academic Director for the programmes and will lecture on the Physiotherapy programme. Dr May Lim has been appointed to assist in the delivery of the Occupational Therapy programme.

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INTERVIEW | Joe Kiernan

From Trinity to

Silicon Valley Tech entrepreneur Joe Kiernan tells Frieda Klotz B.A. (2000) how competition and hindsight are driving technological change stateside.

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e may have played video games in his teenage years, but it was only when he got to Trinity that Joe Kiernan B.Sc. (Comp.) (2001) had his first glimpse of the Internet. At 34, Kiernan is from a generation which grew up without email or Google. But like others in that cohort, he was swept up in the web revolution, and became a part of it. Kiernan, who grew up on a farm outside Carrigallen in County Leitrim, is now a successful entrepreneur living in San Francisco. Every morning he wakes up to views of the Golden Gate Bridge from his apartment. “That never gets old,” he says.

At a time when many are lamenting the effects of the worldwide economic crisis, Kiernan has already experienced something similar and come through it. He graduated in 2001 with a degree in Computer Science and was just embarking on his career when the dotcom bubble burst. His first full-time job was in Dublin in a firm called Ebeon, where he had also worked during college. Ebeon became an early casualty of what was happening elsewhere. A downturn hit the US tech industry and the repercussions soon reached Ireland and Kiernan found himself out of a job.

“The dotcom bust hugely affected Ireland back in 2001 and

2002,” he explains over the phone from his downtown San Francisco office. “Everything that happens in Silicon Valley tends to be magnified in terms of tech in Ireland. If things go well here, things go extremely well in lreland. In the late 90s and early 2000s, technology (specifically ecommerce) was huge and it was a great time to be an engineer. When the bust happened, similarly things quietened off in Ireland. Now again as we experience a resurgence of Silicon Valley, we also see the Irish tech scene heating up and demand for engineers being at an all time high.”

Kiernan could have gotten another job in Ireland, but instead decided to do something entirely different. He had worked in Silicon Valley on a J1 visa during his student days and had always wanted to go back. He rekindled his contacts in California, and flew out to the States with a good job offer under his belt. He has been there ever since.

For anyone interested in technology and innovation, Silicon Valley is the best place to be. “It is extremely competitive,” Kiernan says. “I liken it to playing golf. You really try to raise your game when you’re playing with good players, if you’re playing with a crowd of scrubbers, odds are you’ll not improve. It really raises the bar out here, it forces you to try and compete at a higher level.”

Even now, when the rest of the world is slowly and hesitantly recovering from the international financial crisis, the Valley’s tech industry is in a healthy state. Many of those involved have learnt from what happened in the dotcom bust.

“Obviously the financial crisis took its toll – funding was no

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Joe Kiernan | INTeRVIeW

longer available to a lot of people, but that’s come back now.

The Valley has become very resilient and tech companies have matured since that first crash in 2001. The tech companies of today are very real in terms of customers and profits – just look at Google, Salesforce or Facebook for example,” Kiernan says.

I liken it to playing golf. You really try to raise your game when you’re playing with good players” As Kiernan describes it, new technologies are spawned and tried out there before they go elsewhere. Social media platforms are at the heart of current adaptations and developments. But the Valley’s role as a hub of technological change also arises from its culture. Failure is more than accepted there, it’s seen as a badge of honour. “You got up and you tried and you learned and you dusted yourself off and got up again. That’s really really important,” Kiernan explains. “It’s like what Samuel Beckett said: ‘ever tried. ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better’.”

That attitude may be rare in Ireland but Kiernan thinks it will be more visible in the future. After all, necessity is the mother of invention. “A lot of people in Ireland at the moment are running out of options and need to do things. I’ve seen a lot of good technology coming out of Ireland and a lot of good people coming out to the Valley to see what’s going on here, learning what they can and bringing what they’ve learned back home.”

Kiernan worked in industry for a while before deciding to go it alone in 2007 when he co-founded Frontdesk Anywhere, a service which allows hotels to manage sales and interactions with guests. It was intimidating, but he knew that his idea could fill a gap in the in the market. He had friends who were hoteliers, they complained to him about the clunky and old-fashioned programmes which were the only thing available to people trying to manage hospitality businesses and coordinate with websites like expedia. It was a bad time for tourism, but as hotels closed and changed hands those which survived needed cheaper options.

Frontdesk Anywhere now has customers in more than 30 countries and 48 US states and generates nearly one million transactions per month.

For Kiernan, his connection with Ireland remains key. When he visits Dublin, he often stops by the offices of his former lecturers at Trinity. He is a founding board member and past president of the Irish Network Bay Area, was an executive board member of the Irish Network USA in 2010-2011, and is involved in the American Ireland Fund Young Leaders programme. For young people who come out to America, he explains, networking has a central role. In the Valley, everyone has their story of how they made it, and networks are usually a

part of it. “It’s hard to just walk out here and into a job. You need to know people. Groups like the Irish Network which can be found in 12 US cities and counting are a good starting point.”

In terms of getting jobs, Kiernan thinks that software engineering and computer science are the areas of future growth; in California there aren’t enough top workers to fill positions. But if you’re an arts graduate, all is not lost. “People who can work in tech companies come from everywhere, every kind of life.”

The relationship Kiernan has with Ireland runs both ways. He is full of praise for organisations like enterprise Ireland and the IDA which support young companies and help them set up in Ireland. When Frontdesk Anywhere establishes its european Headquarters next year, chances are it will be based in Ireland.

And he says that he has finally figured out what inspires his entrepreneurial tendencies. It’s not just a love of technology or a desire to make the figures add up. His father, a retired Carrigallen farmer, is also an artist who paints oil on canvas.

Kiernan had always wondered about his own apparent lack of artistic talent. “I couldn’t draw a stick man, I really couldn’t. I often wondered where the evidence of my artistic background was.”

You got up and you tried and you learned and you dusted yourself off and got up again” “But,” he says, “I think there is a certain artistic nature to being able to create a company, create employment and create something of value to other people. It really is a creative process.”

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FeATURe | Cancer research in TCd

Championing the

Cause

anna Carey B.a. (1997) talks to Professor John o’leary about cancer research in Trinity.

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ome seven million people worldwide die from cancer every year. One in three people will develop cancer in their lifetime. Two out of every three people will live and work with someone with cancer. The war against this disease is intensifying and researchers at Trinity College Dublin are at the forefront of the fight where across various departments, from pharmacy to biochemistry, Trinity’s scientists are making great strides.

Professor John O’Leary M.A. (j.o.) (2004) is a Trinity researcher working in the area of cancer. He heads a multiinvestigator group at the Institute for Molecular Medicine.

Having begun his medical studies at University College Cork before going to Oxford for his Ph.D., O’Leary has worked in Heidelberg, Berlin and New York. He joined Trinity in 1999 and has been a professor since 2003. Both a medical doctor and a scientist, O’Leary maintains that being both clinician and investigator are both a strength and also a weakness. “It is a strength in that when you have a case coming through, you know the important biological questions clinicians are asking in relation to patients. But on the bad side, it does impact on the amount of research you can do.” In general, however, he says that “it’s a good mix…and having a mix of medical and scientific personnel has worked out pretty well.”

“Trinity takes the lead in several areas,” says O’Leary. The University’s teams are working on oesophagus, lung, colon, cervical, endometrial, ovarian, breast, thyroid, head and neck, pancreas, skin, lymphoma, leukaemia, multiple myeloma, paediatric and prostate cancer, and examining key biological processes in cancer including hypoxia, chemoresistance and metastasis - how tumour cells spread. They are also leading the way in the field of bio-banking. “There’s now a realisation of how important bio-banking is,” says O’Leary.

“It’s basically where you collect biological material [such as] tissue from a patient and create an archive of materials for that patient which is available to other investigators to do novel investigations. The bank is maintained in perpetuity so it should always be available.”

It is not the only area in which Trinity is breaking new ground.

“There is a lot of excellent work being done in the area of tumour immunology by Clair Gardiner, Kingston Mills B.A., Ph.D. (1976) and Luke O’Neill B.A., F.T.C.D. (1985). In drug modelling, David Lloyd has created a world reputation in terms of looking for new novel therapeutics which can be used against cancer.” He also cites pharmacologists Lorraine O’Driscoll and Marek Radomski’s work targeting breast and other cancers as an example of the important work going on in College with significant global health implications. The School of Nursing and Midwifery are also leading the way in terms of cancer care.

Trinity's scientists are today looking for different ways of treating specific types of cancer” TCD has a tradition of making major contributions to the understanding of cancer, and its treatment, from its graduates and those who practiced in its teaching hospitals. Perhaps the best known is Dennis Burkitt C.M.G., M.D. (1933) who described a particular cancer of lymph glands (Burkitt’s lymphoma) in the 1970s in children in east Africa, and suggested its cure. He also established the link between a low-fibre diet and bowel cancer. Walter Stevenson M.B., M.A., M.F.O.M., R.C.P.I. (1949), along with John Joly, in the early 20th century used radium treatment for cancer by implanting small tubes containing radium directly into the tumour, this so-called ‘Dublin method’ being the forerunner of techniques still in use.

In the modern era, cancer research is a major platform in TCD, with cancer drug discovery and biomolecular research being pursued at the new Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, and translational cancer research at the Institute of Molecular Medicine on the St. James’s Hospital site, Tallaght Hospital, the Coombe Women and Infants’ University Hospital and Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin.

Trinity’s scientists are today looking for different ways of treating specific types of cancer. “Trinity is going from the more generic to the more specific and more opportunities will arrive along the way,” maintains O’Leary. “But the day is coming when we’ll devise therapies which are patient-specific or patient orientated.” For now, the focus is not on targeting

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Cancer research in TCd | FeATURe

© selimaksan/istockphoto.com

Some 150 academics across the University work on a wide range of cancer-related projects”

specific patients but specific cancers, and the technology already exists to create antibodies which target proteins created by cancer cells.

One exciting development could help women with ovarian cancer. “We’ve identified a protein which potentially can tell us whether a woman is going to develop chemo-resistance or a recurrence of her ovarian tumour, with a protein test,”

Dr Emma Creagh in her lab in Trinity, she is one of the many researchers working on Cancer in Trinity.

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says O'Leary. Trinity’s team is also leading the way when it comes to treating cervical cancer, particularly in relation to the Human papillomavirus (HPV) which causes the cancer.

“We’re working on developing a formula which we can then apply to the cervix to eradicate the HPV virus which will help in the long term because vaccination and improved screening means that we are seeing less and less disease. If we target the proteins produced by the cancer-causing genes, we get the cells to die. So for the last two or three years, we have been working on a very simple drug which we have now put into a gel form, so that, if a woman has pre-cancerous cells, we can apply this to the cervix and eradicate the virus and stop the pre-cancer.” This marks a major change - at the moment, pre-cancerous cells must be removed surgically, so a gel ointment would make things much easier for many patients. The treatment could then be rolled out to other HPV-related cancers.

Cancer is now well established as a major theme among TCD research priority areas. Some 150 academics across the University work on a wide range of cancer-related projects such as understanding of the human genome and specific cancers, developing cancer therapies and treatment methods and running clinical trials. Trinity scientists are contributing to work at the highest level internationally, which could eventually control the growth of cancer and transform cancer from a terminal disease to a chronic, manageable one.

It is all part of a concerted effort to enable cancer researchers make a bigger impact by developing closer collaboration within Trinity and beyond.

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FeATURe | Cancer research in TCd

Cancer Research in Trinity C

ancer research at Trinity and its affiliated teaching hospitals includes basic and translational research, spanning from new anti-cancer targets and drug discovery through laboratory research to clinical trials and patient care. Some 150 biologists, chemists, pharmacologists, immunologists, surgeons, pathologists, oncologists, pharmacists, nurses, dentists, bioinformaticians and statisticians work in cancer research in Trinity. They are brought together by the common goal of early diagnosis and better treatments for cancer to achieve cures, improved life expectancy and quality of life.

This multidisciplinary collaborative research aims to better understand cancer cells compared with normal cells;

Cell Signalling in CanCer and inflaMMaTion DR EMMA CREAGH Emma Creagh’s research is focused on a group of enzymes involved in cell death (apoptosis) and inflammation, termed caspases. One aspect of her research investigates the link between persistent inflammation and the onset of cancer, using inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC) as specific disease models.

CanCer Cell MeTaboliSM DR VINCENT KELLY Vincent Kelly’s lab has been examining the role of dietary micronutrients for the survival and metabolism of cancer cells.

Interests include micronutrients found in everyday foods, such as broccoli, which have protective effects against cancer and metabolites from bacteria in gut.

improving methods for early detecting and imaging cancer; smarter ‘tailored’ anti-cancer drugs with improved efficacy and reduced side-effects; identification of biomarkers to help in the selection of the most suitable treatment for any given patient/patient sub-group; understanding and circumventing innate and acquired drug resistance; and, where possible advancing this research to translational clinical trials. Research focuses on cancers which affect children, adolescents and adults including, but not limited, to cancers of the breast, prostate, lung, head and neck, cervix, ovary, colon, kidney, pancreas, stomach as well as leukaemia.

Below are examples of work across the various disciplines:

CanCer TherapeuTiCS DR DAVID FINLAY David Finlay’s work has recently improved our understanding of how cells can greatly increase their glucose utilisation, a common metabolic switch associated with cancer cells. His work aims to develop new therapies to disrupt cancer cell metabolism.

bioMarkerS and TherapeuTiC TargeTS DR LORRAINE O’DRISCOLL Lorraine O'Driscoll's research group focuses on biomarkers for earlier diagnosis, prognosis and anti-cancer drug response prediction; discovering new therapeutic targets; understanding how information is passed from cancer cells to promote cancer spread via exosomes and microvesicles as well as circulating tumour cells; elucidating and circumventing resistance to targets

proSTaTe CanCer PROFESSOR THOMAS H. LYNCH

CanCer drug diSCovery PROFESSOR MARY J. MEEGAN

Thomas Lynch‘s clinical and research interests are in the early detection and treatment of prostate cancer.

Mary Meegan’s research is focussed on the design, synthesis and evaluation of novel therapeutic agents suitable for development as drugs for the treatment of breast cancer, particularly for multi-drug resistant types.

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Cancer research in TCd | FeATURe

CanCer drug diSCovery PROFESSOR DAVID LLOYD AND PROFESSOR CLIVE WILLIAMS head and neCk CanCer PROFESSOR STEPHEN FLINT, MR KUMARA EKANAYAKE, DR DENISE MACCARTHY, DR MARY TONER & PROFESSOR LEO STASSEN Head and neck cancer including mouth cancer occurs in more than 350 individuals annually in Ireland and is a debilitating disease with serious psychosocial and functional consequences unless it is diagnosed and managed early. The Dublin Dental University Hospital through its Departments of Oral and Maxillo-facial Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Restorative Dentistry, in collaboration with College’s teaching hospitals, is actively involved in research into the aetiology, demographics, clinical diagnosis, investigations, surgical care and the dental needs of those receiving radiotherapy whilst also actively promoting public awareness and early diagnosis of this disease in the community. lung CanCer PROFESSOR KEN O’BYRNE

Advances in computation, biology and chemistry now allow us to model and understand drugs and their targets like never before and to use computational techniques to ‘tailor’ compounds to key targets of disease. The Molecular Design Group at the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute works extensively on targets linked to breast, prostate and asbestos-linked lung cancers and has spun out a campus company, CodeX Oncology, to translate laboratory discoveries along the path to becoming new medicines.

Childhood and adoleSCenT CanCer PROFESSOR OWEN SMITH

Ken O’Byrne works in the treatment of thoracic malignancies including lung cancer, mesothelioma and oesophageal cancer. These conditions have a poor median survival in the region of 12–15 months. Understanding the molecular biology of these diseases enables the development of novel therapies to combat these cancers and novel biomarkers to personalise treatment.

Owen Smith’s research has been in evidence-based paediatric haematooncology, focusing on clinical questions within all domains of paediatric blood and cancer. In relation to childhood and adolescent haematological malignancies, he is involved in international peer-review clinical trial design.

CanCer biology DR DANNY ZISTERER

nanoMediCine for CanCer PROFESSOR MAREK RADOMSKI

Danny Zisterer recently identified a novel series of compounds which can induce apoptotic cell death in human cancerous cells. These compounds work by disrupting the microtubules which are very important for cell structure and cell division. These compounds have the potential to progress as therapies for the treatment of drugresistant cancers.

Marek Radomski’s research focuses on biology, pharmacology and nanopharmacology of cancer cell-blood interactions and their relevance for cancer growth, spread and resistance to anticancer drugs.

CanCer of The oeSophaguS and SToMaCh PROFESSOR JOHN V. REYNOLDS

CanCer CheMiSTry PROFESSOR MATHIAS SENGE

John Reynolds works on premalignant and malignant disease of the oesophagus and stomach; the relationship between obesity and cancer and nutritional aspects of cancer care.

Mathias Senge’s group works on photodynamic cancer therapy. This is a simple non-invasive outpatient method which uses a combination of light and compounds related to blood pigments and chlorophyll aimed at treating cancer without side-effects.

 For more information please visit www.tcd.ie/research/btr/cancer/.

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STUDeNT NeWS | Trinity economic forum President Michael D. Higgins with the student organisers.

Trinity

m u r o F c i m o n o c E

By Trinity students and Trinity economic forum Co-founders Patrick lynch, Seán gill and gary finnerty.

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his year the Trinity economic Forum (TeF), Ireland’s first student economic forum, was officially opened in College

by President Michael D. Higgins. The concept of the forum was developed from the common desire of a group of Trinity students to offer much needed engagement and discourse at a national level on economic issues, promote student participation in shaping the future direction of economic policy in Ireland, and in doing so, provide employment opportunities to students through networking events with key individuals and businesses.

The event was held over two days in the Arts Building and the Long Room Hub and was entirely run by student volunteers.

We were delighted to host 150 students from across Ireland, including Queen’s University Belfast, NUI Galway, University College Cork and University College Dublin.

The forum consisted of both keynote addresses and panel discussions which covered a wide variety of issues affecting the Irish economy. The student delegates and members of College were treated to many high calibre speeches. In his opening address, President Higgins delivered a passionate speech calling for a fundamental rethink of the structure and nature of the economy, imploring students to try and build a society based on shared common good and inclusiveness rather than self-aggrandisement and individual gain.

The highlight of the weekend was the panel discussion entitled Deleveraging Ireland which was chaired by Dr. John Bowman B.A., Ph.D. (1970) formerly of RTÉ and a Fellow of College. The panellists were chosen to offer a diverse set of perspectives on the topic and included Dermot O’Leary of Goodbody Stockbrokers, Feargal O’Rourke of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Ali Ugur Ph.D. (2003) of the Irish Banking Federation and Mark FitzGerald of Sherry FitzGerald. The discussion touched on a variety of issues from personal debt to the growth prospects of the economy, and was enriched by salient questions from the student attendees. Overall the tone was positive with the panellists noting the innovation of students in founding initiatives such as TeF and how this was promising for the future of the country.

Coordination of the Trinity economic Forum 2013 is well under way and the second forum hopes to surpass the success of the inaugural event, with Trinity once again building a platform for engagement on economic issues for students from across the country.

Visit www.trinityeconomicforum.ie to find out more about the forum.

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Student Grants | student news

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ach year, alumni give back to Trinity as they value the role which College has played in their lives. This year the Small Changes, Big Difference student grant competition allocated s20,000 of alumni donations to deserving student projects which are making a difference to Trinity, Ireland and the world.

There were over 60 applications for funding, each project with a shared goal of making a difference to the world in which we live. Following a committee selection and voting by staff, students and alumni, six projects were shortlisted and given the funds to make their idea a reality:  Ethnic Hoods - John Frewen s5,000  Accessing the Past - The Historical Society s2,500  Cattle Crush - Natural Science Students Students s3,500  Biodiversity Marketing Group - Eileen Diskin s1,500  HIV Project Kenya - Ekeno Augostine s4,500  Avatar Generation - Samantha Kotey and Silvia Gallagher s3,000

Successful Project Extract In 2008, Rwanda had a 98% deficit of veterinary professionals. Umutara Polytechnic in North Eastern Rwanda is the only veterinary teaching hospital in the country with a mission to train veterinary students to meet the needs of the community. Its Faculty of Veterinary Medicine was awarded a herd of Friesian cows by different NGO’s over the past number of years, among these are 20 cows from Ireland. The University also has been donated Locals set out the dimensions for the cattle crush. equipment to perform artificial insemmination (AI) which currently lies unused in the faculty office. This valuable skill is currently not being taught to students because the facility to safely hold and examine animals in order to perform AI does not exist at the Polytechnic, making the aid ineffective and meaning the students graduating from the Faculty are currently untrained in this essential skill.

Caroline Ryan, a qualified veterinary surgeon and Ph.D. student in the School of Natural Sciences is based in Rwanda for her research. As part of her research, she teaches at Umutara Polytechnic and saw the need for a cattle crush for the students and staff in Rwanda. She sought funding so the students at the institute could build a crush themselves. The crush will allow students to learn essential and practical skills such as AI which are in demand in their communities.

Increased milk production is a part of Rwanda’s poverty reduction strategies to increase the current protein deficit among poor people. AI is a cost-effective means of genetically improving the productivity of the local cattle breeds with Freisan cows. By improving the productivity of individual animals, this reduces the need for large-sized cattle herds grazing valuable land. Cattle can be housed under zero-grazing systems and the land used more efficiently for food production.

Caroline will oversee the purchasing of raw materials and the build herself.

View the videos from the Small Changes, Big Difference competition on www.youtube.com/tcdalumni.

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INTeRVIeW | mark little

Little by Little

Patrick Freyne B.A., M.Phil (1996) interviews former Prime Time anchor Mark Little about his time at Trinity, leaving the national broadcaster, and the future for his online news company Storyful.

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hat Mark Little B.A. (1997) remembers most vividly about Trinity are the extracurricular activities - his political activism, time spent as editor of Aontas (now The University Times) and his tenure as Students’ Union President. “I think these are all very important parts of

I’ve got a chance to do something that is genuinely going to change the world and it’s the time to do it” life in college,” he says and laughs. “But I think it goes without saying for those who get involved in publications or student politics, that you might be destined to have a mediocre 2.2 and lecturers who don’t even know you’re in their class.”

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mark little | INTeRVIeW

My father used to say that there was no way they’d have thought of someone from their family going to Trinity” Mark Little has retained an interest in the extracurricular. While an anchor for RTÉ’s Prime Time, he developed a fascination with the internet revolution.

He was so interested in it that, in 2009, he left one of the most secure jobs in the country to create the news agency Storyful. He now oversees a staff of 25 (soon to be 35) and has partnerships with a host of international news companies (including Sky News, ABC News and The economist Medialab).

He was always ambitious. “I’m one of these boring people who between the ages of four and six wanted to be either a centre forward or a war correspondent and TV anchor,” he says. “A lack of natural talent weeded out the football ambition… I made a student newspaper in my school [Malahide Community School] when I was 16. We were given a slap on the wrist for alleging police harassment of local kids. A teacher told me it was very Machiavellian of me. I didn’t know what that meant.”

Going to Trinity was a big deal for him. “My granny used to work in Fox’s cigar shop across from Trinity College and she only stepped foot inside the campus in the 70s,” he says. “My father used to say that there was no way they’d have thought of someone from their family going to Trinity. It’s strange to have this world class institution in the centre of the city and a family like ours never dreaming of stepping through the gates.”

Nonetheless by the mid 80s, Little was there, studying Politics and economics, but more focused on student journalism and activism. “If you weren’t politically active in the 1980s you had no soul,” he says. “There was mass unemployment and emigration, no divorce, no contraception. There was the Sandinistas in South America. Mandela was still in jail in South Africa. I was in the Labour Party, active in the Students’ Union and I got involved in everything I could get involved in. When Michael D. Higgins was out of the Dáil in ‘87 a pile of us lived on his floor and got him into Leinster House again.”

It was only after becoming President of the Students’ Union in 1988, he says, that he became aware of College’s long tradition of rabble rousing. “I learned about Trinity from inside the boardroom. I sat there surrounded by these incredible images of leading figures from Irish society and got a great sense of its history and traditions. I left as a huge admirer of the intellectual tradition of College and I think I got a better sense of that as an activist. I think the lecturers themselves respected the idea, even though it must have been a pain in the ass for them, that if the activism we represented died, then Trinity would lose an enormous legacy.”

After he left College, Little ultimately chose journalism over politics. “I was never ideological,” he says. “I was just transfixed and fascinated by the dynamics of change… and journalism was a way I could involve myself in change without having to be ideological.”

His career from the Sunday Business Post to RTÉ was a whirlwind of story chasing excitement, particularly when it came to foreign journalism. He talks passionately about meeting Bill Clinton, being at a gospel service in North Carolina before the election of Barack Obama and avoiding bullets in the West Bank. Yet, he has no regrets about leaving it behind. “It was a historic moment where journalism changed very quickly and I saw an opportunity and jumped,” he said. “The whole game had changed for journalism because of the internet.”

He also had more personal reasons. “I wasn’t that comfortable walking down the street as the guy from Prime Time,” he says. “You become disembodied when you’re on television. People say ‘Oh you’re much nicer than I thought you’d be’ and it sort of grinds you down a bit. I’d broken my leg. I had a bit of time to think and I realised that life was short. I could have quite happily carried on in RTÉ until retirement age, written a couple of books and done a few documentaries, but I thought ‘I’ve got a chance to do something that is genuinely going to change the world and it’s the time to do it’.”

He really does feel that Storyful can change how people produce and consume journalism. Amid the vast swathes of information on the internet, it helps people find relevant authenticated information on international news events.

There have been ups and downs for Little’s company. “On Christmas eve 2010, I found myself saying ‘no’ to some potential investors because it wasn’t the right fit… I got into the car with my family and drove to Galway thinking ‘that’s that over’. When we got to Galway, there was a message in my inbox from one of the other investors saying, ‘Ah, sure we’ll put in more’.”

Now with more investment, a growing staff and many fruitful media partnerships, he’s very happy with the company’s progress. Indeed, he sees surprising similarities between his current situation and his time as student president/student editor. “In student newspapers, you had to do everything - sales, production, all of it. And as student president I was, at 19, CeO of a half-million pound business.

I was negotiating pay rises for people twice my age. I had to get up in front of people and push through my ideas. There are a lot of parallels between then and now.”

He has certainly retained his student idealism. “Many people think business is all about getting the smartest and quickest deal,” he said. “When I say that I want to change the world, I get a smirk and people say ‘you have to say that’. But I mean it. I really think this can change the world.”

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OPINION PIeCe | Social media

Social Media

An academic perspective

Professor Philip Lane tells Trinity Today what he thinks about the use of social media to engage students and shape public opinion.

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raditionally, academics have interacted with students and the international research community through fixed formats such as lectures, seminars, books and papers. With the exception of small-group seminars and tutorials (or the more lively research conference), these formats have primarily facilitated one-way communication from the presenter to the audience. So, how can academics respond and adapt to the opportunities for interaction provided by social media such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs (to name just a few in an everexpanding range)? By their nature, social media platforms go beyond a mere online presence, posting lecture notes to online WebCT has been standard for the last few years, while

many academic journals are now primarily online publications.

Social media creates online communities.

Certainly, social media can be used effectively in undergraduate education, by enabling the types of peer learning which can permit active engagement by students even in largegroup classes. High-frequency feedback can also help lecturers to adjust teaching plans in real time and make sure that the students understand the main points in each session. This is a very different type of teaching to the traditional method, since the lecturer cannot just rely on their own fixed lecture notes but must be prepared to engage more interactively with students.

While this can be very rewarding and stimulating for the lecturer,

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Social media | OPINION PIeCe

Social media are also changing how My mics own intera discipline of each economics other ct with acade hasbroad beenertoaudie the forefront nces and

in adopting social media technologies, with many prominent academics now blogging and tweeting daily”

it also can be time consuming and mentally draining.

Social media is also changing how academics interact with each other and broader audiences. My own discipline of economics has been to the forefront in adopting social media technologies, with many prominent academics now blogging and tweeting daily. Through social media, academic economists can bypass mainstream media (it is always very uncertain whether newspapers will publish an op-ed article and typically do not commit to publishing on a particular day) and express their opinions on the major policy issues of the day. The scale of the global financial crisis has increased demand from media, the general public and the investment world for expert opinions on macroeconomic prospects, the state of banking systems and economic policy choices. Social media has made it easier to get involved.

In December 2008, I set up the Irish economy blog which quickly became a go-to site for commentary on the Irish academic crisis. It has contributors from across the Irish

university spectrum, while all sorts of persons provide diverse comments on blog entries with a wide readership from around the world. This has been a very positive development, even if it poses some important challenges for academics.

Just to take one example, social media encourage highfrequency interactions — responding to comments, making sure there are new entries every day — while deeper academic contributions (‘getting to the bottom’ of an issue) typically take many months or years of sustained work — there is a clear tension between these two activities. Still, economics is all about ‘trade offs’ and the right answer is typically to combine both activities with appropriate time management skills and self-discipline.

To take another example, academics place great stock in their reputations, since colleagues and readers place a lot of trust in their expertise and specialised knowledge. Under traditional publishing, the refereeing process and the time lags allow academics to catch mistakes — but ‘instant’ publishing on Twitter or blogs runs the risk of blunders which cannot be easily retracted. Finally, in the social media world, tempers can flare and good manners are sometimes forgotten — especially by anonymous online avatars — with the result that it is not always easy to deal with such situations. Still, all in all, the new world of social media has greatly enriched the economics discourse in Ireland and elsewhere — it is a very positive development.

Philip lane B.a. (1991) is a Professor of international macroeconomics in Trinity. his blog can be viewed at www.irisheconomy.ie.

There are hundreds of Trinity groups using different social media to share information with alumni and other audiences, here are a selection which might be of interest to you:  @tcddublin on Twitter is the official source of news from TCd with over 12,000 followers.  Trinity college Dublin on youTube has a variety of videos from public lectures to college events - www.youtube.com/trinitycollegedublin.  TcD alumni on facebook will keep you in the loop on things happening in Trinity with regular updates, images and competitions - www.facebook.com/tcdalumni.

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FeATURe | The lir

UNITS of Potential

Aoife Crowley B.A. (2012) speaks to Loughlin Deegan and Danielle Ryan about their vision for The Lir, Trinity’s National Academy of Dramatic Art.

W

here do you go to be trained to the highest standard in acting for the stage? The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London? The Juilliard School in New York? Until recently, it was necessary to leave Ireland in order to train to a world-class standard, but now a new conservatoire style academy has ambitions to take its place on the world stage – The Lir. The Lir, or the National Academy of Dramatic Art at Trinity College Dublin, is a new purpose-build academy on Pearse Street. It was developed by collaboration between the Cathal Ryan Trust and Trinity College, and it is formally associated with RADA – The Royal Academy of Dramatic

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Art in London – which has been consulted at every level of the process and will oversee the maintenance of standards in admissions and teaching. The Trust, which funded the project, was set up in memory of the late Cathal Ryan of Ryanair, and it was his daughter Danielle Ryan who was key in making the dream of an Irish Dramatic Academy a reality.

Cathal was always very interested in the Irish Arts scene, when Danielle decided she wished to train as an actor in RADA, she remembers him sitting at the kitchen table saying, “It’s such a shame that there’s nowhere in Ireland to study, that you have to go abroad”. A trust was established in his name after his untimely death from cancer, which aimed, among other things, to support the arts in Ireland in a significant way. Danielle interpreted this as the development of a National Academy of Dramatic Art. In many ways, her plan chimed with Trinity’s own ambitions. So the two merged, and as a result The Lir was born.

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The lir | FeATURe

The building has already become a local landmark, due in part to the large green baubles that adorn the street face. These are the result of a public competition that was commissioned for young artists. The building was designed

by Smith Kennedy Architects, and the winner of the competition was Alice Rekab with her piece entitled ‘Units of Potential’. The purpose of this work was to highlight The Lir not only as a place for the development of skills, but also the germination of talent. The green spheres are meant to suggest luminous creative effervescence, bubbling and glowing in the night.

Danielle explains, “We believe that this area will eventually become a cultural hub, and at the moment things are bubbling up all over the place. The art had to reflect the activities inside. Rekab came up with this installation and it

was perfect. The idea was to change it every three years, to show the time people were training inside for, but we’ll have to see if we change it. At the moment I kind of love it.”

Ryan also worked with Trinity’s Professor Brian Singleton M.A. (j.o.), F.T.C.D. (1994) to come up with the course programme for The Lir. Brian had been mulling over a similar vision of a stand-alone intensive drama Academy for 20 years, and with the winding down of Trinity’s Acting Studies Degree in 2007, he was anxious to put the cogs in motion.

They decided to consult with as many people working professionally in Irish theatre as possible.

“It’s fine that we’re setting it to RADA’s standards, but this is Ireland, so we have to make sure it works for this country.

So we went to a lot of the main practitioners and said, what’s missing? What would you like to see?” After consulting one-on-one, they then held forums and open discussions with groups of actors, technicians and writers. Danielle says this was also extremely useful, “You could see the common denominator problems.”

We believe that this area will eventually become a cultural hub” From the beginning, Danielle and Brian agreed that the programme should be as intensive and to the highest standards possible. When students leave The Lir, they should be able to act anywhere in the world, be trained in every accent, movement and acting style. “The Academy is only as good as the graduates from it, so it’s very important to us that they have an amazing career,” says Danielle.

Currently, The Lir offers two undergraduate programmes: a three-year Bachelor in Acting and a two-year Professional Diploma in Stage Management and Technical Theatre. It also offers a postgraduate course, the Master in Fine Art (Playwriting) and short courses are held over the summer and easter.

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FeATURe | The lir

The Academy is only as good as the graduates from it, so it’s very important to us that they have an amazing career”

The two undergraduate programmes are both outside the Central Applications Office (CAO) system, so people apply directly to The Lir and they manage all applications themselves. Applications for the Acting degree are assessed on the basis of audition and interview alone, and the Stage Management course on interview and portfolio. Loughlin Deegan is the Director of The Lir, and he explains why they chose to go outside the CAO route: “We’re basically looking for the most talented students we can find.”

The interior of the building is bright and airy, with Loughlin stresses the physical demands of the course. “I judicious dashes of orange-red on the walls and floor. It was know from this lot of actors, they get to the end of a twelvebuilt on a ‘brown field’ site, and the interior retains some of week term and they’re gasping. But I think as a result it’s the raw exposed concrete and metal in a nod to the derelict extremely exhilarating, as you’re performing or training all the factory which was previously located here. As well as practice time.” Of 35 to 40 contact hours per week, there’s no academic and teaching rooms, it houses two black box studios, a fully study. Though there are intellectual elements to the course equipped wood and metal workshop for constructing sets, a as people are engaging with classical texts and contemporary dance studio, dressing rooms, rehearsal rooms, a wardrobe texts, it is taught in a very vocational and hands-on way. workshop, and a café/bar.

There are at least 11 hours of movement and 11 hours of voice classes a week. On top of this, there is individual tuition in singing and Alexander technique. The rest of the time is made up of acting classes, acting technique classes, dramaturgy and classical texts, and various things like sight-reading. “All in all, students can expect to be on their feet acting and moving for up to 40 hours each week. It’s extremely demanding and requires an awful lot of stamina.”

Loughlin also stresses the unique nature of the Fine Art Masters in Playwriting. “It’s significant in that it is the first Fine Art Masters in Trinity, and indeed I think in Ireland, which is assessed on the basis of creative writing, directing and design.” As opposed to writing a dissertation at the end of the Masters, the playwrights write a play, the directors direct a production, and the designers design a production.

As in the undergraduate courses, the course size is kept very small to allow The Lir to give each person individual attention. The course structure is also interesting. For the first two terms, students take a writing workshop and various taught modules which look at things like contemporary theatre in practice and the history of dramaturgy since Aristotle. But in the third term, the playwrights are paired with an individual literary manager from the industry, and they write a play with detailed individual feedback from that manager and from professional actors.

The building has been welcomed locally.

It brought the development of the area to complete fruition, by integrating the development of the docklands into that of Pearse Street and beyond. The location also seems appropriate in the context of The Lir’s position as an independent Academy within Trinity College.

It is in such close proximity to the College’s main The Lir exterior and Units of Potential sculpture. campus, and yet slightly removed.

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The lir | FeATURe

Loughlin and Danielle in Studio 1 in The Lir.

Famous Trinity alumni in the world of Drama, Film and Music Doyle in the Father Ted TV series and more recently the Channel 4 show Shameless.

dominiC WeST B.a. (1992)

we went to a lot of the main practitioners and said, what’s missing? What would you like to see?”

RADA’s consultation was invaluable in designing the space.

Danielle recalls that she asked them what they would do if money and space were no object. “We didn’t have a building yet so we could do anything we wanted. They designed it, and alongside the Irish information, we designed the building around the courses. This building was only ever built with these courses in mind.”

The Lir does everything it can to open doors for its students and provide them with pathways to success, from training in how to audition over Skype, to introducing students to agents and casting directors. In their final year students are involved in a showcase presentation and multiple productions with a professional director, which gives them another valuable opportunity to impress and make contacts in the industry. Another important aspect is that each year the actors, the writers and directors all graduate together, so as their careers blossom they remember one another.

The Lir is very much internationally focused. A number of spaces are reserved each year for eU students, and they also hope to attract non-eU students in the future. With the nature of acting being an international occupation in itself, as the students go abroad in the future they will take the name of The Lir with them where they go.

One of the great strengths of The Lir is that it already has a very clear vision and mission statement. It intends to be one of the world’s greatest drama academies, and to put Dublin on the map as a centre of excellence. The Academy will open its doors to the public for theatre shows and short courses, and in this way hopes to contribute to Ireland’s cultural prosperity. “It’s genuinely one of the best places in the world to study for a career in the theatre,” says Loughlin. “The ambitions for the academy are that enormous, but I think they are actually achievable.”

Dominic West is best known for his role as McNulty in the US TV show The Wire. He was awarded Honorary Patronage of The Philosophical Society in 2012.

anÚna Dublin composer Michael McGlynn founded Anúna in 1987 while studying for his M.Litt in Trinity. Anúna is one of Ireland’s most famous choirs known for their performance with Riverdance at the eurovision Song Contest in 1994. The group is made up of musicians and instrumentalists including a number of Trinity graduates from various backgrounds.

STuarT Carolan B.a. (1997) Stuart is the acclaimed writer of the RTÉ TV drama Love/Hate. In 2012 he won the Irish Film and Television Award for Best Writer of a TV Drama.

lynne ParKer B.a., d.liTT., (1983)

Pauline mClynn B.a. (1983) Pauline is perhaps best known for her role as Mrs.

Lynne studied english in Trinity and is now Artistic Director of Rough Magic Theatre Company, one of Ireland's leading independent theatre companies. She also sits on the Advisory Board for the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies in Trinity.

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FeATURe | Trinity in the news

TRINITY in the News

Trinity regularly pops up in the media for a variety of weird and wonderful news; here are some of the headlines from the past 12 months.

BOLLYWOOD MOVIE FILMED IN TRINITY In August, the first Bollywood blockbuster to be filmed in Ireland and Trinity College Dublin, Ek Tha Tiger, was launched in India. Two of Bollywood’s biggest stars, Katrina Kaif and Salman Khan, spent weeks filming the spy-thriller in Dublin with impressive music and dance scenes in Trinity and around Dublin's city centre.

MND THE INSIDE TRACK

In February, RTÉ aired a documentary, about sports broadcaster Colm Murray’s determination to help find a cure for the motor neurone disease that has afflicted him.

The documentary follows Colm as he partakes in the world class scientific research, trials and studies led by his Doctor, Trinity and Beaumont's Professor Orla Hardiman. He seeks to understand the disease that has gripped him and play whatever small part he can in the ongoing search for a future cure.

Watch the documentary on www.youtube.com/tcdalumni.

GAME OF THRONES One of the stars of the hit TV show Game of Thrones became a Scholar of Trinity College Dublin in April joining a record number of new Fellows and Scholars at the University’s annual event. Jack Gleeson plays the character of Joffery Baratheon in the popular HBO show, which is based on the epic fantasy novels penned by author George RR Martin. Gleeson received a two subject Moderatorship in Philosophy and World Religions and Theology. The series writers Daniel Weiss M.Phil. (1997) and David Benioff M.Phil. (1997) are also two Trinity grads!

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Trinity in in the news | FeATURe

SCIENCE GALLERY HOSTS TEDx

© KeithSzafranski /istockphoto.com

In September, Science Gallery hosted TeDxDublin an epic event of ideas, entertainment and inspiration in the Bord Gáis energy Theatre.

The theme of the event was A City of Ideas marking the culmination of Science Gallery’s HACK THe CITY exhibition which is part of the Dublin City of Science 2012 Festival. The famous series explored Technology, entertainment & Design (TeD) and speakers at this year’s event included Daniel Libeskind who designed the Theatre and has created the master plan for Ground Zero in New York.

View some TeDTalks at www.ted.com.

TRINITY LECTURER DISCOVERS Z VELÅZQEU PORTRAIT In November, a lecturer in History of Art at Trinity College Dublin, Dr Peter Cherry, discovered a previously unknown portrait by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, after a photograph of the painting was sent to him for an opinion. The discovery was of some importance, given the canonical status of the artist and the relatively small number of works known by him. The portrait will be sold in London in December where it has an estimate of €3 million.

All polar bears may be able to trace their maternal ancestry back through grandmothers POLAR BEARS many times great to a female brown bear in Ireland! Research published in June by Trinity IRISH and Stanford University analysed DNA from ANCESTRY 242 bear lineages, with results indicating that polar bears interbred with brown bears in or near the vicinity of Ireland between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago.

The bears split from a common ancestor to become separate species between two million to 400,000 years ago. However, just before or during the last Ice Age the two species came together and polar bears mated with female Irish brown bears, the scientists said.

BOOK OF KELLS WELCOMES ITS 10 MILLIONTH VISITOR

In August, english tourists Robbie Howatson (aged 8), his parents Ian and Jan and sister Rosina became an unexpected part of Irish tourism history by becoming the 10 millionth visitors to the Book of Kells visitor centre.

The Old Library and Book of Kells is one of Ireland’s major tourist venues and attracts over 520,000 visitors each year.

Robbie was the 10 millionth visitor to the Old Library since the creation of its visitor centre in 1992.

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INTeRVIeW | mario rosenstock

All the world’s

a stage...

Gift Grub star Mario Rosenstock tells Aoife Crowley B.A. (2012) about how we’re really all actors.

B

est known now for his skits, satires and mimicry of public figures, Mario Rosenstock B.A. (1993) was not originally focused on comedy. He wanted to be an actor. His parents, however, were less enthused about this idea, and suggested he might study for a degree in case his career on stage failed to materialise. Rosenstock chose economics and Politics in Trinity. However, from the moment he arrived in Trinity, his focus was on being part of DU Players.

Acting, rehearsals and socialising with other Players quickly took precedence over academia. Rosenstock remembers the Players schedule being incredibly intense.

“You know, when you get involved in a society in Trinity, it takes over your whole life. You live, breathe and walk it. You go drinking with people from that society. You hang out with them and you miss lectures because you have meetings to attend to.”

“I remember wanting to do as many plays as possible, be on stage as much as possible and work with as many actors, fraternise with as many people in the place as possible, and go out with them. I remember my girlfriends at the time were all from Players. It was just all-consuming and you got obsessed with it.” The friends he made through Players

remain his closest friends to this day. “Although I have still some friends from school, the people I met in Trinity are my best friends. They were the ones with whom I stayed friends… best man at my wedding and all of that.”

Dominic West B.A. (1992) was also in Players at this time, and Rosenstock and he acted in about six plays together.

Rosenstock recalls an incident which could have changed the shape of television history. “Dominic and I shared a really terrible car crash. The car skidded, and he was hurled out of a Peugeot 205 into a ditch. But he got up and walked away, no problem. There would have been no Wire, if it had been different.”

the people I met in Trinity are my best friends. They were the ones with whom I stayed friends… best man at my wedding and all of that”

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mario rosenstock | INTeRVIeW

Another friend from Players was Frank Mannion LL.B. (1993), who works today as a successful film producer in London.

“Frank came first in english, Irish and History in his Leaving Certificate in Ireland. So he got a scholarship to go to Trinity, where he studied Law. In second year, he sat the Schols exams and sure enough he got them. Being Frank, who already had a scholarship to go to Trinity, he tried to cash in one of his scholarships to try and get money for himself.”

Mannion’s genius for enterprise extended to his role in Players. Rosenstock says that Mannion laid the groundwork for his later career during Trinity’s 400th Anniversary celebrations. “We decided to put on a Restoration Comedy called The Way of the World by William Congreve. At the time, the Trinity Board would allow you to raise £250–£300 to put on your plays. Frank was a genius producer, so he raised £9,000, which back in 1992, was an enormous amount of money. We spent it all. We got costumes from London, and we put on this amazing production. We won every award because it looked so professional. So he was showing his early genius at producing.”

Though Rosenstock was not passionate about the academic side of his College experience, having some understanding of economics and politics has been very useful. Learning about them opened his mind to some of the absurdities of political life, as well as giving him a basis to listen to economists and judge what they are arguing.

Rosenstock began acting in Glenroe while he was just 20 and still in Trinity. He worked on the show for two years, until his character was unceremoniously cut. “In typical RTÉ fashion, I read the script and was like: Oh! I’m going to Tanzania. Bye everyone! I’m off to Tanzania. Seven years later, I come back.

Hello everyone! I’m back from Tanzania.”

This experience pushed Rosenstock to begin writing his own material for the first time. He didn’t particularly like his character or some scripts on the show, and he thought to himself that if he ever got the opportunity, he would write his own lines. “I thought that if you don’t like it, then write it yourself. So, since I started on the radio 14 years ago, I’ve written every line myself.”

Comedy writing is hard graft. Rosenstock explains that it’s one thing to be humorous, to take the mick and to imitate voices, but quite another to write whole scripts. He sees it as more of a craft than anything else. “You’re learning all the time, and you never perfect it. You’re fairly critical of your own stuff. You think, ‘Ok, I could’ve done better there, but I suppose I’m better than I was in the beginning.’ It’s something you always want to improve on.”

Though he’s been working on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show for over a decade, his appearances on The Vincent Browne Show brought Rosenstock’s satire to a whole new audience. It began during the last general election. Browne approached Rosenstock to see if he would be interested in doing sketches on his show. Browne did not have a clear idea of what he was looking for, but Rosenstock agreed to come on board under one condition–‘I can do you’.

“So I started to do him. He wouldn’t look at them until they went out, so he’d see them at the same time as everyone else. But he rang me and said, ‘Alright, listen. We’ve put two of these sketches out now and they’re going down really well.

How do you want me to react?’ I was very specific about how I wanted him to react. I said I didn’t want him to react. And he said, ‘But I want to react!’ and I said, ‘I just think it would be more mysterious if you don’t. It’s more weird’.”

“So he’d come back out of a sketch, and he started doing

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It’s a duller world without satire and people poking fun” this thing of looking into the camera as if he didn’t approve.

As a viewer, you’d wonder what was going on. Are they putting these sketches out without him knowing? Above his head? Does he hate them? He looked like he didn’t like that one? And he loved them. Once or twice he did start laughing.

So that was an interesting one, for a while people were watching them almost to see his response.”

Rosenstock believes satire and grim current events go handin-hand. As our economy flounders, the indigenous comedy and satire scene gets ever more vibrant. “It’s a symbol of a healthy society when you have plenty of people slagging off the powers that be and sacred cows and pillars of society. It helps to keep a check on things and keep people on their toes.”

“It’s a duller world without satire and people poking fun. The world is so silly in many respects. We’re all putting on a mask or pretending. We all go to work and put on our best face and it’s a bit of an act the whole thing. everything in life, politicians are acting, business people are acting. And sometimes we poke through that and hold it up to people and go, ‘It’s all a bit of a joke, isn’t it?’”

Mario will be appearing in Vicar Street in October 2012, for details visit his website www.mariorosenstock.ie.

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INTeRVIeW | Paul o'Connell

A different Pathway

To Law

A

fter a turbulent time in school, few people would have looked at Paul O’Connell LL.B. (2004) as a prospective Harvard fellow. For a variety of reasons, he was kicked out of school for a year, but though some of his teachers took an interest in him and inspired him to re-engage with his education, he was still far from the traditional model of an academic. A visit to the school from a Trinity Access Programmes (TAP) representative provided him with an avenue to pursue further education, something to which the future legal scholar proved well-suited.

“I was in Fifth Year of secondary school, just at the start of the Leaving Cert cycle. TAP Director Clíona Hannon came out to our school and gave us a talk. She told us that they were launching a foundation course for young people coming straight from school,” he says. “I did the Leaving Cert and I did okay in the CAO, not great by any means. That style of learning just didn’t appeal to me. So I applied for the foundation course and it went from there.”

O’Connell was initially drawn towards a Degree in English Literature and History, inspired by those who had

©kulicki /istockphoto.com

New Harvard fellow Paul O’Connell talks to Trinity student Karl McDonald B.A. (2012) about his route through the Trinity Access Programmes.

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Paul o'Connell | INTeRVIeW

encouraged him at school encouragedd to pursue teaching himself.

But once he started the foundation course, which provides a taste of the undergraduate courses on offer, it became clear to his tutors that he was cut out for Law. “I think it was because I was so argumentative in class. We read a book called Crime and Poverty in Ireland, which had a statistic that said that 50% of the inmates of Mountjoy Prison came from five areas of Dublin, one of which was the area I was from. The law was implicated in that, and I think that’s why I decided to study it.”

Still, even with his path becoming clear, Trinity was a challenge. “I think all of us on the Access Programme found it daunting. It was a shock to the system, obviously, but it was also challenging in a positive way. I think it was helpful that the Law Department in Trinity had some of the leading lights in terms of lecturers.” But there were more than simply academic pressures on O’Connell. “I did think of dropping out for financial reasons at a certain point. A lot of my friends wouldn’t have gone to college, they were working and making money, and it felt like I was just floating along. TAP gave me support and advice and helped me stick at it.”

TAP provides more than a route to college for those who participate. Through its foundation programme, it helps to prepare students for the different style of learning that university requires. “I’m working as a lecturer in the University of Leicester at the moment, and the School of Law takes in around 320 undergraduates every year. We sat down to look at revising the syllabus, and we noticed that some of these undergraduates, coming straight from their A levels, are terrified of thinking for themselves. You almost need to retrain them to think in a different way. It would be similar in Ireland.

The foundation course was really useful for bridging the gap between secondary school and college, teaching critical skills and making me more comfortable in that environment.”

The Leaving Certificate, according to O’Connell, is “one measure of ability, and one that takes a lot of discipline and hard work,” but it has inherent issues. “The current system doesn’t take account of people’s different circumstances. In Pearse’s The Murder Machine, he bemoans the idea of imposing a single curriculum on hundreds of thousands of students with different backgrounds and different potentials.

TAP is a step in the right direction.”

I think it's crucial to keep encouraging students from non traditional backgrounds” After pursuing postgraduate study in NUI Galway, the now Dr O’Connell returned to Trinity to participate in the Pathways to Law programme. “As TAP became more established, a lecturer in the Law School named Oran Doyle LL.B., Ph.D. (1999) started a sampler or Introduction to Law as part of the foundation course in 2006. By that time I was in NUI Galway, lecturing. Oran contacted me to step in to teach on the

Pathways to Law course for a year. I think for students to see someone who has come through TAP up there teaching them, having been successful, is a big positive for them. It was very positive for me too. A lot of the time as a lecturer, you teach 200 people at a time, but the Pathways course had 12 students. I found it very engaging.”

TAP gave me support and advice and helped me stick at it. TAP provides more than a route to college for those who participate” Having established himself as a lecturer at the University of Leicester, O’Connell was invited to Harvard to take up a fellowship. “Harvard has a Human Rights Programme. They take on six fellows a year, from across the US or anywhere in the world. I'll be there from September, and I will probably spend the academic year writing a second monograph.” He is glowingly positive about the role of TAP in encouraging him. “For me it was a massive opportunity. It also led to something like a culture shift within my family. My younger sister went to Trinity, my nephew went to DCU and I think my niece is going to go to UCD in a year’s time and our family had no background in college education. I think in the economic climate at the moment, with the threat of fees and cuts across the board, TAP are under pressure. It is certainly something that needs buttressing.” ”I think it’s crucial to keep encouraging students from nontraditional backgrounds, I genuinely do. When I did the Leaving Cert, I wouldn’t have got anywhere near the points for my course. I would’ve nearly needed six A1s to study Law in Trinity through the CAO but once I got in, I excelled at it. I’m not certain of this, but I think I’m the first one in my Law class to have published a book. It’s important to have different avenues open, both for Trinity and for society.”

Having overcome early difficulties to excel in his undergraduate days and eventually become a Harvard fellow, it seems fitting to ask if Dr O’Connell has any advice for prospective students, standing at the crossroads where he once stood. He is initially reluctant, but eloquent nonetheless. “I know that there is a lot of trepidation from students at the moment.

The economic situation makes people disinclined to pursue third-level education, because they’re worried about not being able to get a job afterwards. I’d tell them that getting an education isn’t just about getting a job. It will increase your employability and open avenues – I’ve worked as a lecturer and I’m going to take up a fellowship in Harvard – but education is important in and of itself. As Thomas Davis said, ‘educate that you may be free’. Make the most of it, and then you can start thinking about jobs.”

O’Connell’s own research includes the effects of globalisation on human rights such as housing, education and healthcare, and his first book, Vindicating Socio-Economic Rights: International Standards and Comparative Experiences, was published this year, dedicated to the staff of TAP. Trinity Today | 39

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Help Fintan show Ireland in a new light.

Fintan Walsh’s research is in the area of theatre and performance studies, with a particular emphasis on how ‘Irishness’ is portrayed and marketed.

“There’s a view that historically idealised images of Ireland are helpful in promoting the country. But these images can be very restrictive of real people’s lives”.

“Ireland has become so much more multi-cultural and diverse, and arts practice has to change to reflect that.”

Fintan cites the banning of gay marchers from New York’s St Patrick’s Day Parade as just one example.

“We need to change the way we’re seen internationally, to something that is much more elastic - and which everybody can participate in.”

When you donate to the Alumni Appeal you're helping a student like Fintan complete research that wouldn't be be possible otherwise.

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Help Lara find a cure for multiple sclerosis.

Lara Dungan has already been named as ‘Young Scientist of The Year’ by the British Society of Immunology for her innovative work in the area of multiple sclerosis.

But the potential of her research could be even more far-reaching, offering hope not only to sufferers from other auto-immune diseases like diabetes and arthritis but beyond.

“The beautiful thing about the see-saw of immunology is that if we find a way

to treat auto-immune diseases, then theoretically the reverse of that could find cures for cancer.”

“Funding is vital. It means more people, but also more capable and futuristic research tools, so we can work faster.

The essence of science is speed.”

Even the smallest donation makes a big difference.

Please donate today at www.tcd.ie/alumniappeal.

watch our four short films www.tcd.ie/alumniappeal

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INTERVIEW | Family Matters

Family Matters Terry Gallagher B.A. (1976) and his daughter, Senior Sophister Katherine Gallagher, tell Trinity Today about their Trinity experiences. terry on trinity: I applied to Trinity College in 1971. Catholic Bishops lifted the ban on Roman Catholics attending the College imposed by His Grace John Charles Mc Quade in July 1970, making 1971 the first admission year for Catholics. Being a Christian Brothers boy from O’Connell Schools North Richmond Street my decision to apply to the Protestant university was viewed with profound suspicion, an indication of a somewhat unregulated mind.

Family finances were tight and I was used to sitting exams for scholarship money, starting with the Dublin Corporation Scholarships for Secondary School at the tender age of eleven. So I decided to take a day off and sit for the Exhibition Exams at TCD, oblivious of the fact the syllabus was substantially different than that of the Leaving Cert and that students from some schools would actually take an additional year to prepare for them.

It was my first time in Trinity and the Exam Hall. Getting permission from my teachers at O’Connell School for time off to sit the exam was like I was proposing a mission to Mars. As might be imagined I fared dismally. I still remember two young men commiserating with each other over a smoke outside the hall and one saying to the other 'ropey what Jeremy?' not a turn of phrase I much encountered in Cabra where I grew up.

When the Leaving Cert results came out I was accepted for English Language and Literature at Trinity. I was

I took a year out and came back determined to make more of the College experience”

ecstatic. Then one of my aunts observed 'interesting choice of course. Not sure there will be a job for you at the end of it'. Horrified I went down to the College and promptly changed to Mathematics. I had the points, and in those days it was as simple as that. I found out I could take a Double Moderatorship in Mathematics and Experimental Physics. In an act of a man with more energy than sense I signed up for it. The practical effect of changing the courses was that there were only a couple of women in my classes throughout my whole time at Trinity. Science was just not something women did at that time.

For my first two years I lived at home, had an incredible course load, and was so intimidated by the whole set up I joined nothing and made no friends. I took a year out and came back determined to make more of the College experience. In my Junior Sophister year I stayed at the Jesuit Halls of Residence in Hatch Street and joined in quick succession the Choral Society and the Theological Society. And I met women! The Choral Society was one of the few institutions in the College at the time as far as I could see where the male/female ratio was even mildly balanced. The ladies who were in the Theological Society usually were also members of the Elizabethan Society, all female. I never looked back. I got to play croquet on the lawn; I got to sing in the Bach B Minor mass. In my Senior Sophister year I served on the committees of both the Phil and The Hist and lived in Botany Bay. I really define my College experience through my participation in those societies.

All three of my children have gone to Trinity. My youngest child and only daughter is entering her Senior Sophister year. A college of primarily 4,000 males in my time has grown to over 15,000 students with an equal gender balance and which has to date had two female Pro-Chancellors. I am very proud of my daughter and proud of my College.

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Family Matters | INTERVIEW

My parents were so comfortable with Trinity that I was sent off with my middle brother Michael to move me in”

katherine on trinity: By the time I entered Trinity in 2009, I was following a family trend. My father and both my brothers had picked the school. So despite coming from America, Trinity was basically a known entity.

As an American student the question is always, why Trinity? The shortest answer is normally the family history.

But it’s really not that simple. The American system is quite different, being more about selling yourself as an entire package, not just your academics, but your personality, your extracurricular activities… your soul. I didn’t fair well. Luckily my parents had the foresight to recommend that I apply abroad and Trinity seemed like the obvious option as both my brothers were already attending. So off I went.

By the time I entered Trinity, my eldest brother was in fourth year studying MSISS and my middle brother was in third year studying BESS. Both had chosen horrifically practical degrees. I on the other hand arbitrarily applied for English Literature and Philosophy. My parents were supportive; they didn’t mind what I studied. But to the many business people I told the response tended to be 'So do you plan to be unemployed or marry rich?'. I decided to stick

with it anyway and it has proved to be the most interesting degree I could have hoped for, with amazing lecturers and supportive departments.

My parents were so comfortable with Trinity that I was sent off with my middle brother Michael to move me in. He got to play my father as he helped me unpack and deal with awkward first encounters in Trinity Halls. My first year at Halls was key. It was where I met most of the friends I have now.

But it wasn’t all easy. I was put in an apartment with all Irish girls who went home almost every weekend. Wandering around that apartment by myself on the weekends, I got incredibly lonely. But it made me more outgoing in my second year.

I ran for the Junior Common Room committee, joined the committees of the swimming and water polo teams, started my own literary criticism magazine The Renegade Rant and Rave and was class rep. I was incredibly busy but it made me aware of all that Trinity had to offer and I met people from every facet of life. There is a diverse range of people at Trinity, but you have to venture off into different areas of the College to find them.

The Trinity community is one that is strong and stays with you. My brothers and I recently lost a close friend from Trinity, but in a sign of true camaraderie, Trinity graduates and current students flew in from every corner of the globe to attend his memorial. I am proud to be part of such a supportive and loyal community.

I am the only remaining member of the family at Trinity.

Going into my final year I am captain of the swimming and water polo teams and I plan to continue my magazine.

Going to the same university as my brothers and my father has made us closer, as we have all shared similar yet different experiences of the diverse College community.

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300

years

in the making

Celebrating the Old Library Tercentenary

by Librarian Robin Adams.

In April 2012, the College Library began celebrating the Tercentenary of the foundation of the Old Library building with a programme of diverse events and publications including an exhibition A great many choice books; 300 years of the Old Library on the history of the Old Library and its collections. The exhibition draws on research collections to describe the history of the design and construction of what has become an iconic building in Trinity and also across the world.

Although the original library accommodation no longer exists, it was a visionary and ambitious concept to build a library on such a scale for a college of a few hundred scholars. Trinity’s location, so close to the river Liffey, meant that the architect, Thomas Burgh, drew on the solution which Sir Christopher Wren used in his library at Trinity College Cambridge to reduce the threat of flooding. The main chamber, holding books and study spaces, was built over an open colonnade protecting the books from water thus creating a covered walkway. The Pavilions at the east and west end of the Old Library provided space for the librarian and some academic departments.

Another demonstration of the College’s confidence and foresight was the introduction of the spectacular barrel ceiling and shelving of the gallery in the mid-nineteenth century has

given the Long Room its sense of scale, order and harmony which the novelist P.D. James described her visit to the Library: “To mount the final stairs and stand at the entrance of the Long Room is to experience that quickening of the blood which is the response to wholly successful architecture. The arched nave stretches in seeming infinity, cathedral-like in its majesty and dignity... On a sunny day in particular (and one should reserve a fine day for Trinity) the whole nave glows; the spines of the leather-bound books, mounting tier on tier, gleam against the rich and varied browns of the wood so that the gallery seems like a gigantic treasure chest lined with strips of golden mosaic”.

Since the installation of the new ceiling, the Old Library has undergone further changes with the filling in of the Colonnades in the 1860s to create additional storage of the growing collections, the development of departments, of manuscripts and early printed books and most recently, the creation of an exhibition space for its manuscripts and a library shop.

Of course, the Old Library is as much about its collections as the building’s architectural significance. The exhibition features the history of the building and examples of some of its extraordinarily diverse books, archives and manuscripts which give the Library an international reputation, attracting scholars from all parts of the world to explore its resources.

An extract of the Particular Book from 24 February 1600/01 outlines the College’s earliest record of its business; there are

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Library | FEATURE

records of the construction of the Old Library, displays such as the Library Porters’ oath of 1845, which was required to be sworn before taking up post and JM Synge’s Library ticket.

Exhibits also include medieval manuscripts such as the 15th century manuscript, Sketches of English Towns, examples of printed materials dating from the invention of the moveable press, such as the Wynkyn de Worde’s Book of St Albans, 1496 and the first book printed in Irish type 'Abidil gaoidheilgte agus caiticiosma', 1571, whose acquisition was supported

by College alumni. A second exhibition, Drawn to the Page opening in October, will focus on the work of Irish artists in book illustration. It will display some of the finest illustrated texts from this period in our collection, including artists such as George Petrie, Margaret Stokes and Jack Butler Yeats.

The Tercentenary programme opens up the Library’s collections and its work to a wide audience, providing an opportunity for vistors to learn about the skills involved in the conservation of library and archive collections and the preventive measures used for their care. Each event includes a visit to the Long Room to hear about the preservation of the collection of Early Printed Books, followed by a visit to the Glucksman Conservation Laboratory to see first-hand some of the items on which the conservation team is currently working.

Librarian Robin Adams, President Michael D. Higgins, Assistant Curator Ellen O’Flaherty and Dr Patrick Prendergast, Provost at Tercentenary exhibition launch.

Find out more about the Old Library Tercentenary at www.tcd.ie/Library/tercentenary/.

Other Highlights The ‘Building Collections’ conference in June was an opportunity for scholars and librarians to learn more of the history of the Library, its context in 18th century Ireland and the significance of the collections. Speakers included Dr Toby Barnard, University of Oxford, Prof David McKitterick, University of Cambridge and Peter Fox M.A. (j.o.) (1985), former College Librarian, who is working on the definitive history of the Library.

The Tercentenary also featured in the Alumni Weekend in August, with the Literary Extravaganza of lectures and tours and a ‘Reading Corner’ for younger readers and future alumni as part of the annual gathering of those meeting again and refreshing their memories of College. Graduates also enjoyed ‘behind the scenes’ visits to our Conservation Department and Map Library.

The special year will be marked by two significant publications, in November we will launch a dazzling new volume on Ireland’s revered national treasure and the world’s most beautiful illuminated manuscript, The Book of Kells, published by Thames & Hudson, by Dr Bernard Meehan, Head of Research Collections and Keeper of Manuscripts. The next month will see the launch of The Old Library, Trinity College Dublin, 1712- 2012, edited by Dr W.E. Vaughan, published by Four Courts Press, a richly illustrated volume of chapters on the Library, its history and collections.

As well as celebrating the rich treasures acquired in the past, the Tercentenary year is the perfect opportunity to look forward to the work of the Library in creating and making available digitised versions of great works through the Images for a Nation initiative and the cataloguing of collections such as the Pollard Collection of Children’s Literature, as supported by alumni. It also marks the launch of the re-development of the Old Library Visitor Centre and the major capital programme to ensure that the building and its contents are both preserved for the future and provide facilities required of today’s scholars.

Avail of a 10% discount on publications for alumni when you quote your student number when ordering on www.tcd.ie/library/shop.

DU Players portraying famous Trinity alumni and other well-known historical characters at the exhibition launch.

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INTERVIEW | Belinda McKeon

Photo by Belinda's husband Aengus Woods.

Solace in

NEW

YORK

Frieda Klotz B.A. (2000) speaks with award winning author Belinda McKeon about her time in Trinity and why she chose to feature the College in her novel.

W

hen I meet Belinda McKeon B.A. (2000) in a café in New York’s Upper West Side, it is one of the first sunny days of spring. McKeon, 32, wears a black top and trousers, looking every bit the New Yorker.

She has just come back from China, where she took part in the Bookworm International Literary Festival. Although she is well into her second novel, she is still promoting the award winning Solace and doing a lot of other things besides – constant journalistic and essayistic pieces and a short story which is part of an anthology to be published this autumn.

A couple of plays are on the back burner, and there’s a screenplay, which she says needs more work, “depending on how some conversations go.”

McKeon grew up in Longford and attended Trinity College Dublin as an undergraduate, going on to pursue a Masters in Philosophy at UCD and then an MFA in Creative Writing at Columbia University. Solace, her award-winning debut

novel, explores the relationship between a father and son after a traumatic event affects their family. Mark, one of the novel’s central characters is doing a doctorate in the English Department at Trinity on Maria Edgeworth. He doesn’t make much progress diverted in part by events in his romantic and personal life.

She had not originally intended to make Mark a student – he was going to be a child of the Celtic Tiger, working in IT –

I was allowed and expected to think for myself” but somewhere along the line that changed.

“Once I’d made that transition it felt right,” McKeon explains over lunch. “I went to Trinity myself – that was probably the main reason why he became a Trinity student, because it’s something I know at a deeply intimate level.” Her experiences at Trinity were building blocks in Mark’s character, although not, she points out, in an autobiographical way.

Indeed Mark, whose supervisor seems reluctant to read his work, has a much less engaging time at Trinity than McKeon did herself. She was 17 when she arrived there, and it took a while to navigate the transition between secondary

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©Leontura/istockphoto.com

©Lya_Cattel /istockphoto.com

Belinda McKeon | INTERVIEW

school and the independent thinking which the English and Philosophy Departments encouraged. “Somewhere in the final term in my first year, it clicked for me,” she says, “that I was allowed and expected to think for myself, to formulate my own theories, to immerse myself in texts and come up with my own ideas about them. I found that completely and utterly intoxicating.”

McKeon took the Writing Ireland course taught by Nicholas Grene M.A. (1972), Terence Brown M.A., Ph.D., F.T.C.D., (1972), Antoinette Quinn and others, and remembers “wonderful classes” on American poetry with Stephen Matterson. She also studied creative writing with writers in residence like Deirdre Madden B.A. (1983) and again a few years later, Marina Carr. Madden’s class included several individuals who have gone on to make their mark on contemporary Irish fiction like Paul Murray and Barry McCrea. McKeon, who was younger than the others, says it was a baptism by fire. “We would meet every Monday evening in Deirdre’s rooms off Front Square and read each other’s work and talk about what it takes to write a good story,” she recalls. “Deirdre was really rigorous. She really didn’t baby us at all.”

Trinity offered a rich variety of opportunities. McKeon was an editor of Icarus and published fiction there for the first time. She also edited the books pages and did interviews for Trinity News, which gave her a chance to meet established writers like John McGahern, John Connolly and Colm Tóibín.

When she graduated she sent those clips to The Irish Times, and they helped to launch her journalistic career.

As a young graduate back in 2000, her plans were ambitious. She had majored in English but planned to do a Doctorate in Literature after completing a Masters in Philosophy. But she realised that she couldn’t do everything.

“If I was going to pursue a Ph.D. and keep up my career in journalism, the novel was never going to happen,” she explains.” About a year later, she moved to New York, with her novel already partway begun.

Writing, for McKeon, is a layered process. “I just believe that a lot of it happens at a not entirely conscious level. I don’t mean that in any mystical sense at all,” she says. “So much of our creativity happens in ways of which we’re not entirely aware. I think that a lot of the decisions or the necessary aspects of fiction will happen in the back of your head, and part of your work is to allow what’s in the back of your head to come forward.”

That’s how Maria Edgeworth entered Solace. After a while, McKeon figured out that Mark’s thesis subject would be important. Edgeworth’s family were landlords in Longford, a legacy which has affected the status of her novels. “I grew up in County Longford where she spent her whole life,” McKeon says. “That said, she still isn’t as much of a part of Longford’s cultural identity as I think she should be. I believe that’s partly to do with the resistance that you find in some places to aspects of Anglo-Irish culture.”

Many of Edgeworth’s themes matched the preoccupations of Solace, McKeon explains. “The relationship between the

So much of our creativity happens in ways of which we’re not entirely aware” urban and the rural, the conflict between generations, the responsibilities of children towards their families, the home, the State, for want of a better word. All of this began to click into place for me.”

After almost seven years in New York, McKeon says her next book will be quite different. It feels less awkward now to write about New York than it did at first. The new novel is set between Dublin and New York and concerns a group of friends in their thirties. “One thing that I’m very interested in is the different layers of Irish immigrants in New York. People who came here in the 50s, people who came here in the 80s,

people who came here six or seven years ago because they wanted to come here. And now you have people who are coming here again. In one lifetime, you can have many, many layers and many reasons why people are here. It’s fascinating for me to think about how those groups interact, if they do at all. To what extent do they recognise themselves, and recognise one another.”

McKeon and her husband, Aengus Woods, live on the border of Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn. She does much of her writing at home, varying that with trips to a local café and the New York Public Library in Bryant Park. Her advice for young writers is simply to sit in a room and write.

“For anybody who’s working on a novel, it is just you and the manuscript,” she says. “There’s nothing wrong with that, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Just turn up and hammer it out every day until it starts to show you what it needs to be.

Because I think that’s what a novel does eventually. It shows you a pattern.”

Her plans for the future aren’t set, but she seems happy in the present. “We love it here. We’ll see how it goes.”

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FEATURE | Irish Article

na

Tríonóide

H

e may have been a long way from the Arts Block down the Hamilton end of college, but science graduate Diarmaid Mac Mathúna B.A., M.Sc. (1999) found a way to connect with other Irish speakers through a shared interest in science and technology. Now Head of Client Services at TV and video company Agtel, Diarmaid has been at the forefront of using social media in science communication and to promote the Irish language.

Twitter as Gaeilge. Agus mar léiritheoir teilifíse agus físe feicim féin go laethúil go bhfuil a lán daoine ag úsáid Twitter agus iad ag féachaint ar an teilifís – as Gaeilge agus as Béarla.

Is rud cuibheasach nua é go mbeadh Twitter chomh lárnach seo i saol na teilifíse. Caithfidh mé a admháil nár cheap mé féin go dtí le déanaí go raibh mórán comhráite spéisiúla ag tarlú ar Twitter. Cáintear Twitter go minic agus daoine ag rá go bhfuil formhór na n-úsáideoirí ag obair sna meáin chumarsáide. Agus b’fhéidir go bhfuil sin fíor.

Ach tharla rud as an ngnách nuair a chraolamar an clár faisnéise MND: The Inside Track mar gheall ar Colm Murray agus an taighde ag an tOllamh Orla Hardiman i gColáiste na Tríonóide. Phléasc Twitter le teachtaireachtaí ó dhaoine ar fud na tíre a bhí ag féachaint ar an gclár an oíche sin – roinnt acu as Gaeilge fiú amháin. A fhad is a bhí an clár á chraoladh seoladh thart ar thrí mhíle teachtaireacht ar Twitter a luaigh ainm Colm Murray. Agus dhearbhaigh sin go raibh sé ar cheann de na rudaí is mó a bhí á phlé ar Twitter an oíche sin ag leibhéal domhanda.

Diarmaid MacMathuna with an Agtel client.

Mar chainteoir dúchais Gaeilge a bhí lonnaithe thíos i dtreo an Hamilton ag déanamh staidéir ar an eolaíocht, níor chroch mé thart mórán le Gaeilgeoirí díograiseacha Dhámh na nEalaíon agus mé i gColáiste na Tríonóide. Ach de réir a chéile, ó bheith ag obair go deonach thíos an bóthar i Raidió na Life 106.4fm, chuir mé aithne ar dhaoine eile sa choláiste a bhí báúil leis an teanga. Mar ghrúpa (beag) bhíomar ag iarraidh rudaí nua a dhéanamh leis an teanga toisc gur chuireamar spéis i gcúrsaí eolaíochta agus teicneolaíochta. Chraolamar ceann de na chéad chláir raidió Gaeilge mar gheall ar an eolaíocht, agus thosaigh mé ag obair ar an litreoir Gaeilge do Microsoft Word ar a dtugtar GaelSpell. Sin dhá rud a thosaigh mar chaitheamh aimsire a fhad is a bhí mé ag déanamh staidéir ar an bhfisic agus rudaí iad atá fós lárnach sa saol agam anois agus mé ag obair mar léiritheoir.

Tá an dearcadh i leith na Gaeilge athraithe go mór ó thosaigh mé féin ar an ollscoil i 1995. Thaispeáin an clár teilifíse Bernard Dunne’s Bród Club, a léirigh mo chomhlacht do RTÉ, go bhfuil Gaeilge láidir taobh amuigh den Ghaeltacht agus taobh amuigh den chóras oideachais. Rud a chabhraíonn le seo ná an tslí ina bhfuil gréasáin shóisialta tar éis daoine a bhfuil spéis acu sa teanga a chur i dteagmháil le chéile – go háirithe ar Twitter.

Cé nach bhfuil aon téarma caighdeánach ar “tweeting” as Gaeilge (tá thart ar chúig fhocal in úsáid go forleathan – tá “giolcadh” agus “tuíteáil” coitianta) léiríonn an saibhreas téarmaíochta seo dúinn go bhfuil daoine gníomhach ag úsáid

Bernard Dunne's Bród Club.

Léiríonn sé seo go soiléir an nasc an-láidir atá ann anois idir chláir theilifíse agus na meáin shóisialta – agus go bhfuil Gaeilge in úsáid go forleathan ar Twitter agus ar ghréasáin shóisialta eile.

Cinntíonn an bheocht nua atá tugtha ag an teicneolaíocht seo don Ghaeilge go bhfuil a lán slite gur féidir Gaeilge a labhairt taobh amuigh den sean “ciorcal comhrá.” Nuair a thosaigh mise agus mo chairde ag seoladh ár gcéad teachtaireachtaí ríomhphoist sa roinn mhatamaitice i 1995 ní raibh aon síntí fada ar fáil ar na ríomhairí. Ach anois níl fadhb ar bith le sin agus tá flúirse giorrúchán in úsáid go forleathan chun cabhrú le daoine focail dheacra a sheachaint (cinn ar nós “d7n” in áit“ deireadh seachtaine”).

Na laethanta seo, is féidir an teicneolaíocht seo ar fad a úsáid chun aithne a chur ar dhaoine eile le Gaeilge sa choláiste a bhfuil spéis acu sna rudaí céanna leat féin – fiú amháin má tú scartha amach thíos i dtreo an Hamilton.

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Peter Linney abseiled down the Campanile to launch Sports Week in March.

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SPORTS | News

A SPORTING

YEAR IN TRINITY CLUB ROUNDUP

The DU Association Football Club was victorious at a close encounter against UCD in College Park earlier this year. In what doubled as a Colleges and Universities Football League (CUFL) group game, the Trinity team secured a valuable three points in its quest for qualification against arguably the strongest ever UCD team fielded in the competition. In a game of drama and few clear-cut chances, Trinity’s sports scholarship student Frank Wilson scored the only goal of the game mid-way through the first half.

Both the Men’s and Ladies’ Boat Clubs ended their season on a high note. The DU Ladies’ Boat Club won at the National Championships in July in both Novice and Intermediate VIII’s. The weekend did not stop there with the DU Boat Club also winning at Intermediate IV and VIII’s.

The men’s club claimed best overall club at Dublin Head of River in March.

Trinity and Boat Club alumnus Mark Pollock B.A. (1998), paralysed from the waist down, continues his next adventure race against his own body. Mark has made surviving catastrophic change an art form and continues to inspire audiences worldwide. Follow Mark's progress at www.markpollock.com.

The DU Cricket Club 1st team finished its season at No.3 in Division 2. This was the best finish

for the club since the restructuring of the league.

Sports scholarship student and club member George Dockrell was also selected for the Irish Cricket Squad to tour Kenya in February this year.

This year saw the DU Football Club become Division 2A winners after winning the league and as a result the club gained promotion to Division 1B after some hard-fought victories throughout the season, also retaining their 7’s championship title in a tough final showdown against Connaught Buccaneers. The Ladies Club won the Leinster Plate beating Old Belvedere in the final.

The DU Lawn Tennis Men’s team won intervarsity’s in Cork in February with a 5–1 win over UCD in the final. Simon Clarke smashed an ace down the tee to win the decisive match for Trinity and so end a 13-year run of disappointment in the competition. The ladies team also had a hugely successful campaign at varsities, but were extremely unlucky to lose out to DCU in the final.

The Swimming Club won the Division 3 National Water Polo League this year having won all 14 games.

The Knights of the Campanile are reviving communications with their alumni and would like to hear from any former Knights who may have lost touch. To make sure that you receive communications from the group, please update your details on www.tcd.ie/alumni/update and select Knights of the Campanile from the clubs and societies list.

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News | sports

ROUNDUP IN PICTURES

A student demonstrates his basketball skills during freshers week.

Trinity’s Olympic torch bearers Mark Kenneally, Mark Pollock, Aine Ni Choisdealbha & Natalya Coyle.

Trinity beat UCD at College Park.

DU Football Club after winning Division 2A.

Provost Patrick Prendergast waves the starting flag at this year’s regatta at Islandbridge.

Students take part in an exercise class in the Sports Centre.

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SPORTS | News

Trinity Sports Scholarships S

ports Scholarships were awarded to 22 students, representing 14 sports, at a special ceremony in College for the 2011/12 academic year. The Sports Scholarship Programme helps talented students develop their sporting potential and achievements while supporting their pursuit of academic excellence. The successful students benefit from comprehensive offerings including physiological and educational support along with a financial award.

Commenting on the scholarships, the Development Manager at Trinity’s Department of Sport, Cathy Gallagher, said “the profile of this year’s Sports Scholarship recipients reflects

the immense sporting talent within College. It evidences very clearly the opportunity available to students to pursue sporting aspirations alongside the attainment of a top-class academic qualification. The 22 Trinity Sports Scholarship students will have a role to play therein and it is with much anticipation that we will follow their sporting journeys.”

2011 marks the 19th year of the Sports Scholarship Programme at Trinity College Dublin. Since its establishment, over 500 talented sports students have been supported by College and alumni in balancing both their sporting and academic commitments.

Pavilion Bar celebrates Golden Jubilee DUCAC celebrated the Pavilion Bar’s Golden Jubilee at the end of 2011. In the beginning John V. Luce, the then Chairman of DUCAC, persuaded College to grant a licence for the Pavilion Bar on condition that no spirits be sold, and opening hours be restricted to 3:20pm - 6:45pm during term. The cost of a pint of Guinness was equivalent to 0.18 cent. Since then, the Pav has extended to more sociable hours and undergone many refurbishments, most recently in 2009 when the bar was extended on both wings of the building.

Alumni are welcome to become members of the Pavilion and can do so by emailing ducac@tcd.ie.

DU Rifle Club Golden Jubilee DU Rifle Club celebrated its Golden Jubilee year in February. A weekend of events was held to commemorate the event. Dr Emma Lyons presented her book on the history of the club at the event, compiling stories from the past which may have been otherwise left off the records of the DU Rifle Club. The club organised shooting events at Hilltop followed by a Gala Dinner at Fallon & Byrne, which was attended by many current and past members.

University Pinks awarded at Sporting Commons Sports clubs were well represented at the presentation of pinks, a Trinity sporting accolade, by Hugo MacNeill B.A. (1981) at DUCAC’s Annual Sporting Commons. Pinks were awarded to Kirsty Kelly (Badminton), Peter Linney (Climbing), Dominic Gallagher (Football Rugby), Caoimhe Proud Murphy (Ladies Boat), Sarah Dolan (Ladies Boat), Caitlin Condon (in absentia) (Ladies Boat), Aisling Miller (Air Rifle) and Rachel Nazarin (in absentia) (Ladies Boat).

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News | sports

What a year for GAA at Trinity!

GAA President visits Trinity In February, Trinity welcomed Gaelic Athletic Association President Christy Cooney where representatives from the five GAA clubs (Men’s and Ladies’ Gaelic Football, Hurling, Camogie, and Handball) turned out to showcase their achievements. Mr Cooney spoke of the important role third-level GAA plays by developing players for Club and Intercounty teams. He also commented that the role of the volunteer within the GAA is paramount to the success and vibrancy of the organisation and recognised that future administrators and leaders are currently involved as student club officers.

Cyril Smyth, Christy Cooney and Provost Patrick Prendergast.

Dublin manager Pat Gilroy honoured at Sporting Commons DUCAC honoured Dublin football manager Pat Gilroy B.A.I. (1993) this year at its annual Sporting Commons. Pat was a key member of the very successful Trinity football team of the late 80s/early 90s where he played a key role in both Ryan Cup victories. He won an All-Ireland senior medal with Dublin in 1995 and took over as Dublin senior football manager in 2009 where he joined up with his former Trinity team mate Paddy O’Donoghue on the management team. Dublin won the Senior Football All-Ireland in 2011 and the team included Trinity student Sean Murray.

Ray O’Brien, GAA Alumni Chairman, Pat Gilroy and Cyril Smyth, DUCAC Chairman.

Gaelic football team promoted to Division 1 and Sigerson Cup The DU Gaelic Football team won the Division 2 Comhairle Ardoideachais (Higher Education Senior Football League) in November 2011. They also claimed their first Trench Cup title since 2006 in February. Ryan Casey B.Sc. (Pharm.) (2008), team manager, was thrilled with the result. He thanked the GAA Development Officer, and Down senior footballer Conor Laverty for his support in bringing the team to unprecedented success this year. They deservedly play in the Division 1 and Sigerson Cup competitions for the next season.

The victorious DU Gaelic football team.

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INTERVIEW | Sports

The Olympic Connection Gerard Siggins caught up with Trinity Olympians, past and present at the 2012 Hall of Fame Event in June. nAtALYA coYLe senior FreshmAn bUsiness stUDies Natalya Coyle keeps pinching herself, not quite sure whether she can believe her good fortune. A brilliant athlete at the multi-discipline sport of Modern Pentathlon, her aim since leaving King’s Hospital secondary school three years ago was to work hard at her studies and get a Business Degree from Trinity, and also to work hard at her sport and qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. “Yes, it was all about Rio,” Natalya explained at a preOlympics day for the Irish media at - where else - the Pavilion Bar in Trinity. “But I just started to improve really quickly, and my coach Lindsey Weedon kept saying ‘You can do this. You can qualify for London.’ It took her egging me on to make it happen - and now it is just amazing to be going to London.”

She arrived in College as an accomplished athlete - twotime National Champion at Tetrathlon (running, swimming, shooting and riding) which earned her a Sports Scholarship - but she found that trying to juggle study and sport was not easy. “I came into first year to study Business, tried to do everything and failed miserably at it. I ended up doing repeats. But Trinity could not have been more supportive -

I have a really good professor, Brian Lucey, and he put me on a study programme and I passed the exams.”

“Afterwards I sat down with my tutor and said ‘I cannot do all this work, 45 hour weeks, and train and compete.’ So they have allowed me to become a part-time student. I was one of the first they have allowed to split years and I did second year over two years.”

Having just completed second year, she discovered that her exams were on at the same time as the World Championships. “They let me defer them until October, a couple of months after the Olympics.” But the books will stay at home in Skryne, Co. Meath and will not be part of her London luggage. “I’m planning to do a full third year next year - I’m a bit older and wiser than I was in first year - and we’ll see what we’ll do with fourth year when that comes around.”

Being an Olympic year, Natalya has devoted all her time to Pentathlon (the four Tetrathlon events, plus fencing) since March. “I keep up training even when I’m in College.

In the winter, I run around College Park, and I use the pool for training. I’m in the Fencing Club too. I spend a lot of the year out of the country, but I love representing Trinity whenever I can. I am the National Student Champion at fencing and I was able to help Trinity to win the Intervarsities. I was also captain of the Trinity athletics squad this year, and I run at 1,500 and 3,000 metres for College.”

Whatever happens in London, Natalya’s focus will

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Sports | INTERVIEW

instantly switch to Rio de Janeiro and the 2016 games. “I just want to get better. I’m competitive. I’m determined,” she says. And you just know she will.

©istockphoto.com/PeskyMonkey

natalya came 9th in the modern pentathlon in London, setting a personal best in each of her events. robert (robin) tAmpLin b.A. (1950) In contrast to today’s finely-tuned sports people, Robin Tamplin’s Olympic experience seems gloriously amateur.

His rowing Eight was thrown together in three weeks in 1948, and the crew carried their own oars on the ferry and train journey across to London.

“We felt very proud carrying them over to represent Ireland at the Olympics,” recalls Robin, 64 years after his week in the sporting sun. “We had to borrow them from Trinity, who had just bought a new set. The boatman Christy Byrne and I painted the blades green and we had quite a job getting the paint off when we got home!”

I came into first year to study Business, tried to do everything and failed miserably at it” Robin had just finished his Junior Freshman year in College and was part of the Eight that lost the semi-final of the Irish championship in Belfast. “I went off disappointed with the crew to a local shebeen and was sitting with a lovely pint in my hand when I got a tap on the shoulder from our coach Maurice Horan. He said ‘I would put that down if I were you, Robin, because they want to have a look to see if you could fit into the crew for the Olympics.’”

Robin and fellow Trinity man Raymond Chantler B.A. (1949) were selected for 12 days of rigorous trials in Islandbridge, where various combinations were tried.

“Danny Taylor (Queens), Paddy Harold (Neptune) and myself were picked, and UCD - who had won the championship - very graciously accepted the changes which must have been very upsetting. “We then had three weeks to get together - I never got home to Wicklow from the Boat Club.”

The team was billeted in a girl’s school in High Wycombe, travelling by bus to Henley each day, and made one trip to Wembley for the Opening Ceremony. “We held up the parade for 20 minutes,” Robin recalls, “in a dispute over the name of the country. They had a placard ready with ‘Éire’ on it, which some of the team objected to. I have photographs of myself walking behind the flag. It was a broiling hot day and we waited ages before it started. But as we entered the stadium the roar of acclaim was overwhelming. As part of the ceremony they released thousands of pigeons but they had been cooped up for so long that they let fly . . . we could have done with umbrellas.”

The rowing was sadly unsuccessful - “we were outclassed,” he says. Robin returned to Trinity and took an active part in the Boat Club for many years. “I would finish my lectures in Front Square and then head up to Islandbridge. I loved the Arts course but it was just reading.

It was not a great stress so I transferred to Law. We were lucky to have been in Trinity at that time. It was a much smaller place. A lot of people had fought in the war, and were there on British government grants. I shared rooms in New Square with John Jackson, who was a lot more mature.

While we had been at school John had seen action as an RAF fighter pilot. John had a lot of friends including J.P. Donleavy who wrote that extraordinary book The Ginger Man, Robin recalls.

After some time in Uganda working as a District Commissioner up to and after independence, Robin returned to Ireland and a career in Guinness. He also returned to DUBC, and was recruited to coach the Eight in 1975. “We went to Henley for three years before we won the Ladies’ Plate for the first time in 102 years. That was the greatest day.” Robin attends the Trinity Regatta and Trial Eights every year. Old habits die hard.

Trinity celebrates 100 years of participation in the Olympic Games Trinity hosted a special event in June to celebrate the participation of students, past and present, in the Olympic Games over the last 100 years and to honour current students who participated in the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay.

A total of 49 Trinity graduates have taken part in the Olympic Games since 1908 including: Ronan Tynan M.A., M.B. (1993) graduated from Medicine and participated in the 1984 Summer Paralympic Games, winning 3 Gold and a Silver medal, and also in the Seoul Paralympic Games in 1988 winning a Gold, Silver and Bronze medal.

David Wilkins B.A.I. (1972) is Ireland’s most-capped Summer Olympian. A graduate of engineering, he participated in Munich (1972), Montreal (1976), Moscow (1980), Seoul (1988) and Barcelona (1992). He won Ireland’s only Olympic medal in Yachting in 1980 in the Moscow Olympics where he teamed up with fellow Trinity graduate Jamie Wilkinson B.A. (1975) in the Flying Dutchman class.

Maeve Kyle B.A., M.A. (1950) competed in the 100m and 200m at the Melbourne Olympic Games in Australia in 1956 and also qualified for the Rome Olympic Games in 1960, competing in the 100m and 200m. She became Ireland’s first triple Olympian at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964 aged 36, where she reached the semi-finals of both the 400m and 800m.

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FEATURE | Legacies

A Lasting Legacy David Naylor remembers fellow Geology graduate Sami Nasr.

I

n his introduction to Trinity Tales, Trinity College Dublin in the Sixties, Brendan Kennelly remembers the sixties as the most “varied and vibrant” of all the decades. He speaks about how College was ‘”full of characters from different parts of the world who added colour, charm, difference and mischief not only to the College but to the city itself.”

I don’t know if they ever met, but Brendan could well be speaking of my good friend, Sami Nicholas Nasr M.Sc. (1961) whose presence in the College in the 60s certainly added colour and charm to our student days and who is still part of the fabric of Trinity through his wonderful legacy which has enabled College to establish a world leading research institute in the material sciences. early years Sami spent his early years in Jerusalem, but as a result of the upheaval surrounding the formation of Israel his family moved to Baghdad, where Sami took a degree in petroleum geology.

He joined Iraq Petroleum (IPC) working up the ranks to become a senior manager for the company in Kirkuk – the first Arab to attain such a post. Somewhere along the way, he met and married his Irish wife, Connie, who worked as a Nursing Sister in Jerusalem.

The coup of 1958 ended the monarchy in Iraq and Sami, seen as too pro-Western and a monarchist, was arrested and put into jail. Eventually IPC agreed to pay a large bond for Sami’s release, but a condition was that he would leave the country. With an Irish wife, Sami’s best hope was to apply for Irish nationality which he duly did. While he waited for this to come through, Sami pursued his M.Sc. in Geology in Trinity, which is where I first got to know him.

Sami and his wife Connie on graduation day in Trinity. hills. Meanwhile he paced his M.Sc. manuscript production carefully to fill the time available – I had the feeling that he could have produced the work in a few months if pressed. a legaCy tO trinity When he finished his degree and now in possession of an Irish passport, Sami moved to Australia working in the oil industry and eventually becoming Managing Director of a major oil company.

I visited him in Sydney in the mid-1980s and he told me that he and Connie both wanted to make a gesture to Trinity for the haven it provided during a difficult period, and for the hospitality they had received.

His legacy to a Trinity, ‘blind to colour and religious belief’ that had welcomed him so warmly is the landmark building that proudly bears his name - The Sami Nasr Institute for Advanced Materials.

Trinity in the 60s was a particularly diverse and multicultural place with plenty of unusual characters and Sami fitted right in” stUDent Days Sami worked on the large table in the Museum Building, under the watchful eyes of the resident Elk, a scene that will be familiar to geology students through the years. Trinity in the 60s was a particularly diverse and multicultural place with plenty of unusual characters and Sami fitted right in. He was popular with his fellow students and came on many of the field trips as well as joining in social occasions.

Trinity at the time was relatively well dressed, but Sami cut a dash in his Savile Row suits and two-tone shoes. His idea of being down on his fortune was to cut his large Havana cigars, which Fox’s of Grafton Street stored for him, into two halves. This was done on the Museum table with great ceremony, and more than a hint of sadness and deprivation, Sami’s great passion was fly-fishing and he spent much of his weekends in the Wicklow

memories from Professor David naylor m.a. (j.o.), Ph.D. (1964)

Remembering Trinity in your will is a generous and farsighted act that will benefit the University for generations to come. If you would like to find out more about how your legacy could make a difference, we would be delighted to talk to you.

Please contact Eileen Punch t. + 353 (0)1 896 1714 e. eileen.punch@tcd.ie

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Oregon Maple Library Square Planted early 1800s

Remember.

The power of a legacy to Trinity

There’s an old saying that the true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade one does not expect to sit.

When you leave a legacy to Trinity, however big or small, you’re planting a tree which will grow to provide shelter to many.

You’re empowering ground-breaking research which will benefit people in Ireland and all over the world. You’re supporting students from all backgrounds to access a Trinity education.

You’re helping preserve our unique campus and heritage for new generations.

When you remember Trinity in your will, you join a tradition of giving that stretches back over 400 years – and reaches far into the future.

For more information about leaving a legacy to Trinity, please contact Eileen Punch.

T: +353 (0) 1 896 1714 E: eileen.punch@tcd.ie www.tcd.ie/funding-priorities Trinity Today | 57

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alumni | Awards 2011

The Alumni Awards 2011

The 2011 Alumni Awards were presented at a gala dinner in November 2011. The compere for the evening was previous awardee Martin McAleese B.Dent.Sc., M.A. (1984). The four recipients were presented with awards in recognition of their achievements in their respective fields and the contribution they have made both at home and abroad.

About the awardees

Deirdre Kelly

Hugo MacNeill

Patricia O’Brien

Peter Wyse Jackson

B.A., M.B., M.D., F.R.C.P.I. (1971)

B.A. (1981)

B.A., M.A. Barrister-at-Law (1978)

B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (1978)

Professor Deirdre Kelly is Director of the Liver Unit, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Professor of Paediatric Hepatology at the University of Birmingham. In 1989 she set up the Paediatric Liver Unit at the hospital which provides a national and international service for children with liver failure and undergoing liver transplantation. The Unit was the only national unit to be designated for small bowel and liver transplantation in the UK from 1997-2009. She runs an active research programme focusing on viral hepatitis in children, molecular genetics of inherited liver disease, outcome and quality of life following liver and/or intestinal transplantation.

Born in Calcutta, Deirdre spent her early childhood in India and went to boarding school in Dublin when she was twelve years old. She first decided to become a doctor at the age of eight and in 1967 entered Trinity to study medicine, specialising in adult and paediatric gastroenterology and hepatology with Professor Donald Weir. She then worked with Dame Sheila Sherlock at the Royal Free Hospital in London subsequently re-training in paediatrics at several London hospitals.

Hugo MacNeill earned a degree in Economics and a Diploma in Anglo Irish Literature in Trinity, then went on to study Economics at graduate level in Oxford. He worked for Boston Consulting Group and Goldman Sachs in London before returning to run Goldman’s investment banking business in Ireland. He is currently Chairman of the Ireland Funds, a Council Member of the British Irish Association, and a Board Member of GOAL UK. As a student, Hugo’s contribution to Trinity’s sporting achievements was legendary, winning Colours in both Rugby and Soccer - a rare achievement. In 1979 he played with the victorious Trinity Collingwood Cup team. He won his first Irish rugby cap in 1981 his career included two international championships, two Triple Crowns and a British and Irish Lions tour in 1983.

Hugo continues to make an enormous contribution to Trinity. In particular, he supports key aspects of its ‘Engagement with Society’ mission, including flagship initiatives aimed at widening educational participation by marginalised groups.

One of these is The National Institute for Intellectual Disability (NIID), for whom he is a tireless champion.

Patricia O’Brien is Under-SecretaryGeneral for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel for the United Nations.

Patricia was born in Brunei and as a young child lived in Nigeria, Cambodia and then the Congo. She then went to boarding school in Wicklow and to Trinity where she received a B.A. (Mod) Legal Science in 1978 and an M.A. in 1987.

Between 1989 and 1992 she held academic positions at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. She then returned to Ireland. She served as a Senior Legal Adviser in the Office of the Attorney General and later moved to Brussels as Legal Counsellor at the Irish Permanent Representation to the EU. After four years in Brussels, she returned to Dublin. In 2004 she was appointed Legal Adviser in the Department of Foreign Affairs.

In August 2008 Patricia was appointed to her current position in the United Nations where she works directly with the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon. Patricia relishes the challenges of her job which covers the spectrum of international law issues facing states and the United Nations.

Peter Wyse Jackson is the President of the Missouri Botanical Garden and George Engelmann Professor of Botany at Washington University in St Louis. Born in Kilkenny, he obtained a B.A. (Mod.) in Botany and an M.A. from Trinity College Dublin, where he also obtained a Ph.D. for work in plant taxonomy.

In 1981, he was appointed Administrator of the Trinity College Dublin Botanic Garden. In 1987, he joined IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, where he helped to establish the international organisation, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). In 1994 he became secretary general of BGCI and in 2005 returned to Dublin as Director of the National Botanic Gardens. In 2010 he was appointed to his present position.

As one of the world’s foremost and best known botanists and plant conservationists, Peter has played an influential role in reshaping and leading the international botanic garden community over the past two decades.

He was a key contributor to the development and implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, adopted by U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002 and has been Chairman of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation since 2005.

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Awards 2011 | alumni

Professor Iggy McGovern recited his poem written especially for the occasion

Greats 1

2

3

5

4

6

And who could quite forget the scene A President in College Green While closer still, within our walls A Royal Person kindly calls; Likewise, before the year is old We welcome four greats to the fold

The first, in vivo specimen Of all that’s best in medicine, Developed caring strategies For pediatric liver disease, Ensuring quality of life Before and after the surgeon’s knife The second came to early fame As fullback in the ancient game; Today that same nobility Togs out for Disability, The Ireland Fund and true to role Urges the whole team on for GOAL

The third has truly traveled far Since that first calling to the bar, Her academic qualifications In service to the United Nations; From conflict zone to new dominion All peoples value her opinion The fourth knows that a love of plants Is humankind’s first ordinance And that the work of conservation Is not the job of just one nation; His sterling efforts have unfurled The physic garden of the world

7

8

From left to right 1. Mary Irvine, William Courtney, Antonia Courtney, Lou Courtney 2. Trude Reiter, Beate Schuler, Melissa Webb M.A., LL.D. (h.c) (1965) 3. Provost Patrick Prendergast B.A.I., Ph.D (1987), Maruja Sutherland, Mary Apied, Peter Sutherland, LL.D. (h.c.), (1996) 4. Martin McAleese, B.Dent.Sc., M.A.(1994), Brendan Kennelly, M.A., Ph.D., S.F.T.C.D. (1965) 5. Kingsley Aikins, B.A., (1975), John Daly, B.A.I. (1983), Former Provost Dr John Hegarty, M.A. (j.o.), Sc.D. (2001), Neasa Hegarty 6. Gerard McHugh, M.A. (j.o.) (1990), Tina Meehan 7. Olive Braiden, M.Phil., 2004, Kieran McGroarty, Linda Hogan Ph.D., M.A.,(1992), Gerard Howlin 8. Brenda Weir, Donald Weir, M.A., M.D., F.T.C.D., F.R.C.P.I., F.R.C.P., F.A.C.P., (1958)

When in the presence of the great One worries how to salutate; No need of curtsy, Sire or Ma’am Just take it easy, nice and calm And then, after a moment’s pause, Break into thunderous applause!

Iggy McGovern M.A. (j.o.) (1983)

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ALUMNI | Honorary Degrees

Honorary Degrees Between Autumn 2011 and Summer 2012, Trinity awarded 11 honorary degrees to outstanding individuals at three separate ceremonies. Amongst them were Nobel Prize winners Professor Peter Doherty and Aung San Suu Kyi, and six medical experts honoured during the School of Medicine Tercentenary in 2011.

JUne 2012 Aung San Suu Kyi LL.D., one of the most renowned women democrats in the world, was conferred with a Doctor in Laws at a special ceremony in the Bord Gåis Energy Theatre in June. Despite being under house arrest for 15 years until her recent release in November 2011, Aung San Suu Kyi has been a tireless campaigner for freedom and democracy in Burma and the world. As one of the world’s most prominent political prisoners, she has inspired in people an awareness of the primacy of democratic government. Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and has won many other international awards for her stance on human rights and democratic reform.

Professor William Campbell Sc.D., a former Director of Parasitology at Merck, was conferred with a Doctor in Science. Professor Campbell was centrally involved in developing Ivermectin, the cure against river blindness and, in 1987, he spearheaded the decision

by Merck to distribute Ivermectin free to millions of people in what became one of the first and foremost examples of a public/private partnership in international health. Annually 25 million people are treated under this scheme preventing new cases of river blindness. He was also involved in the development of several drugs used in human and veterinary medicine.

Provost, Dr Patrick Prendergast, Aung San Suu Kyi and Pro-Chancellor, Dr Mary Henry.

Clinical scientist, Dr John Climax Sc.D. was the founder of ICON plc in Dublin. Today, ICON is a global provider of development services to pharmaceutical and related health industries, employing some 9,000 people in 42 countries. Dr Climax is Chairman

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Professor Peter Doherty, Dr John Climax, University Chancellor, Dr Mary Robinson, Professor William Campbell, Provost Dr Patrick Prendergast and Professor Sir Roger Penrose.

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Honorary Degrees | ALUMNI

Emeritus of ICON, a founding member of the Board of the Science Gallery at Trinity College and Adjunct Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. In 2004, he established the Human Dignity Foundation, a charity which seeks to alleviate child poverty.

Immunologist and Nobel Prize winner Professor Peter Doherty M.D. is one of the most influential immunologists of our time. In 1996, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Rolf Zinkernagel for discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell-mediated immune defence. Professor Doherty is the Michael F. Tamer Chair of Biomedical Research at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee and Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne. He also headed the review of Biomedical Sciences in Trinity which recommended the creation of the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute.

Theoretical physicist, mathematician and cosmologist Professor Sir Roger Penrose Sc.D. is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford. He is a world-leading authority in his field who shared the Wolf prize with Stephen Hawking for his contributions on the theory of general relativity, gravitational collapse and black holes. In 1990, he also received the Einstein Medal.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Sc.D, is an Indian businesswoman and innovator in Bangalore. She is the Founder, Chair and Managing Director of Biocon, India’s leading biotechnology enterprise. In 2004, she established the Biocon Foundation to conduct health, education, sanitation, and environment programmes for the benefit of economically weaker sections of society. This foundation has improved the lives of 300,000 people through its holistic healthcare approach.

noVember 2011 Lord Ara Warkes Darzi of Denham LL.D. came to Ireland at the age of 16 and studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons and later was awarded with a Doctor in Medicine (M.D) (1992) at Trinity. He is one of the world’s leading surgeons and works at Imperial College London. As a pioneer in the field of minimally invasive and robot-assisted surgery he has pioneered many new techniques and technologies. In the previous British government (20072009), he served as Under-Secretary and spokesperson on health. He has just been appointed Chairman of his University’s Institute of Global Health Innovation.

Professor Charles Dinarello M.D. is one of the world’s most eminent medical researchers in the area of inflammatory and infectious diseases and an adviser to Trinity’s School of Biochemistry and Immunology.

A pioneer in the discovery of the key-protein IL-1, which has been the subject of over 60,000 publications, he is listed as the world’s fourth most cited scientist during the period 1987–2007.

He also received the Paul Ehrlich Prize in 2010, the world’s most prestigious prize in the field of Infection and Inflammation.

Professor Parveen Kumar D.Ed. studied medicine in the UK and spent most of her working life in the British NHS in the North and East End of London.

Her research is in the area of small bowel disorders and celiac disease, in which she is an international expert, but she is known, first and foremost, as a committed and distinguished medical educator. Professor Kumar has authored the mandatory textbook for Trinity’s medical students and is a household name for generations of medical graduates in Ireland and a powerful role model within the profession.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot M.D. is Research Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. He has been a pioneer in very influential broad longitudinal studies in the UK on the links between the social environment, social status, psychosocial influences, and the risk of cardiovascular and other diseases. Arising from this research, he is now an adviser to the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing led by TCD. He has won the Balzan Prize for Epidemiology in 2004 and the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research in 2008.

Professor Esther M. Sternberg M.D. is Chief of Section on Neuroendocrine Immunology and Behaviour at the US National Institute of Mental Health. Her research has been at the forefront of neuroimmunology for over 25 years. Professor Sternberg has described and analysed the impact of psychological stress upon susceptibility to arthritis and other diseases in over 140 journal articles and numerous books. As an excellent communicator, she has deepened the public’s understanding of the relationship between stress and illness with a number of popular books arising out of her research.

Professor Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson M.D. is President of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm since 2004, one of Europe’s leading Research Institutes for Medicine and TCD’s partner in the Eurolife Network of European Universities in Life Sciences. She is also a Member of the Nobel Assembly which awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. From 2001, she was Secretary General of the Swedish Research Council and is currently its President. Her own research is in the field of diabetes where she has published over 130 scientific articles.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Professor Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson, Professor Esther M. Sternberg, University Chancellor, Dr Mary Robinson, Provost Dr Patrick Prendergast, Professor Parveen Kumar, Professor Charles Dinarello and Lord Ara Warkes Darzi of Denham.

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Want to connect with alumni with similar interests and stay connected with the College and each other?

Join an Affinity Group Today!

Trinity Business Alumni The Trinity Business Alumni (TBA) is a forum for alumni to connect and network, to learn, and to contribute to the development of business, College and wider society. They hold regular events in College including dinners-incamera and business breakfasts with leading figures in Irish business. See www.tba.ie for more details.

Dublin University Women Graduates Association The Dublin University Women Graduates Association (DUWGA) enables women graduates keep in touch with Trinity, with each other and with women graduates all over the world. Membership of DUWGA is open to women graduates of all recognised universities. Visit www.duwga.tcdlife.ie for more details.

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Commencements | alumni

Spring & Summer Commencements, 2012

O

ver 3,600 graduates were conferred during the winter and spring commencements which took place in December and April.

This brings the total number of graduates around the world to 83,460. Just because you’ve graduated, doesn’t mean your link with Trinity has been broken – your alumni connection is for life! The Alumni Office is here to help you stay connected with the college and with one another.

If you’d like to find out more about the benefits and services available to you as a graduate visit www.tcd.ie/alumni for more details.

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alumni | Events

Christmas Homecoming, December 2011 1

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From left to right 1. Laura Hayes B.A. (2006), Maev MacCoille B.A. (2006), Caroline Stone B.A. (2006) 2. Darren Lee B.A., Ph.D. (2005), Karen Young B.A. (2007), Paul Durcan 3. Caroline Seymour B.A (2008), Mark Sherlock B.A. (2007) 4. Dee Gray B.Sc. (Cur.) (2007), Etaoin Gray B.Mus.Ed. (2006), Shane McKenna B.Mus. Ed. (2006) 5. Aileen Egan B.A. (2009), Hannah Kirk B.A. (2009)

6. Una Travers B.A. (2008), Kate McDonnell B.B.S. (2008), Naomi Tierney B.A. (2008), Sarah Gilligan B.A. (2008), Laura Carpenter B.A. (2008) 7. Mary Tallant M.A. (2007), Karen Young B.A. (2007) 8. Richard Donnelly B.A., M.Sc. (1989), Aoife Williams B.A. (1996), Duncan Cleary B.A., Ph.D., (1996)

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Events | alumni

Christmas Commons, December 2011 1

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From left to right 1. Patrick Bulter, Fionnuala Tansey M.B.A. (1992) 2. William Casey B.Comm., M.A. (1965), Dermod O’Hegarty 3. Mary Benson, Marie Fanning, Mary Butler Ward LL.B., M.A. (2003) 4. Laura Fryday B.A. (1992), Mark Hurley, Jane Miller

7

5. Maurice Brooks B.A. (1965), Melissa Webb M.A., LL.D.(h.c) (1965), David McConnell M.A., F.T.C.D. (1966) 6. Christina Odlum, B.A. (1976), Maggie Overend 7. Mary Anne Courtney, MSc (2013), Sinead Joyce B.A. (2007)

TCD Association and Trust Dinner, March 2011 1

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From left to right 1. Peter White B.A. (1978) & Maggie Overend 2. Madeleine Nesbit B.A. (1967), Marian Masterson, Kristina Odlum B.A. (1976) 3. Rosheen McGuckian B.Sc. (Rem.Ling.) (1987), Joe Mason M.B. (1989) 4. Elizabeth Sides B.A. (1969), Alan Craig B.A., Ph.D. (1967) 5. Robert Otway – Norwood B.A. (1977), Melissa Webb M.A., LL.D.(h.c); (1965),

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Tania Banotti B.A. (1991), Mary Henry M.A., M.D. (1963), Declan Budd LL.B., M.A., (1968) 6. Brendan MacEvoy M.SC. (MGMT.) (1984), James Smith B.A.I. (1979) 7. Paul O’Doherty, B.A., M.Sc., (1986), Audrey Brennan O’Doherty B.A. (1985)

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ALUMNI | Events

SummerFest, Alumni Weekend 2012 1

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From left to right 1. Ross Tuite B.A.I. (2010), Joanna O’Leary B.Sc. (Ther. Rad), (2010) 2. Helen Harrington B.A. (2002), Ronan Brennan B.A. (2002) 3. Lynsey Kidd (née Coulter) B.A. (2002), Elaine Feehan B.A. (2002) 4. Laura Cowley M.B. (2009), John O’Toole 5. Gregory Flynn, Annette Kenevey B.A. (1992)

6. Natasha Cantwell B.A. (2004), Oliver Ryan, Gwen Cantwell B.Sc. (Cur.Occ.) (1999) 7. Emer Coffey M.Sc. (1992), Jennifer Jordan M.B. (1992), Gustavo Berni, Aoife Hunt M.B. (1992) 8. Sheila Cummins B.A. (2002), Aine O’Sullivan B.A. (2002), Olivia Gordon M.A. (2002), Eleanor Cummins B.A. (2002)

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Events | ALUMNI

Reunion Banquet, Alumni Weekend 2012 1

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From left to right 1. Peter Doyne, Noeleen Doyne, Ann-Marie Doyne B.Ed. (HOME ECON.) (1986) 2. Mary McCauge B.A., M.Sc., (2002), Ann-Marie Breen B.Sc. (Pharm.), (2002), Jill McCann 3. Dovida Hickey M.B. (2002), Conor McGrath, Susan O’Shea M.B. (2002) 4. David Gibson B.COMM. (1962), David Casey B.B.S., M.A., F.C.A., (1971), Victor Dowse M.A. (1962)

6

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5. Melissa Webb M.A., LL.D.(h.c); (1965), Christopher P.C. Pelly M.A. (1962), Mary Apied 6. Maria Fenton B.A. (2002), Brigid Fahy B.A. (2002), Lisa Doran (née McKibbin) B.A. (2002) 7. Tim Flaherty B.Sc. (Mgmt.) (2002), Natasha Cantwell B.A. (2004), Laura Mullaney B.Sc. (Ther.Rad.) (2002), Jillian Cantwell B.A. (2002) 8. Mark Daly B.A. (1992), Bettina MacCarvill B.A. (1992) 9. A group of graduates pose for a photo before the banquet begins.

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alumni | Events

Picnic in the Pav, Alumni Weekend 2012

4

Alumni and their families enjoyed a family fun day and Picnic in the Pav on Sunday, 26 August at the Pavilion Bar and College Park.

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Events | alumni

NYC Ball, May 2012 1

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7 From left to right 1 Claire Anderson Wheeler B.A. (2005), Kyra Hild LL.B., M.Litt. (2006) and Reachbha Fitzgerald B.A. (2007) 2 Tony Hume and Aileen Denne-Bolton B.A. (1982) 3 Nichola McElroy, Karen Roche, Amie Walsh, Lauren O’Meara, Eimear Murphy, Maeve Judge 4 Julia Koenigsknecht and Conor Queenan B.B.S. (2004) 5 Pierce O’Reilly B.A., M.Sc. (2006), Cara Gorey B.B.S. (Lang) (2002), Paul Quigley LL.B., M.Litt. (2003)

6 Aoife Murphy B.A. (2006) and Grainne Conroy B.B.S. (2009) 7 Claire Callan B.A. (2000), Tony Murphy B.A. (1981), Frieda Klotz B.A. (2000), Grainne Conroy B.B.S. (2009), Aoife Murphy B.A. (2006), Shane Naughton M.Sc., M.A. (1994), Fiona Stafford B.A. (1994), Aileen Denne-Bolton B.A. (1982), Jennifer Taaffe B.A. (1997), Edward Doherty B.Sc (Comp) (1990), Meghan Browne B.A. (2009)

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ALUMNI | Branches

ALUmni brAnches F

rom Switzerland to Singapore, Boston to Brussels, wherever life takes you, there is a Trinity alumni branch for you.

Branches organise events and activities on behalf of alumni within their region. They also provide a channel of communication between their members and the University which means that even if you are living away from home you can keep in touch with college news.

Branch events range from casual get-togethers to

black tie events, from career networking to lectures by visiting academics. For graduates new to a region, joining a branch is a great way to make new friends, while maintaining the link with your alma mater.

All branches welcome new members. Please see the named contact in your region. If there is no branch in your area and you would like to set one up, please contact alumni@tcd.ie for further information.

brAnch contActs Usa bOstOn mr tomas John ryan tcdbostonalumni@gmail.com

san franCisCO Dr thomas g browne thomas.browne@tcd-ussf.com

CanaDa

ChiCagO ms tara finglas tcdalumnichicago@gmail.com

alberta Dr James gough gough@ucalgary.ca

miD-atlantiC Dr mĂĄire Doyle tcdmidatlanticalumni@gmail.com

OntariO mr John g. Payne trinitydublin@rogers.com

new yOrk ms fiona stafford tcdalumninyc@gmail.com

vanCOUver islanD Dr timothy brownlow timbrownlow2@gmail.com

new yOrk – UPstate mr ronald ferguson rferguso@twcny.rr.com

greater vanCOUver mr eoin bates eoinbates1@gmail.com

PaCifiC nOrth west tcdalumnipnw@gmail.com

rest Of wOrlD

PhilaDelPhia mr Paul maguire pmaguire@maguirehegarty.com san DiegO mr rob mullally robmullally1@gmail.com

meXiCO mr stephen tl. murray stephenmurray@yahoo.com israel mr David rivlin tcd.alumni.il@gmail.com

Further info rm including re ation p on recent b orts ra nch activities a n d a li st o upcoming branch eve f nts is available o n www alumni/gro .tcd.ie/ ups.

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Branches | ALUMNI

irelanD antrim & Derry mr stanley & mrs Joy white COrk mr gerry Donovan donov@eircom.net fermanagh ms Janet goodall janetgoodall@aol.com kilDare mr michael J. mcCann tcd-kildare@infomarex.com nOrthern irelanD mr william Devlin william.devlin@btinternet. com

glOUCestershire mr Jonathan moffitt jonathan_moffitt@ blueyonder.co.uk lOnDOn ms moira gill membership@tCDlondon. co.uk lOnDOn - tCD Dining ClUb ms ruth lonergan ruth.lonergan@yahoo.com miDlanDs (east) mrs sydney Davies sydney.davies@ntlworld.com nOrth Of englanD ms suzanne temperley david.temperley@talk21.com

wiCklOw Dr eamonn Darcy emdarcy@eircom.net

OXfOrD mr martin gaughan martinigaughan@yahoo. co.uk

great britain

sOUth east Uk ms nick beard beardm@tcd.ie

CambriDge Dr Dorothy broomfield dbroomfield5@gmail.com DevOn & COrnwall mr michael Clapham linacre101@yahoo.co.uk

yOrkshire mr Peter fisher phfisher1@virginmedia.com

eUrOPe belgiUm mr sean macmahon trinityalumnibrussels@ gmail.com

asia

franCe ms Pamela boutin-bird pamela.boutin@free.fr

beiJing Xusheng hou houx@tcd.ie

JaPan mr leo glynn lglynn@hotmail.com

germany berlin mr James löll loellj@gmail.com

China Chinese alumni association tao Zhang

malaysia miaa.info@gmail.com

hemhOfen ms elisabeth mayer elisabeth.mayer@zuv.unierlangen.de

Delhi mr rahul P. Dave rpdave@yahoo.com

mUniCh mr Dominic epsom Dominic.epsom@bmw.de italy ms Pamela maguire pamela.maguire@tiscali.it sPain ms emma naismith emma.naismith@gmail.com

gUlf regiOn mr stephen fallon fallonsj@tcd.ie hOng kOng ms heidi Chan heidichan5@ yahoo.com

Pakistan mr mahomed J Jaffer mjaffer584@yahoo. com shanghai nick mcilroy mcilroyn@tcd.ie singaPOre irish graduates’ assoc. of singapore irelandsingapore@ gmail.com

inDia bangalOre mr sai Prakash saierin@hotmail.com

switZerlanD mr malcolm ferguson malcolm.ferguson@ieee.org

eDinbUrgh mr Christopher haviland c.p.haviland@btinternet.com

afriCa east afriCa mr gerard Cunningham gerard.cunningham@unep.org kwaZUlU-natal mr John Conyngham johnc@witness.co.za libya Dr mohamed Daw mohameddaw@gmail.com

aUstralia new sOUth wales mr Dylan Carroll dylancarroll@gmail.com

viCtOria mr Ciaran horgan chorgan@internode.on.net

QUeenslanD mr kieran O'brien kieranob@mac.com

western aUstralia mr alex O’neil alexoneil@bigpond.com

sOUth aUstralia mr Patrick bourke p.mbourke@bigpond.com

rePUbliC Of sOUth afriCa mr anthony g marshall smith marsmith@iafrica.com

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alumni | Class Notes

Class Notes NEWS FROM TRINITY ALUMNI AROUND THE WORLD

2000s

To submit or view class notes visit www.tcd.ie/alumni/news/.

Justin Dolan Stover Ph.D. (2011) Justin graduated with a Ph.D. in History last year and recently begun his new role as Lecturer in Modern European History at Idaho State University in the Pacific Northwest United States of America. He is grateful for the training and memories Trinity provided.

Kellyanne Dignan M.B.A. (2009) Since leaving Trinity, Kelly moved to Boston and joined Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications as an Associate Vice President and the head of their training practice. In this role she develops media and presentation training programs for all types of organisations and consults on general communications strategy. In addition, she has become a regular contributor to The Boston Globe's website, writing about communications and media. She is also an active volunteer in the Boston Public Schools and was honoured as the 2012 Volunteer of the Year.

Courtney Mallon M.Sc. (2011) Following her postgraduate studies at Trinity, Courtney remained in Dublin for some time prior to moving back to New York. She is currently the Associate Product Manager for Sani-Cloth germicidal wipes at Professional Disposables International, Inc. where she leads the compatibility program to foster partnerships with the leading healthcare equipment manufacturers and influence healthcare standards worldwide.

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alumni | Class Notes

John O’Kane M.Sc. (2009)

Andrew Sweeney B.A. (2005)

After several years working as a programmer in the games industry John decided it would be a good idea to improve his skills, and signed up to the M.Sc. in Interactive Entertainment Technology at Trinity, a course centred on merging the best of research and pragmatic games technologies. With his saw successfully sharpened he spent two years as a Research Assistant in the School of Computer Science and Statistics. In 2010 he joined Snow Globe Games as co-founder and lead programmer. Snow Globe Games launched their second game Paper Saga in April and are currently working on their next secret project.

Andy Sweeney is founder and CEO of The SCOOP (Saving Children Out Of Poverty) Foundation. After a visit to a school in Cambodia, Andy returned home and began running events to raise money to support the students, most of whom lived in poverty or homelessness. From these events, The SCOOP Foundation was born. The SCOOP now supports two schools, one in India and one in Cambodia, and is currently fundraising to build a third. “Our mission,” Andy says, “is to create an innovative, positive, and forward-thinking organisation.”

Cian O'Brien B.A. (2003) Cian began his time at Trinity not really knowing exactly what he wanted to do with his life. College gave him the time and space to explore and experience life. While reading Geography and Sociology, he spent a huge amount of time at DU Players and was Chairman in his Senior Sophister year.

Upon graduating he decided to pursue a career in the theatre as a producer. Following an M.A. in Cultural Policy and Arts Management he began to work with a number of young companies building his experience and network, culminating in a place on a producer training programme led by former TCD graduate, Lynne Parker, at Rough Magic Theatre Company. He worked for the company for four years before taking his current position as Artistic Director at Project Arts Centre, Ireland’s leading contemporary arts centre.

Maev Mac Coille B.A. (2006) Maev studied English Literature and History, two subjects that came in useful when she started working at The Globe Theatre in London as a tour guide! She has lived in London for almost six years, having moved there to get involved with theatre as a writer. This year she was asked to take part in The Abbey Theatre’s New Playwrights Programme, which gave her the opportunity to return to Dublin several times a month and learn from theatre-makers in Ireland which has been eye-opening and fascinating. She is always on the look-out for new collaborators.

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alumni | Class Notes

Conor Ryan B.A. (2002) Conor chose Trinity, and the Natural Sciences programme in particular, because of the range of options it offered. “The staff in the Geology department imparted an education in the earth sciences that I believe to be world-class” he says. He left Trinity with a sense that anything was possible.

After graduating he spent time working at the interface between Civil Engineering and Geology before embarking on his Doctoral Studies at the University of Brighton and the Natural History Museum, London. During his Ph.D. he also spent some time working on mineral exploration projects in Europe and did a stint at a gold mine in the jungles of Mindanao, in the Philippines.

In 2008 he returned to Ireland and took up a post with Tullow Oil Plc, a major Irish success story with sales revenue of $1.1 billion in 2011. He works with a number of fellow Trinity graduates who are confident, innovative and entrepreneurial – the very values and qualities he took away from his time at Trinity. He has been back to visit his alma mater to speak to students and plans to visit again in the future.

Ciaran and Vicki McCausland (nee O’Keeffe) B.A. (1999) & B.A. (2000) Ciaran and Vicki graduated from Trinity in 1999 and 2000 respectively. After meeting while working at Lehman Brothers in London, Ciaran and Vicki got married and returned to Ireland in 2009. They opened The Brewer's House in Co. Tyrone in September 2011 and in 2012 it was named Best Gastropub in Ulster at the 2012 RAI awards. Visit www.thebrewershouse. com to find out more about The Brewers House.

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alumni | Class Notes

1990s Stephen McIntyre B.A., B.A.I. (1996) Stephen recently joined Twitter from Google to lead EMEA Sales & Operations and to set up Twitter’s Dublin office.

When he studied Electronic Engineering at Trinity, he never thought it would lead to a career in sales and marketing and if he’d had known that, he would have spent more time in the Pav rather than the Buttery.

During his final year at Trinity he won a Fulbright scholarship, which enabled him to study at Cornell and changed the course of his life by forging a strong bond with the United States. Without the advice and encouragement of Sean Gannon at the Careers Office he would never have had the confidence even to apply for the Fulbright and he is grateful to Sean to this day. After Cornell he worked all around the world on mobile network roll-outs for Nokia and Ericsson. In 2003, he returned to the northeast to complete his M.B.A. at Harvard Business School before coming back to Ireland to join Google’s Dublin office.

Geraldine Murphy B.A. (1991) Geraldine graduated from History and Sociology in 1991 and is now a jewellery designer with her own business, Saba Jewellery. After leaving Trinity she went on to study Business Communications from Emerson College in Boston and also completed a Higher National Diploma in Computer Animation. She worked for several years in design and strategic marketing in Boston and San Francisco and lived in Spain for a time before moving back to Ireland in 1998. Her jewellery is stocked both nationally and internationally and can be found online at www.saba.ie.

Mary Baxter M.Phil. (1990) Mary is field editor of Better Farming magazine and was recently awarded the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ Star Prize for print journalism. Her article Lyme disease: the painful and hard-to-diagnose condition, was selected by the association which represents agricultural journalists in 29 countries.

1980s Niall McKay B.A., M.A. (1989) There's never been a dull moment since Niall left Trinity in 1989. He’s lived in London, San Francisco, Tokyo and more recently in New York. In 2008, he won an Emmy for his documentary Sikhs in America and in 2009, he was nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award a documentary called The Bass Player which screened on RTE. Last year, he moved to New York and established Irish Film New York, a new festival that showcases Irish films and filmmakers in the United States. After leaving Trinity, he became a journalist, first in London and then in San Francisco where he wrote for Wired, The New York Times and The Economist. Now, he produces and directs independent films in New York. Visit www.irishfilmnyc.com to find out more about Irish Film New York.

Michael Law M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O. F.R.C.S.E. (1993) Michael spent over a decade in Ireland and graduated from Trinity in 1993. He then returned to Malaysia where he joined the Field of Ophthalmology. After much perseverance he graduated as a Master of Medicine (Ophthalmogy) from the National University of Singapore, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, in 1997. In 2000 he completed a Clinical Fellowship at the University of Toronto, Canada. In 2007, he partnered with fellow Ophthalmologists to set up the International Specialist Eye Centre in Kuala Lumpur, which has since grown to become one of the largest private tertiary eye medical groups in the region.

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alumni | Class Notes

1970s

1960s

John Wallace B.A., M.R.C.Psych. (1974) After graduating from Trinity, John worked in construction in central London before training as a clinical psychologist at Birmingham University. Later, having gone back and studied the prerequisite science subjects to Leaving Certificate level, he went on to train as a doctor with the RCSI. He worked and also conducted research at University College Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital, both in London. A graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, John is currently completing a Ph.D. with Oxford University on how to move the latest research results quickly to doctors and nurses in the field.

Anne Leonard B.A., M.A. (1969) Anne was appointed MBE on the New Year’s Honours List for outstanding service and achievement in recognition of her work with Operation New World, an educational charity that she set up in 1992, aiming to get unemployed young people off the benefits system and into jobs.

Anne takes trainees, mainly graduates and including exoffenders, to isolated areas off the coast of Europe where they face character forming and challenging situations allied to formal classes with experienced UK lecturers.

The success rate is extremely high in that over 90 per cent of trainees have consistently found employment shortly after returning home. Anne’s award was presented by HRH The Prince of Wales.

Tim McTiernan B.A. (1973) Tim remembers the east side of College was home base when both the Psychology and Philosophy Departments were on Westland Row. His standout memory was A.A. Luce lecturing in The Rubrics and two person tutorials. He is now the President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and frets about classes of 250 and up.

After studying in Trinity he went on to pursue his graduate education at the University of British Columbia, specialising in social psychology and personality – M.A. (1977), Ph.D. (1982). His pathway from Vancouver to Oshawa, included: 18 years in the Yukon, including a spell as cabinet secretary for the Yukon Government; five in Northern Ontario as President of a College of Applied Arts and Technology; and ten years in downtown Toronto, split between the Ontario Government and the University of Toronto.

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ALUMNI | Class Notes

Maire Davies B.a. (1968) Maire graduated with a B.A. in English in 1968. She started her career as a journalist on The Liverpool Daily Post. She married fellow journalist John Davies and has four children including another TCD alumna Elinor Davies M.Phil.

(2004). She continued to study and completed a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of East London in 1988 and then transitioned into academia. She has lectured in Boston University, the London University of the Arts; Cardiff University and University of Ulster. Thanks to Trinity, a bit of her heart has always remained in Ireland and, although she is now semi-retired and back in Cardiff, the family has a house in beautiful Castlerock on the North Coast a place she visits regularly. Maire can be contacted at, m.messenger-davies@ulster.ac.uk.

1950s

Des BurKe KenneDy B.B.s., M.a. (1968) Following a life as Managing Director of Canadian, British and Germany businesses, Des retired in 2002. His lifetime hobby of waterskiing immediately took over all 24 hours of every day. He is currently Chairman of Golden Falls Waterski Club in County Kildare, President of the Irish Waterski & Wakeboard Federation and Marketing and Media Chairman of the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is also a member of the 2020 Olympic Games Task Force and Chairman of the International Hall of Fame.

Trinity Affinity Credit Card You get, we give

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roy h.w. Johnston B.a., B.sC. Ph.D. (1951) Roy graduated from Trinity in 1951 and went on to study at Paris Ecole Polytechnique and later at Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies. He has done much since, evolving from industrial instrumentation technology towards computer familiarity, later supporting techno-economic and energy system analysis. Some of his archived material can be seen at www.rjtechne.org. Queries and suggestions on the archive are welcome and can be sent to roy@tjtechne.org.

You must be over 18 to apply for a credit card and lending criteria terms and conditions apply.

Drop into Trinity Campus Branch, 076 623 9274 apply online on www.bankofireland.com

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ALUMNI | In Memoriam

R.B. McDowell 1913-2011

R

.B. Mc Dowell, M.A., Ph.D., Litt.D., F.T.C.D. (1936), was one of the most active and productive historians of his generation. He spent his teaching career at Trinity College Dublin, where as Junior Dean he acquired the reputation of being one of College’s great eccentrics. He died in August 2011 at the age of 97.

Robert Brendan McDowell was born in Belfast in 1913. His father was a tea merchant while his mother was described in The Irish Times as “a very pleasant Malone Road matron”. He was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institute where his contemporaries included D.B. Quinn, J.C. Beckett and T.W. Moody. He entered TCD to read History and Political Science in 1932 and graduated with honours in 1936.

When a Ph.D. was conferred on him three years later, he was required to read his final degree papers aloud to the examiners as his writing was too difficult to decipher.

On leaving Trinity, he was appointed librarian of Marsh’s Library. During World War II, he was a temporary master at Radley. In 1945, he became a lecturer in the Modern History Department at TCD, and was elected to fellowship in 1951.

He was described by The Times Literary Supplement as 'probably knowing more than anyone else about late 18th-century Irish history'. “He has one of the most judicious minds in the business,” his fellow historian A.T.Q. Stewart said, “and his scholarship has the respect of the most rigorous practitioners”.

History, to him, was a grand Tolstoyan unrolling, rather than a

battered pork-pie hat, crumpled suit, shabby coat and long woollen scarf that were worn in all weathers. Small of stature, he had a high-pitched voice and a rapid-fire style of delivery.

As he walked, jingling a bunch of keys, he could usually be heard muttering to himself. He nevertheless managed to date some of the most attractive women in Trinity.

To students, he presented a highly contrasting impression of cheerful enthusiasm, youthful energy, approachability and earnestness. Many would not miss his lectures for the world, despite his inevitable late arrival and his tendency to forget his notes. In 1956 he was an unexpected choice as Junior Dean, responsible for accommodation in the college and for enforcing discipline. His reputation for eccentricity convinced some students that he would be a soft touch.

“They soon found out their mistake,” the late Conor Cruise O’Brien wrote.

There can be a danger of getting into a closed room, in which the experts chat to and fro and impinge very little on the outside world.

I do not want to see history in that room” cold analysis. He felt that history should be addressed to what he called, “the educated world”, by which he meant intelligent, alert and publicly aware individuals. But he had no time for elitism. “There can be a danger of getting into a closed room, in which the experts chat to and fro and impinge very little on the outside world. I do not want to see history in that room.”

His style of dress made him instantly recognisable – a

extracted from obituary in The Irish Times, 3 september 2011.

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From West Chapel the Campanile enjoys the Summer sunshine.

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PROFILE | Mary Henry

One-on-One Pro-Chancellor mary henry, M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O, M.A., M.D. (1963) shares some of her favourite things. why did you choose to study medicine?

I was a very sickly child. I hardly ever got to school. I was always in hospital and after a while I got really fed up with being the one lying in the bed and I thought I wanted to be the one standing beside the bed for a change.

We had a woman GP called Mary Hearn who was wonderful.

I admired her enormously and I also had a cousin Biddy Foley who was a doctor and she was always in the most beautiful dresses and hats going off to race meetings and that made me think that there was a fun side to being a doctor as well. why did you come to trinity?

A cousin of my father’s was once Dean of the Medical School, Professor Robert Rowlette. My father was called after him and that was the family connection. what is your earliest memory?

I can remember a mat and it had one of the seven dwarves on it – I think it was Dopey. I think I must have been crawling or just at standing age but, apparently, I was devoted to Dopey on the mat. what does a typical day consist of?

I get up and make breakfast and, if it’s one thing I hate, it’s breakfast meetings. I like breakfast in my own kitchen looking out at the garden. And then I go on to do work, sometimes with the Medical Council, sometimes in Trinity or the Rotunda, because I’m on various boards to do with all of them. what is the trait you dislike most in academics?

Some of them can be terribly pompous, and some of them like the sound of their own voices very much but are good at listening. But in general, I find them charming.

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how do you relax?

I loll about. If the weather is good, I like to go into the garden with the paper.

I do crosswords. I think I’m becoming obsessive compulsive about them, because sometimes I’ve three or four crosswords on the go at the one time. This has to be watched. I love going to the theatre as well, and to concerts. what is your favourite building in trinity?

It’s hard to decide

between the Museum Building which is architecturally so exciting and the former Anatomy Building because I have great memories of Professor Erskine there and Dr Blanche Weekes when I was a student there. what single thing would you do to improve trinity?

I would try to get us a bit more money because I think it’s a big worry that tutorial and lecture classes are becoming so big. One of the great advantages was that Trinity gave a fair amount of individual attention to students and I think it’s very hard for the academics to do this now. who would you invite to a dinner party?

I’d really like to invite friends, especially if they’re a good laugh. To me a dinner party is supposed to be good fun. I’d like to have friends rather than famous people. what has been your greatest achievement?

Well I suppose I didn’t achieve it because I was elected but I really was thrilled to be elected Pro-Chancellor. And it was somehow very special that it happened this year because 50 years ago exactly I became a Scholar of the House. what is the most important lesson life has taught you?

That you really have only yourself to rely on. You have to try to get your resources together and address whatever is in front of you. which living person do you most admire and why?

Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the Pro Democracy movement in Burma, recently released from over 15 years in house arrest and now in the Burmese parliament. One of my sons, John McEntagart, was a founder member of Burma Action Ireland, I’m a member too and I’ve always admired her courage and selflessness on behalf of her fellow countrymen. what is the last book you read?

Conor O‘Cleary’s book Moscow, December 25, 1991: The Last Day of the Soviet Union. It was quite shocking. We’d been to Russia around that time and what actually happened was so different to what appeared in the west. I have given that book to a few other people who had the same reaction. I like books like that. I like to see various sides of questions and I think it was very good from that point of view. what is your guilty pleasure?

Prosecco. It’s lovely. And its only 10 per cent alcohol so surely it can’t be too bad for one and usually they serve it in small glasses!

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