two: Future Leaders

two: FUTURE LEADERS

CUBS STUDENTS LEADING THE WAY DURING THE PANDEMIC

Adam O’Ceallaigh,

a BSc Business Information Systems final year student offered his expertise to local GP surgeries to help with the administration of Covid-19 vaccines.

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In spite of the innumerable challenges faced by CUBS students since the onset of the pandemic, they continually made themselves available to offer support to peers and the wider community.

Overcoming each hurdle they encountered with a mixture of stoicism, empathy and enthusiasm, students like Adam O’Ceallaigh offered his expertise to local GP surgeries to help with the administration of Covid-19 vaccines.

A final year BIS student, Adam re-modelled a booking system that he had previously developed for GP surgeries, where patients could reserve appointments for flu jabs, so that clinicians could save valuable time as the country’s vaccination programme began to accelerate.

Empathetic to the challenges faced by many small businesses across Cork city during the pandemic, Adam also offered support to local SMEs as they embarked on radical and rapid digital transformations.

Quickly inundated with requests for help as businesses raced to establish an online presence during the early weeks and months of the crisis, Adam offered what support he could through his own start-up – AOC Websites.

“Small businesses needed to maintain a presence during the crisis, and I wanted to help them get through this period of uncertainty. I tried my best to provide support by supplying a platform that SMEs could use relatively quickly”.

Offering his support to the Sanctuary Runners movement, Liam Grainger, also a final year BIS student, led the Fáilte Refugees at UCC campaign to encourage members of the University community to don the iconic blue t-shirt and take part in this year’s virtual Cork City Marathon.

Working in collaboration with the Sanctuary Runners, Fáilte Refugees at UCC played their part in a campaign that saw 1,700 people run alongside, and in solidarity with, asylum seekers and refugees in Direct Provision, fostering friendship, positivity and respect.

In December, Ashley Amato, a MSc Cooperatives, Agri-Food and Sustainable Development student, saw her report on the possibilities offered by anaerobic digestion published by Cork Chamber and the Centre for Cooperative Studies at UCC.

Anaerobic digesters convert waste products from food, agriculture, wastewater treatment, and other sources into biomethane, a clean fuel source that can help reduce Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Picked up by the Irish Examiner, Ashley’s report described a significant deficit in policy and fiscal support, in spite of the fact that anaerobic digestion could create 3,600 new jobs.

Students from the MSc. Marketing and Management and MSc. Management Information and Managerial Accounting Systems also leaned on their skills during the pandemic to promote a Movember fundraising campaign.

Large increase in Philanthropic gifts

in philanthrophic donations in the last 3 years.

Accreditation Achieved 2020

Despite being unable to conduct any on campus activity, or even meet in-person, Darragh O’Reilly and his colleagues developed and rolled out an online fundraising campaign that raised over €4,000 for The Irish Cancer Society and mental health services in Ireland.

In-fact, right across the Business School, clubs and societies demonstrated a huge amount of ingenuity and solidarity in difficult circumstances.

Throughout the 2020/21 academic year, the UCC Commerce Society and the UCC Accounting and Finance Society, made huge efforts to welcome new members through virtual quiz nights, give-aways and talks.

The growth of the UCC Consulting Society, established amid the pandemic, is a testament to the endeavour of students who refused to be discouraged by the limitations imposed by social distancing and remote learning.

The establishment and high performance of the new postgrad student’s CUBS Social Media team is also indicative of their eagerness to engage in activities beyond the classroom.

Tasked with developing strategies, content and managing campaigns, they highlighted the diverse nature of the Business School throughout the last academic year. 

two: FUTURE LEADERS

CUBS STUDENTS SECURE 50% OF THE IRISH RESEARCH COUNCIL’S GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Ashley Amato,

(right) a graduate of the MSc Co-operatives Agri-food and Sustainable Development pictured on her 2020 work placement, shown here with her advisor Dr Carol Power, UCC.

Picture: Darragh Kane

Announced by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD, three CUBS researchers were included on a list of 300 new projects that will be funded by the IRC.

Coming from the departments of Marketing & Management, Economics, and Food Business & Development, the research that will be undertaken by Sarah Greeley, John Paul Clifford and Rachael Connolly is indicative of the wide variety of disciplines and pathways that are available for research students at the Business School.

Additionally, of the 300 awards announced by Minister Harris, only four were classified under the Business & Management Discipline category, Discipline, with CUBS students awarded 50% of scholarships in this category. Details and titles of the three CUBS projects: • John Paul Clifford, Economics, ‘The role of cities in driving national growth’ • Richael Connolly, Food Business &

Development, ‘How does the Artisan

Food Entrepreneur (AFE) experience business growth? An examination of business growth in a ‘post growth’ context’

• Sarah Greeley, Marketing & Management’,

Leading the Way: Developing the

Identity of Future Leaders. 

8Undergraduate programmes with work placement 16

Postgraduate programmes with work placement

two: FUTURE LEADERS

FROM OIL TO RENEWABLES: WILLIAM O’BRIEN REALIGNS CAREER AT CUBS

Perched on top of a large North Sea oil and gas rig that was being decommissioned, William O’Brien watched on as a large offshore windfarm capable of powering 450,000 homes with clean energy was being installed within eyeshot.

Observing from the deck of the redundant Beatrice Bravo platform, the paradox was not lost on William. With his feet planted on the wrong side of progress, upskilling and retraining weren’t so much of a choice but a necessity.

“Every day I would watch clean renewable wind turbines being erected, while we were abandoning carbon intensive oil wells.

One day I had a lightbulb moment and decided to go back to college and attempt to enter the renewable industry on the business side of things.

I spent a lot of time reading through course outlines and eventually decided that UCC’s MSc Business Economics programme was the best fit for me.”

Having followed his father into the oil and gas industry after graduating from CIT with a BIS degree in 2013, William had spent over five years working on a number of offshore platforms with Halliburton.

Motivated to make the transition into a commercial or business development role with the energy giant, William had investigated the possibility of completing any number of part time programmes before singling out the MSc Business Economics at Cork University Business School.

“Shortly after I finished my last exam in 2013, I moved to Aberdeen and was on an oil rig 100 miles north of the Shetland Islands a couple of weeks later.

I grew up on stories about oil rigs and always wanted to get involved myself. Offshore drilling is a fast paced, highstakes and exciting line of work that really appealed to my sense of adventure.

I spent five years working offshore in oil and gas, including a year working on the world’s hottest, highest pressure reservoir.

But the industry was changing, and I wanted to make the switch into renewables so that I could change with it and become involved in the development of high value - high return projects.”

Once enrolled in the programme, William’s ambition to align the development of his skillset with the future direction of the energy industry saw him develop a concept for a thesis that focused on the opportunities offered by automation.

Set against the backdrop of a sector that encounters any number of distinct challenges, William’s thought-provoking study found that elements of the industry will continue to defy the rapid adoption of automated technology in the medium term.

“While some aspects of the oil and gas industry are already heavily automated, areas such as exploration and initial extraction may be resilient to automation due to the level of non-routine tasks that are encountered in the drilling process.

Even in the renewable sector, there are any number of non-routine tasks involved in offshore and nearshore drilling, as well as foundation installation.”

“In my opinion, the highly dynamic nature of the business will lead to lower levels of automation relative to other industries.”

William’s study left such an impression on faculty at CUBS that he was offered a tutoring position after graduating, before being invited to work on an EPA funded research project within the Economics department.

However, given William’s desire to work in the renewable energy sector, he wasn’t going to think twice about taking up an offer to become part of Large Diameter Drilling’s Cork based team. and foundations specialist for the renewable energy industry.”

“I joined the Business Development Team, where I work closely with our engineering department to attract and secure projects globally. As a Cork native and lover of all things Cork, I love the fact that I can work with a globally leading company here.”

“Their presence in Cork is a testament to the amount of engineering talent that exists in the city and county.”

In his role as a Business Development Engineer, William has been able to combine the knowledge he developed at CUBS with the practical experience he gained working on the North Sea.

William’s ability to combine expert knowledge with specialist experience has allowed him to map his career ambitions against his sense of adventure.

“A perk of this industry is that I recently had the opportunity to travel to France and join LDD’s offshore operations team onboard the DEME Innovation.

There, I assisted with the installation of the first offshore wind turbine to be installed off the coast of France, which was also the world’s first wind farm to use drilled XLmonopile foundations.

I firmly believe that the MSc Business Economics programme has been vital to my ability to perform effectively within the highly competitive renewables space.”

After landing what seems to be his dream job, William’s attention is focussed on helping Large Diameter Drilling secure high-profile projects like the St Nazaire Offshore Windfarm that LDD/Core Grouting recently broke ground on. 

Once enrolled in the MSc Business Economics programme, William O’Brien’s ambition was to align the development of his skillset with the future direction of the energy industry.