Education and Health Sciences Facilities

Education and Health Education and Health Sciences Facilities Sciences Facilities

The Faculty of Education and Health Sciences is mainly based on the Castletroy campus of the University of Limerick for administrative purposes. However, our work is widely distributed across clinical, school and placement sites across Ireland.

The original main building of the University of Limerick homes the School of Education, the Department of Psychology and the Faculty Office. The brain child of our founding President, Prof Ed Walsh, the main building is built around a quadrangle, with each side of the square connected to all the others, to make sure that disciplines could connect and communicate with each other. Although the University has outgrown the original building, the opportunities for inter-disciplinary teaching and research are still incredibly important.

The Dept of Psychology has facilities to conduct human observational and group studies, with labs containing stateof-the-art AV and CCTV equipment. Biological and health psychology, and cognition labs provide for the collection of physiological samples and individual psychological measurements for analysis. Adjacent, the School of Education’s Education Technology Centre provides all education students with access to a wealth of IT and AV equipment, IT and AV technical support and in-house expertise in the area of ICT integration and use in education. The Centre captures all student teaching for the Micro-Teaching Program using two methods: directly onto DVD and simultaneously streamed and captured using an innovative IPTV system. The Centre has also integrated virtual and augmented reality into the program, which gives our students a truly unique teaching experience.

The Science and Education building nearby provides additional facilities, workshops and laboratories for science and technology teacher education (6827m2). Also nearby, the Physical Education and Sports Sciences Department is one of our oldest academic departments and resides in one of the universities’ original ‘new’ buildings constructed in 1972 (6350m2). The Department has extensive facilities supporting research and teaching in physiology, biochemistry, biomechanics, anatomy and motor skills, with purpose-built sports halls and a gym. Physical education and sports sciences students and researchers also have access to the excellent facilities of the UL Sports Arena.

Accessed via the Living Bridge, the Health Sciences building on the north side of the campus is home to the Dept of Nursing and Midwifery and the School of Allied Health. Beautifully situated next to the River Shannon, the structure of this unique building (4300m2, 2005) mimics the undulating shape of the river and surrounding countryside. Facilities include purpose built clinical facilities, clinical skills labs, kitchen, therapy resource room, activities daily living suite and a clinic, with patient simulators used to represent real-world patient scenarios.

The School of Medicine is located in one of our newest buildings (constructed in 2012, 4295m2). A sparkling modern fourfloor building, the School building was custom designed for modern medical education and is equipped with latest digitally equipped lecture theatres and small group teaching and study space. The second floor is dedicated to clinical and anatomical skills teaching. There are eight clinical skills labs, which can be reconfigured depending on teaching requirements, and two anatomical skills labs. The labs are equipped with a state-ofthe-art AV system, which allows students to record themselves performing procedural or physical exam skills. The top floor of the building has custom designed biomedical laboratories situated at the top of the building.

The two health and medicine buildings on the north campus are augmented by the Clinical Education and Research Centre Building situated on the Dooradoyle site of University Hospital Limerick, the main site of the University of Limerick Hospital Group. This unique space constitutes a joint initiative by the University and the Hospital group, recognising that education and research in health and medicine is a shared opportunity and responsibility. This 3400m2 building opened in 2019 is state of the art both in terms of facilities and concept and is also home to our shared University of Limerick Hospital Group, Health Sciences Academy.