Thinking Creatively

In April 2024 Dr Fionnuala Walsh organised a ‘Thinking Creatively’ event with the colleagues across the College of Arts and Humanities. This was a revival of a previous outreach initiative established by Professor Paul Rouse which had been suspended following the pandemic. This brought approx. 50 secondary school pupils from 3 schools to UCD. The event was held again on a small scale in May 2025 with one of UCD's community link secondary school, and again received very positive feedback from the school pupils and the teachers involved. At these events, the school pupils attended workshops run by faculty from the Schools of History, English Drama & Film; Classics, Languages, Cultures and Linguistics; Art History; and the Creative Futures Academy. They visited UCD Library in a joint session with Special Collections, and the Classics Museum and received campus tours. These events were supported by the Student Access Leaders who greatly contributed to the events’ success. We hope and anticipate that these campus visits will lead to expanded applications for UCD from students from non-traditional backgrounds and greater awareness of pathways such as HEAR and Open Learning.