We were delighted that our Alumnus and former colleague Dr. Úna McCarthy-Fakhry was presented with the (opens in a new window)UCD Alumni Award in Science 2025 at a ceremony in UCD University Club on Friday 17th October 2025.
Watch a video (opens in a new window)here of Prof Jeremy Simpson, College Principal & Dean of UCD College of Science introducing Dr. Úna McCarthy-Fakhry.
L to R: Celine Erkey, Dr. Úna McCarthy-Fakhry, and UCD President Professor Orla Feely
Watch the Highlights of the UCD Alumni Awards 2025 (opens in a new window)here.
Úna completed her BSc (Hons) in Chemistry in 1988 with us and then went on to complete a PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry in Trinity College Dublin. Her career has since spanned research, industry, intellectual property and international development.
As an internationally renowned STEM education specialist and a passionate advocate for women and girls in STEM, Úna has worked in diverse roles in research, public administration and international development. She is currently based at UNESCO in Paris leading global efforts to strengthen girls’ participation, learning and retention in STEM. Her current work focuses on advancing STEM education with a human-centred, gender-transformative approach, ensuring that all learners can develop the STEM literacy needed to thrive in today’s rapidly changing world.
Earlier the same day Úna gave a seminar to the School, describing her career path and her international work in STEM education entitled "Beyond the lab: A chemist's journey to inclusive STEM education". Her work has spanned four continents to date and Úna is most noted for her work with the STEM Sisters project in Cambodia, as well as the development of a national, transferable multi-level framework for STEM education, designed to be suitable for the full range of schools in Cambodia from rural to urban. Her talk was inspirational and prompted many questions from those attending.
Úna gives her talk to UCD School of Chemistry
Early in her career, Úna contributed to the redevelopment of UCD’s Science Centre as part of the design team for the School of Chemistry. She was the point person for the initial phase of the refurbishment of the Science Block which started with the A3 area of Science South.
She was involved in coordinating essential tasks such as identification and safe removal of asbestos, removal of windows while retaining the sub-structure, disposing of large quantities of legacy chemicals, integrating the new Science South building with the recently constructed CSCB building, and addressing issues with air-flow management for the fume hoods. Úna also oversaw the procurement of many of the fixed fittings, including flooring, shelving, pumps, and solvent cabinets.
During her visit, Úna was taken on a tour of the Science West and North Buildings, which are currently in different stages of refurbishment and rebuild. Úna and Declan reminisced that these were once only the hypothetical “Phase 3” of the redevelopment of the Science Centre.
Úna shared how grateful she was to receive the UCD Alumni Award for Science 2025 , especially as it provided her the opportunity to return to the School and reconnect with former colleagues and friends.
Watch a A Message from Úna McCarthy Fakhry about her award (opens in a new window)here.
Úna was delighted to see how the UCD School of Chemistry and the UCD O’Brien Centre for Science has evolved since her time at UCD.
Úna and Declan Gilheany