University College Dublin Academic Shortlisted for a 2022 European Triple E Award

Dr Deirdre McGillicuddy, UCD School of Education has been shortlisted for a 2022 European Triple E Award.

University College Dublin Academic Shortlisted for a 2022 European Triple E Award

A University College Dublin academic, Dr Deirdre McGillicuddy, an Assistant Professor of Education in the UCD School of Education has been shortlisted for the 2022 European Triple E Awards organised by The Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities (ACEEU). Headquartered in Germany, ACEEU is the premier provider of quality assurance for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education.

These Awards focus on excellence in entrepreneurship and engagement in Higher Education. Dr McGillicuddy has been shortlisted in the Fast Forward Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year Award category for her ‘Flourish’ approach to the education of students. Dr McGillicuddyan has used this approach with her students in the UCD School of Education.

Flourish is focused on creating an environment to nurture and support educator/student wellbeing by building community, fostering creativity and leading education in an age of increasing challenges and opportunities. Flourish, which is underpinned by 4 core values, compassion, care, curiosity and creativity, intentionally holds space for students to come together in community to focus on wellbeing, to be creative in practice and to lead change across the education system.

Dr McGillicuddy, UCD School of Education said, “It is critical to empower students to adopt creative and innovative approaches in an increasingly intensified and complex world. Nurturing wellbeing is fundamental to ensuring we nurture creativity and innovation within education. I believe that the integration of Flourish, a creative, innovative and compassionate approach into classroom pedagogical practices, proffers limitless transformational possibilities for students, teachers, schools and our wider society.”

She added, "It is a great honor and privilege to be shortlisted for a prestigious Triple E Award and to be considered among such talented finalists. I am so grateful to all the UCD students, staff and mentors who have given me the courage to take the hero's journey, pushing me beyond my comfort zone in search of transformative possibilities within education."

UCD and ACEEU are partnering on RiEcoLab, a European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)-funded project aimed at boosting innovation and entrepreneurship at higher education institutions. 

As part of this project UCD, through NovaUCD, in collaboration with 7 institutions from 6 European countries, have developed and are delivering a broad suite of training programmes for students, researchers and staff and the broader innovation community. The co-created training programmes are being delivered by each consortium partner through local ‘living labs’ which build on existing research and innovation operations within each university.

Dr McGillicuddy has been shortlisted in the Fast Forward Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year Award category along with academics from the Atlantic Technological University (Ireland), IMM at Zhaw School of Management and Law (Switzerland), University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt (Austria) and University of Murcia (Spain).

Click here for further information on the shortlisted finalists for all Award categories.

The winners of the Triple E Awards will be announced on 28 June during the 2022 ACEEU Stakeholders Forum and the 2022 Triple Helix Conference which are taking place jointly in Florence, Italy from 27 to 29 June.

ENDS

2 June 2022

For further information contact Micéal Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, UCD Research and Innovation, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.

Editors Notes

The Triple E Awards are a global recognition of efforts toward the quest for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education. It is the first award to focus specifically on different dimensions of the universities' third mission. Implemented regionally, the Triple E Awards aim to foster change in universities and to emphasize their role in their communities and ecosystems. https://europe.triple-e-awards.com/