The UCD Community Engagement Report captures a snapshot of UCD's community engagement activities during the academic year 2020-2021, including examples of community-engaged research and innovation, community-engaged teaching and learning, and volunteering. Professor Joe Carthy, UCD in the Community, officially launched the report on Thursday 28 April, 2022. In his welcome address, Professor Carthy outlined how the community-university partnerships highlighted in this report provide real and meaningful benefits for all those involved. 

The launch was attended by members of the UCD community who had submitted to the report, as well as people from the local community who have been involved in these community engagement projects. UCD student Ceolan McMullin, Auditor of UCD St Vincent de Paul Society, spoke about the UCD SVP Street Outreach and Letter Writing Campaign, which ran throughout the lockdown in 2020-2021. Volunteers sent handwritten letters to some of the residents at a local nursing home during the height of restrictions, when many residents were feeling isolated and lonely. The letters aimed to bring a bit of joy to their day and the feedback from the nursing home was very positive and uplifting. Joe Houghton, Director of Project Management and lecturer at UCD Smurfit Graduate School of Business, spoke about the charity assignment that is part of the MSc in Project Management in Smurfit. Over the past ten years, as part of this module, students have raised over €600,000 for many local, national and international charities. Joe outlined how each student team chooses a different charity and then engages with that organisation to see how best they can help. It may be fundraising by running events, or it might be raising awareness through social media campaigns or other outreach efforts. Dr Amanda Kelly, Assistant Professor in Archaeology, UCD School of Archaeology, closed off the event with her community engagement project in Balseskin Direct Provision Centre.

Professor Joe Carthy encouraged others to take inspiration from the report and to get involved in community engagement projects in the coming year.

UCD in the Community acknowledges that the report is just a snapshot of the community engagement activities of the university and does not capture the full extent of community engagement taking place. Members of the UCD community who are actively involved in community engagement activities are encouraged to submit to the 2021-2022 report. More information on how to submit to the 2021-22 report can be found by emailing the UCD in the Community team on (opens in a new window)ucdic@ucd.ie and the UCD Community Engagement Report can be viewed on our website here.