Brian Mooney

Career Guidance Expert and Irish Times Columnist

Brian Mooney is a Guidance Counsellor, columnist, education analysts, and editor of “Education Matters Yearbook“. Brian writes on education for The Irish Times.

Eileen Keleghan

Communications Officer for the Central Applications Office (CAO).

Eileen Keleghan is the Communications Officer for the Central Applications Office (CAO). The role of CAO is to process applications for undergraduate courses in Irish Higher Education Institutions. Eileen will be delivering a presentation on the CAO application process.

Guy Flouch

Founder of EUNICAS

Guy Flouch is the founder of EUNICAS. An Anglo-Frenchman, with a career stretching from his experience as a Lawyer in London to his recent Masters in Guidance Counselling in University of Limerick, he has a long and varied international career. Through EUNICAS, he has brought awareness to Ireland of the excellent opportunities available to students to study through English, in continental Europe.

The support services offered through EUNICAS can bring clarity and reassurance to students, and their families, as they embark on a journey that brings them exciting learning and personal development experiences, as they prepare for an independent life in a fast-changing world

Valerie McTaggart

Lecturer in Global Business Services, at the Institute of Technology, Sligo

Valerie has a Degree from the University of Ulster at Jordanstown in Applied Consumer Studies, a BA Hons Degree in Applied Consumer Studies from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, a Master’s in Business from John Moors University Liverpool, and an Ordinary Degree in Teaching and Education from NUIG. She is in the process of completing her PHD which focuses on the 'Digital Transformation in a Traditional Financial Service Provider’ through DCU school of Business. Prior to joining IT Sligo in 2018, she worked in Financial Services for over twenty years in Ireland and the UK, undertaking a variety of roles, including project management, people management and training and development. Valerie is the programme Chair of a BA Hons Joint Major in Business and ICT. She is very interested in the role of technology in business and the future digital workforce.

Carl O’Brien

Education Editor of the Irish Times

Carl O'Brien is Education Editor of The Irish Times. He was previously the chief reporter and social affairs correspondent.

Kieran Johnson

Recent Graduate & Registered General Nurse

Kieran is 24 years of age and is a registered General Nurse working on an acute medical ward in University hospital. He is one a year qualified and has been working in University Hospital Kerry since, where he also spent his four years training as a student nurse.

Kieran had other plans to join the marines as a teenager, and had actually left school for two and a half years to travel and train for the marines, where he travelled across India, and Africa. Unfortunately he did not pass the medical exam and thus could not join the marines, therefore he bit the bullet and returned to education. He applied for nursing in the Institute of Technology Tralee where he started his training five years ago now.

Aisling Khuwais

Recent Graduate & Registered Midwife

Aisling is 22 years old and from Meath. She is a Qualified Registered Midwife in the National Maternity Hospital. She is one year qualified and has been working in the antenatal department since January this year, soon she will be moving to the Postnatal department continuing her rotations as a qualified staff member.

Aisling completed the 4 year direct entry course in Midwifery in UCD, combined with theoretical and practical or clinical placements. She was the class representative for her four years in university. Aisling spent a semester of her second year of university studying abroad in Sweden, working in the antenatal and delivery ward where she gained amazing knowledge and practical experience. As part of her curriculum, she has worked in many different departments including psychiatric care, diabetes, lactation, theatre and many more.

Gwen Regan

Infection Prevention & Control Team/NMPDU Officer

Gwen qualified as a general nurse from Beaumont Hospital in 1994 and left Ireland to work in London in the area of neurosurgery for some years. On return to Ireland she took up a post in St. James’s Hospital on a surgical unit, caring for patients who were undergoing major head and neck surgery. At night she studied for a BSc in Management and left St. James in 2001 to take up a Clinical Audit position with a pharmaceutical company. This job involved a lot of frequent travel across Europe which was great initially but after her children were born didn’t fit in with her life anymore. She returned to nursing, becoming a Community Nurse in North Dublin.

She was very interested in the area of infectious diseases and became a Nurse Specialist in this area in 2009 just as the Swine Flu pandemic hit. She undertook a Post Graduate Diploma in Infection Control. Much of her work involved bringing in new practices, teaching and managing projects. In 2014, she completed a Masters in Organisational Change & Leadership.

In 2015, Gwen became a Practice Development Coordinator with the Public Health Nursing Service, leading on service development and practice improvement across North Dublin. She is currently studying for a Doctorate in Governance with UCD Graduate School of Law.

In October 2019, she became a project officer with the Nursing & Midwifery Planning & Development Unit, working in the area of advanced practice and promotion of the nursing & midwifery professions. However, in March 2020 she was redeployed into Community Infection Prevention & Control and has since supported the HSE Dublin North senior management team, leading the clinical response in areas such as the establishment of mass screening centres, ensuring ongoing homecare provision, education and training of clinical staff, outbreak management and ensuring other health services continue whilst the pandemic goes on.

Aoife Moore

Political Correspondent at the Irish Examiner

Aoife is originally from Derry City and worked as a reporter for Press Association before becoming a Political Correspondent at the Irish Examiner. She is best known for her work on the death of Lyra McKee and the recent Golfgate scandal.

Ciara O'Brien

Irish Times business and technology journalist

Ciara O’Brien is a business and technology journalist with the Irish Times, covering everything from business technology and multinationals to consumer technology and the latest gadgets.

Jack Power

Reporter with The Irish Times

Previously he was editor of the UCD student newspaper the College Tribune. His reporting has focused on investigative work, including exposing a major child sex abuse scandal in Scouting Ireland. He was awarded Young Journalist of the Year at the annual newspaper awards in 2019.

Aisling Geraghty

E-Commerce Executive at the Irish Times

Aisling was a commercial graduate at The Irish Times for two years before becoming an E-commerce Executive this year. She has a lot of experience across various different departments within The Irish Times and is now responsible for supporting the development and management of online content sales for a range of digital subscriptions and products. She graduated from Maynooth University in 2018 with a degree in Media and English.

Dr Orla Donoghue

Science Outreach Manager, UCD

Orla Donoghue has a PhD in Chemistry from University College Dublin and thirty years of work experience in areas including pharmaceuticals, clinical trials, biotechnology, IT, science communications and outreach. In this talk, Orla will discuss Science in our everyday lives and how qualifications in Science map to different career opportunities.

Conall Heussaff

Climate Science Graduate

Conall is a science graduate from Dublin. He finished his Leaving Cert in 2013 and went to UCD to study Physics. He completed his degree in 2017 and graduated with a BSc in Theoretical Physics. After a year working in Dublin, he then went on to study Climate Sciences at the University of Bern in Switzerland. Conall is now beginning a career in Irish energy policy, hoping to contribute to the Irish sustainable energy transition in the years to come.

Damien Dempsey

Communications and Student Recruitment Manager at the School of Agriculture and Food Science at University College Dublin.

Damien Dempsey is the Marketing, Communications and Student Recruitment Manager at the School of Agriculture and Food Science at University College Dublin. The UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science is one of UCD's largest School's and it is the first destination of choice for students in Ireland interested in developing their careers in Agricultural, Forestry, Horticulture, Food Science and Human Nutrition.

After graduating from UCD in 2001 with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree specialising in Agribusiness and Rural Development, Damien obtained additional qualifications in Computer Science at UCD as well as a Master of Business Studies at the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.

Anne Kiely

EMEA HR Lead in Twitter

Anne Kiely is the EMEA HR Lead in Twitter. After attaining her B.Comm (Management) degree from UCD specialising in HR and Finance, she worked as a banker for 8 years before returning to UCD to complete an MSC in Organisational and Work Psychology. Anne has extensive experience in a number of HR specialisms, including HR Business Partnering, HR Shared Services, HR Outsourcing, HR Project Management and Learning & Development.

Miceal O’Donnell

Professional Development Programme- Abbott Ireland

Born in Madagascar, grew up between Mauritius and Ireland (Derry City), Graduated with a 1:1 Hons Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering at Ulster University, on the Abbott Professional Development Programme, currently working as an Operations Supervisor in Abbott Vascular with a Team of 25 people.

Lory Kehoe

Adjunct Assistant Professor in Technology Trends, Trinity College Dublin

Lory's experience includes being a managing director with blockchain technology product company ConsenSys, where he led ConsenSys Ireland, co-led global partnerships and was part of the global leadership team. He has over 14 years of consulting experience. Lory has led strategy and implementation projects for corporates and governments around the globe.

With the IDA in Ireland (Industrial Development Authority), Lory was the founding member of the Ireland national blockchain initiative ‘Blockchain Ireland’. This group includes over 150 entities made up of global enterprises, universities, government entities and start-ups. Lory is a Qualified Financial Adviser, registered stockbroker, qualified product owner and scrum master, and is currently (and has been for the past 13+ years) an adjunct assistant professor with the Business School in Trinity College.

Asim A. Sheikh, BA., LL.M.

Barrister-at-Law, CEDR Accredited Mediator Four Courts, Dublin Assistant Professor, Legal Medicine, UCD School of Medicine

Asim A. Sheikh is a practising Barrister, specialising and working in the area of clinical negligence, medical and healthcare law. He is also a CEDR Accredited Mediator. He was called to the Bar in 1998. He acts for and advises a wide range of healthcare clients and represents healthcare clients in the courts, internal inquiries, inquests and at the Medical Council and other Regulatory bodies.

He graduated from the University of Limerick where he obtained B.A. in European Studies with Law and Spanish. He continued his education at the King’s Inn, Dublin. He then undertook and completed an LL.M. thesis by research. He is also an Assistant Professor in Legal Medicine, School of Medicine, University College Dublin.

Dr Mary-Liz Trant

Executive Director in SOLAS, the Further Education and Training Authority

Dr Mary-Liz Trant is Executive Director in SOLAS, the Further Education and Training Authority, overseeing national expansion of apprenticeship and traineeship; skills development of employees; technology-enhanced learning and professional development of teachers and tutors. Previously Mary-Liz held senior posts in the HEA and taught at both second and third-level. She holds a doctorate in Education; Masters Degrees in Education and French; and a Higher Diploma in Education.

John Heslin

Ruminant Product Manager for MSD Animal Health

John Heslin is from Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. John graduated from UCD in 2014 with a degree in Agricultural Science. He completed a PhD in animal reproduction in 2019. John worked as a research officer on beef production systems with Teagasc Grange in 2017 prior to joining MSD Animal Health for his current role as Ruminant Product Manager in 2018. John is well known in the GAA circles and is a current member of the Westmeath Senior Football team. During his time in UCD John captained the Sigerson football team and was a member of the Sigerson cup winning team in 2016

Edel Cocoman

Sr Development & Application Technologist

UCD Ag Science – Food science Grad 2007. Kerry Grad Programme 2008 – Dip. Business Management IMI. Career 8 Years in Kerry Group. 14 Years’ experience in R&D across multiply end use markets, QSR, Retail, Foodservice both Ireland & Australia Experience in; Meat Seasonings & Functionals, Dairy, Pizza, Ice cream, beverages.

Lorraine Clarke Bishop

Clinical Placement Coordinator (CPC), for the RCSI Louth Hospital group and Elected Representative on the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland

Lorraine Clarke-Bishop is currently the elected representative on the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (Education Seat) since 2015. She qualified as an RGN in September 1994 and graduated from the Eastern Area of College of Nursing (Belfast) where she was awarded a Diploma of Higher Education in Adult Nursing with Commendation. She subsequently completed a BSc Hons degree in Nursing followed by a Master’s degree in Healthcare Ethics and Law. Most recently she completed a level 9 Professional Certificate in Governance with the IPA to assist me in my governance responsibilities.

Lorraine is currently employed as a Clinical Placement Coordinator (CPC), for the RCSI Louth Hospital group, based at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda for over 18 years. As an experienced nurse both at frontline level and CNM level she understand the challenges facing those delivering care on a daily basis. Lorraine holds high standards of professional conduct as the cornerstone of the nursing profession.

Lorraine was appointed as Chair of the Education and Training Committee in 2016. As a Committee they provide oversight in relation to the development and implementation of standards and the approval and monitoring of education and training as laid down in the Nurses and Midwives Act.

In 2018 she was appointed to the statutory Committee of ‘Fitness to Practice’ within NMBI. She has always held a strong belief regarding the importance of accountability within the Professions of Nursing and Midwifery, her experience within FtP has further endorsed the importance of this.

Eimhin Killilea

Key Account Manager with The City Bin Co

After leaving school, Eimhin studied industrial design in Sligo Institute of Technology. He then tried Hotel & Catering Management in GMIT. While he loved both courses, he wanted to do something more practical so, in 2004, he began his first apprenticeship in Carpentry and Joinery.

At the beginning of the last recession, work became scarce. He felt he was lucky to gain employment with The City Bin Co. and has worked in a variety of roles within the business in the twelve years since.

He currently works as Key Account Manager. This means he meets and looks after some of their most important commercial customers in Galway. A large part of his job also requires him to sign up commercial customers for The City Bin Co.

The company advocates education and upskilling of all its workers. Like many of his colleagues, he is another example of someone who started and grew along with the company.

Jake Buckley

Data Analyst, AIB

Jake works for AIB as a Data Analyst for the last four years. He joined the Associate Apprenticeship in 2017. He completed it in 2019 and progressed onto the Specialist Apprenticeship and will be graduating in August 2021. He completed a higher cert in business when he seen the apprenticeship advertised, made the transition and hasn't looked back.

Ali Miley

Network Technician with the ESB