Two students from NUI Galway's J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics have beaten over 1,700 other candidates to make it to the final seven of Meteor's Apprentice competition. Meteor Mobile Communications is running the competition to mark their sponsorship of the award winning TV series, The Apprentice. The winner will serve an apprenticeship in the marketing department at Meteor next summer. Battling it out for the prize will be 21 year old Emma Curtis, a final Commerce student specialising in Spanish and Marketing. Emma, originally from Kinsale, Co. Cork, hopes to work in an International Corporate Events Company. Also in the final is 22 year old, Galway city native Senan Cronin. Senan is in his final year in Business Information Systems at the University. While the 12 candidates battle it out in the boardroom under self made millionaire and taskmaster Bill Cullen on the TV3 hit The Apprentice, candidates in the Meteor apprenticeship role will have to answer to Meteor s Head of Product Marketing, Bill Blake. Commenting on the search, Bill Blake, Meteor s Head of Product Marketing, said: "We're looking forward to seeing what the Meteor Apprentices are made of. There's a great opportunity here for the successful candidate who will spend next summer working within the marketing department. This extensive role will allow the winner to get a feel of the varying functions within marketing, from devising offers and choosing mobile phone ranges to retention and the exciting world of advertising. For the candidate s final week with Meteor, they get to choose which area they really want to focus on". Expressing her delight at Emma and Senan's success, Dr Emer Mulligan, Head of J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, NUI Galway, said: "At the J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics we are continuously challenging our students to achieve their potential. We are delighted that Emma and Senan will have an opportunity to showcase their skills to a worldwide audience". Each week the candidates will be given a specific task to complete and can be tracked and voted for by the public on the www.apprenticeunseen.ie. -Ends-

Professor Terry Eagleton, arguably one of the most influential of living literary critics, will deliver a public lecture at NUI Galway entitled 'On Evil' on Tuesday, 17 November, at 6pm in IT Lecture Theatre 250. Professor Eagleton is Adjunct Professor of Cultural Theory based at the Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and Social Studies at NUI Galway. Professor Eagleton's specialities are literary and cultural theory and the English-language literature and culture of Ireland, on which he has recently completed a trilogy of works. His forthcoming book, "On Evil" is on the topic of evil and its place in our contemporary world. A recent preview by Yale University Press states: "In a book that ranges from St. Augustine to alcoholism, Thomas Aquinas to Thomas Mann, Shakespeare to the Holocaust, Eagleton investigates the frightful plight of those doomed souls who apparently destroy for no reason. In the process, he poses a set of intriguing questions. Is evil really a kind of nothingness? Why should it appear so glamorous and seductive? Why does goodness seem so boring? Is it really possible for human beings to delight in destruction for no reason at all?" Professor Terry Eagleton is the author of many books, including "Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate". The event is free and open to the public. -Ends-

An in-depth comparison of health and well-being between children in Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales reveals that childhood in Ireland is healthier and happier than in neighbouring countries. The survey, co-authored by NUI Galway was conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, includes information from more than 20,000 children aged 11-15 years. The 136-page report 'Young People's Health in Great Britain and Ireland' looks at issues like health, symptoms, well-being, eating patterns, physical activity, substance use, family and peer relationships and school life. Irish children are more likely than their UK counterparts to report high life satisfaction, and less likely to report feeling low or having poor body image. In this country, children are more likely to engage in physical activity and less likely to spend excessive time on computers or on games console use. They are also most likely to live with both parents and in bigger households, to report that they are able to talk to their fathers about things that bother them and to spend time with friends after school. The report also highlights the lack of data on sexual behaviour among Irish adolescents. "These patterns uncovered illustrate how we compare with our nearest neighbours" said Dr. Saoirse Nic Gabhainn of the Health Promotion Research Centre, NUI Galway, one of the authors. "This report goes into greater depth on these issues than we have ever had before, showing differences between boys and girls, age groups and children from different family backgrounds". Dr Nic Gabhainn added: "It is important that we recognise the differences as well as the similarities between children in the UK and Ireland. This report suggests that it is important not just to borrow unquestioningly from UK policy and practice when we are trying to improve child health – but that we need to work out where we are similar and where we are not and be more selective in what we do". In the report, age, gender and inter-country differences are documented, as well as patterns in youth health and well-being by levels of family affluence. Copies of the document are available from hbsc@nuigalway.ie or download www.nuigalway.ie/hbsc/ -Ends-

Two NUI Galway students have been awarded the Chicago Student Social Work Scholarships by the Chicago Immigrant Support Centre. First year MA in Social Work Programme students Marie Hoban from Liscarney, Co. Mayo and Bridget O'Hara from Salthill, Galway, will each receive a scholarship of $3,500. This is the second consecutive year that NUI Galway students from this programme have been awarded the scholarship. Starting in January 2010, Marie and Bridget will participate in a 14-week work placement with the Wellspring Personal Care Foundation and the Chicago Irish Project. The placement will see the students working with individuals, families and groups of the Irish immigrant community in Chicago. Marguerita McGovern, Practice Learning Co-ordinator of the MA in Social Work Programme at NUI Galway, said: "International placements are an important resource in the training of professional social workers. Students from the MA in Social Work programme at NUI Galway have the choice of a variety of worldwide placement sites. The student social worker can couple their International placement with an Irish statutory placement in their second year of study. This offers the opportunity to acquire knowledge, skills and values across the spectrum of this course. In this case we have partnered with the Chicago Irish Project and the students involved are given the opportunity to carry out their work placement in Chicago, supporting older Irish people". In 2007, the Chicago Immigrant Support Center, a non-profit organisation serving the needs of Irish Immigrants in Chicago, formed an alliance with Wellspring Personal Care Foundation. Establishing an initiative known as the 'Chicago Irish Project', the organisations have designed a program to identify service needs and improve the quality of life for Irish born older adults living in the Chicago metropolitan area. -ends-

NUI Galway will host a photography exhibition, EYE Spies, from 18 November to 15 December featuring images of performers and street entertainment from Galway City and the University. The display will be launched by NUI Galway Vice-President for Capital Projects, Keith Warnock, on Wednesday, 18 November, at 5pm. The exhibition, hosted by the NUI Galway Arts and Theatre Office, will be open daily from 12 noon to 4pm in the University Art Gallery which is located in the Quadrangle. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend. Galway resident and retired NUI Galway academic, Jim O'Donnell, will present his own tribute to Galway at the exhibition. His photographs will include summer festival shots of parades, buskers, and characters in Galway. According to Professor O'Donnell: "Galway has many charms, but its most engaging quality is its openness. The streets of Galway attract an extraordinary array of entertainers and artists. The citizens welcome and relish the free performances and the spontaneous happenings that feature in everyday life here". JuanJo Sierra Alcalá from Madrid will present an outsider's view of performers and happenings on campus during NUI Galway's annual Múscailt Festival, which takes place again next year from 8-12 February 2010. Images from local photographers including Joe O'Shaughnessy and Aengus McMahon, artists Kathy Murphy, Eva Muller, Alan Fitzpatrick, and NUI Galway Arts and Theatre Office administrator Deirdre Lydon, will also feature in the EYE Spies exhibition. The exhibition will hold a special section so members of the public can add their own photographs of their own experience of live free entertainment in Galway. For more information contact the NUI Galway Arts & Theatre Office at 091-493766 or fionnuala.gallagher@nuigalway.ie. -Ends-