NUI Galway's Centre of Astronomy is once again opening its doors for their annual series of public lectures. The first lecture in this series, entitled How to make (and break) a star, will take place at 7pm on Wednesday February 2nd in the Larmor Lecture theatre. The lecture will be given by NUI Galway's Dr Matt Redman from the Centre of Astronomy, School of Physics at NUI Galway, and will explore the life cycle of stars focussing on the way they are formed from enormous, bitterly cold dark clouds to their often spectacular ultimate destruction in supernova and other explosions. Aimed at a general audience, the talk will be illustrated with many tunning images from observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory s Very Large Telescope. Dr Redman's research looks at the conditions around the birth of stars. His talk will also encompass the work of other members of the Centre of Astronomy. Speaking about the upcoming open evenings and lecture series, Dr Andrew Shearer, Director of the Centre of Astronomy, NUI Galway, said: "We are happy to start this years series of public lectures with Dr Matt Redman talk on the life of stars. We have planned five talks on different aspects of astronomy and are suitable for all. We are happy to showcase our work and thus illustrate the contribution NUI Galway makes to the public understanding of science." More details of all the talks can be found on http://astro.nuigalway.ie. -Ends-

The annual NUI Galway Postgraduate Open Day takes place on Wednesday, 2 February, from 12.30 to 4.30pm in the Bailey Allen Hall, Áras na Mac Léinn. Almost 3,500 postgraduate students currently attend NUI Galway, making it one of Ireland's most popular universities for postgraduate study. The Open Day will showcase over 400 of NUI Galway's full-time and part-time postgraduate programmes, including taught and research masters, and doctoral research options. The Open Day will focus on the benefits of doing a postgraduate programme and the practicalities of making an application. 80 information stands will provide details on postgraduate opportunities at NUI Galway, with academic staff and current students on hand to answer questions about specific courses. According to John Hannon, Head of NUI Galway's Career Development Centre: "In the current economic climate, there is increased interest among undergraduate students in staying in education by pursuing postgraduate studies. A postgraduate qualification can provide a real career boost. Undoubtedly, it can maximise career prospects and earnings." NUI Galway offers a wide range of fourth level courses, developing programmes based on its traditional academic strengths of Arts, Social Sciences, Celtic Studies, Commerce, Medicine, Nursing, Health Science, Law, Engineering, Informatics and Science. These areas have been augmented with innovative Research Centres in areas as diverse as Biomedical Science and Engineering, International Human Rights, Digital Media & Film Studies, and Regenerative Medicine. Valerie Leahy, Postgraduate Admissions Officer, adds: "People are always interested in up-skilling, improving their qualifications and their employability. With so many options available at postgraduate level, people must choose carefully. The Postgraduate Open Day offers the opportunity to talk to lecturers and current postgraduate students. My advice would be to apply early and often as you can make up to three applications online at www.pac.ie/nuigalway." To book your place at the Open Day visit www.nuigalway.ie/postgraduate-open-dayor you can register on the day. -Ends-

The NUI Galway J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics recently launched the inaugural NUI Galway MBA Career & Professional Development Mentoring Programme. The programme is geared to provide MBA students with focused, individual, expert guidance on their career and professional development. "Our research of the top ranked international MBA programmes and survey of over 200 MBA Alumni students last year found that most MBA programmes do not focus sufficiently well on student career development and transfer of learning from the class to work" said Dr Alma McCarthy, MBA Programme Director at NUI Galway. The NUI Galway MBA Career & Professional Development Mentoring programme is designed to ensure MBA students are afforded the best opportunities possible to marry academic learning with professional practice. Pádraig Ó Céidigh, CEO of Aer Arann and Adjunct Professor in the School of Business & Economics, has been instrumental in the design, development and roll out of this initiative. He worked with the School, drawing on his extensive network of business and industry contacts, to generate a highly expert team of mentors. In total, the programme brings together 12 mentors from across a broad range of public and private sector organisations. The mentors have extensive national and international experience in business and industry and many are professionally qualified as career mentors and coaches. All the mentors have distinguished professional careers, some are NUI Galway graduates and many hold MBA qualifications themselves. Speaking at the official launch of the MBA Career Development Mentoring Programme, Dr Emer Mulligan, Head of the NUI Galway School of Business & Economics, said: "Our MBA is unique in having this offering and it is a real differentiating feature for the NUI Galway MBA programme. The calibre of the mentors is second to none and we are very lucky to have them on our doorstep and involved in this way with the School and University." Mentors can provide unique and valid external perspectives and insights into organisational life. The challenge for many MBA students is that they are so busy working and studying that they do not take sufficient time to reflect on their careers and make plans to achieve their goals. This programme will help students to respond to challenges in their careers and make their professional work lives easier. The mentoring programme will run for the duration of the two-year MBA programme. The MBA programme at NUI Galway is industry-led and globally-focused providing students with the knowledge, transferable skills and confidence required for innovative and effective management practice. ENDS

NUI Galway Researchers at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) are leading a European Union, multi-million euro initiative aimed at government transparency and giving citizens a voice in creating policies. The project is entitled 'Puzzled by Policy, Helping you to be part of the EU'. The project aims to help end the detachment and disillusionment of citizens in the policy making process of the EU by improving information resources and tools. Current ways of informing citizens and allowing them to participate can be difficult to access, time consuming to use and yield little results. By providing citizens with an engaging and easy-to-use platform, where they can learn about and engage with policy issues, the initiative hopes to make participation in EU policy much easier. Many Governments today recognise that to deliver effective public policy they need to enhance citizen and community involvement in the policy making process. Unfortunately, many citizens and communities feel that policy development is a process that they do not understand and have little control over. Policy making can be seen by many as an elitist process, taking place only amongst government and the more influential members of society; this project aims to dispel this belief. Professor Stefan Decker, Director of DERI says "New Web technologies can support our democratic systems. They not only make government more cost effective, but also more transparent. Research and development out of Ireland is leading the way." The project combines advanced eParticipation methods with new Web 2.0, social networking and mobile technologies, in order to reduce the complexity of policy-making and legislative processes of EU and national governments and to pro-actively engage citizens in the policy-making process. 'Puzzled by Policy' is funded by the European Commission's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) – ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP) with a total budget of €3.89 million. It has a consortium consisting of 12 partners from nine European Countries (Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and United Kingdom). The project began in October 2010 and will run for 3 years. For further information, contact Deirdre Lee, Project Coordinator at DERI on 091 495336, email: deirdre.lee@deri.org or log onto www.puzzledbypolicy.eu. -Ends-

The fourth annual NUI Galway Green Week will take place on campus from 24 to 27 January. As part of the annual event NUI Galway will hold a Green Fair on Tuesday, 25 January, in the Bailey Allen Hall. The Fair will feature activities and awareness stands organised by various NUI Galway societies and by the Buildings Office, NUI Galway, and will focus strongly on fashion and the environment. Students of the Galway Technical Institute (GTI) training in Business Fashion Retail are collaborating with NUI Galway students and staff to organise a bring-and-buy sale of pre-loved clothes. This re-use of clothes is a highly effective way for one person to clear out their wardrobe while someone else benefits from a new or 'nearly-new' piece. According to NUI Galway's Environmental Manager, Dr Aoife Collins, "All financial donations received from the clothes sale will be given to the St. Vincent de Paul, Galway. The GTI students will also give demonstrations on how to turn jaded outfits into fashion gems which otherwise may be sent to landfill. They will also create an eye-catching shop-window display of mannequins wearing recycled materials." Anyone wishing to donate clothes, accessories or old mobile phones for the Green Fair can leave them into the Socs Box office in Áras na Mac Léinn up until Monday, 24 January. During Green Week the Galway Market Traders will be stationed outside Áras na Mac Léinn from 25 to 26 January. In addition, a major fact-based panel discussion titled Averting a Future Irish Energy Crisis will take place at 7pm in the O Flaherty Lecture Theatre, located on the main Concourse on Wednesday, 26 January. The discussion will bring together experts in the fields of energy technology, policy, innovation and business and is organised by the Chemistry, Energy and Physics Societies at NUI Galway. For further information please contact Dr Aoife Collins, Environmental Manager, NUI Galway at 091 495944 or aoife.collins@nuigalway.ie or visit www.socs.nuigalway.ie Ends