November 2015 NUI Galway Students and Graduates Awarded National University of Ireland Prizes

At a ceremony on 10 November in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Chancellor of the National University of Ireland Dr Maurice Manning presented fellowships, scholarships and other valued at in excess of €850,000 to graduates and students of NUI.

NUI honoured scholars of distinction at every stage of their academic studies, from undergraduates to senior scholars well established in their fields of expertise. Over 30 students and graduates of NUI Galway were awarded prizes.

NUI Galway graduates received a number of awards, including an outstanding Five Travelling Studentships – one in the Humanities and four in the Sciences. The Dr Mary Thornton Scholarship in Education was shared by two winners, both connected to NUI Galway. These awards will support post-graduate and doctoral research in a variety of subjects, from human rights in Uganda to bioprosthetic heart valves.

NUI Galway graduate Dr Ciaran O'Neill was awarded a Special Commendation in connection with the Publication Prize in Irish History 2015, for his new work Catholics of Consequence: Transnational Education, Social Mobility and the Irish Catholic Elite, 1850 – 1900 (Oxford University Press, 2014).
NUI Galway undergraduates were equally successful. Students received the Mansion House Fund Scholarship in Irish History, the Mansion House Fund Prize in Irish, two medals in the Dr H H Stewart Literary Scholarship competitions, and twenty-one medals in the Dr H H Stewart Medical Scholarship competitions, including nine first prizes.

President Jim Browne, said on the success of NUI Galway students and graduates: “This clearly highlights the high calibre of students studying on NUI Galway programmes and follows previous successes in these annual awards. I congratulate the Awardees on their achievements and encourage them in the future endeavours. In commending the Award recipients, I’d also like to pay tribute to their teachers for their work in supporting these students and in helping them to achieve such high standards.”

Speaking at the event, Dr Manning congratulated the award recipients, commending their scholarly distinction and ‘outstanding academic achievement’. He highlighted the importance of promoting scholars and scholarship as a core aim of NUI, and stated that the University is ‘very pleased to be able to offer this level of support for academic achievement and through its awards to provide opportunities for able students to engage in further studies’.

Details on NUI Awards to be offered in 2016 will be available from January at www.nui.ie/awards

ENDS