January 2016 NUI Galway Welcomes the Next Generation of ICT Innovators

The Irish Software Research Centre (Lero), in conjunction with the discipline of Business Information Systems at NUI Galway, recently welcomed female transition years’ students from Galway secondary schools for its inaugural Transition Year Innovation workshop.

The purpose of the workshop was to heighten awareness of the many exciting opportunities and careers in the ICT sector for women. According to recent Accenture Ireland research, women constitute only 25% of the workforce in STEM related jobs.

The workshop was funded by a grant from the GoogleRISE Award. The Lero group at NUI Galway is lead by Professor Kieran Conboy, Dean of the University’s College of Business, Public Policy and Law, and was one of 37 worldwide recipients of this award in 2015, in recognition of its ongoing education and outreach programmes throughout Ireland.

During the workshop the students from Holy Rosary College in Mountbellew, St. Brigid's in Loughrea and the Salerno Secondary School in Salthill, were tasked with designing a mobile app for a health and fitness club. To complete their assignment, the students formed three and four member teams, with each team supported by mentors: Carol Guilfoyle and Christina Callanan, Hewlett Packard; Emma Curley, Accenture; Orla Shaughnessy, Storm Technology; Saima Clohessy, Fidelity Investments; Elizabeth Grier, Jessica Tyrrell and Lillian Hughes, fourth year students of the Business Information Systems programme, and Ann O’Brien, Coleen Griffin and Mary Loftus, NUI Galway PhD candidates.

Each workshop session featuring a talk from female ICT professionals on their experience of working in technology, before introducing the teams to the activity for the team break out session that followed. The breakout sessions involved “hands on” learning for the Transition Year students, working with their mentors on activities such as systems analysis, user interface design, application development, innovation thinking, collaboration and presentation skills.

“We were delighted with the great reaction and engagement of the Transition Year students with the format and conduct of the workshop, with the student, mentors and organisers enjoying the experience,” said Neil Keane, lead organiser of the workshop.

The event was organised by Neil Keane, Ann O’Brien and Coleen Griffin, with support from Lero, the Business Information Systems discipline NUI Galway, Hewlett Packard, Storm Technologies, Fidelity Investments, and the Accenture centre for Innovation, Dublin.

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