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Our Student Stories

We work with students across the education space - from transition year students in secondary school to PhD and beyond. Read about some of these students and their journey into design thinking and the entrepreneurial world.

Peter Flannery | Commerce, Disruptive Digital Founder

In second year of Commerce 2021, I approached IdeasLab as I needed a space to work on my business outside of college work. They were more than helpful and not only offered me a chance to work from Ideaslab but gave me the opportunity to work on some exciting projects with them. Aside from this I also had great pleasure in networking with fellow likeminded students and mentoring some students who had interest in starting up a business similar to mine or who needed a hand with Digital Marketing for their start-up. I am also currently in my final year of a Honours B.Comm degree specialising in Marketing Management in University of Galway, and Disruptive Digital, my digital marketing business, is continuing to grow from strength to strength and I would highly encourage any student with an idea to come forward and get started, being a ‘studentpreneur’ is challenging but definitely the best thing I have ever done.

in Connect with Peter

Courtney Hefferon | Commerce, Enterprise Challenge Student 2021

The Enterprise Challenge is an awesome Programme! It helped me advance in my skills especially public speaking, I got to work on real world problems which showed my work-readiness to my future employers and I got to meet new friends across all disciplines at University of Galway.

in Connect with Courtney

Joe Hennigan | Engineering, Receipt Relay co founder

From the very beginning, Receipt Relay has been supported by IdeasLab. We were introduced to Natalie and Neil by Prof. John Breslin only a few weeks after we had started out. I met with Natalie and Neil the day after we had won Fidelity International's university competition - where we had pitched a digital receipts concept and they gave feedback on where we should go next. One of the best aspects of being involved in IdeasLab is the networking effect. Being able to have people you can ask to make introductions to CEOS, Directors etc. is where the value lies in any startup.

in Connect with Joe

Sophie Spellissy | Computer Science & IT, IdeasLab Intern 2022

IdeasLab is such an amazing hub to be involved with at University of Galway. I began my 10 week internship with IdeasLab September 2022. I can safely say I have absolutely no regrets. The internship has been such a fantastic opportunity to broaden my network and meet amazing people! It has been great to meet fellow interns from different colleges throughout the university. This gives a broader perspective on the challenges faced by other cohorts rather than just your own stream.The internship has thought us to work well as part of a team by identifying strengths in each other and see behind the scenes of the various challenges. IdeasLab really is a lovely place to be and escape from the structure of day to day college and experience real world challenges. It is so wonderful to be surrounded by inspirational and innovative people. I would highly recommend applying for an internship with ideaslab if you want to challenge yourself, identify your personal strengths, meet new likeminded people and be part of such a positive environment . I will most definitely back and hope to participate in the enterprise challenge next semester.

in Connect with Sophie

Ahmed Eltayeb | Medicine, Start100 participant 2022

From the first day, there were so many great things to learn! From design-thinking, where I needed to focus on the problem, to pitching, where I needed to craft and practice presenting my idea. It was an incredibly rewarding challenge! I digested so much info from workshops, meetings and talks! Being encouraged to make mistakes and learn from them was a great way to improve!

in Connect with Ahmed

Éabha Guaghan | Arts, IdeasLab Intern 2022

I applied to be an IdeasLab intern in September 2022 with the hopes of expanding my network within University of Galway, learning more about IdeasLab and their work on campus and of course, supporting student enterprise as a student myself. I got the opportunity to do all of these things during the course of my internship. The IdeasLab is such a valuable resource to students, and I found reaching out to students, especially those who haven't utilised the supports IdeasLab offers, extremely rewarding. There is such a welcoming and inspiring atmosphere in IdeasLab which was a wonderful change of scene from the stress of college work. I have met so many talented and inspirational people during my internship. I was given the opportunity to develop skills such as event planning, marketing and strategy. There was great emphasis placed on the ability to be proactive and take initiative which will undoubtedly serve me in my future career. I would recommend the internship in the IdeasLab to students looking to develop their skills, work as part of a team and support the enterprise and innovation of our students

in Connect with Éabha

Cian Coyne | Commerce, Start100 participant 2022

Start100 was massively enjoyable and educational for me. It’s something I 100% recommend anybody doing. It took my venture to the next level, while also introducing me into the start-up ecosystem. And the financial support enabled me to fully commit and not have to rely on a summer job.

in Connect with Cian