Spotlight on Research

Source: https://www.ucd.ie/graduateadmissions/whyucd/spotlight-on-research/ Parent: https://www.ucd.ie/graduateadmissions/

Through our education, research, innovation and engagement, we seek to make a real difference to the world and to the lives of our students.

IRELAND’S FIRST SATELLITE

UCD students, faculty and staff designed and built Ireland’s first satellite, launched in December 2023. UCD brought experts and learners together from across disciplines to pursue a big vision, while our partnership with industry is now giving rise to a new space sector in Ireland. UCD also brought poetry to the stars: school children worked with a UCD professor of creative writing to write All Ways Home, the poem now inscribed on the orbiting satellite.

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Environmental Research

The UCD Rosemount Environmental Research Station on the Belfield campus is home to facilities capable of simulating any global climatic and atmospheric condition: past, present, or future. By analysing the past, this research is being used to predict the impact of climate change on agriculture.

Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture

UCD’s Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture, established in 2012, is one of the only specifically designed and dedicated, on campus university facilities in the world for experimental archaeology and material culture studies. It supports research projects, innovative teaching, and public outreach activities.

Lyons Farm

The 250 hectare UCD Lyons Farm is unique amongst universities in Ireland: providing students and academics with access to large animal and crop enterprises for the delivery of teaching and research programmes; with on-farm facilities that support over €20 million in active research grants.

Sustainability

UCD is #1 in Ireland for Sustainability according to the latest QS Sustainability Rankings (2025) and is one of Ireland’s Sustainability Goals Champions for 2024-25. Our leading experts are informing policy, creating new technologies and participating in major advisory bodies to help meet Sustainable Development Goals and directly effect change across the world.

Digital Health Technologies

Digital health technologies can unlock more equitable and personalised healthcare and strengthen health systems. UCD is home to the world's leaders in predictive modelling, precision medicine and bio-clinical informatics, generating real impact and breakthroughs in the clinical setting to make a real difference in patients' lives today.

AI & Technology Research

Combining decades of pioneering work in machine learning, data science and digital technologies with a broad discipline base, UCD drives advances in AI and technology research and learning in important areas. Our learning programmes in digital policy consider these advances in the context of our wellbeing as a society, supporting our students to consider the ethical, political, legal and societal implications.

Africa Engagement Strategy

In May 2023, UCD launched its Africa Engagement Strategy 2023-2028, committing the University to deepening its research, scholarship and innovation engagement with the continent. This ambition will be achieved through the development of meaningful and equitable relationships with African scholars and institutions, as well as leveraging the broad range of existing partnerships between UCD and Africa.

Teaching Hospital Network

UCD students in the health sciences disciplines benefit from practice placements at Ireland’s largest teaching hospital network including acute, paediatric, maternity and specialist hospitals, and the HSE Dublin South East Region.

Journalism & International Affairs

Launched in 2021, The UCD CNN Academy MA in Journalism and International Affairs is a world-first graduate programme. It combines world leading journalism training with academic expertise in international affairs from the UCD Clinton Institute.

Public Health

UCD Master of Public Health (1992) alumnus Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, was awarded a UCD Alumni Award in 2021 in recognition of his decades of contribution in health risk, including his leadership during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Modern Crime Prevention

UCD’s online law enforcement Master’s in Forensic Computing and Cybercrime Investigation has trained senior officers in Interpol, Europol, NATO and the United Nations.

UCD Graduate Admissions

University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.\ (If you are an international student please visit UCD Global) T: +353 1 716 7777