DCU President's Awards for Engagement 2026
We would like to congratulate the winners and thank all entrants & the judging panel.
The recipients of the 2026 President’s Awards for Engagement were announced by the DCU President on Thursday 2nd April 2026 in SOLAS room, U-Building, DCU Glasnevin Campus as follows:
Winners 2026
Staff Category Winner
Tomás Ward
Engineering and Computing
Leadership of Dublin Maker Festival - National Community Innovation outreach since 2014
Student Category Winner
Muhammad Shaharyar Bin Irfan
Humanities and Social Sciences
Student Led Civic Engagement in National Education Policy - President of the Irish Second-Level Student Union, Deputy Chair of the National Convention on Education 2026
Special Merit -- Staff Category Winner
Fiona Murphy
Humanities and Social Sciences
Solidarity in Action-IRIN: Ballymun YouthReach, Rialto Canal Communities, Local Drug and Alcohol Task Force, Balbriggan Sustainable Energy Community
Special Merit -- Student Category Winner
Swetha Shankar Ganesh Moorthi
DCU Business School
Contribution to civic-industry engagement, ENFUSE 2025 Finals-Dublin City Council, Irish Student Consulting Group, China Global Finance & Leadership Programme, DCU Age-friendly University Digital Clinic & ECIU Ambassador
Staff Category Finalists 2026
Aisling McMahon
Science and Health
Developing senior frontline staff capability in community organisations - inc; Jigsaw Youth Mental Health Services, Gheel Autism Services, National Educational Psychological Services (NEPS)
Aparajita Dey-Plissonneau
Humanities and Social Sciences
Engagement with local partners (schools and potential students) as well as engagement with Alumni
Brian Harney
DCU Business School
12ish talks of Christmas: Lectures for LauraLynn 2025
Caroline Loscher
Institute of Education
DCU Staff and Glasnevin Community Spinathon for Pieta House
https://www.dcu.ie/dcu-community/staff-and-glasnevin-community-spinatho…
Age-Friendly University Team
Age-Friendly University
Inclusive learning and social engagement programmes
Cormac Cleary and Ellen Howley
Humanities and Social Sciences
Crafting Climate: Collage and Zine-making for Science Week and NI Science Fest, engaging communities with climate change
Fiona Murphy
Humanities and Social Sciences
Solidarity in Action-IRIN: Ballymun YouthReach, Rialto Canal Communities, Local Drug and Alcohol Task Force, Balbriggan Sustainable Energy Community
Inmaculada Gómez Soler
Humanities and Social Sciences
Community engagement through ‘Think Languages’ Week with non-profit partner ‘Mother Tongues’
https://www.dcu.ie/dcu-community/advancing-multilingual-awareness-and-i…
Luke Quinlan
DCU in the Community
Lectures in Your Library Series: DCU in the Community, Dublin Northwest Partnership and the Ballymun, Finglas and Cabra libraries
https://www.dcu.ie/dcu-community/news/2026/mar/lectures-your-library-fi…
Paula Lehane
Institute of Education
From Myth to Mastery: Supporting Irish Teachers' Knowledge of Dyslexia w/ Dyslexia Ireland
https://www.dcu.ie/dcu-community/myth-mastery-supporting-irish-teachers…
Ross Carroll
Humanities and Social Sciences
DCU Doodle STEAM team - Sinéad Mc Nally, Nicola O'Reilly & Córa Gillic
Institute of Education
Co-designing Early Years STEAM Engagement with Children, Parents, Schools, Communities, & Home School Community Liaison
Tomás Ward
Engineering and Computing
Leadership of Dublin Maker Festival - National Community Innovation outreach since 2014
Student Category Finalists 2026
Abby Davis
Science & Health
Community Engagement through Volunteering and Research, inc Crime Victims Helpline and the Down Syndrome Centre
Aimee Keogh
Humanities and Social Sciences
Co-founder of 'Mind The Gap’ - helping engage students in learning STEM
Aisling Boylan
Institute of Education
Chair of RAG Society - strengthening local community ties inc; Crafty Ladies and Respond Housing
Allison Browne
Science and Health
Fundraising via DCU Yoga Society – supporting Irish Heart Foundation, Niteline, Breast Cancer Research
Angelina Zhao
Humanities and Social Sciences
External engagement as Humanities and Social Sciences Representative and organising the Humanities and Social Sciences Ball - supporting the Irish Cancer Society
Anne Leung
Science and Health
Engagement in teaching, mentoring and as a science advocate, & Volunteering for Vision Ireland and St. Vincent De Paul Society
Ashlee Keogh
Humanities and Social Sciences
Co-founder of 'Mind The Gap’ - helping engage students in learning in STEM, advocacy and mentorship
Muhammad Shaharyar Bin Irfan
Humanities and Social Sciences
Student Led Civic Engagement in National Education Policy - President of the Irish Second-Level Student Union, Deputy Chair of the National Convention on Education 2026
Carine Mambou
Humanities and Social Sciences
Inclusive Student Representation and Community-Engaged Leadership - inc CAD AID Foundation
Chloe Martin
Science and Health
Leadership in Citizen Science for Freshwater Protection in Ireland & the Netherlands
Christopher Mc Aleer
Science and Health
Widening access to education - RAG, MathsQuest & Maths Learning Centre
David Persse
DCU Business school
Marathon Fundraising for Irish Cancer Society
Franciszek Dobronski
Humanities and Social Sciences
Volunteering commitment; RAG, Youth Work Ireland, NYCI, Spunout & Climate Action Society
Ilie Gabuja
Engineering and Computing
Cycling Fundraisers for Irish Cancer Society & Down Syndrome Dublin
https://www.dcu.ie/dcu-community/pedalling-purpose-galway-arctic-circle
Karl Ormsby
Humanities and Social Sciences
Student Engagement- RAG, AMLÉ's National Campaign Strategy Committee, DCU Movember campaign, DCU Access outreach in Ballymun
Lorna Burke
Science and Health
LifeLab - empowering young people with evidence-based health, science, and wellbeing education
Lucy Nolan
Humanities and Social Sciences
Charity Expedition to the Arctic Circle for Sightsavers Ireland
Olga Greta Slawinska
Science and Health
Sponsor and Student Volunteer Organiser for the Institute of Physics - inc at Young Scientist 2026
Rean Abu Rahman
Science and Health
Founding Science & Health Society
https://www.instagram.com/scienceandhealth.dcu?igsh=NmxsdTg1bTdvcXIw
Rian Gill
Engineering and Computing
Leadership of DCU Solar Racing - engaging stakeholders across EU and 28 companies
Sarah Gavin
Humanities and Social Sciences
Swetha Shankar Ganesh Moorthi
DCU Business School
Contribution to civic-industry engagement, ENFUSE 2025 Finals-Dublin City Council, Irish Student Consulting Group, China Global Finance & Leadership Programme, DCU Age-friendly University Digital Clinic & ECIU Ambassador
Executive MBA Students
DCU Business School
Executive MBA Focus Ireland Fundraising Initiative - Decade of fundraising >€100k
From L–R: Eve Keenan, DCU Alumna and Focus Ireland Community Fundraising Officer, Prof. Patrick Flood, EMBA Candidate Seán Glen, Lorraine Toner, Head of Community Fundraising at Focus Ireland, EMBA Candidate Siobhán Sweeney, EMBA Candidate Gráinne Sutcliffe and EMBA Candidate Robert McDonnell.
https://www.dcu.ie/dcu-community/dcu-business-school-executive-mba-year…
Zuzanna Chadzinska
Engineering and Computing
Establishing Dublin Student Housing Cooperative with STAND Social Entrepreneurship programme
