WIN@DCU
4 March 2005

Left to right: Ciaran O'Hogartaigh, Business and Innovation Theme Leader, Prof Ferdinand von Prondzynski, DCU President, Liavan Mallin, guest speaker and enterpreneur, Dr Sarah Ingle, Business School

The successful launch of WIN@DCU (Women's Innovation Network Seminar Series) took place in invent on Monday, 28 February 2005. Liavan Mallin was the inaugural speaker who presented to an audience, including the DCU president and 60 students from many faculties throughout DCU. A wine reception sponsored by the DCU Educational Trust was an enjoyable end to the evening, which included the presentation and a lively question and answer session.

The seminar series organised by Dr Sarah Ingle from DCU Business School (under the aegis of the DCU Business and Innovation Theme), has been designed to highlight the achievements of innovative women in business, science, technology and the humanities. The aim of WIN@DCU is to help empower women students by bringing successful and innovative women to the campus to provide positive role models.

The first speaker, Ms Liavan Mallin is a computer graduate of DCU and a serial entrepreneur. In 1986 she set up Celtic Hampers, which became the largest mail order company in Ireland, employing 8,500 agents nation-wide. Since then Liavan has founded companies in the telecommunications, property and IT sectors in the US and Ireland. She still has many links with DCU, not least her major sponsorship of the Mallin/Invent new enterprise award for the DCU community that has a €60,000 prize fund. Details of the award and last years winners are at: http://www.dcu.ie/news/2005/jan/s0105d.shtml

Other speakers in the series will include women from the DCU Executive, the DCU Educational Trust and DCU graduates. The next seminar, which takes place on 18th April 2005, will be present by Rosheen McGuckian, Chief executive of GE Money.