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DCU President's Office | Oifig an Uachtaráin
"Shaping the Future of Chocolate" Challenge under the ECIU University umbrella
Simran Dureja, MSc in Management (Strategy) student at DCU Business School, recently took part in one of the most transformative experiences of her academic journey—participating in the "Shaping the Future of Chocolate" Challenge under the ECIU University umbrella.

DCU staff and student delegation travel to ECIU forum

The European Consortium for Innovative Universities (ECIU) is DCU’s most important European partnership, contributing to the University’s vision of being a leading European University. 

In June, ‘Team DCU’ travelled to the ECIU forum, hosted by the University of Trento in Italy. 

The forum, and the bilateral meetings that took place in parallel, provided valuable opportunities to connect with colleagues from across the network, develop staff connections and demonstrate DCU leadership. 

Faculties progressed their direct relationships led by Brendan Egan (Science and Health), and Pádraig Murphy with Federico Fabbrini (Humanities and Social Sciences).

DCU showcased their expertise across a range of areas. Peter Robbins (Business School) ran a workshop on Design thinking; Ronan Cunningham (DCU:Innovate) contributed to a session on Advancing Innovation from Research to Societal Impact;  Martina Crehan and Clare Gormley (TEU) led in sessions on Peer Observation of Teaching, Challenge Based Learning and Innovative Practices in Teaching & Learning Centres.

Our team there also included some of the many colleagues supporting the growing level of ECIU activities in DCU: Robert Gillanders, Cliona McParland, Arash Aloosh and Viktoriia Ivannikova (Business School), Emma Coyle (School of Chemical Sciences), Charlie (Liang) Xu (School of Computing), Mairéad Nic Giolla Mhichíl (DCU Studio) and Faisal Zahoor (FEC/Research Development and Support), all of whom were supported expertly to maximise the benefits from the event by our ECIU Senior Project Officer, Olivia Daly (OVPAA). 

DCU’s student leaders also travelled to Trento as part of the University’s delegation. Aoife Butler, SU VP Academic Life 2024-25/ECIU Student Ambassador and Karl Ormsby, DCU SU President 2024-25/ECIU Student Council Secretary attended, as did two Business School students who undertook challenge-based module delivered by University of Trento (Claire Finnegan and Simran Dureja). 

The Forum was wrapped up with a special announcement as DCU took home the ECIU Impact Award 2025. Congratulations to the winning team led by Cliona McParland, and included Clare Gormley and Martina Crehan (TEU), Mairéad Nic Giolla Mhichíl, Ciaran Toohey and Richard Herlihy (DCU Studio), and our stakeholders Leona Berry and Micheal Taylor from Uisce Éireann.