40 Irish winners of Fulbright Awards in record year

22 May 2014

Cian Ó Concubhair (TCD), Treasa De Loughry (UCD), Vikki Ní Bhréin (Notre Dame School, Churchtown), Dr Enda Murphy (UCD) and Síne Nic an Ailí (Conradh na Gaeilge) kick up their heels at the US Ambassador's residence in Phoenix Park, Dublin

A record 40 Irish winners have received American Fulbright Award scholarships, which are given to Irish students by both the Irish and US governments.

Each year, the Fulbright Scholarship Board provides Irish students, scholars, and professionals with the opportunity to study, lecture, and research at top universities and institutions throughout the United States.

This year’s awarding of the scholarships is also breaking new ground with the inauguration of the TechImpact Awards in Digital Technology, created to reward short-term, non-commercial projects and research in the US for up to three months.

This new award will explore areas such as optical communications, online laboratory environments, human-computer interaction technology and digital humanities.

Tom Healy, chair of the Fulbright Scholarship Board, said this record-breaking number of award winners proved to be incredibly talented.

“The breadth and diversity of specialist knowledge, combined with immense leadership ability, makes this contingent an incredibly powerful group of representatives for Ireland,” he said.

Each individual has overcome a rigorous selection process where research and study objectives were judged based on their potential to drive the Irish knowledge economy. However, their mission extends even beyond academia. “‘Fulbrighters’ are recognised for their capacity to forge meaningful collaborations between Ireland and the US.”

For those interested in taking part in the following series of awards, the next round of applications will open on 26 August.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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