The new board of the Galway University Foundation met for the first time today. The Foundation is dedicated to raising philanthropic support for the development of NUI Galway. The new board is chaired by Professor Ruth Curtis, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, NUI Galway. Ruth was also the first female Vice President of NUI Galway in 1996. Additional members of the board are as follows: Brendan Jennings – BComm graduate 1981 and former Managing Partner, Deloitte. Deirdre Courtney – BA 1986 and LLB 1988 graduate. Partner in Ivor Fitzpatrick & Co Solicitors Eamonn Gilmore - BA 1976, Honorary Doctorate 2016, and former President of the Students Union. EU Special Representative for Human Rights, EU Special Envoy for the Peace Process in Colombia, and Former Tánaiste of the Government of Ireland. Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, B Comm 1988, President of NUI Galway is an ex officio member of the board. The board thanked the previous board members for their work in helping to raise over €155 million towards the development of the University, and also reviewed the recommendations of the recent report by the Charities Regulator into the Foundation, and noted that all recommendations have now been implemented. Following the inaugural meeting of the new Foundation Board, Chairman Professor Curtis, noted that: “It is an exciting time for the University as it reaches the milestone of 175 years. The new NUI Galway strategy- ‘Shared Vision Shaped by Values’ sets out an ambitious programme of development, and the new Board of the Foundation looks forward to working closely with the President and his team in the years ahead to deliver on this new and exciting agenda for the University.” -Ends-

UNESCO Chair Professor Pat Dolan and actor Cillian Murphy today (Thursday, 23 January) launched a new initiative to introduce Empathy education for secondary school students in Ireland. The programme, Activating Social Empathy, is part of a suite of work undertaken by a team of researchers at NUI Galway that has developed a concrete basis for understanding empathy education among adolescents. A major focus of the UNESCO Chair’s work both nationally and internationally, is the role of empathy in the development of social understanding and its potential to enable young people to foster better social responsibility, civic behaviour and critically, action.  UNESCO Chair and Director of the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre at NUI Galway, Professor Pat Dolan said: “Within schools, empathy education initiatives like the one we launch today equip young people with vital skills in social emotional learning as well as offering them opportunities to engage in active citizenship and more compassionate caring towards others. Empathy education is urgently needed in schools to curb hate speech aggression and racial and other forms of negative profiling – it is imperative that the new incoming Minister for Education and Skills adopts empathy education in the same way as maths or other stem subjects.” Earlier work by the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre (UCFRC) research team conducted with adolescents identified a need for greater focus on the promotion of empathy related skills and social values in Irish secondary schools.  In response, researchers at the Centre have developed Activating Social Empathy, an interactive, social and emotional learning programme to teach empathy skills and foster positive peer relations among secondary students. The programme is designed to form part of the Junior Cycle Wellbeing Programme and targets students’ learning and skill building around four key principles: Understanding Empathy, Practicing Empathy, Overcoming Barriers to Empathy, and Putting Empathy into Action.   Professor Dolan continued: “The Activating Social Empathy programme was piloted in seven schools from September 2017 to June 2018. Overall, feedback on the programme was positive, with students and teachers typically reporting that the programme had a positive impact on students' empathy and personal development. Due to this initial positive feedback, we are now preparing to begin the next evaluation phase.” Following a two-year feasibility testing phase, the programme is being launched as part of an evaluation study using a randomised-control design, in 25 schools nationwide involving over 2000 students. The evaluation will assess the impact of the programme on students’ empathic attitudes, social values, and interpersonal behaviours. The evaluation is being carried out by the UNESCO Child & Family Research Centre (Prof. Pat Dolan & Dr Charlotte Silke) and the School of Education (Dr Niamh Flynn & Emer Davitt) at NUI Galway. The full, evaluated programme will be available as a free resource to schools in Ireland from September 2020.           The launch, which was also attended by youth advocates for empathy education, provided an opportunity to showcase the Youth as Researchers Video Resource Library for Schools and Community Groups, developed in collaboration with Foróige, narrated by Cillian Murphy. The event is part of a broad focus of the UNESCO Chair in extending the broader ethical education of youth in national and international settings in collaboration with UNESCO.        Commenting on the event, actor and Centre Patron Cillian Murphy said: “You can’t really be an actor without employing empathy as a very important tool in your arsenal. In supporting this education programme which we are launching today, my hope is that it will help young people see that everyone has a different story and everyone’s story is valuable.” -Ends-

Next Monday night (27th January) Claire Byrne will host the biggest Election 2020 leaders debate of the campaign so far. For the very first time RTÉ will broadcast a special leaders debate live from NUI Galway.  The seven political parties leaders joining Claire on stage for the major two hour live debate will be: Mary Lou McDonald (Sinn Féin), Leo Varadkar (Fine Gael), Brendan Howlin (Labour), Micheál Martin (Fianna Fáil), Richard Boyd Barrett (Solidarity / People Before Profit), Eamon Ryan (Green Party) and Roísín Shortall (Social Democrats).   The leaders will also face questions from an audience of over 300 people independently selected by RED C Research polling company.  Speaking ahead of the huge broadcast, presenter Claire Byrne said: "I am really looking forward to bringing the national debate to Galway. I want voters to get a clear picture of what each party is offering. We'll be teasing out the key policies with the seven leaders with the sole aim of giving voters the information they need before they head to the polling booth on February 8th." This is the second time a major leaders debate has been broadcast outside of Dublin, following RTÉ's successful debate at the University of Limerick in 2016.  Welcoming the broadcast from Galway, President of NUI Galway Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh said: “NUI Galway is for the public good, belonging to the people and for society.  We’re delighted to partner with RTÉ to bring this important debate to Galway. The University is 175 this year, and our city is European Capital of Culture, so it’s fitting that the leaders of our country’s parties will meet here to outline their visions for the future of the nation.  We look forward to welcoming them to the West at this important moment of decision-making in our nation’s history.” The programme will be available to watch live on RTÉ One, RTÉ News Now and worldwide on the RTÉ Player. Claire Byrne Live Leaders Debate, Monday 27th January at 9.35pm - Ends -