PROVOST’S WELCOME TRINITY TODAY 2016 Provost’s Welcome EDITOR Nicole Matthews EDITORIAL TEAM John Dillon Rachel Farrell Tommy Gavin Tom Molloy Zhanna O’Clery Sandra Rafter Nick Sparrow Contact Trinity Development & Alumni East Chapel Trinity College Dublin 2 Ireland t. +353 (0)1 896 2088 e. alumni@tcd.ie w. www.tcd.ie/alumni Publisher Ashville Media Group www.ashville.com All information contained in this magazine is for informational purposes only and is to the best of our knowledge correct at the time of print. The opinions expressed in these pages are not necessarily shared by the Trinity Development & Alumni Office or Trinity College Dublin. Fellow Alumni, Welcome to the latest edition of Trinity Today . Trinity College Dublin provides a distinctive education based on academic excellence and a transformative student experience. By our actions as an institution, we aim to advance the cause of a pluralistic, just, and sustainable society. This is what we published in our most recent strategic plan, and I think many of the alumni featured in the coming pages demonstrate this mission and it gives us all great pride to see the impact that Trinity graduates are making around the world. 2015 has seen Trinity achieve many great things — The Atlantic Philanthropies gave the largest philanthropic donation in Irish history of 138.4 million to Trinity and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), to establish a Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), and tackle the looming dementia epidemic. Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, announced the launch of a four-year pilot scheme based on Trinity’s Access Programmes (TAP) in association with Trinity, which has operated TAP for 22 years. Trinity was also ranked 1st in Europe for producing entrepreneurs according to PitchBook . On the sports field, Trinity achieved many successes across gaelic games, hockey, rowing and won its first Colours encounter since 2012 in rugby. We are particularly proud this year to feature an interview with Professor William Campbell who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in October 2015 and to hear about his journey from Trinity undergraduate to discovering the cure for river blindness. Professor Campbell is the third Trinity graduate to have been awarded a Nobel Prize, joining physicist Ernest Walton who won the Nobel Prize for splitting the atom, and Samuel Beckett for his contribution to literature. We hope to have many more. The last year has seen Trinity alumni at the heart of some of the most pressing issues of our time from politics and business to the ongoing migrant crisis. Leading businessman and current President of the Confederation of British Industry, Paul Drechsler, talks about his experience in campaigning for a Remain vote in the UK and the impact of Brexit. We discuss migration and the humanitarian crisis from the frontline with Law graduate Gráinne O’Hara. Within the arts we talk to Lenny Abrahamson about his 2016 Oscar nominations for his film Room. Author Belinda Mc Keon talks about her memories of Trinity and shares an excerpt from her latest novel Tender which is set in Trinity. We also bring you news about exciting developments on campus, including what is being planned by the Science Gallery’s new Director, Lynn Scarff, and feature an interview with our recently appointed Vice-Provost/Chief Academic Officer & Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing, Chris Morash. This year Trinity marked the centenary of the 1916 Rising by participating in RTÉ Reflecting the Rising in partnership with Ireland 2016. Our gates opened to the public for a wide-ranging collection of talks and debates featuring our leading academics, exhibitions, dramatic and musical events to commemorate the Rising. We also had a production company, Loosehorse, filming on campus for a year and they have shared their highlights of shooting the four-part documentary on RTÉ One. Trinity has over 100,000 alumni living in over 130 countries worldwide. We value our connection with all of you. We have many benefits and services available to our alumni and you will find all the details of these enclosed within these pages. I personally try and travel throughout the year to meet as many of you as possible at alumni events and it is something I enjoy very much. Over the past 12 months I’ve been fortunate enough to visit graduates in New York, Los Angeles, and San Fransciso in the US, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, London, China (Shanghai and Hong Kong), South Korea and Japan. I look forward to meeting many more of you Patrick Prendergast B.A.I, Ph.D., Sc.D. (1987) throughout the year ahead. Provost Trinity Today is now available online at www.tcd.ie/alumni 1