This article is from page 36 of the 2008-03-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 36 JPG
THE importance of continued re- search and innovation in the food industry was highlighted last week with the announcement of a major new postgraduate programme in- volving two of Ireland’s foremost universities and Teagasc.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan, last week launched the new initiative in postgraduate educa- tion in the agri-food sector. The Food Graduate Development Programme, has been allocated funding of €1.1 million for a five-year period by the Department of Agriculture under the Food Institutional Research Measure Coa OR
Pioneered jointly by Teagasc, Uni-
versity College, Dublin (UCD) and University College, Cork (UCC), the Food Graduate Development Pro- gramme will provide skills training to postgraduate students and research staff in Universities and Research institutions in Ireland engaged in FIRM food research projects.
The project is being co-ordinated by Professor Michael Gibney, Pro- fessor of Food and Health at UCD and the Director of Training is Dr Alan Kelly, Dean of Graduate Stud- ies at UCC.
“The aim of my Department, in funding the Programme, is to ad- dress the needs of the food industry by ensuring that postgraduate stu- dents and research staff engaged in food research projects gain an un-
derstanding of industry expectations and skills required for duties requir- ing rapid decisions on problem solv- ing in an industrial environment,’ said Minister Coughlan at last weeks launch.
This will complement the research skills acquired in the course of their research projects.”
Speaking after the launch, Profes- sor Mike Gibney, Professor of Food and Health at UCD, said that the overall objective of the Programme is to improve skills training through the creation of a modularised series of graduate training programmes.
Programme modules will have a strong emphasis on the skills re- quired of leaders in the agri-food sector, food industry and other re-
search institutions nationally and internationally.
Dr Alan Kelly, Dean of Gradu- ate Studies at UCC and Director of Training of the Programme, high- lighted the changing national context of postgraduate education and con- tinuing professional development, Where inter-institutional collabora- tion delivering high-level transfer- able skills allowing graduates to make the maximum impact in their careers in the knowledge economy. He described the Food programme as a pioneering model for how such programmes may develop in the fu- ne Ken
For more information on the Food Graduate Development Programme, check out www.foodpostgrad.1ie.