The inaugural UCD Festival took place on Saturday June 18, 2016 at the Belfield Campus. With more than 6,000 people in attendance there was a fantastic buzz around the Dublin 4 venue. UCD was delighted to have so many of its alumni, staff, members of the local community and friends there to experience the enormous variety of talks and exhibitions, theatrical performances, live music, interactive workshops and family entertainment. As part of the festival, the School of Engineering and Architecture ran interesting events dealing with two of the biggest socio-political issues of 2016.

Water; an engineer’s perspective

This TED-like talk was organised by the College of Engineering and Architecture and featured contributions from senior experts and leading UCD academics. The eminent former chairman of Engineers Ireland and Dublin City Engineer, Mr Michael Phillips addressed the room on the challenges of waste water treatment in Ireland and the steps that we need to take in order to secure our drinking water infrastructure for future Irish generations. Damien Owens, Engineers Ireland registrar, and Professor Micheal Bruen also gave invaluable insight, from a global and national perspective, into the topic of water provision. The talk proved to be a thought-provoking insight into the, somewhat controversial, topic of Irish water and wastewater infrastructure. See the above video to watch all of the presentations: https://youtu.be/ck3y9M-a77Y Engineering family fun There was plenty of family fun activities taking place on the day, with the foyer of the School of Engineering becoming the centre of activity. There was a Formula One car on display, the chance to watch a 3D printer in action, a Toyota Prius showcased the latest in smart-transportation technology, the legendary ‘Steam-Beam’ was back in action and visitors got the chance to ‘engineer their own pizza’, whilst being serenaded by the lively tones of the jazz society. #Risinghome exhibition The #risinghome exhibition was part of a new programme of housing research and design, established in 2016, and coming out of the UCD College of Architecture. The exhibition was officially launched at the UCD Festival, by Shelly McNamara, Grafton Architects and Dr Lorcan Sirr, DIT, with Fr Peter McVerry also in attendance. The Housing Crisis: what can we do now? Leading experts from the areas of design, procurement and policy making were asked to consider the most important actions needed to address the housing crisis. Each panellist got the chance to present a short proposal, which was followed up by a lively and engaging audience discussion. The expert panel was led by Fr Peter McVerry, architect and RIAI silver housing medallist Derek Tynan, DIT lecturer in housing studies Lorcan Sirr, Richard Waldron and Orla Hegarty from UCD APEP and Shelly McNamara of Grafton Architects. Bridges of Dublin Dublin City Council’s “Bridges of Dublin” exhibition was a visual display of contemporary and traditional bridge design, showcasing the very best in Irish architecture.