University College Dublin (UCD)

UCD is Ireland’s largest university and a national leader in research and innovation. Our community of world-class academics is a force for positive action in sustainability, technological and cultural advancement, groundbreaking discovery and commercialisation. We deliver research and innovation at scale and in areas of national and global significance, developing the talent pipeline and the solutions to address the world’s greatest challenges and opportunities.   

Founded in 1854, UCD is Ireland’s largest and most globally engaged university. It is ranked within the top 1% of higher education institutions worldwide and is positioned 126th in the QS 2025 World University Rankings.

UCD plays a central role in Ireland’s dynamic economy, culture, and society, with a diverse community of over 38,000 students from more than 150 countries and a global alumni network exceeding 300,000. Over the past five years, its faculty has collaborated with almost 7,000 institutions worldwide, contributing to almost 18,000 research publications. The research community at UCD has generated unprecedented success in the Horizon Europe research and innovation framework, seeing the university ranked number one in Ireland for EU-funded research and number 18 among all higher education institutions across the EU.

The university’s hub for innovation and start-ups, NovaUCD, was established in 2003 and is recognised as one of Europe’s leading start-up hubs nurturing and supporting high-tech start-ups with global potential. UCD’s Knowledge Transfer Team and managed consultancy service, ConsultUCD, are part of NovaUCD. To date, the university has supported over 550 companies and early-stage ventures through NovaUCD’s services, which include a range of business support and accelerator programmes, and the management and operation of the industry partnership centre NexusUCD, and the AgTechUCD Innovation Centre at UCD Lyons Farm. The NovaUCD entrepreneurial community has raised over €1.3 billion in equity funding over the last 20 years.

The UCD Strategy 2030 is our roadmap to break traditional boundaries in research, scholarship, and innovation. By fostering creative, interdisciplinary collaboration and forging strong partnerships, we aim to deliver transformative insights into the critical issues of our time. Our mission is to achieve breakthroughs that drive measurable impact at scale—addressing challenges such as advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and one health, and pivotal societal transformations such as energy decarbonisation.

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Website: https://www.ucd.ie/research
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