Three Galway students who began their studies at NUI Galway are winners of the 2020 Naughton Foundation Scholarship Awards
Aonghus Feeney, Louise Mahoney and Lauren McMahon were awarded a scholarship worth €20,000 by the foundation's patrons Dr Martin Naughton and his wife Carmel.
The scholarships, which support academic and innovative excellence in Irish students, is an investment in the future of Ireland's reputation as a country with outstanding graduates, and this year's three recipients have accepted courses at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Former pupils of Coláiste Bhaile Chláir, Louise Mahoney is studying engineering, while Lauren McMahon is studying electronic and computer engineering. Aonghus Fenney, a former student of St Paul’s Secondary School, Oughterard, is studying biomedical science.
The three scholarship winners Galway join 35 exceptional Irish students who were awarded third level scholarships towards their studies in the areas of engineering, science, technology and maths.
Since its establishment in 2008 scholarships worth more than €4 million have been awarded to more than 300 students. The scheme started in three counties and expanded annually to become a nationwide scheme in 2016. There is one guaranteed scholarship (€20,000 ) for each participating county, with some counties awarded more than one Sscholarship. Each scholarship is worth €5,000 for each year of a student’s three or four year undergraduate degree.
Traditionally the awards are presented by founding patrons of The Naughton Foundation, Dr Martin Naughton and his wife Carmel, but as a result of current Covid restrictions the event was deferred this year.
Speaking about the growth of the programme, Dr Martin Naughton says the foundation has been awarding scholarships to encourage and reward students for their undergraduate studies in the STEM area since 2008.
"After the difficult academic year that 2020 was, we are particularly delighted to announce this year’s scholarship winners and their schools. We are both really looking forward to celebrating with them in person next year and welcoming them to our community of over 300 scholars and alumni.”
The Naughton Foundation is also continuing to invest further in ‘Science in a Box’. The programme runs for sixth class pupils for a number of weeks during the primary school year with PhD students spending one hour each week co-teaching with the class teacher, a specific aspect of the science curriculum. For 2020, The Naughton Foundation is delighted to continue its support of this programme for 30 sixth classes in the Dublin, Meath and Louth region.
The Foundation is also continuing its support of ESB Science Blast, a programme run by the RDS which brings primary school classes from all over Ireland together in Dublin, Limerick and Belfast to display and discuss their science projects.
