UCD COVID-19 EMERGENCY FUND
Many students have struggled to deal with the challenges arising from the campus closure and the restrictions on their day-to-day lives. Philanthropic support can help ensure that students experiencing disadvantage, hardship, or psychological stress will have the resources they need to excel in their education at UCD.
MENTAL HEALTH
The University has a duty of care to protect the mental health of our students. We recognise that this is now more important than ever, when vulnerable students may be suffering from extreme psychological stress, financial hardship, or managing ongoing conditions. UCD Foundation hopes to fund a minimum of three student advisors, and provide on-campus resources to support students who may be affected by the current crisis. Your support will be crucial in making this happen.
STUDENT HARDSHIP SUPPORTS
The current pandemic will leave a great number of current and prospective students in urgent need of financial aid. UCD supporters will likely recall our feature on Engineering graduate, Colin Keogh in last year’s donor impact report.
Colin’s story highlights the impact of student support on individuals and their families. But the programme’s real impact is far greater and wide reaching. Colin is currently leading the global Open Source Ventilator initiative in response to Covid-19. This creative effort to allow life-saving ventilators to be produced quickly and easily anywhere in the world using 3D printing has the potential to save tens of thousands of lives.
We cannot afford to lose the potential of UCD students just like Colin, whose impact on the world right at this moment could be transformative.
ADAPTING OUR LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR A CHANGED WORLD
This is a stressful time for our students as they adapt to a new way of living, a core element of which will be digital transformation.
Students face challenges like broadband access/disruption, lack of privacy to study, lack of equipment, increased caring responsibilities, job losses and illness. It is vital to ensure that students experiencing disadvantage will have the resources to purchase the necessary technology to excel in their courses in a virtual environment.
We are working hard to make a host of support services available to staff and students, such as virtual tutoring, virtual career services and virtual onboarding for new students globally. Here in Belfield, we must establish a new normality that includes enhanced automated access to buildings, and the availability and visibility of wall-mounted hand sanitiser dispensers throughout campus.
UCD’S ONGOING COVID-19 RESPONSE
UCD is at the forefront of the response to this pandemic. We want to support the selfless dedication of academic staff and students of UCD schools working on the front line to save lives by funding materials costs for making PPE and hand sanitiser on campus, as well as supporting other priorities as they arise. We want to ensure that we all play our part in making a meaningful difference. Your support in this effort is vital.