The UCD Innovation Academy is looking for twelve Creativity and Technology Fellows to join the Innovation Academy team. If you are excited about the potential of new technology but have not previously had the resources, space, time or encouragement to pursue your interest then these Fellowships could be just what you need! In addition to term-time fellowships we will also be offering some of our fellows the opportunity to continue with us during the summer months and receive a stipend.

The Shackleton Lounge – The place where all great adventures begin!

We are located in the Shackleton Lounge on the ground floor of the O’Brien Centre for Science. The Shackleton Lounge offers two flexible creative studios and a prototyping laboratory. In addition to these facilities, we have a significant number of resources available including Virtual Reality Headsets, 360 cameras, video making suite, 3-D Printers, Lego Mindstorms & Tetrix, EEG hardware, Intel Galileo etc.

Our vision for the Shackleton Lounge is to be an always on creative space where students can develop a deep level of expertise in areas of emerging technology and share this learning with their peers, UCD staff and with students taking Innovation Academy Modules.

Why? Excellence requires a creative culture. Big breakthroughs happen when people are in flow, they have to keep going when their learning is accelerating and things start to work. They need to have the flexibility to work continuously and intensely for extended periods of time. Great innovators like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and similar tech leaders emerged from environments where they had unlimited access to play and tinker. This mantra is carried by today’s tech leaders; Google is designed as an always on creative space.

We want the Shackleton Lounge to become a hub for student-led collaborative innovation on UCD Campus….a place where truly great (Ad)Ventures can begin!

Join us!

To support us to realise this vision, we need your help. We are seeking creative thinkers like you who can dig into our resources and identify creative ways that they can add value to the learning experience within UCD and beyond. We are seeking technology and creativity fellows who will feel at home in the Shackleton Lounge, are Ambassadors of the Innovation Academy and encourage engagement right across UCD through events, hackathons and workshops. But most of all, we are seeking people with a passion for exploring new ideas and pushing the boundaries of their thinking. 

What you will gain?

  1. Experience of working in a dynamic and creative environment with a highly experienced team.
  2. Access to new technologies and autonomy to explore their application.
  3. Opportunities to create and lead new initiatives individually and as part of a team.
  4. Opportunity to build your profile within UCD and beyond in a way that can contribute to your future career prospects.
  5. Access to the Shackleton Lounge, prototyping lab, kitchen and study space.
  6. New friends!

What do we expect of you?

  1. To understand and respect the values and culture of the Innovation Academy.
  2. To explore and master our resources, identify how they can be utilised to enhance the learning experience and share this with our team.
  3. To help build relationships between the Innovation Academy and student societies and research groups on campus.
  4. To propose new events to encourage wider engagement within the Shackleton Lounge.
  5. To provide a student voice for the Innovation Academy at various events on and off campus.
  6. To have fun!

Who we are looking for:

  1. Current UCD undergraduate, postgraduate or PhD students of any discipline.
  2. A curious mindset with a desire to play and experiment in the absence of a clearly defined outcome or reward.
  3. Initiative – a demonstrated ability to take new ideas from concept to execution.
  4. The social skills necessary to work appropriately in a team environment with shared resources.
  5. Leadership and integrity – willing to be accountable for your own decisions and desire to take responsibility for mentoring others.
  6. A fit with the values of the Innovation Academy (equality of opportunity, respect for diversity).

Innovation Academy Fellows will be mentored by our staff, including Founding Director of the Innovation Academy (Professor Suzi Jarvis) who was at the forefront of the development of the atomic force microscope (an enabling technology for the field of nanotechnology). Innovation Academy Fellowships are reviewed 4 times per year and will be re-assigned if the fellow is no longer actively involved with the Innovation Academy.

To apply, please send your CV (non-standard formats are also acceptable) and a personal statement describing your particular area of interest to eleanor.kelly@ucd.ie.

Closing date for applications is Thursday 16th March 2017.