Masters in Project Management students at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School presented their end-of-semester projects which raised funds and awareness for ten Irish charities.

Running since 2008, the annual module has now raised over €700,000 for Irish not-for-profit organisations.

The brainchild of Assistant Professor of Project Management Joe Houghton, the module challenges students to utilize project management skills learned in the programme in a live learning experience.

The result supports charities with needed resources including time, skills, awareness-raising and funding. Partnering with charity organisations also allows students to experience work in the non-for-profit field, an area which may be unfamiliar to many of them. The involvement offers a deep-dive into the needs of charitable organisations in comparison to corporate entities.

This year, 44 students drawn from all over the globe in this unique course chose ten charities to support. Many of the students had personal connections to the causes their charities supported.

Divided into ten study teams, the students focused on their designated charity and in total raised over €44,000 as well as awareness through social media and PR exposure. Selected organisations included ALONE, Barretstown, Concern Worldwide, Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, Irish Cancer Society, Jigsaw, LIVELife, RNLI and Suicide or Survive.

UCD Smurfit School Asst. Professor of Project Management, Joe Houghton said:

“The UCD Smurfit School experience develops our students into global citizens, aware of and attuned to the complexities facing both business and non-profits. Social innovation, sustainability and care for others is key to our student’s ethos and approach to life, and this experiential learning opportunity is so often highlighted by alumni as a highlight of their studies when they look back at their time at Smurfit.”