The Liffey Trust is delighted to announce a new donation agreement with Dublin City University. The Dr. Séamus McDermott Entrepreneurial Scholarship at DCU will be awarded annually from 2022 to 2032 to promote the concepts of job creation, entrepreneurial development, and education for life in the minds of undergraduate student entrepreneurs.
Through the support of The Liffey Trust in honour of the incredible legacy of Dr. S McDermott’s hard work and dedication, in total, ten first-year students will receive this scholarship, worth up to €9,000 throughout the duration of their studies.
Dr. Séamus McDermott and Aidan Corless, Chairperson of The Liffey Trust, announced the new scholarship during a recent visit to DCU’s Glasnevin campus. As part of the visit, Dr. McDermott spoke to first-year students enrolled in DCU’s award-winning Learning Innovation for Enterprise (LIFE) module, who will be eligible to apply for the scholarship this year.
Séamus McDermott has had a life-long passion for supporting and encouraging entrepreneurs. Séamus founded the Liffey Trust in 1984 in order to incubate, mentor, and support entrepreneurs and community enterprises including the provision of office space. The Trust made a conscious management decision to finance all its activities through its own efforts and without support from the State, and it has done this with great success. Since its foundation, The Liffey Trust has helped more than 200 enterprises resulting in the employment of over 800 people.
Speaking on the creation of the new scholarship, Aidan Corless, Chairperson of The Liffey Trust, stated:
“We are excited to partner with DCU to create this new scholarship which honours the tremendous contribution of our founder, Dr Séamus McDermott, to entrepreneurship in Ireland. Developing and supporting entrepreneurs has been his life’s work, and so investing in the next generation of student entrepreneurs at DCU is a natural progression of his life-long commitment to entrepreneurship as the foundation of Irish economic success.”
Speaking on behalf of DCU Educational Trust, Jason Sherlock, Director of Development said:
“We welcome the vision and generosity of Dr Séamus McDermott and The Liffey Trust in creating this new scholarship to support DCU student entrepreneurs. As a university, our mission is to transform lives and societies, and our industry and philanthropic partners have always played a key role in advancing this mission and helping us to prepare our students for the future. This scholarship represents an important investment in student innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, and will make a real difference to our students with innovative ideas and entrepreneurial ambitions.”
This is now the fourth scholarship The Liffey Trust has made available to undergraduate students. The Liffey Trust provides yearly scholarships to students from University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, National University of Ireland, Galway, and now, as of this year, Dublin City University.
All 700 students who take part in DCU’s LIFE module, which introduces students to business and entrepreneurship in all its forms, will be eligible to apply in the 2022/23 academic year.
We are proud and excited about our partnership with DCU for the years ahead. The inaugural winner will be announced at a Hackathon as part of the module in April 2023.