Fellow, Lecturer, School of Food Science & Environmental Health, City Campus

Email: Ciara.Walsh@TUDublin.ie

Stackable Postgraduate Programmes in Brewing and Distilling 

The Irish Drinks Industry contributes over €2.6 bn to the Irish Economy and employs  ∼92,000 individuals. There has been significant growth in the drinks sector in recent years, in particular with regard to alcohol exports (sold on 140 markets world-wide).  In more specific terms, there were 93 breweries and 45 distilleries reported nationally in 2018, compared to 15 breweries and 4 distilleries a decade previous (2008). Despite this rapid growth, there are currently no taught postgraduate qualifications from higher level educational institutes available nationally in brewing and distilling – with interested employees travelling abroad for training.  

TU Dublin has well established links with the drinks industry, and Ciara’s fellowship will focus on the co-creation of industry-focused postgraduate programmes, through engagement with stakeholders. Notably, it will focus on the provision of stackable programmes which are flexible and accessible, and deliver modules identified by the drinks sector as important for upskilling, re-skilling, and even business start-up. Moreover, Ciara’s fellowship will seek to identify knowledge gaps, skills deficiencies, and sector specific challenges and opportunities; to ensure the new programmes are comprehensive and all-encompassing. This will be done through the circulation of surveys, industry interviews, attendance at industry events, and engagement meetings. 

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