The Global Undergraduate Awards Summit 2023

The Global Undergraduate Awards aim to champion undergraduate research from around the world. Undergraduate students are able to submit their research across a range of 25 academic disciplines, and a winner from each category is selected by a panel of international academics and industry leaders.

Every year the winners and highly commended students are invited to attend a summit in Dublin, Ireland, with the chance to network with fellow winners and hear keynote speeches from academics, activists and business leaders.

This year’s event unfolded on Sunday 5 November as participants from various corners of the world arrived in Dublin. 

The summit was opened by Yemi Adenuga, Ireland’s first black female elected public representative. She delivered an inspiring keynote speech about how students have the opportunity to write their own stories and should always try to “take your disadvantage and turn it into an advantage”.

For the first two days of the summit, students had the chance to listen to keynote speakers and presentations by their fellow 2023 Global Winners. Each student had to prepare a three-minute outline of their research and present it to the rest of the delegates. The winners covered many topics, ranging from literature, maths, education, nursing and more. 

“The Undergraduate Awards are just a wonderful opportunity for undergraduate students to have their research recognised. There aren’t a lot of opportunities for undergraduates to share the work that they do; most research is really geared towards master’s and PhD programmes. So to have this opportunity to just get your research out is wonderful,” explained James Kenneth, from Western University, global winner of the classical studies and archaeology category.

In between these presentations students were able to network through challenges, games, Q&A sessions, breakout discussions and social events.

“The networking has been really incredible, getting to meet so many fantastically intelligent people from a whole range of disciplines. It’s something you don’t get at a lot of academic events or conferences in general, so it’s really been such a blessing to meet people from all walks of life, a variety of nationalities, different backgrounds and disciplines,” said Faith Caswell a student from the University of St Andrews, who was highly commended across several categories. 

In the evenings, the delegates explored Dublin, learning about the city’s history and visiting well-known locations such as the Church pub, The George and Temple Bar. 

On the second evening, the Highly Commended and Regional Winners were awarded certificates while on a group tour of the Teeling’s Whiskey Distillery.

The main event of the summit was the black-tie celebration where the winners were awarded their medals and certificates.