24 participants on Dawn Meats' graduate trainee scheme have successfully completed a specially designed and delivered management programme at UCD this week.

A collaboration between UCD, UCC and Teagasc, the programme was designed and delivered by Agri-Food Advanced Professional Development (Agri-Food APD).

The 20 day face-to-face training was held over 10 months and covered elements of supply chain management, traceability, sustainability and food safety. Graduates were developed in areas of leadership, management, communication, innovation and lean business principles.

Rapidly changing sector

Speaking on behalf of Agri-Food APD, Professor Dolores O'Riordan said they were delighted to design and deliver a bespoke programme to further develop the skill set of graduates.

"The participants were selected from a range of business areas within the company and their positive feedback on the programme was very encouraging. The hope is that this is the beginning of collaborative training between academia and the food industry to up skill and develop graduates in this rapidly changing sector," she said.

Dawn Meats' HR manager Larry Keena coordinated the training along with Julie Dowsett, manager of the Agri-Food APD programme at UCD.

"We place a lot of emphasis on hiring high quality graduates and ensuring they get the best of training when they come to Dawn Meats. Dawn has a long tradition of providing management training to its young managers, and this programme is an excellent collaboration between academia and industry to ensure attendees get a strong grounding in relevant leadership and management skills.

"It has already proven to be very popular with the participants and the skills they have learned are already becoming evident," Larry Keena said.

Alltech’s Young Scientist Competition

Meanwhile, Laura O’Regan, a final year undergraduate student at the University of Limerick, has just been announced as the regional winner for Europe/Africa in the undergraduate category of Alltech’s Young Scientist Competition.

On top of her €1000 cash prize, she will present her final year research project work at the Global Phase in Lexington City, Kentucky during Alltech’s ‘ONE’ conference at the end of May. The winner will get a fully funded PhD to continue their work.

Laura’s project was on the 'effect of bone derived osteocalcin on the early calfhood nutritional control of puberty in bulls’. Specifically, Laura’s project focused on the interaction between the skeletal system, the male reproductive system and how nutrition in the first few months of life can advance the onset of puberty.

If you are interested in a career in the agri-industry, come along to the Irish Farmers Journal and open eir Agri Careers Fair, which takes place in the RDS on 3 March 2016. For more information, click here.