Maynooth University

MU students showcase inventions at Design Show 2026 💡

Student innovators at Maynooth University (MU) showcased a diverse range of projects at 'Limitless by Design,' the Product Design and Innovation degree show, hosted by the Department of Design Innovation over the June bank holiday weekend.

The end-of-academic-year exhibition ran from May 28 to June 2 in the MU Library and featured projects from final-year students on the BSc Product Design and Innovation degree, showcasing inventions developed to address both everyday and global challenges. This year’s projects tackled a range of pressing issues, with a particular focus on health, wellbeing, agriculture and community resilience.

Using the principles of Design Thinking and user-centred research, each student explored a distinct real-world challenge. Through processes of problem definition, ideation and prototyping, they developed design solutions that were then tested and refined in real-world conditions. All products on display were original concepts developed through extensive user and market research, before being prototyped and manufactured on campus.

https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/mu-students-showcase-inventions-design-show-2026

Have Leaving Cert maths' questions got easier or harder? 🧠

Prof David Malone Director of the Hamilton Institute and Professor of Mathematics and Statistics and Dr Hazel Murray from Munster Technological University review the archives of Leaving Cert maths' papers and how it tells a fascinating story of how the exam has changed since 1925.

We often hear people telling us that the Leaving Cert was much harder in the past, but what were the exams actually like? Over the last few years we have collected Leaving Cert and Junior/Inter Cert exams, so people can find out.

https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/research/spotlight-research/have-leaving-cert-maths-questions-got-easier-or-harder

🎫Book your ticket to join Special Collections & Archives for the launch of this exhibition on a rarely seen cross-over in Irish and Spanish history in the Russell Library, 17/06/2026 [tinyurl.com/BookExileReturn]
Explore the story of Irish migrants in the seventeenth century who — largely due to the completion of the Tudor conquest and its chilling effect on the free practice of Catholicism — sought refuge within the Spanish Empire, with some undertaking the hazardous return on the “Irish Mission,” leaving extensive documentary traces in the Salamanca Archive. This launch will focus on the early years of their struggles and desires for the communities they were shaping at home and abroad, while engaging with enduring questions surrounding migration, identity, and the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in society.
Curated by Dr Laura Francis, a researcher and translator specialising in multilingualism in the early modern world in the School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures (Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies) in Maynooth University.

New study links record-breaking May heat to human-caused climate change 🌡️

MU researchers from the WASITUS group at ICARUS supported by climate scientists at Met Éireann and the World Weather Attribution (WWA), have carried out a rapid attribution study on the high temperatures between May 23-27 in Leinster and Munster.

Ireland experienced an unusually early spell of hot weather driven by an intense heat dome that developed over western and central Europe. Temperatures rose sharply over the weekend of 23-24 May, culminating in record-breaking conditions across parts of the country.

The previous Irish May temperature record of 28.4°C, set in Ardfert, Co Kerry on 31 May 1997, was exceeded by more than 2°C. Shannon Airport recorded 30.6°C on May 26, while seven additional stations, pending verification, are believed to have surpassed the previous record, with temperatures reaching as high as 30.9°C.

EPA Ireland

https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/new-study-links-record-breaking-may-heat-human-caused-climate-change

Best of luck to all students sitting the Leaving and Junior Cert examinations. 🌟 We hope you all 'fly' through them 🦅

All you need to know about new dynamic electricity tariffs 🔌

On June 1, dynamic electricity tariffs will help reduce carbon emissions and lower energy prices for consumers, writes Dr Nick Scroxton of the Department of Geography’s ICARUS.

The impacts of climate change are beginning to be felt in Ireland, driving stronger storms and wetter winters. We need to cut our CO2 emissions fast. Electricity generation accounts for about 22% of our greenhouse gas emissions, yet 11% of wind generation in Ireland is curtailed in favour of polluting fossil fuels, at a cost of €140 million a year to consumers.

https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/research/spotlight-research/all-you-need-know-about-new-dynamic-electricity-tariffs

Lovely photos of the campus yesterday taken by Daniel Balteanu 😍

How Ireland's industrial estates can help save our bees 🐝

Industrial estates are rarely seen as havens for wildlife, yet they could form a vital network of pollinator corridors across the country writes MU’s Maynooth University School of Business Dr Adele Smith-Auchmuty and Sujatha Dhanapal.

https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/research/spotlight-research/how-irelands-industrial-estates-can-help-save-our-bees

Maynooth University’s Faculty of Science & Engineering has launched 25 new ARDÚ Doctoral Scholarships, supporting the next generation of researchers across Data Science and Digital Transformation, Health and Wellbeing, and Sustainability and Climate Change.

The fully funded scholarships provide doctoral researchers with the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research addressing major global challenges.

Find out more: https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/graduate-research-academy/scholarships-funding/ardu-scholarships