Board and Staff of UCDVO
UCDVO Annual General Meeting - Tuesday 28 January 2025
All friends/members of UCDVO are invited to attend our Annual General Meeting, Tuesday 28 January, 2025. 1-2pm, UCD Village, Meeting Room 5. Light refreshments will be served. We are also seeking a number of new board members with relevant experience and availability to contribute to UCDVO’s strategic direction and governance. Please read the AGM Notice where you will find the relevant form to register. And please find the relevant nomination forms for students, staff or graduates.
If you’re interested in joining the board, please contact Hilary Minch (hilary.minch@ucd.ie) or Chair of the Board James O’Brien (jobrien@forum-ids.org)
Board of Trustees
James O'Brien, Chairperson
James O’Brien is the Executive Director of the International Forum for Volunteering in Development (Forum). Prior to joining Forum he worked for VSO Ireland and volunteered with them in Rwanda and Uganda.
Dr. Helen O’Connell, Deputy Chairperson
Helen currently works as a Senior Clinical Psychologist, in the School of Psychology in UCD and also in an older adults mental health service in the HSE. Prior to training as a psychologist, Helen worked in the international development sector, both in Ireland and overseas, for ten years.
Rachel Cosgrove, Secretary
Rachel has a background in Finance, having worked in Banking for over 20 years. In 2021/2022, she did a Graduate Diploma in Design Thinking for Sustainability in UCD. Rachel first volunteered with UCDVO in 2022 as Team Coordinator on the Ukrainian project. In 2023 she was one of the Team Coordinators for the project in Assam India with Assam Don Bosco University (ADBU).
Maura McGinn, Treasurer
Maura is the Director of Institutional Research and Analytics at University College Dublin. She volunteered with UCDVO in 2013 as Team Coordinator in Tanzania and later in Haiti.
Dr. Brona Fullen
Brona is an Associate Professor in the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science. Outside of the UCDVO Programme she has volunteered as a physiotherapist in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Kathleen Cass
A qualified Irish lawyer, Kathleen has worked in the International Non Governmental Organisation sector in Asia and Europe over 16 years and has extensive international experience in governance and programme management. Since returning to Ireland in 2016, she now supports Irish NGOs on policies and procedures in order to nurture and enhance a good governance environment within their structures and comply with relevant regulatory requirements in this sector, in particular the Charity Regulatory Authority (CRA).
Dr. Jacob Eisenberg
Jacob joined UCD in 2003 and is an Associate Professor in the Smurfit Graduate School of Business, lecturing in the areas of organisaitonal behaviour, cross-cultural management and creativity. He has travelled extensively and worked in several countries.
Dr. Sunita Kaistha
With more than four decades experience in teaching and research, Sunita has also been actively involved in the development field. She is the founder of The Society for Working Life (SWL-2002) which has been working for the girl child and has partnered with UCDVO for the last two decades for its student volunteer program in New Delhi, India.
Leah Foyle
Leah is a Paediatric Dietitian in London having completed two undergraduate degrees in UCD (BSc Economics and Finance and BSc Human Nutrition). During her time at UCD, she was an active member of the UCDVO community and partook in numerous projects in Uganda and Tanzania. She acted as Team Coordinator for UCDVO projects in 2019, 2020 and 2023.
Kelvyn Fields
Kelvyn has been an active member of UCDVO since 2019, when he started his undergraduate degree in UCD in English and History, and is now the Auditor of the UCDVO Student Society, pursuing his masters in Gender, Sexuality, and Culture; following his participation in the 2024 Volunteering Programme, with MOEI, Cambodia. He is also involved with UCDVO's partner organisation Comhlámh, UCD Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, and United Against Racism.
Emma Gleeson
Emma is a Master of Accounting student in the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business. She became an active member in UCDVO in the final year of her undergraduate degree, participating in the 2023 Volunteering Overseas Programme as a student leader, becoming a member of the UCDVO Film Series Committee and taking part in the Skills in Development Education and Seeding Change courses.
Andrea O'Reilly
Andrea is a final year physiotherapy student in UCD. In 2023 she participated in the UCDVO programme as part of the Nurture Africa project in Uganda. Andrea is an active member of the UCDVO community and is currently a student leader participating in the 2024 Programme as part of a pilot education project to Cambodia with our partner MOEI.
UCDVO Staff
Hilary Minch
UCDVO Manager
Hilary joined UCDVO as Manager in July 2019 following four years as Senior Desk Officer for the Syria response in Irish humanitarian organisation GOAL. Hilary has over 13 years’ experience in the humanitarian and international development sector. She has worked in Darfur, South Sudan and Palestine and in Ireland as Middle East Regional Liaison Officer with Trócaire; Programme Officer with Aidlink; Project officer roles in Comhlámh and Dóchas.
Prior to her career in international development, Hilary worked in marketing and business development and spent three years teaching English in Japan. Hilary has an MSc in International Development; a Higher Diploma in Business Studies and a BA in English and Philosophy – all from University College Dublin.
Zoe Liston
Programme and Education Officer
Zoe originally comes from a broadcasting background, having worked in television for 11 years as both a Researcher and Producer on live television. She retrained in 2009 with an MA in Development Studies from Kimmage Development Studies Centre. Since then she has worked with Aidlink - a development NGO, and has worked with UNHCR Ireland in their Communications Department and Amnesty International in their Human Rights Education Department. Zoe joined UCDVO in 2013. Zoe also produced the radio documentary 'The Girls of Kajiado' as part of the Simon Cumbers Media Fund and participated in the Tanzania Morogoro Project in 2016 as Team Coordinator.
Zoe has an MA in International Development Studies (KDSC) Postgraduate in Arts Administration (UCD) and a BA in Fine Art: Sculpture. (Edinburgh College of Art).
Sorcha Lyne
Programme Assistant
Sorcha completed a BA in Psychology and Sociology from UL, during which she completed a volunteer placement in a rehabilitation centre for children with disabilities in Ghana. After completing her bachelor's degree, Sorcha went on to volunteer with a counselling psychology institution in Uganda, prior to conducting a research master’s in international development studies in the University of Amsterdam (UvA). While in the Netherlands, she
worked part-time with the university’s Green Office, a student-led sustainability organisation, as well as worked as a Junior Researcher with the Centre for Law and Behaviour (UvA), facilitating a project on organisational culture. Sorcha joined UCDVO as Programme Assistant in December 2023.
