Wexford Student Wins Regional Award at Global Undergraduate Awards

Aoibhín Ní Gleasáin, an undergraduate student from Wexford, has been awarded the prestigious regional title in the 2025 Global Undergraduate Awards (GUA), a global platform that recognises excellence in undergraduate research. Aoibhín, who studies at the University of Galway, secured the regional win in the History category for her research project, ‘Ireland's Missed Opportunity: The 1951 Mother and Child Scheme in Comparative Context’ . The award was presented at the All-Ireland Summit held on October 9th, 2025, at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. The Global Undergraduate Awards program is the world’s leading academic awards programme for undergraduate research, receiving over 2,400 submissions from 348 universities across 99 countries. Aoibhín’s project was selected following an extensive judging process involving 500 experts and she was one of the highest-performing regional winners. In total, 10 other Irish students were recognised in various categories, with two Global winners from Trinity College Dublin and five Highly Commended submissions from institutions such as University College Cork, University of Galway and Trinity College Dublin. Jim Barry, Chairman of The Global Undergraduate Awards, praised the students for their outstanding academic achievements, noting that each winner's submission reflected the creativity, ambition, and intellectual curiosity of today’s student generation. He also highlighted Ireland’s strong presence in the awards, emphasising the country's excellence in higher education. The All-Ireland ceremony, which also celebrated GUA’s longstanding partnership with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, showcased Ireland's commitment to nurturing exceptional talent. The event was sponsored by VentureWave, a leading impact investment firm based in Ireland. For more information on all the winners of the 2025 Global Undergraduate Awards, please visit the official GUA website .