UCD Professional Diploma in Innovation for Sustainability

By the end of the Professional Diploma in Innovation for Sustainability, you will:

• Know key sustainability concepts, terms, models and policy within an Irish context;
• Know applied green skills including Carbon Footprinting, Climate Adaptation Planning, Sustainability Reporting;
• Put Innovation and Design Thinking into practice;
• Develop transversal skills including creativity, teamwork, communications, learning agility;
• Gain an innovator’s mindset;
• Build creative confidence via practical challenges;
• Build your CV with a substantial innovation project module;
• Build a peer network of friends, contacts and collaborators;
• Leave ready to apply your new skills to progress your career;
• Have a Level 9 qualification from UCD.

How To Apply

This programme is funded through the Higher Education Authority Springboard+ Initiative, with 90 – 100% funding available to eligible applicants, for full-time residents in the Republic of Ireland.

See the Springboard eligibility criteria here.

• FREE for eligible jobseekers receiving DEASP Payments
• FREE for returners to work and carers
• 90% subsidised (student pays €260) eligible individuals in employment or self-employment, and the formerly self-employed

If you are an international student or ineligible for Springboard funding, please contact a member of our recruitment team at innovation.academy@ucd.ie for assistance with direct application to the course. There is no alternative funding available for applicants who are ineligible for Springboard funding and are applying directly for this programme.

Please follow the steps below to apply for a Springboard funded place.

Step 1)

Please apply to only one of our available programme intakes below. 

• Apply for the online September intake on Springboard for 90 – 100% funding
• Apply for the online October intake on Springboard for 90 – 100% funding

Step 2)

Upload the required documents listed below:

A) Current CV

B) Letter of Motivation (one page), addressing the following:

• Why you want to do the course at this time
• What you hope to achieve from doing this course
• What you can contribute to this course

C) A copy of your academic transcript to show that you have a minimum of an Undergraduate Honours Bachelor’s Degree (NFQ Level 8, 3-4 years of study). If you previously studied at UCD, please provide your UCD student   number on a Word document/PDF. Please note a degree certificate/parchment unaccompanied by a transcript will not suffice. You need to upload your academic transcript or diploma supplement.

D) Applicants who do not have a level 8 qualification can apply through Recognition of Prior Learning.

Under UCD’s Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) policy, consideration will be given on a case by case basis to applicants who do not hold a Level 8 primary degree (Honours Bachelor’s Degree) but who fulfil either of the following criteria:

Holding a Level 7 primary degree (Pass/Ordinary Bachelor’s Degree): upload your academic transcript of your Level 7 and demonstrate min. 2 years work experience on your CV. Professional references may be required.

No Level 7/8 degree: min. 5 years work experience and 2 recently dated professional/employment references required. These should be on headed paper or from an official email address and including the referees name, role and email address.

Please review your CV to ensure that it clearly demonstrates the following:

a. Any experience of leadership and self-direction;

b. Any experience of management or entrepreneurship;

c. A description of any responsibilities that demonstrate accountability, resource management, or client engagement (if applicable).

E) If English is not your first language, an English language qualification is required. Click HERE for full English Language Requirements for UCD.

Step 3)

If you are successful, you will be offered a provisional offer.

Following provisional offers, UCD Innovation Academy will request evidence of eligibility in respect of holding a valid PPSN; Nationality; Current Residency; 3 of 5 Years EU/EEA residency; and current Employment Status between six weeks and two weeks from the stated course start date.

It is only at this point that eligibility for funding through the HEA Springboard initiative can be ascertained.

Visit our FAQs here.

As the course involves continuous assessment, students must attend all class sessions.

The rest of the course is assessed through a combination of individual and team assignments, project reports and presentations.

All courses at the Innovation Academy are developed and facilitated by our exceptional team of educators. 

The team boasts a wealth of experience from a wide variety of backgrounds. They are international entrepreneurs, doctors (both medical and academic), robotics experts, storytellers, conservationists, campaigners, and creatives.

What they all have in common is their love of the innovative, learning-by-doing approach to learning and their devotion to delivering a world-class student experience. 

Read more about the people behind this course.

• Dr Thomas Macagno Course Director.

Demand for green skills is already outstripping supply.

This course will teach you the skills you need to become your organisation’s champion in innovation for sustainability.

What industry says:

“We need to educate and arm our frontline people. Our marketing team now lead on sustainable packaging, our trading team on supply chain impact, energy usage is a key metric for our store development team.” – John Curran, Head of Sustainability, Musgraves

“Innovation and Sustainability go hand in hand.” – Cormac Madden, Environment and Sustainability Manager, ESB

ACCREDIBLE

UCD Innovation Academy is delighted to partner with Accredible in the provision of digital credentials across all of our programmes. We believe lifelong learning should be encouraged and celebrated, and digital credentials will allow you to share your accomplishments on LinkedIn and other online platforms to promote among your network. 

Students who successfully complete and pass this programme will receive a digital certificate of completion. The certificate is issued online once the UCD Exam Board sits and approves your grade. UCD Exam Board sits three times a year (Autumn, Spring, Summer trimester) and approval times vary depending on the Exam Board calendar. The certificate of completion is separate to the official parchment, which arrives in hard copy at a later date.

Real world relevance, including relevance for your career, is an integral part of this programme, supported through applied real world learning including enterprise challenges from real organisations, ongoing engagement with the world of work through external enterprise speakers, a teaching team who all bring substantial enterprise experience and a programme director with over 20 years experience in sustainability across education and enterprise.

This entire course is designed to equip participants with the job-ready skills that will help them manage innovation for sustainability with an SME, start-up, or large enterprise.

The real-world challenges that participants encounter during this course are designed to be applied to their current or future work environment, working in multi-disciplinary teams, with limited resources to prototype solutions and pitch them to senior decision-makers. If you’re in employment, this is ensures real time impact for your organisation from the programme.

The development of transversal skills is a vital part of the job readiness component of this programme: creativity, teamwork, communication skills and learning agility are threaded throughout the programme.