Renewable World is delighted to announce that Declan Arthur from Waterford has been awarded the inaugural Ciaran King Graduate Travel Scholarship by the DIT Foundation which will allow him to support the work of Renewable World.
The Scholarship scheme was established to honour the memory of the late Ciarán King – engineer, environmentalist and social entrepreneur and provides the opportunity for a DIT graduate to spend three months working on renewable energy projects in a developing country. Declan will be based in Nairobi supporting our East Africa Programme Manager with the development of our renewable energy projects within the region.
An engineer by profession, Ciaran King was committed to environmental issues and believed strongly in the potential for renewable energy to alleviate poverty and promote income generation in developing countries. Having spent several years teaching and volunteering on projects in East Africa, he returned to Ireland where he lectured in DIT and later in UCD. He went on to establish his own business based on his interests in energy and, among his many achievements, made a significant contribution to the development of specialist techniques for analysing wind resources.
Declan Arthur visited Dublin Institute of Technology to be congratulated by Dr. Mike Murphy, Director and Dean of the College of Engineering and Built Environment and Ms Siobhan Broughan, Development Manager of the DIT Foundation. He also had an opportunity to meet with Ms King and Ciarán’s partner, Ms Isolde Harpur. Wishing Declan every success, Ms Harpur praised the generosity of the donor who had not only honoured Ciarán’s memory but had facilitated this opportunity for a DIT graduate to follow in his footsteps. “Ciaran lived life by his own strong principles. He was hugely interested in making the world a better place and he made a significant contribution, but in his own quiet way. I wish Declan every success in taking on this challenge in Ciarán’s name.”
Declan Arthur (centre), winner of Ciaran King Graduate Travel Scholarship, with (l to r), Siobhan Broughan, DIT Foundation; Aoife King; Isolde Harpur; and Dr. Mike Murphy, DIT
Following a 25-year career in industry and the NGO sector, Declan Arthur returned to study at DIT last year, graduating in October with a Masters degree in Applied Media. Now, four months later, the Waterford native is preparing to depart for Nairobi. “It was a privilege to meet Aoife and Isolde to hear about the man who inspired this Scholarship and to understand how much his work meant to him. Working in a developing country is something I have always wanted to do, so I am really looking forward to this challenge.”
Renewable World is excited that Declan will be joining our organisation and is looking forward to working with him to utilise his skills from both the private and not-for-profit sectors to develop our East Africa programme further and transform the lives of more people living without access to energy in the region.
DIT FOUNDATION is a registered charity, which encourages philanthropic support for DIT to enhance the resources that can be offered to future generations of students.