Dublin City University

Héctor Muiños has always known he wanted to be a writer but it was a job offer with Ernest and Young, and not education, that brought him to Ireland and subsequently to DCU’s Master’s in Creative Writing.

“When I came here I was surprised and overjoyed with the amount of great writers Ireland has. I thought I could not have landed in a better place,” he said.

Héctor did his undergrad in Business in Spain and during his Erasmus year in Scotland he improved his English.

He came to Ireland in 2016 to work for EY and said, “I really did a lot of work on my English and I figured out that language is just a vehicle for someone to be a writer, but it does not necessarily define you as a writer.”

“I had always known I wanted to be a writer. Writing in a language that is not your own is something quite challenging. I had to decide whether to go back to Spain and study or to remain in Ireland to become a writer.”

He searched online and discovered that DCU had launched its Master’s in Creative Writing. “It had great lecturers and I decided to apply.”

He says wanting to become a writer “is something that is beyond language and the fact that I was living here and finding out that DCU had this programme, it was an opportunity, I thought I had to give it a go.” He was accepted onto it as a one year fulltime student.

Héctor had to produce a piece of writing for each module, a final assignment and a dissertation. The latter was 15-20,00 words in length.

His dissertation, about Irish scientist John Tyndall, has become the inspiration for his first novel, a work of historical fiction, that he continues to work on.

Having decided to remain in Ireland and to study for his Master’s in Creative Writing, Héctor said Ireland has so many poets “like Yeats and Heaney, and prose writers like James Joyce (and) more modern writers like John Banville or Colm Tóibín; I was so happy to be here and to be in the company of such great names. It was a true inspiration.”

Jenny Earley’s career path had taken some unexpected turns before she found herself taking on DCU’s MSc in Health and Social Inclusion.

She works as a social worker in the GUIDE sexual health clinic at St James’s Hospital in Dublin. Originally she imagined herself working abroad, having completed the MA in International Relations at DCU.

However, the pandemic sent her in a new direction and she had to look closer to home. “I applied for work in St James’ as I felt this was an area where social workers can offer support when patients are at their most vulnerable. I was very fortunate to have ended up in GUIDE!”

The job can range from organising counselling to helping patients to find suitable housing, and the hospital was dealing with increasing numbers of Ukrainian and other refugees. Jenny needed new skills to better help marginalised people who were seeking treatment. “A lot of the barriers are system barriers, they’re national barriers. So I wanted to get the tools to be able to hopefully implement something in our clinic.”

Jenny applied for the MSc in Health and Social Inclusion, a brand new course offered by DCU’s School of Nursing, Psychology and Community Health. She was impressed by the lecturers who were passionate about promoting inclusivity and empowering the students to make a positive impact. Meanwhile, the guest lecturers generously shared their experiences and provided practical advice.

The programme allows the students to explore issues that have real-world applications. Jenny’s dissertation focused on trauma-informed care. She says this involves “being aware that people might have traumas that we're unaware of” and adjusting the way they are treated to ensure that “the environment is more inclusive so that nothing triggers them further.”

Another element she enjoyed was the independent study module which allowed her to pursue an area of interest. For Jenny, this was an opportunity to look at how people working in the social care sector manage self-care. “Social workers are good at looking at supports needed for other people and making sure everyone else looks after themselves but I think sometimes you can neglect your own self-care,” says Jenny.

“Life-changing” is how Iranian couple Merhdad Lashgari and Elham Mohammadi describe their experience at DCU as part of its University of Sanctuary programme.

The couple, who came to Ireland as international protection applicants, both received master’s degrees on Friday at the University’s Spring Graduation ceremony in The Helix. Elham graduated with an MSc in Bioprocess Engineering, while Mehrdad received an MSc in Climate Change: Policy, Media and Society.

Their journey to this achievement wasn’t straightforward. Merhdad arrived in Ireland in 2019 as an asylum seeker, while Elham remained in Iran. “You know, that was difficult,” says Merhdad.

It wasn’t until two years later that Elham was granted permission to join her husband in Ireland.

Elham had a chemical engineering degree while Merhdad had a degree in Design, but neither could find work in their area. They decided that further study would advance their career prospects in Ireland, but the cost of returning to college was prohibitive. “It’s so expensive as an international student in Ireland, so it was literally impossible for us,” says Elham.

In 2022, they were both successful in getting scholarships to study at DCU, under the University of Sanctuary programme, which assists international protection applicants in pursuing their higher education goals.

When Merhdad started his MSc in Climate Change, the freedom of expression that Irish students take for granted was a real eye-opener compared to Iran. “It was mind-blowing. You could question everything.”

As a new arrival in the country, English was also an issue for Elham, but DCU’s University of Sanctuary team organised language classes to bring her up to the level needed to take on the MSc in Bioprocess Engineering.

“My course was so nice. I really enjoyed it,” says Elham. “It broadened my horizons.”

She earned a first-class honours degree, coming second in her class. However, finding work was difficult until she was put in touch with DCU Careers Service. “After 2 or 3 weeks I got an interview and I landed my first job.”

Merhdad says his degree inspired a real passion for addressing climate change issues, as well as a better understanding of Irish life. His thesis, about attitudes to solar farms in rural Ireland, led to interviews and interactions with the farming community.

After four decades working in Leinster House and in high-powered communications roles for government departments, Roisin Deasy admits that opting to do a Master’s in Political Communication could be seen as an unusual choice.

“I suppose it was cart before horse for me,” says Roisin. “I did the practical, now I was doing the theoretical.”

Her career included 17 years working in senior communications positions in the Department of Health and the Department of Housing. “I loved it. I loved the cut and thrust of it. I loved the engagement. I suppose I loved the spinning plates.”

Her job also meant she had an up-close experience of major events such as Queen Elizabeth’s state visit to Ireland. Her ‘access-all-areas’ role even gave her the opportunity for a lively chat with President Barack Obama in a Moneygall pub during his 2011 visit.

Having decided to retire after a busy career, Roisin hadn’t planned on returning to education, but attending her daughter Alex’s graduation at the Helix in DCU sparked the idea of taking on a master’s.

“She walked across the stage for graduation and like all parents, your heart is bursting with pride,” she says. “I turned to my husband Dermot and I said, I'm going to do that, I'm going to do a master's.”

Roisin looked at various courses in different universities but ultimately chose DCU’s MA in Political Communication “because it really looked the most interesting.”

A pragmatic approach was also part of her decision, as she felt her professional experience working in government departments would be a plus.

Roisin says she found that adapting her writing style was her biggest challenge. “Academic writing is very different and I had real difficulty doing it because I wrote in plain English. I suppose it's about raising your writing to another level and it's undoing what I'd been doing for over 40 years.”

The modules with a more practical focus, such as Public Relations, were the ones Roisin enjoyed the most. She also liked the modules touching on political history. “Most of my classmates were my daughter's age and to them, it's all history. But to me, I'm sitting there going yeah, I'll do an essay on that, because I can actually remember it!”