John Windle, WIT Novus Senior Manager, has been unanimously ratified onto the Student Sport Ireland Board of Directors. John is from Waterford City.

Student Sport Ireland is the governing body of third level sport in Ireland the organisation works to enhance student health and well-being through increasing participation in sport and physical activity in third level colleges in Ireland. John will take up the role of National Children’s Officer an imperative element within Student Sport Ireland.

Speaking following his appointment John outlined how he was “delighted to represent WIT on the board and I look forward to using it as platform to promote and develop student sport not only in WIT but across all third levels institutes”.

John has extensive knowledge in child protection from his experiences in coaching swimming and athletics as well as being responsible for large group activities for children. John has completed his Safeguarding Level 1 and 3 as well as his TULSA Children’s First E-Learning Programme course.

As a Senior Manager within WIT Novus, John is responsible for the management of several divisions within the company including the WIT Arena Manager, WIT Head of WIT Vikings Sport and Manager of WIT International Summer Business. These roles along with John’s 16 years’ experience working in the Fitness and Sports Industry, has provided him with a wide range of knowledge in Finance, Governance, Human Relations and Health and Safety and Child Protection.

Over 300 people from industry across Ireland attended WIT’s hugely successful Lean Forum last year. Booking is now open for this year's event and each of the workshops sells out quickly so early registration is advised

The 7th Annual WIT Lean Enterprise Excellence Forum will take place in the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) Arena on Thursday, 9 May 2019 and will feature subject matter experts and experienced industry practitioners who will present on core Lean themes.

The forum will be of interest to organisations of all sizes and from all sectors that have adopted or will adopt Lean thinking and practices to enable and sustain competitiveness in national and global marketplaces. It is run in association with RIKON, WIT, the South East Lean Network, Lean Business Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Lean Construction Ireland (LCi).

According to Darrin Taylor, co-founder and co-director of the Lean Academy of Lean Enterprise Excellence, “This industry-academia conference focuses on best practices and cutting-edge developments in lean enterprise, operational, and process excellence; Lean thinking and practices; and continuous improvement.”

The forum will feature Keynote Speaker Professor Peter Hines; a prominent global thought leader in Lean and award-winning author who said, “I am as ever really looking forward to the WIT Lean Forum. It is by far my favourite conference of the year, full of genuine people looking to share freely their knowledge with other organisations. I am happy to be part of this gathering and will discuss my new book The Essence of Excellence.”

The Annual WIT Lean Enterprise Excellence Forum is distinctive for featuring organisations of all sizes - from large Multinationals to SMEs and Micro Enterprises. Repeat attendee and guest speaker Dr Noel Hennessey (Principal Consultant SA Partners, M.D. Practical Lean Solutions) says that “irrespective of where you are on your Lean Journey, attending the WIT Lean Forum will definitely accelerate you’re learning, within insights garnered from both an academic and practical perspective.”

This is a free and open all-day conference. Places are limited, and it is strictly a ticket-only event available from WIT Lean Forum.

Booking is now open at www.witleanforum.com.

The growing interest in the study of spirituality across the world is one of the significant signs of our times. In line with this development an historic international conference on 'Spirituality in Society and the Professions' has been announced and will take place in Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) on 16-18 May 2019.

The topic of the conference is related to the Routledge International Handbook of Spirituality in Society and the Professions edited by Laszlo Zsolnai and Bernadette Flanagan. This original book will be launched at the conference by Michael Comyn, RTE.

The conference has attracted speakers from the US, Australia, Hungary, Belgium, Spain, Rome, Norway, the Netherlands, the UK, and Ireland, some of whom are contributors to the book. It intends to show how professions have already, and can in the future, gain a good deal in insight and wisdom by embracing spirituality in their working models and practice. In this way they will be a form of spiritual capital for personal, social, and planetary wellbeing.

Dr Michael O'Sullivan and Prof Bernadette Flanagan, who are recognised international leaders in the field of spirituality studies in higher education, and lead the WIT MA in Applied Spirituality which takes place in Dublin, are delighted to be involved in the organising of this conference at WIT because it shows how a university level institute of Technology in the South East, an education and research Institute of Spirituality in Dublin, and a European Institute for Spirituality in Economics and Society based in Hungary can come together to serve the spiritual quest of people in society and the professions.

"This is the first time in this country that such a number of high level spirituality publications will be launched on the same day," said Dr O'Sullivan. "My hope is that an outcome of the conference and the book launches will be to attract more people to do the MA in Applied Spirituality, as well as to add to the graduates that Bernadette and I have worked with in recent years who have been publishing, presenting at conferences, and/or going on to do PhDs in spirituality".

There is evidence of the increasing recognition that spirituality is a dimension in almost every sphere and aspect of social life. The conference aims to discuss the most important issues, frameworks, and problems regarding spiritually-related activities in different fields of social life.

Chapters in the book behind the conference highlight that spirituality-based new approaches and models for the professions are being explored in different societal fields, including religion, psychology, philosophy, theology, ecology, agriculture, water, landscape and urban planning, tourism, medicine, psychological counseling, sociological work, nursing, sport, health, economics and business, management, leadership, politics, law, policing, science, architecture,technology and design, fashion, literature, visual arts, music, theatre, film, dancing, martial arts, media, and education.

"We are also delighted that at this conference some of our spirituality graduates will launch their books while others will present papers," added Prof Flanagan.

The Design Challenge Waterford winning entries exhibition opens on Tuesday, 2 April (6.30pm) in the Waterford Institute of Technology’s Granary campus in Waterford city and runs from to Monday, 8 April.

The exhibition is part of a Waterford Cultural Quarter Design challenge, which is a research, collaboration with WIT’s Creativity & Culture Research Group in the School of Humanities, main project partners Waterford City and County Council and Garter Lane Arts Centre, together with support from Local Enterprise Office, Institute of Designers in Ireland, Design and Craft Council of Ireland, Creative Ireland and local community groups and industries.

The exhibition includes a diverse range of exciting design proposals from sixteen students in year four of the BA (Hons) in Design (Visual Communications) and two year five of the BArch (Hons).

The design proposals address specific challenges encountered by the groups and individuals within the Waterford Cultural Quarter. These challenges were highlighted within the project's totally inclusive public consultation process.

This exhibition stage of the competition is open to public vote and national jury, with the winning design proposal then being implemented within the Cultural Quarter.

Katherine Collins, Waterford Cultural Quarter Project Manager said, “Waterford City and County Council worked in a collaborative partnership with WIT and Garter Lane Arts Centre to examine the opportunities and challenges faced by the Cultural Quarter community, with assistance from Creative Spirits, our URBACT (EU) programme. Through the work of the students and their mentors we can see how our creative city can be defined by citizenship, openness & tolerance, and how it can support innovation, initiative and activity. We look forward to bringing the winning design forward to fruition and commend our partners and the students on the high quality and professionalism of their approach to design led solutions”.

Máire Henry, Head of Department of Architecture, commented that ‘Cultural quarters serve a diverse range of people groups and activities. The projects presented by the two students of architecture are enterprise based and open to all. They are embedded in the fabric of the O’Connell street area and resonate with the history of the area whilst imaging a future which provides more permeability and connection with the Quay and adjoining areas. Both projects respond to their individual briefs but add an extra dimension by creating ‘free space’ for the general public to ‘linger’ and socialise’.

Design Lecturer Joy Rooney noted that ‘this research project has a design led approach. It addresses real challenges shaping the Cultural Quarter today, as voiced by the community there. Our rapidly urbanising world has brought a rich cultural diversity to this historic precinct. Looking to the future, many sustainability challenges will unfold for this maritime city. Innovative design proposals from our students are directly informed by feedback from the community and project mentors. The designs are exhibited for consideration, with the winning proposal emerging as a tangible, creative action for the community’.

Another design collaborator Dr Fiona Dowling feels that the Design Challenge in O’Connell Street presents many opportunities for the design students to experiment and consider the wider implications that design has for a city space. The multi-disciplinary approach with Visual Communication and Architecture working on a collective brief has been a first and one, which links with the over-arching aim of the project to create a collaborative environment. The outreach for WIT Design to link with local groups and partners in the Waterford’s Cultural Quarter has been one of support and mutual growth which will be built on going forward.

For more information on the Design Challenge project visit: www.designchallengewaterford.ie.

Ensuring a safe and secure night-time experience is essential for any city to prosper. The internationally recognised Purple Flag accreditation, which Waterford first received in 2015, is due to be re-assessed in early April and the stakeholders are putting every effort into delivering a positive outcome for the city.

According to Chair of the Waterford Purple Flag Working Group Eric O’Brien, “Having Purple Flag status it very important for Waterford as it recognises the commitment to a safe and secure night time experience. It recognises business and stakeholder group contributions towards making Waterford the best it can possibly be and is supporting the great progress that has been made already in Waterford.”

Purple Flag is a gold standard accreditation for evening and night time economy accredited by the Association of Town and City Management (ATCM) and looks at the wellbeing, movement, appeal and sense of place within a city centre, with successful locations able to demonstrate a variety of initiatives aimed at attracting visitors to the area during the evening and night. Within the Purple Flag zone you’ll find a diverse range of entertainment on offer in a well-managed and welcoming environment.

Waterford City will be reassessed by independent assessors from ATCM in early April and in preparation for the judges visit, the committees are actively carrying out inspections of areas and projects to ensure standards are met.

According to Waterford Chamber CEO Gerald Hurley, who is Co-ordinator of Purple Flag Waterford, “Our stakeholders are determined to retain the Purple Flag status for Waterford and are working towards a common goal of continually improving standards. We have a vibrant and varied night time economy here in Waterford and particularly as we head towards the tourist season, we need to make sure that our community and visitors can enjoy a great and safe night out.”  

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Island of Ireland Peace Choir. A spark was lit in the Sport's Hall of St. Angela's Secondary School Waterford on Thursday 11th of March when students from the Peace and Justice Group gave a special peace award to Claire Gallagher, a then 15 year old student who was blinded by the bombing in Omagh the previous August. 

That night, students from the Folk Choir were joined by students in Claire's school, Loreto Omagh, for a recital of 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. A connection was made between 2 groups of people that would continue to this day.

Over the past 20 years, the choir have travelled far and wide, from Sri Lanka, to Messines to Auschwitz to Government Buildings Stormont to the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, carrying our message of hope through our music to places synonymous with suffering and persecution. Our distinctive sound reveals how discord and division can give way to something more unifying. On the first Friday of each month, the choir gather in the Edmund Rice Chapel, Waterford for our monthly Taize Vigil. 

We invite you to a short concert to mark our 20th Anniversary on Saturday, 30th March in the Garden Room, Waterford Treasures, The Mall, Waterford from 3.15pm to 4.30pm. We will be joined by members from all over the island of Ireland, past and present for a recital of some of the iconic songs that have shaped our message over the years. 

The Munster Regional Final for the 2019 Irish Restaurant Awards took place in the Strand Hotel, Limerick, last night where awards were presented to the country’s leading chefs, restaurants and pubs.

Over 550 people attended the third of four regional events on Wednesday evening, where the top establishments in each county were named.

The awards covered a wide range of venues and the winners from each of Munster’s six counties were selected from the following categories: Best Casual Dining, Best Emerging Irish Cuisine, Best Kids Size Me, Best ‘Free From’, Best World Cuisine, Best Restaurant Manager, Best Wine Experience, Pub of the Year, Best Café, Best Customer Service, Best Gastro Pub, Best Hotel & Guesthouse Restaurant, Best Newcomer, Best Chef and Best Restaurant. There was also a special Regional award for Munster’s Local Food Hero.

Speaking at the awards, Adrian Cummins, Chief Executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) said: “Now in their 11th year, the Irish Restaurant Awards continue to showcase the incredible food that is on offer in the cafes, pubs and restaurants of Ireland, as well as recognising the teams behind these establishments and the hard work and dedication that they put in. With well over 90,000 nominations received from the public this year, the standard for the judging process was higher than ever.

Ireland may be a small country, but it boasts everything from fine dining to high quality gastropubs, from the comfort of traditional Irish food to exploring the world though exotic world cuisine, the Irish restaurant industry has much to offer. We have an appreciation for what we eat and where our food comes from, as well as the dedication of those working in the food industry”.

All of those who won in Waterford at county level will now compete for the Regional and All Ireland Titles, which will be announced at the Irish Restaurant Awards. These will be held in the Clayton Hotel, Dublin on Monday 13th May, 2019.

Best Restaurant – Sponsored by Tindal Wine Merchants

• Waterford: The Tannery Restaurant

Best Chef – Sponsored by Nisbets

• Waterford: Peter Everett of Everretts Restaurant

Best Newcomer

• Waterford: Everett's Restaurant

Best Hotel and Guesthouse – Sponsored by AIB Merchant Services

• Waterford: The House Restaurant at Cliff House Hotel

Best Restaurant Manager– Sponsored by BWG Food Service

• Waterford: Kamila Bystrzonowska of Momo Restaurant

Best Customer Service – Sponsored by Lockton

• Waterford: Momo Restaurant 

Best Café – Sponsored by Illy

• Waterford: Coach House Coffee

Pub of the Year – Sponsored by Jameson Caskmates

• Waterford: An Uisce Beatha

Best Wine Experience – Sponsored by Gilbeys with Bibendum

• Waterford: La Boheme Restaurant & Winebar

Best Gastro Pub – Sponsored by Elavon

• Waterford: Geoff's Cafe Bar

Best World Cuisine

• Waterford: KYOTO

Best “Free From” – Sponsored by Peroni Nastro Azzurro Gluten Free

• Waterford: GROW HQ

Best Kids Size Me

• Waterford: No. 9 Café

Best Local Food Hero – Sponsored by Rewarding Times

• Waterford: Colin Jephson of Ardkeen Quality Food Store

Best Local Food Hero, Munster – Sponsored by Rewarding Times:

• Chad Byrne of Chef Collab

Best Emerging Irish Cuisine – Sponsored by Odaios

• Waterford: Seagull Bakery

Best Casual Dining – Sponsored by Just Eat

• Waterford: Bodega

The Chair of IOSH Ireland South Eastern District, cordially invites businesses to attend the following FREE evening event: Chemicals, OSH and Brexit Evening Seminar

Date: Thursday, 28th March 2019

Time: 7:00 PM – 8.30PM

Venue: Newpark Hotel, Castlecomer Road, Kilkenny

Overview

This seminar aims to inform Irish companies who use and supply chemicals of the possible implications of Brexit on their business.

The combined knowledge and experience of the speaker makes this seminar an opportunity not to be missed. The seminar is free of charge but space is limited, so please book to ensure your place.

Speaker: Dr. Michael Gillen

Michael is a Senior Executive with BioPharmaChem Ireland (BPCI) where he has responsibility for environment, health & safety. He is also the head of occupational health & safety (OHS) policy in IBEC.

Michael worked as a development chemist in the pharma-chemical industry before joining the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) as an inspector. He has worked with IBEC since February 2000.

He is Deputy Chairperson of the Board of the Health and Safety Authority in Ireland. He is Chairperson of the REACH taskforce of the European Fine Chemicals Group and he is also an employer representative on the European Commission’s Advisory Committee on Safety & Health.

What's in it for you?

Information and knowledge of the implications of Brexit as well as CPD and Networking opportunities.

Who should attend

Irish Companies and Individuals who use and supply chemicals.

This event will be of particular interest to business owners, safety managers, safety officers and people involved in the management of chemicals and chemical related activities in all sectors

What you need to know

This event is strictly limited to 40 people owing to facility constraints, so please register early to avoid disappointment by contacting This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Cill Barra Community Sports Centre has achieved a phenomenal weight loss total during their eight-week Operation Transformation Challenge.

The Operation Transformation journey began in early January for over eighty participants. Those who signed up were given guidance from mindset expert Shane O’Sullivan of Inspiring Excellence, nutrition expert, local Dietician Brendan Cullinanne and fitness expert, David Phelan from the Cill Barra Community Sports Centre. The talks from the health panel focused on the importance of making small changes daily to help improve overall health and wellbeing.

The leaders and participants achieved a staggering 731.5lbs weight loss after exercising and eating well over the course of 8 weeks. Leader Pat Scahill has felt the benefits of the programme. “I’m looking and feeling better, my clothes size has gone down, and my belt is gone back a notch.” Caroline Sealy had her own thoughts on the programme. “Lovely people turned up every week to spur us on. As a result, new friendships were made.”

According to Sinead Brannigan, Cill Barra Community Centre Manager, the programme has been a massive success for the centre. “All the leaders and participants got their rewards for committing to the programme. Everyone involved from start to finish made new friends, learned new skills and made healthy changes along the way too. This programme has definitely brought people together and encouraged them to think a little more about introducing small healthy changes to their lifestyles.”

When the centre started the challenge, it set a collective weight loss goal of 1,000 lbs. Sinead spoke about that adventurous goal, “We reached a massive 731.5lbs – almost 333 bags of sugar. We know that we set ourselves a massive challenge, but we can honestly say that we have helped a very large group of people to make a change for the better. We can hold our heads up high and say that we have acted to make people more aware of the small steps that they can take to benefit their health and wellbeing.”

Sinead acknowledged the support of the business community, “Without doubt this programme would not have happened if it wasn’t for the support of local businesses that are passionate about supporting a healthier Waterford city. Ball Cooperation, Jack Molloy, Walsh’s Bakehouse, Mulligans Pharmacy, UPMC Whitfield, Waterford Area Partnership, and the Department of Sport and Exercise Science in Waterford Institute of Technology all got behind the initiative whole-heartedly and we’re very grateful for their invaluable support, advice and expertise.”

The Operation Transformation Challenge was part of the centre’s new “focus on fitness” initiative for 2019, which aims to get the local community fit and healthy, while having fun in a relaxed group setting.

New ‘Keep Fit’ sessions will replace the Operation Transformation programme starting Monday, March 25th at 6.45pm. This new session is suitable for beginners and people that finished the Operation Transformation programme. It includes a weekly weigh in and exercise session. It costs €20 for 4 weeks.  

Cill Barra Community Centre has also developed Over 55’s Workouts. These workouts are aimed at older adults looking to stay mobile and fit. Join them on Mondays at 9.30am for this session, tea and coffee included.

If you wish to find out more information about gym memberships or lunchtime fitness classes, call 051-350800 for more information or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..