The 2025 WIP Academy Journey So Far

This year, we selected 34 inspiring and selfless young community leaders to partake in our 2025 WIP Academy program. The WIP Academy have worked extremely hard over the past 2 months on their remote work placement projects with our dedicated volunteer Work Project Coordinators and WIP Alumni:

Matthew O’Neill (Class of 2022)
Laoise Byrne (Class of 2024)
Luke Gibbons (Class of 2023)
Darragh Kane O’Toole (Class of 2022)
Cathal McParland (Class of 2022)

A special note of thanks to this year’s work placement partners:

Amy Dacey – Sine Institute for Policy and Politics in American University
Jess O’Connell – NewCo Strategies
Tara Grace Connolly – NI Human Rights Commission (Class of 2018)
Pierre Yimbog – Black & Irish
Maria Ní Fhlatharta – Center for Inclusive Policy & Disability Rights Fund (Class of 2014)

Our committed partners created an insightful and meaningful research project experience for this year’s cohort. The Academy participants researched topics varying from using AI in education, to national human rights institutions' action on climate change, the evolution and need for third spaces post-Covid, building trust and strengthening relationships between Black and Mixed-Race communities and institutions and empowering youth voice in self-advocacy in medical care.

The group met for two Development Days (Belfast and Dublin) after their orientation weekend residential, to learn about networking, advocacy and campaigning as a leader in service to local communities. A special thanks to WIP Board member George Shevlin, Matthew O’Neill, Eoghan Finn (Parliamentary Assistant in the House of the Oireachtas and WIP Class of 2019), Mary Moynihan (Smashing Times International Centre for Arts and Equality) and Caoimhe Cummins (WIP Class of 2023) for sharing their expertise through interactive speaker sessions.

Our Academy will commence the second half of their program this Summer with a series of online speaker sessions, connecting with industry and community leaders in Ireland and Northern Ireland whilst engaging an in a mentoring curriculum with WIP Alumni.

Learn more about this year’s Academy group here.