Knowing What We Know Symposium on Competencies, Careers, Education and Society

Posted on: 23 April 2013

The relationship between education choice and eventual career path was explored at a Trinity College symposium entitled “Knowing What We Know – Competencies, Careers, Education and Society”.

The event brought together experts from the world of education, industry and the public sector to investigate the way in which education within a certain discipline supports the development of successful, but sometimes unexpected, careers.

The results of the Knowing What We Know comparative study in student cohort problem solving techniques were also launched at the event in Trinity Long Room Hub. Funded by the Irish Research Council, the cross-disciplinary comparative study looked at the problem-solving techniques utilised by students from five different disciplines in Trinity College.

Principal investigator Dr Kathleen McTiernan, Assistant Professor in Clinical Speech and Language Studies with the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, said: “The results of the study indicated that the students from these five disciplines have very distinctive ‘ways of knowing and approaches to problem solving.  Two discipline-specific models of teaching, which specifically reward knowledge transferability and innovation, were identified.”

Keynote speaker at the event was Professor Aidan Halligan, a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, who served in the UK Department of Health as Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England and is currently Director of Education at University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

The following speakers also made presentations and participated in panel discussions at the symposium: Professor Juergen Barkhoff, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub, Juan Camacho, Organisational Learning Technologist with Intel Corporation, Tony Donoghue, Head of Education, Social and Innovation Policy in the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, Dr Jennifer Edmond, Director of Strategic Projects, Faculty of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences at Trinity College Dublin,  Dr Nicholas Johnson, Assistant Professor of Drama and Artistic Director of the Painted Filly Theatre, Mark Little, CEO and Founder of Storyful, John Lynch, Partner at Lane Clark & Peacock, Dr Mary Mulvihill, CEO of Ingenious Ireland, Terry Neil, Company Director and Board Member for UMB, and Professor Ian Robertson, Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin and the founding Director of Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience.