Q3 STORY BY NUMBERS

Story by numbers

Updates from Education

SEPTEMBER 2022 INTAKE  

Our key focus for the past few months has been recruitment for our September intake which proved very strong again. In total we had over 650 domestic students commence programmes, with a high proportion of students (nearly one third) who are progressing with us - a great reflection of the positive experience they had studying with us previously.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Demand for places from international students was exceptionally high this year for the MSs in Pharmaceutical Business & Technology. (We had to defer some of the applicants to Feb 23.) Over 120 International students commenced which includes the first intake of MSc in Digital Transformation. 


Induction in Sandyford

Dublin Induction

INDUCTIONS  

Our Level 6 Pharma and Level 6 Food Dublin Induction took place on Saturday 10th September. With over 90 students in attendance, each group had their own orientation in the morning followed by a lunch together in the canteen. The afternoon included a team building exercise - part of the Learning2Learn module. This was devised by Catriona, Alexandra and Colm and facilitated by the support of the programmes managers. There was a very positive response by all who took part and really kickstarted our theme for this year – Student Engagement – as we transition back to a more blended approach post Covid.

GRAD IRELAND CAREERS FAIR 

We attended the Grad Ireland Careers fair where we showcased our newly designed stand. There was a great turn out of attendees on the day with some great conversations had regarding our level 9 programmes. Also, Ann Ryan gave a talk on Career progression in a Digital Age.

Our new stand

Our new stand

ANN'S TALK

ann grad ireland talk

A group of new starters on our MSc in Food Business and Technology with program Management and Lecturers Colm O'Connor, Alison Cummins, Jennifer Campbell and Michael Kin

Students

QQI POSTER CALL

QQI received over 130 submissions for their poster call for their for their 10th anniversary conference. We made a submission under the heading "Enterprise and Education in partnership: Connecting programmes and employability" Our submission was successful and Sandra will be giving a lighting talk at the upcoming conference.

 

PROGRAMME VALIDATION 

In addition, we have been busy with programme development firstly with our first Micro Credential programmes from our Level 6 Op Ex and IT programmes, which have been submitted to QQI and we are awaiting a panel review. We are hoping to commence delivery on these programmes in early 2023 through the Advanced Manufacturing Centre in Dundalk. The MSc in Medical Device & Technology will also go through a panel shortly through Griffith College and we are preparing to submit the Level 7 BSc in Process Digitalisation to QQI next month.

A person typing on a laptop

Our Students at Induction

Regional Induction

webinar promotion

Webinar
REGIONAL UPDATES & INDUCTION

Brief summary on The Regional Orientations that took place at TUS (previously known as LIT). In total we had 96 students attend. 

  • L6 Pharma: 49 Students
  • L6 Food Science: 20 Students   
  • L6 IT for Process Digitisation: 26 students  

It was great to have the Regional Orientation face to face . We had great engagement from the groups throughout the morning session and they all got to introduce themselves to each other and they got to hear  about the various sectors  people were working in etc.  

We had a number of progression students at the sessions and they shared their positive experiences of studying with Innopharma and offered excellent advice to the group on study skills and the benefit of engaging with Work Prep Module.

We had a number of students who were returners and it was great for them to get to meet each other.

We provided refreshments for the groups on both days. For the L6 Pharma & L6 Food Science groups, they had a learn to learn group session in the afternoon and again there was great interaction within their groups  and the team as they worked on their assignments.  

Overall the feedback we got that they were all delighted to have this opportunity to meet one another and to meet the team and found the session and orientation very beneficial and definitely worthwhile.

MARKETING UPDATE 

We have re-established a relationship with intro offices nationwide. Already they have promoted our webinars and open days and we have seen great attendance at both this had led to 18 students joining us this September.

For this intake we promoted our courses on some new platforms including courses.ie and backtoworkconnect.ie these have proven to be very cost effective and have been responsible for 7 students joining this September and generating over 50 leads.

We have attended some fantastic events recently, with plans to attend many more including jobs expos, grad fairs, intero events and visiting canteens nationwide. This have both generated leads and spread the Innopharma Education name.

Our emails and newsletters are performing very well with increased engagement particularly on progression topics which is great to see that students are interested in furthering their studies with Innopharma Education.

Our ads

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Digitalisation
PUBLICATION WITH MEDIAPLANET 

We’re excited to be involved with Mediaplanet on the Digital Transformation campaign, launched in the Irish Independent and online. Click here to read more on maintaining Ireland's industrial competitiveness. 

Our students
Induction day
Induction

Joan, Anne & Joe Leddin from Regional Skills Mid West,

Joan, Anne, Joe Leddin

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION EVENT


Joan Toner & Anne Jordan attended this event in Shannon which was hosted by Regional Skills Mid-West . 

Other Training providers were in attendance on the day. It was a great networking opportunity and chance to meet with them all: Griffith College, TUS, UL, Shannon Chamber Skillnet Limerick & Clare Education Training board and local Clare enterprise board.

UPDATE FROM THE TEAM IN CORK

Our 1st cohort of Innopharma students who commenced their programmes in October 2021 have completed and we will be receiving their QQI/Innopharma Education certificates in either Information Technology or Operational Excellence for Process Digitisation. 14 of the students are progressing onto the Higher Certificate in Process Digitisation.

 
 

Our Students

Our Students

Technology Updates

HORIZON 2022 SUCCESS
There has been a lot of success in Horizon 2022 with Innopharma Technology beating out a competitive field of 50 other submissions. (EI has internally showcased Innopharma as an example of SME increasing their business through EU successful funding.).

Innopharma has been awarded funding from a competitive Horizon Europe call within the topic CL4-2022-Twin Transition 01-03 ‘Excellence in distributed control and modular manufacturing’. The project presented, titled ‘Agile and modular cyber-physical technologies supported by data-driven digital tools to reinforce manufacturing resilience’, aims to boost manufacturing plants’ transformation, especially SMEs, towards industry 5.0 (I5.0), reinforcing their resilience under unexpected changes in social needs.


DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION DAY

SMARTX

SMARTX

SMARTLABS DEVELOPMENT 

There is huge excitement with the development of SmartLabs – a teaching platform which will allow students to engage hands-on with different layers of industrial automation, including a digital twin of a manufacturing process, in a live, remote laboratory. This will help students understand the principles of digitalisation and digital transformation, apply what they have learned in lectures in a real-world scenario, and interact with real industrial processing equipment and sensors. This has great potential as a collaboration between Technology and Education. (For further info contact Gareth Clarke).
 

 
 

 

As part of SmartLabs we will be utilizing our very own SmartX technology.  We recently added some new and powerful features to SmartX to enable it to execute virtual process simulations in the Cloud.  This means we can enable students to learn how to monitor and control processes, e.g. Crystallisation processes, in a virtual environment which is accessible from anywhere in the world.

 

configure a temperature probE

TEMPERATURE PROBE

TEMPERATURE DATA

image009

Students will also learn about Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) including how to connect a device to the Cloud using industrial communications protocols such as MQTT.  Photos above demonstrate how we use SmartX to configure a temperature probe to connect to the Cloud from which students will be able to read the temperature data.

 

ACHEMA '22

In the last 3 months we have been to Achema ’22, Powtech ’22 and Making Pharmaceuticals. Our media footprint is on all these!

We have won a bid to have the Eyecon2 to be incorporated into the U.S FDA labs. This is significant since it is the ultimate governing body of laboratory regulation and standards.

Saleswise, we have sold through Chanse to one of their customers and are expecting further sales of two Eyecon2s in India and their subsidiary in the U.S

 

Achema 22

Achema '22
Pharma Education & Training Award
PHARMA AWARDS 2022

We are delighted to announce that our Digital Maturity and Sustainability Leadership Programme - An Applied Industry 5.0 Training and Awareness programme for manufacturing site extended leadership teams, has been shortlisted for this year's Pharma Education & Training Award. Utilizing a comprehensive Industry 5.0 Diagnostic Assessment Tool, this leadership programme provides the opportunity for management teams to participate in uniquely practical, hands-on training specifically designed to support your organisational strategy for Digital Transformation and Sustainability.

Encompassing all areas of site operations and sustainability, participants in this training will benchmark their facility’s current state, and identify best practice exemplars and areas of opportunity. This enables the development of a data-rich strategic roadmap, that considers the unique technological and organisational direction.


LOT OF ATTRACTION ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Our social media has been very busy with numerous posts and videos. Check out a few highlights below:

An opinion piece by Sean from the Responsible Business Conduct, Innovation and AI Symposium '22.

Rizwan Chaudhrey Interviews Darren McHugh - Senior Product Manager at Achema Frankfurt '22

The Power of Machine Learning Webinar with Horiba.

We are also building out our distributor network who have been expanding our media reach with each mention of our technology.

Darren

Chris O’Callaghan fixed the 3rd floor heating. (The succinctness of that sentence reflects its importance and impact!)

AI SYMPOSIUM

AI EVENT

Exciting News from Technical Services

Q3 WAS BUSY!


Quarter 3 has been a busy time for Technical Services. Cohort 19 have successfully completed the Validation Programme with team members being placed & are interviewing at present.

Cohort 20 has commenced on October 3rd. We welcomed a new group of Validation Engineering Interns who are about to embark on our 14 week training programme. They will be purpose trained in Cleaning, Equipment and Process Validation whereby they will develop competencies in Technical Report Writing, drafting and writing SOPs, change controls, validation protocols, performing swabbing, developing sampling plans... The list is endless!

Luke at GradIreland

Luke at Grad Ireland

Amgen Night out

Amgen Night out
EVENTS

Luke represented Technical Services at the latest Grad Ireland Fair, held in the RDS, which was a great success.

Luke & Caroline met with the crew from Amgen for a catch up over dinner in Dublin, it was a great night.

GREAT NEWS! WE'VE BEEN NOMINATED FOR THE "GRADUATE TRAINING PROGRAMME OF THE YEAR" AWARD

We are delighted that our Training programme has made the shortlist for the Pharma Industry awards (https://www.pharmaawards.ie/) under the category of “Graduate Training Programme of the Year”.  The Pharma Industry awards is a long-standing award programme for recognising and celebrating the most original and innovative individuals and companies that demonstrate excellence in Ireland’s pharma industry.  We will have stiff competition in our category from BMS, Eli Lilly & Icon, but fingers crossed we will be announced as the winners of our category in early November.

 
 
Graduate Training Programme of the Year-01

NEW STARTERS

new starters

NEW STARTERS 

We welcomed new starters Alice Gillen, Harsha Acharya, Kezia Bega, Nilson Alves & Sonia Conway.

Alice Gillen with a role in Amgen.

Harsha Acharya & Kezia Bega with roles in Regeneron. 

Nilson Alves who has taken up a QC analyst role in BMS.

Sonia Conway has joined the Technical Services core team, taking up the role of General Administrator, reporting to Caroline.

Sonia Conway

Sonia Conway

Nilson Alves

Nilson Alves - Newsletter Photo

Alice Gillen

Alice Gillen

Kezia Bega

Kezia Bega

Harsha Acharya

Harsha Acharya

Sonia Conway – General Administrator Technical Services

Hello all, firstly I would like to thank everyone I have met so far for being so welcoming! I joined the Tech Services team at the end of June as General Administrator & I am really enjoying it. I have completed the Level 6 in Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Operations with Innopharma & I am currently completing the Level 6 Food Science & Technology to gain a higher certificate in Science & Process Technologies. I am from & currently live in Limerick. I also look after the office administration for a family Construction company.  My husband & I have two beautiful daughters, aged 11 & 8, which keep me young! I previously worked in the Aviation Industry for over 14 years, which explains my love of travel. I enjoy greyhound racing – we have a couple of greyhounds, which is always fun with the family. I love GAA – especially being from Limerick & being married to a Clare man! I like to read & relax in any spare time I find.

From Harsha Acharya – Validation Cohort 19 – Regeneron 

I am working as a QA Validation Consultant at Regeneron from Innopharma. I have Masters in Electronics and Communication Engineering from TUD. I got selected for Validation Training at Innopharma, enjoyed the best training and upskilled in Validation. I love exploring new places and cuisines. I can consider myself as an outdoor and health-conscious person. Always thinking towards sustainability, cruelty-free and Greener Planet.

From Nilson Alves – QC Cohort 5 – BMS 

My name is Nilson, I am originally from Brazil, I am a pharmacist, and my background is in Microbiology and Quality Control laboratories. My current role is in BMS as QC Analyst, I am really happy being part of Innopharma team. I like to practice some sports like, football and hiking. I like to travel, get to know new cultures, also I am interested in trading shares in the stock market and cryptocurrency.

From Alice Gillen – Validation Cohort 18 – Amgen 

Hi everyone. I have just started my contract as a Validation Engineer at Amgen. I previously worked in diagnostics as a PCR Technician, and I am excited to transition into the Biopharma Industry. I attended Nibrt back in 2015 to study Bioprocessing & this ignited my love of science. I went on to get a degree in Bioanalytical Science in TU Dublin as a mature student. My hobbies include attempting to train my border collie Ted, cooking and socialising with family and friends.

From Kesia Bega – Validation Cohort 19 – Regeneron 

I’m Kesia, A patient focused Pharmacist with a master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance and Biotechnology. I am highly experienced in medicine dossier assessments with 4years experience working in a national regulatory authority reviewing generic and new drug applications before issuing market authorisation. Sound understanding of cGMP, EU, US, ICH and WHO regulations, guidelines, and standards. Proven track record of achieving exceptional results in tight deadlines while paying attention to detail. Developed practical skills in GMP, Pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, Quality Management Systems, and Validation, with the Innopharma Validation programme. Currently working as a as part of the Compliance team at Regeneron as a QA Validation Consultant. My hobbies are Sport, Music, and Cooking

More news

TREASURE OUR CHESTS & INCREASE YOUR STEPS
A message from the Social Committee:

As October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re hoping to enlist your help to shine a light on Breast Cancer Awareness and raise much needed funds for the National Breast Cancer Research Institute.

Breast cancer doesn’t discriminate and effects both women and men. 1 in 7 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, and approximately 16 men. Early detection is key to a successful treatment outcome, so for the month of October we will be sharing regular updates and content to encourage all our staff both female and male to regularly check yourself. 

The role of the National Breast Cancer Research Institute is paramount, as its research can help to ascertain the causes and factors that influence breast cancer and therefore help to develop effective screening, treatments, and medication to combat it. 

So, here’s where you come in! During the winter months, we tend to be more couch potatoes than fitness fanatics so to get us all moving we are hoping to embark upon a 10K steps a day challenge culminating with a fabulous Blush Brunch on the 26th of October in Dublin, Limerick, and Cork.

We hope that as many of you will participate as possible and have one small ask of a €10 donation to enter the steps challenge with a “Booby prize” for the overall winner. 

You can donate to our just giving page through the following link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/innopharma-team2

Reminder to everyone to track to their steps here. Tracking ends on the 25th of October so let's work together to get as many steps as possible in.

Breast Cancer Ireland
INNOPHARMA BOOK CLUB 

Alex kindly revived the book club in August and several books have been read since! 

It is never too late to join (the more the merrier!), so if you're interested please email Alexandra Furbee. 

The first book was The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid which got good feedback. 

This month choice was: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry OR The Earned Life by Marshall Goldsmith.

Reading is a great way to relax and unwind and no better motivation than a few people reading the same book alongside you. Happy reading everyone!

NEW STAFF

A very warm welcome to Alan Cooney, James McDonald on joining the team.  

ALAN COOMEY 

I joined Innopharma Education as a programme administrator. I have a PGDip in Bioinformatics from UCC and was previously an Innopharma student in 2015, completing the Level 8 Biopharmaceutical and Medical Device Operations. I am now a full-time employee with Innopharma Education, working as part of the Cork Admissions team. My hobbies and pastimes include cycling, going to the gym, reading about science and history, walking my dog, and playing video games. 



JAMES MCDONALD
My Name is James McDonald and I work as a Learning Technologist as part of the Dublin team. I have a Level 8 Bsc In Computer Science & a Level 9 Msc in Business Management both degrees I got from DCU. Education has always been at the forefront of my career and I started my career in third level education with DCU as soon as I finished my masters, working as a Teaching Assistant and Learning Technologist respectively. Lecturing and running modules as part of this work. I worked in KPMG as a Learning and Development Specialist as part of the Technology team before joining Innopharma. Leaving me in the perfect position to hit the ground running here in Innopharma!

During my spare time I like to keep fit and will often be swimming or running and im currently learning Spanish and how to play the Guitar! I love to travel and have just returned from South America recently in June and hope to be 

Omotayo Ajayi

Omotayo Ajayi

A WARM WELCOME TO OMOTAYO AJAYI

Omotayo Ajayi holds a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and recently upskilled with a Masters program in Pharmaceutical Business and Technology with Innopharma Education at Griffith College. He has worked as a Process Engineer in the Oil and Gas industry and also as a Quality Control Engineer in the Chemical industry. He is currently working on the SmartLabs Project with the Technology team. Omotayo loves to play the game of Chess and enjoys hiking in his free time.

 

Luke helping Ciaran cut the cake

Luke and Ciaran

BABY NEWS & WEDDING BELLS

A huge congratulations to Prosper on the birth of his twins and Aine Behan on her Baby girl. 

Congratulations to Nicole and Carol & Ciaran on their recent wedding. 

Jason & tara

Jason's Wedding