Two students from Waterford Institute of Technology have been selected as the first recipients of new scholarships presented by Sanofi, the global healthcare leader who employ 700 people at a biopharmaceutical and medical device campus in the city.
The scholarships are designed to support high-achieving female third-level students with the potential to become business leaders.
The recipients - Niamh Malone from Ferrybank, Waterford who’s in second year of the Bachelor of Business Studies (Hons) with Chinese and Clara Kennedy from Tullogher, Co Kilkenny who’s a first-year student on the Bachelor of Science in Applied Biology - will now benefit from a package of supports designed to help them reach their full potential.
These include receiving a scholarship allowance of €3,000 per annum; mentoring from a senior Sanofi business leader; paid summer work placements at Sanofi during their course and a paid Sanofi internship placement where their course at WIT provides for this. On graduation from WIT, they will also be eligible for fast-track application to Sanofi’s two-year graduate programme which is tailored for high-potential emerging professionals.
Presenting the inaugural scholarships, Ruth Beadle, Site Head, Sanofi Waterford, said: "Clara and Niamh are great ambassadors for WIT but also for their families, communities and former schools. Most of all, they remind us of the adage about young people being our future – it is their energy, intelligence and ideas that will deliver the Ireland of tomorrow.
"At Sanofi, we are keen to promote diversity and to address the gender imbalance in certain professions. We’re delighted to contribute to promoting the exciting careers that exist in Ireland’s thriving life sciences sector through this scholarship and other outreach initiatives that we lead or support.”
Prof Willie Donnelly, President, Waterford Institute of Technology, added: "WIT is very happy to partner with a prestigious company like Sanofi who employ many of our graduates, especially from science and engineering disciplines.
"It is great for our students to have a clear view of the opportunities that will be open to them on graduation – it helps focus and motivate them through their years with us. The opportunity that the Sanofi Future Female Leaders Scholarships provide will be hugely valuable to the recipients and that was reflected in a strong pool of entries. I have no doubt that Clara and Niamh from our Schools of Science & Computing and Business respectively will continue to represent us very well and flourish as the inaugural scholars under this programme."
Clara is a past-pupil of St Mary’s Secondary School, New Ross, Co Wexford while Niamh attended Our Lady of Mercy Secondary School, Waterford.
Pictured as the first recipients of the Sanofi Future Female Leaders Scholarship were announced were (l/r) Prof Willie Donnelly, President, WIT; Niamh Malone, Ferrybank, Waterford who is studying for BBS (Hons) with Chinese at WIT; Clara Kennedy, Tullogher, Co Kilkenny who's studying for BSc in Applied Biology at WIT and Ruth Beadle, Site Head, Sanofi Waterford. The scholarships are designed to support high-achieving female students with the potential to become business leaders. (Pic: Patrick Browne)
