Transition Year Programmes

STEM@Universi-TY is an online STEM immersion programme for Transition Year students. Students of STEM@Universi-TY will remotely engage in a six-week-long module, where they will have access to college lectures, attend live webinars, prepare and submit assignments, receive feedback and take an optional college exam.

Lectures will cover first-year, college-level topics in Physics, Maths, Technology and Engineering. There are three standalone modules, and each module comprises of 16 unique elements. Some sessions will require the students to work independently, providing time for self-paced, flexible learning, while others will require them to be available on Thursdays from 4:30-5:45 pm. A detailed timetable will be provided closer to the start of each module.

The Department of Botany hosts transition year students for a week-long structured work experience programme. Students have the chance to experience what happens behind the scenes in an active research environment, working alongside technical staff, PhD students and professional scientific researchers. In addition to working at the Trinity Botanic Gardens, students have the chance to extract DNA in the molecular laboratory, to examine plant/animal interactions, to examine seed germination and storage using the Irish endangered plant seed-bank, to measure, in the field, critical environmental parameters and to work in the internationally important Herbarium. In addition, transition year students will meet with staff and attend presentations.

The School of Chemistry hosts a week-long programme aimed at transition-year students. The programme involves a series of lectures, practical work and interactive tours of the facilities in Chemistry and CRANN. This course offers a unique opportunity for interaction with students from different schools and for hands-on exposure to advanced methodology in world-class laboratories.

Please be advised the Computer Science transition year workshops are now fully subscribed for the academic year 2023/2024. Applications are now closed.

The School of Computer Science and Statistics runs week-long workshops for transition year students who have an interest in studying a Computer science or Engineering-related subject at 3rd level. These workshops provide a unique learning space where students work together in teams on a series of technical projects with both hardware and software components which can include: building and programming robots, animation, game design and web design. These workshops also provide an insight into the third level environment with lots of interaction between students and staff.

Space is extremely limited. The application process opens after Junior Certificate results have been released. Further information is available here.

CRANN is Trinity’s largest research institute. It hosts the AMBER centre, Ireland’s leading materials science centre and offers two ’Exploring Materials’ weeks for TY students yearly, one in spring and one in autumn. We typically take 15 students each week from different schools around the country. Students learn about the basics of materials science with special emphasis placed on nanomaterials. Over the week the TY students visit PhD researchers in their labs, both in CRANN and also at RCSI, St James’s Hospital and at our Advanced Microscopy Laboratory where they get to see advanced electron microscopes. Students also learn about how AMBER works with industry partners, e.g. Intel, and about the commercialisation of research.

Join us in the School of Education in Trinity College Dublin for a week where we will explore learning spaces of the future and how to make education better for everyone. If you are a current Transition Year student you can apply for a place on our TY Visions for Education programme. The programme will run from February 19th – 23th 2024. The programme will run on Monday to Friday between approximately 10.00 - 16.00 in the School of Education in Trinity College Dublin. We will focus the TY week around the theme of learning spaces of the future. Our goal is to encourage fun, inclusion and collaboration. The programme involves sessions around design thinking, diversity and equity, leadership, student voice and empowerment and innovation for learning. The participants will complete a team-based project focused on learning experiences for the future In the team … All skills are needed and valued.

The School of Nursing and Midwifery runs a one-week programme for transition year students. This programme provides an introduction to the professions of nursing and midwifery, and is delivered through both lectures and practical sessions. For further information on the programme and the application process.

The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences offers placements for transition year students every year. Placements are possible in October/November and February/March, and are restricted to two students per week. A range of activities with our pharmacy students are available to TY students, including a tour of the facilities, attending lectures, seminars, workshops and practicals.

The School of Physics hosts a number of popular outreach events during the academic year. Our annual Transition Year Physics Experience (TYPE) week is held in November and introduces students to a range of subjects including nanophysics, electricity, optics and astrophysics. The School also hosts two one-day events in February each year which focus on physics/nanophysics or astrophysics lectures and activities. Information on all of our transition year outreach activities is sent to all interested secondary schools inviting them to submit applications for selected students.

The Department of Zoology offers a week-long structured programme to transition year students. The programme will introduce you to what it is like to be an undergraduate, and will give you insight into what a trained zoologist does. Among many other activities designed to let you experience the huge breadth of zoology, you will carry out research exercises alongside parasitologists, developmental biologists, behavioural ecologists and freshwater biologists. You will meet (and interview) technical staff, PhD students and professional scientific researchers, learn to evaluate a blog and present its salient points to your classmates, and attend a real research seminar.