A Mary Immaculate College (MIC) doctoral student has been awarded the ‘Eda Sagarra’ Medal of Excellence in the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar awards. Edmond Gubbins, who is completing his PhD in music education at MIC, was ranked first in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) category.
Edmond, who also graduated from MIC’s Bachelor of Education programme in 2016, is researching the generalist primary teachers’ musical backgrounds and experience and the impact of participatory action research on music teaching and learning using the Musical Futures approach. Musical Futures was developed by Professor Lucy Green in the UK over 20 years ago and Edmond’s research will be the first time that the approach is adapted to the primary level in Ireland. His research is being supervised by Dr Gwen Moore, Director of Teaching & Learning and a Senior Lecturer in Music Education at MIC.
Speaking after being awarded the Eda Sagarra Medal of Excellence, Edmond said: “I am both honoured and thrilled to have been awarded the Eda Sagarra Medal of Excellence for postgraduate researchers in the arts, humanities and social sciences for this year. This recognition from the Irish Research Council highlights the need for research into music education at the primary level and I can only hope that my thesis will make a positive contribution to the field, with the excellent guidance from my supervisor Dr. Gwen Moore. I would also like to thank Mary Immaculate College and the Research and Graduate School for their assistance and support throughout my PhD journey.”
Professor Michael Healy, Vice-President of Research at Mary Immaculate College, commented: “We are delighted with the news of Edmond’s GOI Medal of Excellence. All IRC awards are notable achievements, but the Eda Sagarra Medal of Excellence marks Edmond out as a very specially talented researcher. We are very proud to count him among the community of research postgraduates at Mary Immaculate College and wish him the very best for his future career.”
In October, Edmond was also one of four MIC postgraduate students to be awarded scholarships under the Irish Research Council’s Government of Ireland programme that funds excellent research across all disciplines.
