With CAO purposes now open, Coillte has introduced the launch of its 2025 Forestry Scholarship Programme.
Constructing on the success of its inaugural programme, which noticed scholarships being awarded to 3 college students, the scholarship offers substantial monetary and profession assist for college kids pursuing a full-time, third degree forestry programme at College Faculty Dublin (UCD) or South East Technological College (SETU).
Providing as much as €20,000 per recipient throughout their diploma, alongside paid summer season placements and profession alternatives with Coillte, the scholarship was created to deal with the rising want for expert professionals to assist Eire’s environmental and financial sustainability. Inaugural students Áine O’Dwyer (Donegal), Mia Sibbald (Kildare) and Alex Energy (Waterford), now of their first semester at SETU, are already benefiting from the programme.
The launch of the 2025 Forestry Scholarship comes amid rising curiosity in forestry careers, as revealed by a current RED C survey commissioned by Coillte. This survey discovered that 60% of 18–34-year-olds view a profession within the forest and wooden sector as enticing, with over 1 / 4 of all these surveyed describing it as very enticing. Moreover, 57% of ladies surveyed expressed curiosity in a profession in forestry, highlighting the sector’s broadening attraction throughout numerous demographics.
This rising curiosity aligns with the business’s pivotal function in addressing Eire’s local weather and housing challenges, whereas assembly the growing demand for sustainable timber. Public sentiment additionally strongly helps forestry’s function in addressing these challenges:
Practically 70% of RED C survey respondents favour elevated timber body housing, reflecting an increase in assist since 2022.
80% imagine Eire ought to be self-sufficient in timber manufacturing, with over half strongly agreeing.
The forestry sector is recognised as a key driver of Eire’s local weather motion aims, requiring greater than 1,700 expert professionals by 2030 to satisfy the ambitions of Eire’s Forest Technique.
Launching the 2025 Coillte Forestry Scholarship programme, Mark Carlin, Managing Director of Coillte Forest, mentioned: “Forestry is crucial to Eire’s environmental and financial future, providing numerous careers in all kinds of areas. With CAO purposes now open, we encourage college students to contemplate forestry as a significant profession that contributes to a greener, extra self-sufficient Eire.”
Carlin added: “Forestry isn’t just about planting and harvesting bushes – it’s a dynamic, multifaceted sector. There’s a variety of careers obtainable, together with planners who use subtle data know-how to develop strategic forest administration plans, ecologists working to guard and improve biodiversity throughout our property, supply-chain managers working to co-ordinate the provision of sustainable wooden merchandise, and recreation managers delivering trails and actions for individuals to get pleasure from. Sustainability is on the coronary heart of forestry immediately and technological innovation continues to rework the forest sector.”
Talking in regards to the scholarship’s impression, inaugural scholar, Alex Energy, mentioned: “Receiving the Coillte scholarship has opened doorways for me. It’s not simply the monetary assist—it’s being a part of a sector that performs such an vital function in tackling local weather change and supporting rural communities. My first few weeks at SETU have been thrilling and galvanizing, as I study sustainable forest administration and the way forestry might help construct a greener future.”
Functions for the 2025 Coillte Forestry Scholarship Programme at the moment are open and extra data might be discovered on-line at www.coillte.ie.
The time limit for purposes is Friday 2nd Might 2025.
