By Ciara Maria Hayes
The Aviation Industry awards return for its third year this December, with awards in twenty-two categories to be won throughout the event.
These awards have contributed to highlighting those achieving the best practice and innovation in the aviation sector in Ireland, and this year will be no exception, with seven new categories being introduced, and a new, independent panel of judges.
These judges are recognised experts within the aviation industry and will determine the winners of the awards.
All entries are to be carefully evaluated by the panel with the best being shortlisted for each individual category, and each shortlist will be published on the awards website.
The judges will then score each entry against a predetermined set of scores, which are then collected and collaborated, with the individual with the highest overall score being declared the winner within that category.
The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony, taking place at the Doubletree, Dublin.
Among the judges this year is UL lecturer Dr. Ronan O’Higgins, the course director for Aeronautical Engineering.
Dr. O’Higgins is just one of the lecturing staff contributing to this course who are leaders in the aeronautical engineering field, working with some of Europe’s most prestigious Aerospace companies.
Working for companies such as the Materials and Surface Science Institute (MSSI) and Irish Centre for Composites Research (ICOMP), he has accorded to research in innovative manufacturing techniques and processes for composite materials and numerical simulation of composite material behaviour, among other areas.
Molly Cantwell 
Daragh De Klein