DkIT’s Dr Ronan Bree Honoured with EDEN Fellow Award at Porto Conference
Dundalk Institute of Technology is delighted to announce that Dr Ronan Bree, Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at DkIT, has been awarded an EDEN Fellow by EDEN Digital Learning Europe at the organisation's annual conference in Porto, Portugal, held from June 14-16.
The EDEN Fellow award recognises outstanding contributions to the field of open, distance, and digital learning across Europe. The award scheme provides validation and professional recognition to educators and leaders who have advanced the field through their research, innovation, and leadership. Dr Bree was recognised for his sustained contributions to technology-enabled education, institutional transformation, and leadership in the evolving landscape of digital learning.
At the Porto conference, themed "Beyond Technology: Human-AI Collaboration for Learning and Teaching", along with EDEN colleagues, Dr Bree played multiple leadership roles. As a member of the EDEN Management Board, he contributed to strategic governance discussions, while co-delivering an action lab on change management and leadership alongside Dr. Deborah Arnold (NTT Data) and Professor Albert Sangrà (UOC, Barcelona). Ronan also served as rapporteur for the conference, synthesising key insights from two days of proceedings.
The conference brought together leading educators, researchers, and institutional leaders from across Europe to explore human-centred and ethical approaches to artificial intelligence in education, drawing some 300 participants from 223 organisations across 49 countries. Ireland was notably well represented, with several colleagues from across the higher education sector presenting, including Colin Lowry (HEA), who delivered a spotlight address at the conference, and Prof. James O'Sullivan (National Forum/UCC), who contributed as a panel member, both having been instrumental in shaping national GenAI policy frameworks.
The EDEN Fellow award places Dr Bree in an international community of recognised leaders in digital education and positions him to contribute further to national and European networks advancing digital learning excellence.
You can learn more about EDEN DLE at https://eden-europe.eu/
Photo Caption: Eden Fellow recipients Carlo de Medio from Universitá de Roma and Ronan Bree from DkIT pictured with Wim Van Petegen from Eden Europe
Photo credit: Auguste Volungeviciute
