The Distinguished Graduate of the Year Award is sponsored by AIB and recognises graduates for outstanding achievement in their chosen field.
Eugene first graduated from Ulster University in 1986 with a first class honours in Psychology and later went on to complete a DPhil in Psychology in 1993.
Eugene has made an outstanding contribution to the development of public policy over his 30 years of public service.
During this time, he has provided strategic analysis on an extensive range of social policy areas including Fair Employment, Human Rights, Targeting Social Need, Harassment and Bullying, Recruitment & Selection, Domestic Violence, Child Protection and Health. He provided detailed analysis to underpin the application and implementation of fair employment legislation in NI, conducted the first Census of sectarian harassment in the NICS, and evaluated the first NICS multi-panel promotion and selection competition during his time in DFP.
He had even further impact in response to the Covid19 Pandemic where he managed the Department of Health’s COVID-19 daily Statistical Dashboard.
The Dashboard provides a range of key COVID-19 statistics every day on the number of positive tests, deaths reported, hospital admissions and discharges, outbreaks in care settings as well as gender and age breakdowns. He and his team were also the winners of the prestigious UK-wide Analysis in Government Award recognising the major impact the Dashboard has had through its use by the public as well as its influence on decision-making during the pandemic.
I was absolutely delighted to have been selected as the winner of the AIB/Ulster University Distinguished Graduate Award 2021.
I enjoyed immensely my time at Ulster University and the various contacts I have had with academic staff and friends over the years.
Whilst public service has its own reward, it is particularly pleasing that an institution that I hold in very high regard has recognised the work that I have been involved in since graduating and in so doing reminds me of the very strong academic foundations that they provided to me in my formative years, for which I will always be very grateful.
Congratulating Dr Eugene Mooney, Charlotte Maguire, Branch Manager at AIB said,
Eugene's contribution to the development of public policy over his 30 years of public service has been outstanding. During this time, he has developed strategic analysis on an extensive range of social policy areas, including: Fair Employment, Human Rights, Targeting Social Need, Harassment and Bullying, Recruitment and Selection, Domestic Violence, Child Protection and Health.
A relatively recent example of his contribution is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, where he managed the Department of Health’s COVID-19 daily statistical Dashboard. The dashboard provides a range of key COVID-19 statistics everyday on the number of positive tests, deaths reported, hospital admissions and discharges, outbreaks in care settings, as well and gender and age breakdowns.
Once again, congratulations from everyone at AIB. We are thrilled to support this Award each year with Ulster University!
Each year a bespoke trophy is designed and produced by an Ulster graduate from the Belfast School of Art.
This year’s designer is 2021 Belfast School of Art graduate, Matthew Walton.
Kindly sponsored by AIB