2024 Summit
The 2024 GUA Summit, 10–13 November 2024, in Dublin, Ireland was a richly engaging mix of student-led research, high‑impact keynote talks and global networking, all aimed at nurturing the next generation of academic and professional leaders.
It reinforced the Summit’s role as a prestigious international platform for outstanding undergraduate scholarship.
Keynote & Featured Speakers
Val Quinn – Business trainer, executive and life coach, and bestselling author of Create Your Best Life: Reimagine, Rewire, Retire. Val spent 17 years as Managing Director at The Coca‑Cola Company and later led Costa Coffee in Central and Eastern Europe.
Now the founder of Tilly.ie, she serves as a non‑executive director and specialises in leadership development and resilience. Her keynote brought hard-earned insights from a global corporate career, paired with a deeply human, coaching-driven approach to personal and professional transformation.
Aishah Akorede, LL.M. – Founder of Recrowned Ireland and 2023 Miss Universe Ireland, Aishah is a passionate advocate for women’s empowerment, mental health, and survivors of sexual violence.
Holding an LL.M in International Corporate Governance and a Degree Plus Employability Award from Queen’s University Belfast, she combines academic excellence with lived advocacy. Through her work, she fuses social justice and entrepreneurship, and offered bold insights into confidence, resilience, and transformative leadership.
Kingsley Aikins – is the Founder and CEO of The Networking Institute, a Dublin-based organisation specialising in training for networking, public speaking, philanthropy, and diaspora engagement.
A graduate of Trinity College Dublin in Economics and Politics, Kingsley has lived and worked all over the world. He spent eight years in Sydney representing IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, where he also founded the Australian Ireland Fund and the Lansdowne Club—now one of the world’s largest Irish business networks.
As Worldwide CEO of The Ireland Funds for 17 years, he led the organisation to raise over $500 million, supporting 3,200+ peace, cultural, and charitable initiatives across Ireland.
A recognised authority on diaspora engagement, Kingsley has advised over 30 countries and global bodies—including the EU, UN, and World Bank—on harnessing Diaspora Capital: the flows of people, knowledge, and resources that connect communities worldwide and he joined us to emphasise the art and impact of networking on personal and professional growth.
Andrew Lowe – co-founder Element Pictures with Ed Guiney in 2001. Element has offices in Dublin, Belfast and London and works across film and television production. As Founder and Co-CEO, his focus is on production and the financing and commercial exploitation of Element’s slate.
Element’s film and tv productions include Room, directed by Lenny Abrahamson; Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things; Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter; The Wonder, directed by Sebastian Lelio; Nancy Harris’ The Dry; Normal People and Conversations with Friends, both directed by Lenny Abrahamson.
Before setting up Element Pictures Andrew freelanced as a production accountant and was Head of Business Affairs at the Irish Film Board. Andrew is Chair of the IBEC (Irish Employers representative body) Audiovisual Federation.
He joined us to provide a window into creative entrepreneurship and storytelling excellence.
