SETU awards inaugural memorial award in honour of highly regarded Professor

The inaugural Mike Cooley Award was presented recently at (SETU) South East Technological University’s Cork Road Campus in Waterford.

The award was presented to Julia Veber and Melisa Adigüzel, from the University of Bochum, during the INSYTE-Cooley Research Lab and Library showcase event.

In an online statement Dr Graham Cooley said the recipients' 'commitment to making his thinking more accessible captured the very spirit of what the award seeks to celebrate; a legacy rooted in human dignity, technological responsibility and international collaboration'.

The award is a prestigious accolade that celebrates exemplary contributions to enhancing access and promoting a deeper understanding of the scholarly work and lasting legacy of Professor Mike Cooley. Funded by the Cooley family it will be conferred annually.

SETU Library’s Special Collections, Heritage, and Outreach Department is honoured to serve as the custodian of the Professor Mike Cooley Collection. 

In collaboration with the INSYTE (Centre for Information Systems and Technoculture) – Cooley Research Lab, this invaluable collection of primary and secondary archival materials is utilised to advance research in human-centered technology and cultural heritage, with a particular focus on using the resources as learning tools in educational settings.

A SETU spokesperson, in an online post, noted that this year's recipients' valuable scholarly contributions in making Professor Cooley’s intellectual legacy more accessible and better understood were recognised at the event.

Julia and Melisa are students of German and English Studies at the Ruhr University Bochum. 

They completed a six-week internship at SETU’s Luke Wadding Library in September and October 2024, where they played a key role in cataloguing, editing, and translating Professor Cooley’s lectures and library collection from German into English.

The award presentation is especially meaningful given that Professor Mike Cooley delivered a seminal lecture titled, 'Environmental Technologies, Occupational Safety and Medical Technology – Solutions for Employment Problems?' at the University of Bochum on November 14, 1985.

Speaking about the inaugural presentation of the award, Dr Graham Cooley said: “It was a great pleasure to attend the inaugural Mike Cooley Award ceremony at SETU. Seeing Julia and Melisa’s work recognised in this way, especially in connecting Mike’s ideas across languages, cultures, and generations, would have deeply moved him."

"Their commitment to making his thinking more accessible captures the very spirit of what this award seeks to celebrate; a legacy rooted in human dignity, technological responsibility, and international collaboration," he said.

The transcript of the lecture, originally given in German, has since been translated into English and is now available online through SETU.ie