Atlantic Technological University’s Higher Education 4.0 Project is to create two more free, short, online courses to add to the 50 already available on their freecourses.atu.ie website.

Dr Geraldine M. Dowling SFHEA is to build a new free course – or MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) – around the subject area of forensic toxicology while Drs John Pender and Perry Share will develop their third free course in social robotics.

Higher Education 4.0, which is funded by the Human Capital Initiative (HCI) Pillar 3, has supported over 20 of the 50 plus free courses available, including Introduction to Lean Construction, Health & Safety, Introduction to Marketing, Ocean Pollution, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Fundamentals of Garden Design.

An academic at ATU for the past eight years, Dr Dowling also has honorary academic positions as visiting senior lecturer at multiple universities across the UK, including King’s College London, delivering forensic toxicology lectures, workshops and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students over the last four years.

She is heavily involved in developing forensic toxicology professional body and agency conferences, seminars and knowledge exchange and is the elected Irish Regional Representative of The International Alliance of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT) and the elected Vice Chair of the UK and Ireland Association of Forensic Toxicologists.

Boasting a wealth of experience, Dr Dowling aims to develop an industry-focused MOOC that will appeal to professionals, including law enforcement, government, industry, clinicians, and private and public laboratory staff, along with the general public, and by doing so address the global demand for knowledge, training opportunities and continuous professional development in forensic toxicology.

“This Global MOOC will provide free accessible, high-quality, international standard training and, we hope, will position ATU as a leader in online, flexible, professional development surrounding cutting edge online MOOC practice and knowledge collaboration in the field of forensic toxicology,” explained Dr Dowling.

“For the first time, students will have direct access to this level of specialised training in forensic toxicology through an open, online format complementing and building upon the foundational work of established professional bodies in the field and aligning with the needs for continuing professional development,” she added.

Meanwhile, Drs John Pender and Perry Share are set to develop their third social robotics free course over the coming academic year.

Earlier in 2025, their BA (Hons) Social Care Practice final-year students who enrolled on the elective module, ‘Futures of Care, Society and Welfare’, got the opportunity to build a robot named Blossom.

This was the first time in Ireland that social care practice students were afforded such a learning opportunity, as they joined ATU MakerSpace on the Sligo campus to build the social robot, which was developed by Cornell University and Google, and simplified for easier and cheaper construction by the University of Southern California.

Drs Pender and Share have undertaken extensive research on the possibilities of human-robot interactions in the delivery of future care, having joined an Interreg Europe-funded project (TechSocialCare) that will explore ways to regulate assistive technologies in care, including social robotics.

This will provide an excellent opportunity to link the work they and their students engage in by exploring the broader ethical, social and political implications of these emergent technologies.

“This is not just about technology, but about values, ethics and human priorities,” said Dr Pender.

“Looking ahead, we are already preparing a follow-on MOOC, Skills, Governance and Leadership, to build on this foundation, with a deeper focus on governance, practice and leadership in a rapidly evolving landscape,” he added.

The free courses can be accessed on the freecourses.atu.ie website, which was relaunched by ATU President Dr Orla Flynn in November 2024. Since then, thousands of learners have signed up to undertake a wide range of short courses on the online platform.

For more, check out freecourses.atu.ie

Pictured: ATU lecturers Dr John Pender (left) and Perry Share, who will develop their third free MOOC on social robotics.