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Food for Thought - IT Carlow student Beth selected for Kerry group graduate programme

18/11/2020 09:25:00

A fourth year IT Carlow bioscience student has beaten off competition from a thousand applicants to land herself a place on the prestigious two-year Research, Development and Applications (RDA) graduate programme for Kerry Group, during which she will be groomed for success to work within the global food technology sector.

Beth Villis, from Calverstown in Kildare, is in her final year at Institute of Technology Carlow where she is pursuing an honours degree in bioscience.

During her time at IT Carlow, Beth was selected for a 16-months internship with Kerry Group at its global technology innovation centre in Naas, where she worked on projects for global coffee chains and restaurants, creating flavoured syrups, powders and sauces. She also worked with leading global alcohol and soft drinks manufacturers.

Following this experience, Beth decided to apply for Kerry Group’s two-year graduate programme. Over 1,000 graduates from all of Europe applied for the programme and Beth was required to undergo an interview and make a 30-minute presentation, with just a few days to prepare. Her work paid off and Beth was one of just four selected for the programme and will start work next September at Kerry group’s primary dairy factory in Charleville, Co. Cork.  

“This is a great opportunity for me to expand my knowledge and acquire fantastic experiences. Thanks to my time at IT Carlow, I have gained great knowledge and good laboratory skills. The lecturers inspired me to keep working hard to continue persevering, no matter how hard the situation”, said Beth.

“This is another great success story for IT Carlow, as many of our students successfully compete for places on award-winning graduate programmes each year”, said Judy Murphy, the careers advisor for Institute of Technology Carlow.

“IT Carlow is a great resource for local and national employers seeking high quality talent from across our business, engineering, computing, science and professional social care Practice, Level 8 disciplines”, she added.

Caption: Beth Villiers from Calverstown, Co. Kildare. The fourth year IT Carlow bioscience student has been selected for Kerry Group’s two-year graduate programme