Philip McDonald graduated from the postgraduate course, Certificate in Sustainable Supply Chains at SETU’s Kilkenny Road campus in Carlow on Friday 1 November.
Philip has been a member of the Defence Forces for almost 40 years. During that time, he has completed several degree courses. His latest certificate was completed through SETU’s Extended Campus in Carlow, focusing on sustainable supply chains and their applications.
Working with the Defence Forces Reserves
Philip has been a member of the Reserve Defence Forces (RDF) since 1987. The RDF, comprising the First Line Reserve, Army Reserve, and Naval Service Reserve, is a very important component of Ireland’s defence arrangements. The Army Reserve is a part-time component of the Defence Forces comprising of volunteers who participate in Defence Forces training in their spare time.
Philip served in various infantry units throughout the years. Upon completing a junior command staff course in 2022, he moved to J4 in the Defence Forces’ headquarters. Leaning on his experience of managing fleet and plant contracts, Philip provided logistical and procurement support to the branch.
How the SETU course contributed to RDF work
In early 2024, through the Irish Defence Forces partnership with SETU, Philip had the opportunity to embark on the Certificate in Sustainable Supply Chain course. This allowed him to further align his logistics role within the RDF with his civilian role as Contracts and Compliance Manager at IrishRail.
Speaking about the part sustainability plays in his civilian role, Philip explained, “In my role at IrishRail, I focus on road vehicles throughout the CIE group. Increasingly, sustainability has become more important in the operations of public and semi-state bodies as they work to meet legislative obligations, in line with EU directives. The role of contracting authorities in this context is to educate and encourage suppliers to improve their sustainability knowledge.”
Philip continued, “Completing this course with SETU has allowed me to increase my knowledge on sustainable supply chains and to bring this back to my work both at IrishRail and with the RDF.”
Improved understanding of sustainability
“The course helped refresh my knowledge of sustainable supply chains. The education and support provided by the lecturers at SETU was very positive and it really helped improve my understanding of the subject. The course was also delivered online, which made it very accessible.”
When speaking about his favourite aspect of the course, Philip said, “I enjoyed improving my knowledge of how to measure sustainability. In particular, this helped me to develop tender documents at work, making the process much more approachable for me.”
Leading by example
Reflecting on his achievement, Philip said, “During my time in education, I have completed an honours degree, a postgraduate certificate, and an advanced diploma in Public procurement Law. It has been a very enriching experience, and I am delighted to have had the opportunity and would encourage my fellow RDF members to pursue a course at SETU also.”
For more information on Extended Campus click here.
To learn more about the Certificate in Sustainable Supply Chains, see here.