University College Dublin (UCD) was founded in 1854 by John Henry Newman and is based on a 133-hectare campus at Belfield, Dublin 4. UCD reports 41,089 students including overseas operations, based on census data as of 1 March 2025.
Agriculture is taught and researched in the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, part of the UCD College of Health and Agricultural Sciences. The school traces its origins to an 1838 model farm at Glasnevin, later the Albert College, which was integrated into UCD in 1926. Its research is organised in four areas: animal and crop science; agribusiness and rural development; environment and sustainable resource management; and food science and nutrition. UCD Lyons Farm, about 250 hectares near Newcastle, Co Kildare, was bought by UCD in 1963 and is used for teaching and research in beef, crops, dairy, equine, sheep and pigs. The school describes its €2.3m UCD Lyons Dairy Research and Education Facility as a partnership with seven agri-food organisations, including Dairymaster, Devenish Nutrition, FBD, Glanbia and Progressive Genetics.