It didn’t take Professor Stephen Heppell, late of academic ICT hothouse Ultralab, to get an offer he couldn’t refuse. The National College of Ireland signed him up as director of its new eLearning centre in Dublin, a city attracting a lot of attention for its ICT developments. “With the support of NCI’s new research centre,” says Professor Heppell, “Ireland is very well positioned to establish itself rapidly, with appropriate investment and support structure, as a world class research centre of excellence putting learning firmly back at the heart of Irish culture.”