Impact & Opinions | Tionchar & Tuairimí

Arts

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SDG Champion
18 December 2023
24  MINS

“Ragged Desolation of Men and Things”?

Breandán Mac Suibhne, Laura Kelly, Niall Whelehan

In an essay published in July 2023 in the catalogue for Christina McBride’s Críocha an Chroí / Heartland exhibition in An Gailearaí, Gaoth Dobhair, historians Breandán Mac Suibhne of the University of Galway and Laura Kelly and Niall Whelehan of the University of Stratheclyde respond to her images of the rock-strewn landscape of north-west Donegal.

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SDG Champion
18 December 2023
11  MINS

Críocha an Chroí—An Artist’s Return to the Heartland

Christina McBride

A residency in the University of Galway’s Gaoth Dobhair Centre in 2022–23 allowed Glasgow visual artist Christina McBride to explore the natural and built environment of her mother’s homeplace in nearby Bun an Inbhir in a series of analogue photographs developed using local fauna and peatland materials. McBride’s residency in Donegal and the resulting exhibition, Críocha an Chroí / Heartland—was made possible by a partnership involving the University, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Ealaín na Gaeltachta and the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny. In autumn 2023, a second exhibition, Thall Udaí / Over By, focusing on the people of the place, was mounted in Sean-Scoil Bhun an Inbhir and a third is planned for Glasgow in 2024.

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SDG Champion
06 November 2023
22  MINS

Cultural Values in a Sustainable Future

Prof Lillis Ó Laoire

We may not associate SDGs with culture, but the UN’s 2030 Agenda acknowledges the need to safeguard the world’s diverse cultural heritages, and the role of culture in fostering a collective sense of responsibility and belonging. Award-winning writer and singer, Prof Lillis Ó Laoire asks: how can we steward our cultural heritages to realign them with sustainable futures?

articles
21 July 2023
11  MINS

Bold Nostalgia: Enda Burke at GIAF

Meadhbh McNutt

Galway International Arts Festival welcomes Enda Burke’s Far Away & Close to Home to Outset Gallery this year in a unique showcase of the Galway artist’s bold visual language. Recently awarded the International BarTur Photo Prize, Burke’s work has been published in various media from The Guardian to Rolling Stone Magazine. Here, University of Galway Editorial Manager, Meadhbh McNutt contextualises this multidisciplinary body of work in a short creative essay.

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Creative Galway
09 February 2023
15  MINS

What Makes Us Empathetic?

Bernadine Brady, Conn Holohan

While there is evidence to suggest that empathy is on the decline in society, using varied methodologies, researchers at University of Galway are exploring new ways to counter these trends. Dr Bernadine Brady was Principal Investigator in a recent study at the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre (UCFRC) assessing the attitudes of 700 12–16-year-olds in Ireland on empathy, social values and civic behaviour. In Immersive Empathy, Principal Investigator Dr Conn Holohan and his colleagues are investigating empathy through a different lens, empowering clients of Galway Simon to tell their life stories and reflections on homelessness through oral history and virtual reality.

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Creative Galway
27 January 2023
24  MINS

How Do We Value Creativity After AI?

Professor John McHale

However troubling to today’s creatives, the rapid development of AI has generated a high demand for a new kind of skillset, one that is arguably creative in its own right. What do these changes in the skills economy mean for educators and institutions? Economist Prof John McHale reports on recent research unpacking the value of creative skills after AI, and the role of star recruitment in catalysing these creative skills in institutions. Finally, McHale looks at the question mark lingering over the value of the creative economy, through the lens of cost-benefit analysis.

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Creative Galway
11 January 2023
11  MINS

Making a Cultural Galway

Dr. Patrick Collins

Creativity as an aspirational goal has found its way into policy and popular discourse in recent years. It is a goal that, according to Patrick Collins – University of Galway Lecturer and author of the upcoming Galway: Making a Capital of Culture – requires a historical, cultural and geographical context. While Galway boasts a rich creative economy, here Patrick asks: does it have the capacity to support young creatives to make new types of culture in the future? Feature image: Artist: Galway Community Circus. Performance/event: LifeLine. Photographer: Emilija Jefremova.

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Creative Galway
10 January 2023
14  MINS

Earth Writings: A Toolkit for The Climate Crisis

Dr Nessa Cronin

What makes the knowledge systems of the arts and humanities uniquely valuable in addressing our current planetary predicament? Lecturer Dr Nessa Cronin brings together artists, academics, scientists and community activists to explore this key question. Together with her collaborators, she has created a creative toolkit in Earth Writings—a critical and inquisitive lens through which to navigate the climate emergency—the impact of which is now reaching classrooms across numerous disciplines.

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Creative Galway
15 December 2022
12  MINS

Telling the Story of Sexual Consent in Ireland

Dr Charlotte McIvor

We need to change national conversations around sexual consent; creativity makes that possible, says Dr Charlotte McIvor.

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Creative Galway
15 December 2022
16  MINS

In Conversation: Stephen Dooley

Meadhbh McNutt

Spotify is the world’s largest music streaming platform, serving 456 million users with access to songs and podcasts from artists across the globe.   Alum Stephen Dooley is both an independent musician and an Engineering Manager at Spotify. He recently played at Éalú Le Grá Festival as one half of London-based house duo, Delac. We sat down to ask Stephen about his thoughts on making music, studying at University of Galway and the influence of Spotify on the music industry today.   Image: Original photograph by Alex Waespi (alexandrawaespi.com), design by Unthink.

articles
15 December 2022
6  MINS

College of Arts Graduate Focus: Aoife Geraghty

Aoife Geraghty

As part of our focus on University of Galway College of Arts, we chat to Aoife Geraghty, Brand PR & Corporate Communications team at Irish Distillers who undertook a Bachelor of Arts (English Language and Literature), 2018.

articles
15 December 2022
14  MINS

Our Future: The College of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies

Rebecca Braun

As part of our focus on University of Galway College of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies Executive Dean Rebecca Braun discusses the college’s ambition to inspire transformation through its ‘Looking Out to the World with Ambition’ strategy. 

articles
13 December 2022
10  MINS

Spotlight on: Arts Student, Katelyn Hayes

podcasts
13 December 2022

Creative Galway Podcast: Ikenna Anyabuike

University of Galway student, Ikenna Anyabuike, is an actor, writer, assistant dramaturg and one half of the musical duo, Armcandy. Ikenna was awarded the ‘Baptiste Programme’ with Smock Alley in 2022, as well as the ‘Axis Assemble 2022’ with Axis Ballymun. He also performs as part of an ensemble for the play ‘The Kinds of Sex You Might Have in College’ with Active* Consent.

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Creative Galway
12 December 2022
14  MINS

Imagining the Creative University

Professor Rebecca Braun

Waning confidence in progress narratives and declining imaginative capacity, among other factors, have led us to what national policy advisor and professor, Geoff Mulgan calls “a deficit of social imagination”. At the heart of this crisis, as articulated by Professor Rebecca Braun, is the need to imagine alternative ways of being on a collective scale, through the circulation of knowledge. If universities, as knowledge communities, are to play a major role in this quest, how might the creative university of the future operate?

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Sustainability
02 June 2022
7  MINS

ROPES: Biodiversity

Claire Hennessy

Published annually by students of the MA in Literature and Publishing at NUI Galway, ROPES Literary Journal  has firmly established itself as part of the flourishing literary scene in Ireland. Biodiversity by award-winning writer Claire Hennessy, provokes readers to consider ourselves and our futures in relation to our threatened and fragile environments. Originally published in Issue 30, and launched at the 2022 Cúirt International Festival of Literature.

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Sustainability
19 May 2022
25  MINS

Measuring Pollution in the Cleanest Air in Europe

Liz Coleman

Thanks to its unique location, research at Mace Head shows the extent to which the most remote areas in the world are affected by pollution. Observing the rise of Greenhouse Gases, Liz Coleman and her fellow scientists find it increasingly important to communicate their findings to the public. In collaboration with artists Paula McCloskey and Sam Vardy, and science engagement & education expert, Mairéad Hurley, Stories of the Air/Spéirscéalta aims to do just that – driving collective action through storytelling.

articles
17 May 2022
7  MINS

ROPES: The Apiarist

R.J. Breathnach

Published annually by students of the MA in Literature and Publishing at NUI Galway, ROPES Literary Journal  has firmly established itself as part of the flourishing literary scene in Ireland. R. J. Breathnach’s poem, The Apiarist provoke readers to consider ourselves and our futures in relation to our threatened and fragile environments. Originally published in Issue 30, and launched at the 2022 Cúirt International Festival of Literature.

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Sustainability
13 May 2022
13  MINS

In Conversation: Dr Matt Kennedy, Arup

Dr Matt Kennedy, A. Director of Carbon, Climate & Sustainability, Arup

Design engineering firm, Arup count buildings such as the Sydney Opera House and the Centre Pompidou among their innovative projects. As Associate Director of Carbon and Climate Change, Dr Matt Kennedy leads climate change services for Arup in infrastructure, buildings and cities. Across his 20 years of sustainability leadership spanning government, industry and academia, the NUI Galway alumnus has seen major changes in the way we think about climate change.

articles
29 April 2022
19  MINS

Truth and Testimony: Ireland’s Carceral Institutions

Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley

Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley, a foremost expert in the history of childhood in Ireland, argues that our national story remains incomplete until we recognise our institutional history. Calling for a survivor/person-centred approach, she reflects on the importance of testimony in piecing together an understanding of Ireland’s Carceral Institutions.

videos
01 March 2022

NUI Galway & Druid Theatre Launch New Partnership

As the university launches a new strategic partnership with Druid theatre, Garry Hynes & Marie Mullen toured campus and reminisced on their days in ‘UCG’, where they co-founded the theatre company. They speak to some current Drama students to hear about their student experience.

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AI & Human Creativity
05 January 2022
25  MINS

Midnight Mass

Mike McCormack

The work of novelist, short story writer and NUI Galway lecturer, Mike McCormack casts a unique light on technology. In 2016, McCormack’s Solar Bones – “a hymn to engineers” – won the Goldsmiths Prize, and the Irish Book Award Novel of the Year and Book of the Year. In ‘Midnight Mass’, the novelist responds to the Cois Coiribe winter theme of ‘AI and Human Creativity’ with a glimpse into the future – pretty or otherwise.

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AI & Human Creativity
23 December 2021
13  MINS

A Data Love Story

Margaux Smith, Meadhbh McNutt

What does your data shadow look like? How does it intersect with your relationships and everyday life? These are the questions raised by artists Margaux Smith and Meadhbh McNutt in A Data Love Story. Through visualisation and narration, Margaux and Meadhbh tell the story of a romantic relationship through the lens of linguistic data, based on texts shared between Meadhbh and her boyfriend, Eimhin across two fortnight periods.

articles
17 December 2021
9  MINS

AfterImage: Fusing Art and Science

“We’re all engaged in looking and I think looking is the foundation of both science and art.”

articles
17 December 2021
8  MINS

Editor’s Note

A note from the editorial team of the Cois Coiribe winter edition, ‘AI and Human Creativity’.

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AI & Human Creativity
16 December 2021
14  MINS

Meaisínaistriúchán Néarach – Deis agus Dúshlán i gComhthéacs Ollscoile

Eoin Ó Droighneáin

Tá úsáid teangacha sa réimse digiteach thar a bheith tábhachtach – teangacha nach mbeidh lánpháirteach sa réimse sin, tá an baol ann go rachaidh siad ar gcúl. The use of languages ​​in the digital realm is extremely important – languages not embracing the digital revolution are in danger of decline.

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AI & Human Creativity
16 December 2021
16  MINS

A Different View: Data Visualisation and Engaging Research

David Kelly

David Kelly explains how data visualisation techniques allow researchers to communicate complex data and ideas to researchers, policy makers and the wider public.

articles
16 December 2021
18  MINS

In Conversation with Digital Artist, Dr. EL Putnam

Dr. EL Putnam, lecturer in Digital Media, NUI Galway

Dr. EL Putnam is an internationally recognised digital artist and a lecturer in Digital Media at NUI Galway. EL’s practice discovers new ways of thinking about the relationship between the body and data; her artworks and performances have travelled to the United States, Europe and beyond. Recent experiments have seen the artist create generative animations using biometric data, such as heart rate and oxygen levels. In this interview, EL shares her thoughts on creativity, education and the materiality of technology.

articles
29 July 2021
8  MINS

Welcome to the Summer Edition of Cois Coiribe

Professor Becky Whay

Prof Becky Whay, Vice-President: International at NUI Galway welcomes you to the Summer online edition of Cois Coiribe – where we ask what impact can internationalisation have on us as a university and the people associated with it and why should we be a Global University?    

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Internationalisation
29 July 2021
11  MINS

How Computers Can Future-Proof Minority Languages

Dr. Theodorus Fransen & Dr. John McCrae explore how digital language tools can potentially resolve the underrepresentation of minority languages in terms of digital technology and the Web.

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Internationalisation
29 July 2021
15  MINS

Are we Ready for Internationalisation?

Prof Michal Molcho

New to the Parish: Michal Molcho arrived at NUI Galway to do a post-doctoral fellowship I 2005. 17 years on, Professor Molcho is the Vice Dean for Internationalisation, leading the internationalisation strategy in the College of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies. Settling in Ireland was not straightforward, especially when it came to Galway’s temperate climate, Galway’s diverse set of local dialects, and much more…

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Internationalisation
29 July 2021
12  MINS

The Languages of Internationalisation

Professor Rebecca Braun

Professor Rebecca Braun shares her experience of the languages of internationalisation, together with the linguistic preparation necessary for other languages and cultures in universities.

articles
05 July 2021
3  MINS

New House

Eoin Rogers

Eoin Rogers is a poet and writer based in Dublin. He graduated from IADT with a degree in English, Media, and Cultural Studies in 2012. He writes about film, literature, comics, society and runs his own web-comic Necromancy Most Foul. Image Credit: RTÉ

podcasts
05 July 2021

Arts & Empathy – A Post-Covid, Civic Forcefield

In conversation Maureen Kennelly, Director, Arts Council of Ireland & Prof Patrick Lonergan, Drama & Theatre Studies, NUI Galway

articles
15 June 2021
5  MINS

We thank our artists

Prof Patrick Lonergan, , ,

Irish fiction is currently experiencing a new golden age, one in which new writers are coming forward to ask urgent questions. For this Cois Coiribe issue, we wanted to celebrate the work of three of those writers, bringing previously unpublished stories by them to our readers.

articles
03 June 2021
3  MINS

And sing and louder sing after Cana Cludhmor

Nidhi Zak / Aria Eipe

Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe joins a host of Ireland’s most celebrated poets in our literature series for Cois Coiribe. Image Credit: Daniel O’Connor, RTE

articles
01 June 2021
2  MINS

Faoi Shamhain

oireann Ní Ghríofa

Doireann Ní Ghríofa joins a host of other exceptional Irish artists in our series of literature works with her poem ‘Faoi Samhain’. Image Credit: Al Higgins

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Equality
07 May 2021
15  MINS

Fighting the Headlines: Active* Consent is working to reduce experiences of sexual violence and harassment for young people

Dr Charlotte McIvor, Dr Pádraig MacNeela, Dr Siobhán O’Higgins

Leading academics tackling sexual harassment on campuses around the country by working with young people to reduce experiences of sexual violence and harassment for young people.

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Equality
28 April 2021
21  MINS

Two Birds, One Stone

Elaine Feeney

Elaine Feeney has published three collections of poetry including The Radio was Gospel and Rise. Feeney teachers at NUI Galway, where she is also Creative on the Tuam Oral History Project. In 2017 she wrote the multi award-winning drama piece for the Liz Roche Company, WRoNGHEADED. Her debut novel As You Were (Vintage) won the 2021 Kate O’ Brien Award and shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, The Rathbone Folio Prize, Dalkey Literary Awards and was an Observer Best Debut of 2020.

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Equality
28 April 2021
22  MINS

Rupture

Tanya Farrelly

Tanya Farrelly is the author of three books: a short fiction collection When Black Dogs Sing (Arlen House), which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and named winner of the Kate O’ Brien Award 2017, and two novels: The Girl Behind the Lens and When Your Eyes Close (Harper Collins). She holds a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from Bangor University, Wales, and teaches at numerous institutions, including the Irish Writers Centre, Dublin, and the People’s College. She is the founder and director of Bray Literary Festival and is the current Writer-in-Residence at NUI Galway. Her second short story collection Nobody Needs to Know is forthcoming from Arlen House. 

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Equality
28 April 2021
22  MINS

Small Gods

Deirdre Sullivan

Deirdre Sullivan is a writer and teacher from Galway. She has written seven acclaimed books for young adults, including Savage Her Reply (Little Island, 2020),Perfectly Preventable Deaths (Hot Key 2019) and Tangleweed and Brine (Little Island 2017). She was the recipient of the CBI award in 2018 and the An Post Irish Book Award for YA in 2020. Her short fiction has previously appeared in Banshee and The Dublin Review and her first collection of short fiction for adults, I Want To Know That I Will Be Okay (Banshee Press, 2021) was released in May 2021.

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Equality
28 April 2021
12  MINS

Barriers to equality are barriers to knowledge

Dr Heike Schmidt-Felzmann, , ,

There is a deep need to ensure the inequality experienced by people across society is understood, otherwise the entire process of working for change and betterment is flawed.

articles
17 January 2021
15  MINS

The University as Space of Curiosity and Source of Ethics

Michael D Higgins

As someone who spent many years teaching political science and sociology in NUI Galway, I feel a close bond with the university, an affection that stays with me to this day as I recall so many wonderful years of teaching and research there, as well as the lifelong friendships forged.

podcasts
14 January 2021

Literature, Narrative, and Covid-19

This is the synopsis for Literature, Narrative, and Covid-19

podcasts
11 January 2021

Philosophy and the Pandemic: reasoning in unreasonable times

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, fundamental philosophical questions have come into sharp focus. In this panel discussion, faculty members from the discipline of philosophy at NUI Galway will discuss a range of issues related to these times of change and uncertainty, including the role and rhetoric of expertise; “states of exception” and governance; the trust invested in decision-makers; the nature of goodwill in a moment of crisis; how we engage in reasoning about uncertainty and catastrophic outcomes; and the nature of nostalgia and how we (mis)remember the past.

articles
17 December 2020
16  MINS

Sustainability & Covid-19 – A Setback or the Cusp of Change?

NUI Galway’s Community and University Sustainability Partnership (CUSP)  is a multi-disciplinary, voluntary team of over 30 students and staff from across the campus and community, with the common aim of establishing the university as a leading institutional model for sustainability. CUSP has been at the heart of a vital pillar of the university’s strategy – a commitment to sustainability as one of four underpinning values for everything that the university does (alongside respect, openness and excellence).

articles
15 December 2020
10  MINS

Beir litir uaim go hÉirinn

An tOll Breandán Mac Suibhne

articles
15 December 2020
6  MINS

NUI Galway’s Research – Covid-19 Response

Prof Lokesh Joshi,

articles
15 December 2020
21  MINS

Infrastructure – for Public Good and Collaborative Creativity

John Concannon

articles
15 December 2020
14  MINS

From Plague to Covid – What History Teaches us about Pandemics

Prof Daniel Carey

articles
15 December 2020
14  MINS

A University for the Future – Serving the Public Good

Prof Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh

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