Impact & Opinions | Tionchar & Tuairimí

Education

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SDG Champion
18 December 2023
15  MINS

The Learning Commons: A Library, Reimagined

Monica Crump

Monica Crump, Interim University Librarian explores this radically different library of the future, supporting collaboration, creativity and new forms of teaching, learning and engagement.

articles
18 December 2023
19  MINS

Flóra na Gaeltachta: saibhreas na bithéagsúlachta mar áis foghlama

An Dr Seathrún Ó Tuairisg

Tugann Seathrún Ó Tuairisg léargas ar phlandaí coitianta agus neamhchoitianta atá le feiceáil i gceantar Chois Fharraige i gConamara, Co. na Gaillimhe. Tugann an obair seo spléach ar a thábhachtaí atá an bhithéagsúlacht don timpeallacht agus don tsochaí – ábhar atá thar a bheith tráthúil anois agus muid in éigeandáil aeráide agus i ngéarchéim bhithéagsúlachta. Is réimse é seo a luíonn isteach go mór le straitéis Ollscoil na Gaillimhe i leith na spriocanna forbartha inbhuanaithe (SDG) – Sprioc 15, Beathra Talún, go háirithe. 

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SDG Champion
18 December 2023
25  MINS

Smart Sustainability at the World’s Largest Sports Air Dome

John Prenty, Kurt Reinhardt, Cathal Cregg

As 2023 SGD Champion, the University of Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome is a beacon of sustainable innovation for Ireland. In this SDG Champion Edition, Cois Coiribe asks the team about its partnership with University of Galway, its dynamic Green Clubs programme and the complexities of managing the world’s largest sports air dome – a versatile indoor facility, accessible to clubs and visitors throughout the region and beyond.

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SDG Champion
15 December 2023
23  MINS

Shaping MedTech’s Future: Gerry Kilcommins, Medtronic

Gerry Kilcommins

Medtronic’s Vice President of Global Platform Manufacturing & Medtronic Ireland Country Director, Gerry Kilcommins sits down with Cois Coiribe to discuss corporate responsibility in healthcare and sustainability, and the significance of the Medtronic–University of Galway partnership in cementing Galway’s place at the epicenter of one of top world MedTech hubs.

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SDG Champion
25 September 2023
13  MINS

In Conversation: Ibec CEO, Danny McCoy

Danny McCoy

True prosperity calls for a balance between public and private sector, argues Danny McCoy, University of Galway alum and CEO of Ibec (Irish Business & Employers Confederation). With a varied career as an executive, senior economist and lecturer, this University of Galway alum has developed a strong perspective on the makings of a sustainable economy. Here, Danny sits down with Cois Coiribe to share his views on education, sustainability, globalisation and more.

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Resilient Innovation
25 July 2023
13  MINS

Straitéis na Gaeilge: An Scéal is Deireanaí

Seoladh an chéad straitéis don Ghaeilge san Ollscoil beagnach dhá bhliain ó shin, ar an 16 Iúil 2021 agus tá toradh na hoibre atá déanta ag gach uile dhuine a raibh lámh acu i bhforbairt agus i bhfeidhmiú na Straitéise go dtí seo le haithint ar fud an champais agus dul chun cinn suntasach déanta.

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Resilient Innovation
06 July 2023
20  MINS

Teaching Students to Think Critically about Digital Storytelling

Deborah Miranda Roldán

The advent of Artificial Intelligence has transformed the landscape of media, presenting society with enormous challenges as well as opportunities. In this era of rapid technological advancements, the cultivation of accountability and critical thinking skills within these disciplines is of paramount importance. The challenge for universities will be how best to prepare graduates to navigate the complexities of the digital age. 

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Resilient Innovation
29 June 2023
9  MINS

Foreword from the President

Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, President of University of Galway 

Fáilte go Cois Coiribe. Tá sé lán go béal arís i mbliana le luachanna na hollscoile s’againne, luachanna atá go smior inár gcomhluadar.  I am particularly pleased that, once more, Cois Coiribe is replete with our values as a university community, as a university for the public good.

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Resilient Innovation
28 June 2023
20  MINS

Propelling Innovation: University of Galway Spinouts

Today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape requires constant innovation. Founded in 2006, University of Galway’s Innovation Office is a hub for entrepreneurs, startups and established companies alike to propel their ventures to new heights in a supported environment.

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Resilient Innovation
22 June 2023
19  MINS

GEOFIT: More than a Hole in the Ground

Luis Miguel Blanes Restoy

What started as a hole in the ground on the University of Galway campus grounds is now a living field-scale laboratory for geothermal technology. Beyond heating the campus swimming pool, GEOFIT’s ground-source heat pump infrastructure will act as a pilot for other European countries, influencing policy and propelling Ireland’s decarbonisation journey forward as a whole.

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15 March 2023
23  MINS

Cell EXPLORERS: Who Gets To Be a Scientist?

Meadhbh McNutt, Dr Sarah Carroll, Dr Kristin Anderson

Based in University of Galway’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Cell EXPLORERS is a public engagement programme that aims to address science-related misconceptions held by some young people and provide positive experiences with hands-on science.

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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
13 January 2023
12  MINS

Innovation: “It Takes a Village”

W. Bernard Carlson

Contrary to the familiar image of the solitary inventor, Prof W. Bernard Carlson makes it clear that innovators never work alone. Drawing on pivotal examples in engineering and design, from the Buick automobile to the glass-ceramic wedding gift, Carlson presents innovation as a collective undertaking—a shaping of the path through which a product finds meaning.

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Creative Galway
15 December 2022
15  MINS

Laughing to Learn

Dr. Jessamyn Fairfield

Why might a Lecturer in Physics at University of Galway go about training hundreds of academics to perform comedy around their research? According to Bright Club Ireland founder Dr Jessamyn Fairfield, comedy is a creative process, a remixing of stories with the aim of flipping one’s perspective and piercing through the tension of a watchful audience. With the toolkit of improv comedy in hand, Jessamyn is building confidence, connection and innovative learning methods among a variety of academic fields.

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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.

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
8  MINS

In Conversation: Derek Stewart, Honorary Professor at University of Galway

A former teacher from Ayr, Scotland, Derek Stewart was treated successfully for cancer of the larynx in 1995, and subsequently became involved in numerous aspects of patient involvement. Derek has made significant contributions to Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) in research in the UK, holding many important roles over the years. He was awarded an OBE in 2006 for his services to health, and in particular to cancer care.

articles
15 December 2022
25  MINS

Dr Helen Maher, Vice President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, University of Galway   

Bríd Seoige

Whose identity, experience and knowledge matters and how are we accountable for including diverse perspectives and characteristics? These are questions that Dr Helen Maher, Vice President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), addresses on a daily basis at University of Galway. We sat down with Helen to reflect on our progress to date, the steps still to take and the vital difference that EDI makes to a university community.

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14 December 2022
40  MINS

A Year of Change 

Bríd Seoige

Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh became the 13th president of Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway in January 2018. In December 2019 / January 2020, he launched the University’s Strategic Plan 2020–2025, ‘Shared Vision, Shaped by Values’, at the outset of what was to become a challenging period for third-level education, shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now approaching a halfway point in our value-based strategy, Ciarán reflects on our achievements and learnings thus far, exploring what it means for the University to be rooted in Galway, while always reaching outwards towards the horizon.

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13 December 2022
20  MINS

In Conversation: Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh, MRIA, Deputy President and Registrar, University of Galway 

Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh

“We have one of the highest participation rates in the world in third-level education, but we are a long way off being one of the highest investors in that education. For the sake of this country and its young people we need to stop trying to do this on the cheap,”  says Deputy President and Registrar of University of Galway, Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh.

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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?

podcasts
26 August 2022

On the Ground in Afghanistan

articles
20 July 2022
4  MINS

Connecting with Community for Sustainable Education 

Jamie Goggins, Magdalena Hajdukiewicz

Community-engaged learning with a focus on sustainability is central to the curriculum at NUI Galway’s Civil Engineering, Energy Systems Engineering and Project & Construction Management degrees. Prof Jamie Goggins and Dr Magdalena Hajdukiewicz discuss the impact on both society and the students who partake. 

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Sustainability
06 July 2022
5  MINS

University of Galway’s Sustainability Journey

Michelle O'Dowd Lohan, Sustainability Officer, University of Galway

In 2022, University of Galway was identified as Ireland’s number one university for Sustainable Development by the Time Higher Education’s Impact Rankings. Below, Sustainability Officer Michelle O’Dowd Lohan recounts the University’s sustainability journey thus far, and its goals for the future.

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Sustainability
23 June 2022
16  MINS

The Power of ‘Enough’ – From efficiency to sufficiency

Prof Frances Fahy

What is the maximum level of consumption you need in order to live a good life? While lacking the cool factor of ‘clean’ tech, questions like this one around habit and social expectations are just as crucial in encouraging a mass shift towards sustainability. Through extensive research and case studies, Prof Frances Fahy has learned that less is certainly more in the fight against the climate crisis.

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Sustainability
21 June 2022
24  MINS

Global Sea Levels are Rising – Here’s what we can do

Dr Eugene Farrell, Lecturer & Researcher, Geography, NUI Galway

Despite predictions that large parts of Ireland’s coast will be submerged underwater by 2050, Ireland is still decades away from realising the potential of nature-based solutions. Here, geographer Dr Eugene Farrell explains how we can help face the challenges of climate change by restoring key coastal ecosystems.

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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.

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Sustainability
18 May 2022
30  MINS

Taking Risks on Life on this Planet

Tom McDermott, Dr Denis O’Hora

More than ever, we understand the causes of climate change and the likely consequences of inaction. So, what stops us from reducing carbon emissions in a meaningful way? Lecturer in Economics of Climate Change & Development, Tom McDermott and Behavioural Scientist, Dr Denis O’Hora investigate why we, as a society, have been unable to make greater progress in tackling this existential challenge.

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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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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.

podcasts
04 February 2022

AI & Higher Education

Join Tom Felle and his guest Prof Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, President of NUI Galway in this edition of the Cois Coiribe Podcast – a series that explores major societal issues and the role that NUI Galway, and our global alumni network play in creating new knowledge, in research, in policy making and in problem solving. Here Prof Ó hÓgartaigh shares his views on the future of the university as concept, campus and community.

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26 January 2022
23  MINS

A Humanitarian Catastrophe – on the Ground in Afghanistan 

Tom Felle

NUI Galway graduates are at the forefront of the humanitarian responses to some of the world’s most difficult global crises. From Defence Forces officers serving on dangerous posts in Lebanon, to Irish diplomats at the top table at the United Nations (UN) Security Council this year, the university’s global footprint in global peace and security is ever growing. Here, Tom Felle talks to two alumni of NUI Galway who are currently working in Afghanistan.

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21 December 2021
27  MINS

AI & Higher Education

Tom Felle

Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, NUI Galway talks to Tom Felle, Associate Professor and Head, Discipline of Journalism and Communication, about the future of higher education and how new technologies and artificial intelligence will influence the direction of learning in the next 20 years.

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AI & Human Creativity
17 December 2021
14  MINS

Adapting to a Changing Job Market

Anastasiya Sytnyk

With COVID-19 disrupting hospitality and retail industries where many young people find employment, students like Anastasiya Sytnyk have had to reconsider their employment options. After a year of working remotely in an IT sales role, Anastasiya shares her insights on adapting to a changing job market.

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’.

articles
16 December 2021
10  MINS

NUI Galway Leading the Way in Designing the Future of Education

In the months preceding COVID-19’s classification as a global pandemic, the Irish Government funded a number of large-scale, transformative projects in the higher education and university sector. The focus of these initiatives was to develop and deploy innovative educational approaches and technologies to change fundamentally how students experience their university education.

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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.

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AI & Human Creativity
16 December 2021
13  MINS

Artificial Intelligence and the Learning Commons

Mr John Cox, University Librarian, Library, NUI Galway

John Cox explains the radically different library of the future, driven by AI and Robotics and supporting new forms of learning and engagement. He points out that ethical concerns surrounding AI will require that the human dimension be paramount, with Library staff playing a central role.

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.

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AI & Human Creativity
16 December 2021
15  MINS

Is it Time for the Leaving Certificate to Leave School? – Designing a Secondary Education System for Creativity and Innovation 

Dr Tony Hall

Dr Tony Hall argues that it is time to say ‘Slán’ to the Leaving Cert, and instead design an educational future that foregrounds and promotes creativity and innovation.

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Internationalisation
27 September 2021
14  MINS

In Conversation With: Dr Anthony J. Windebank

Dr Anthony J. Windebank, professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic, discusses the importance of global collaborations within medical research, and the impact that internationalisation has had on his career.

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Equality
29 April 2021
9  MINS

Pandemic pushes universities to rethink excellence

Dr Su-Ming Khoo

With higher education rankings led by for-profit corporations and scientific publishing turning higher profit margins than Apple, Google or Amazon, universities should challenge how success is measured as they work for public good.

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Equality
28 April 2021
17  MINS

Inclusion – a goal and a role for us all

Dr Shivaun Quinlivan

When we think of equality we think of fairness and ways to increase diversity, but stopping there is stopping short. As society strives for meaningful equality it is up to all of us to ensure that everyone feels included.

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Equality
28 April 2021
14  MINS

Migrants and minorities in higher education – battling embedded inequality

Dr Srinivasan Raghavendran

An academic’s personal reflection on the need to level the playing field for immigrant and minority ethnic staff and students in universities and a call for institutions to be the champion for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

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.

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
16  MINS

NUI Galway – Strengthening Global Peace & Security

Tom Felle, Mícheál Tierney, Vice Admiral Mark Mellett, Prof Siobhán Mullally

articles
15 December 2020
14  MINS

A University for the Future – Serving the Public Good

Prof Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh

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