Latest News and events

Congratulations to all our members who published journal articles, books, book chapters, reports and conference papers during 2012.  The range of publications by Whitaker Institute members, spans the breath of research interests across the Institute and all our authors will be honoured at an Institute book celebration in January.

Whitaker Institute member Dr Amaya Vega is one a select group of representatives from Ireland to travel to the USA to participate in the Developing the Marine Economy: Fishing, Recreation, Transport forum taking place in Boston, MA and Miami, FL on 4 - 14 December 2012.

Ten relevant marine policymakers and practitioners, marine economic development specialists, environmentalists, and investors from Ireland and Northern Ireland were selected to engage with their American counterparts on issues relating to the marine economy. Participants will develop their understanding of the marine environment and the potential for its safe and sustainable economic development in the United States. Energy—both renewable and non-renewable—fishing, transport, and recreational uses of marine resources will be examined along with environmental challenges related to the development of the marine environment.

The program is sponsored by the Irish Institute at the Center for Irish Programs, Boston College, and the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.  

With rising discontent to the Austerity policies in Europe, there is a growing demand for alternative policies for solving the debt crisis. Such alternative policies can only come about by recognizing the dynamic interplay between the financial sector and the real sector where the trade imbalances were accruing before the crisis, and more importantly by seeking alternative economic theoretic basis for analyzing and solving the crisis. Ten leading economists came together in early November for a three-day "Finance, Sovereign Debt and Eurozone Crisis" workshop convened by Dr. Srinivas Raghavendra, culminating in a public policy brief that articulates an alternative vision for solving the Eurozone crisis.  Please click here to read this policy brief in full.

Druid’s award winning director Garry Hynes (pictured with Dr. Patrick Collins) launched the Creative Edge project on Thursday 29th November in the Bank of Ireland Theatre, NUI Galway. The Whitaker Institute will lead the project which will help creative businesses in Europe’s Northern Periphery to export to new markets and nurture emerging creative talent, and Whitaker Insitute member Dr Patrick Collins lead researcher on the project.

The project received €1.1 million in funding through the European Union’s Interreg initiative under the Northern Periphery Programme (NPP) and brings together universities, development agencies and industry bodies from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Finland and Sweden.

The main objective of the Creative Edge project is promote the active participation of local creative organisations and businesses in global markets while also aiding them in their ability to attract and utilise local emerging creative talent in these markets. For more information on the Project, please visit http://www.creative-edge.eu/

To read the full press release, please see HERE  

A new report from the Whitaker Institute and the J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics at NUI Galway reveals that the Volvo Ocean Race Finale (VOR) which took place in Galway city earlier this year, having hosted a stopover for the Race in 2009, was worth €60.5 million to the Irish economy. Over 500,000 visitors attended events during the festival period from 30 June to 8 July 2012, with 16% of those coming from outside of Ireland.

The 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race lasted for nine months and covered 39,270 nautical miles. The boats circumnavigated the globe, visiting eight stopover ports before finishing in Galway. The participants sailed through four oceans and visited ports in five continents, making it the toughest sailing event in the world. Hundreds of thousands of spectators visited the race villages in the participating ports, while millions tuned in via numerous media channels.

The report, An Economic Assessment of the Volvo Ocean Race Finale, Galway 2012, takes an in-depth scientific examination of the economic impact of the event in Galway over the nine day period. It also reports on the extra-economic benefits of the VOR finale which saw an investment by organisers and Galway City of €7.6 million.

Speaking of the findings, lead author of the Report Dr Patrick Collins of NUI Galway’s Whitaker Institute said: “For nine days and nights, Galway City became the focal point of one of the most highly regarded international sporting events, supported by over 275 free events around the city. The magnitude of the event in terms of the relatively small economy of the Galway area was exceptional.”

To read the full press release, please see HERE

The 4th annual social marketing conference entitled Behaviour Change, Social Change and Societal Change was all about “listening to and learning with the people we want to work with, whether we term them clients, target groups or citizens" - an action at the core of behaviour, social & societal change. The keynote speakers were Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett, Strathclyde University/Queensland University of Technology and Matthew Wood, Brighton University, UK. More information on the event can be found in our Events section.

Pictured from left to right are: Dr Christine Domegan; Dr. Sinead Duane; Matthew Wood, Brighton University; Prof. Rebekah Russell-Bennett, Queensland University of Technology and University of Strathclyde;Pat Kenny, DIT and Dr. Aileen McGloin, Safefood

The Whitaker Institute was the subject of a feature article in the Irish Times on Monday 19 November. Barry McCall interviewed Dr James Cunningham, Director of the Institute, as well as Cluster Leaders Dr Mike Hogan, Dr Kate Kenny and Professor Kevin Leyden. To read the full article, please see HERE

Prof. Breda Sweeney and Dr. Emer Curtis havedelivered another very successful workshop on Management Controls to Enable Innovation.  The workshop was aimed at Chartered Institute of Management Accountant members interested in managing or supporting innovation, either as part of the finance unit or as a leader of other business units such as R&D, operations, sales, commercial, and marketing. Pictured on the day are Prof. Sweeney, Nicola Glynn (CIMA member) and Dr. Curtis: 

Congratulations to Whitaker Institute members Dr. Alma McCarthy and Dr. Niall O Dochartaigh who received funding from the Irish Research Council under the Government of Ireland "New Foundations" scheme. Dr. McCarthy's award will support research on "Senior Leasership in the Irish Civil Service: A Multiscore Qualitative Studt of Effectiveness, Traints and Impact." Dr. O Dochartaigh's award will support research on "Political Violence: building a new international network"

          
Pictured are MARNET project partners (including NUI Galway researchers: Frances Fahy, Rebecca Corless and Amaya Vega) at its launch at the EU Atlantic Forum Conference in Bilbao.

Researchers from the Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway, along with members of the Border, Midland and Western (BMW) Regional Assembly, officially launched the new MARNET project at a major EU Commission Marine conference in Bilbao, Spain on 12 November 2012.

MARNET (Marine Atlantic Regions Network) is a three year co-operation project involving regional authorities and marine socio-economists in Ireland, Spain, France, Portugal and Scotland. The initiative will establish an EU Atlantic Marine Socio-Economic Network that will map the value of the Atlantic Marine economy through the development of reliable and comparable socio economic data throughout Atlantic Regions.

Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit (SEMRU) at the Whitaker Institute, NUI Galway is the lead scientific partner on this large scale EU INTERREG project. SEMRU, created in NUI Galway in 2008 with the support of the Marine Institute Beaufort Marine Socio-Economic Award, is focused on economic and social research to quantify the economic importance of Ireland’s marine environment in support of ’evidence-based’ policy development within the marine sector, a priority also identified under Sea Change.

Attending the launch, Dr Frances Fahy, Lecturer in Geography and Whitaker Institute member at NUI Galway and MARNET researcher, said: “The main aim of the MARNET project is to develop a Marine Atlantic Regions Network and to establish formal co-operative links between marine socio-economic research institutions and other bodies operating in the European Atlantic coastal zone.”

MARNET was presented to over 150 delegates from throughout the Atlantic Region at an EU Forum Conference event in Bilbao, Spain. The consultation seminar was organised by DG MARE of the EU Commission as part of the development of the EU Maritime Strategy for the Atlantic Area.

For more information on the project, please visit: http://www.nuigalway.ie/whitakerinstitute/research/marnet.html

The eminent economist and former Secretary of the Department of Finance, Dr T.K. Whitaker (pictured), was warmly received at NUI Galway on 18th October as the University announced the establishment of the Whitaker Institute for Innovation and Societal Change.

Dr Whitaker played an instrumental role in devising the economic plan, which set Ireland on the road to regeneration in the early 1960s. Drawing inspiration from his unparalleled service to Ireland, the newly formed Whitaker Institute serves as the country’s largest research body focused on contemporary and relevant business, social and policy issues.

Over 200 members make up the faculty with expertise spanning across the College of Business, Public Policy and Law and the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies. Subsuming the University’s Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC), the Whitaker Institute builds on a decade of research-excellence and policy-focused contributions supported by over €11 million in competitive national and international research funding.

Dr James Cunningham, Director of the Whitaker Institute, expressed the sense of privilege he shares with Institute members at the endorsement of Dr Whitaker: “It is a great honour for our research community to name the Institute after Dr Whitaker as his achievements, influence and contributions to this nation are in keeping with what we are seeking to achieve as Ireland rebuilds its economy and reimages its society.”

To read the full press release, please see HERE. Dr Whitaker's visit featured on RTE News, TG4 News, Galway Bay FM, Galway Advertiser, Galway Independent, Galway City Tribune, Connacht Tribune, and in a feature piece by John Holder in the irish Times on Monday 22 October. See HERE for the full article.

Professor Wickham, Trinity College Dublin, spoke on the topic of Migration, Industrial relations and the European Social Model when he delivered the Annual James Connolly Memorial lecture at NUI Galway on the 24th of October. This issue relates closely to the research interests of members of the Work, Society and Governance cluster who sponsored the public lecture.

Above: Professor Wickham with Dr. Noel Harvey (GMIT), Dr. Tony Royle (NUI Galway) and Dr. Michelle O'Sullivan (UL)

Above: Members of the Work, Society and Governance research cluster with Professor Wickham

Whitaker Institure member Professor Seamus Grimes recently returned from a research trip to Nairobi, where he was interviewed for Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper. To read the full article, please see HERE

An article on Kenya in Transition by Prof Grimes also recently appeared on Finfacts.ie. See HERE for the full article.                                                   

A recent publication by Professor Kevin Leyden, Whitaker Institute member and Cluster Leader of the Creative, Liveable and Sustainable Communities cluster, was highlighted by the University of Essex's Society Central webpage: http://societycentral.ac.uk/headline/happy-cities-happy-citizens

The connection to public policy was highlighted as they state: World leaders are increasingly using measures of wellbeing to evaluate their cultures and societies. In the UK, the first results of Prime Minister David Cameron’s ’Happiness Index’ were published in July 2012. The authors of the report believe further research into how wellbeing and amenities are linked could prove useful to policymakers.

“The attractiveness or beauty of cities, the convenience of public transportation, and the availability of key cultural, sport and shopping amenities as well as the quality of city services are  shared responsibilities,” they say. “It is human decision-making, not random chance, that determines the success or failure of cities.

The full article is available HERE. Goldberg, A, KM Leyden and T Scotto, 2012. "Untangling What Makes Cities Liveable: Happiness in Five Cities". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Urban Design and Planning. Volume 165 Issue DP3.

Professor Leyden has also been working on a video about Smart and Livable Cities with Benita Lipps of the European Science Foundation:

Good News for the Social Innovation and Policy Cluster led by Dr Christine Domegan at the Whitaker Institute! We can now celebrate another important and historic step forward for Social Marketing internationally. Those of you who follow global health policy will know that in September 2012, the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region (covering around 900 million people!) agreed its new Health Policy Framework, called "HEALTH 2020", and within this, for the very first time, Social Marketing has been formally acknowledge and recognised. While the specific references are relatively modest (see link below), they are important since they reflect open and constructive discussions which we have been having with the Region Director, Zsuzsanna Jakab, and her senior team about the potential of social marketing to assist policy, strategy and its implementation.

http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/health-policy/health-2020

  Attending the 1st meeting of EROS were (from left): Philip Moons (Belgium) ; Molly Byrne (Ireland); Tialda Hoekstra (Netherlands); Tiny Jaarsma (Sweden); Nina Kolbe (Germany); Sally Doherty (Ireland); Jan Martensson (Sweden).

The first meeting of the EROS group was held in Norrköping, Sweden on 24th & 25th September 2012. The meeting was hosted by Prof Tiny Jaarsma of Linköping University. The research network brings together leading researchers in the area of sexuality and sexual wellbeing in the context of cardiovascular diseases in Europe.

Sexual function and intimate relationship problems are common among people with heart disease. Sexual counselling and education are recommended in recent guidelines as an important component of cardiac rehabilitation for both cardiac patients and their partners. Research indicates that sexuality is rarely, if at all, addressed in health services.

Dr Molly Byrne of the School of Psychology and a member of the Health and Wellbeing Cluster of the Whitaker Insitiute, NUI Galway is a founding member of this group. Dr Byrne has recently completed the CHARMS study: a Health Research Board funded study exploring views of cardiac rehabilitation staff, general practitioners and cardiac patients about how sexuality impacts wellbeing of cardiac patients in Ireland and how these issues are addressed in health services.

The EROS group aims to identify and address gaps in research in sexuality and cardiovascular disease. By taking a European perspective, they hope to standardise data collections tools for research in the area, develop an evidence base for sexual counselling interventions in cardiovascular health services and improve health professional training in cardiovascular sexuality across Europe.

Hosted by Dr Kieran Conboy, Whitaker Institute, NUI Galway; Ken Power, CISCO and LERO. Friday 21 September 2012. 

Visiting Fellow Professor Ian Walker, a leading expert in costal dune dynamics from the University of Victooria in Canada, led a public fieldtrip to Grattan Beach for all those interested in beach management and associated issues. The field trip was followed by a seminar in NUI Galway on "Shifting sands and dynamic shorelines: Climate change, coastal erosion, and the restoration of beach-dune systems". For more information on the Institute's Visiting Fellowship Programme, please click HERE .

Whitaker Institute member Professor Seamus Grimes was recently interviewed for http://www.techinasia.com/, an online news website based in Asia which receives over 500,000 hits per month. Prof. Grimes was interviewed by Steven Millward about the China R&D dilemma for foreigh tech companies. To read the full article, please see HERE.

Institute member PhD student Alexandra Revez of the Centre for Environment, Development and Sustainability (CEDS) joins a group of academic experts from across Europe in a new academic network funded by the European Union to improve disaster preparedness in cities worldwide.

The project, called ANDROID (Academic Network for Disaster Resilience to Optimise Educational Development), aims to promote co-operation and innovation among European higher education institutions to increase society’s resilience to disasters of human and natural origin – such as earthquakes or the damage caused by ongoing wars. ANDROID, supported by an EU grant worth €800,000, will run for three years and is led by University of Salford’s Centre for Disaster Resilience, based in the UK. So far a consortium of partners from 64 European higher education institutions has embarked on the project, joined by three institutions from Australia, Canada and Sri-Lanka.

To read the full press release, please see HERE

The BMW Regional Assembly together with the Socio Economic Marine Research Unit (SEMRU) at NUI Galway hosted the inaugural meeting of the MARNET project at the Whitaker Institute, NUI Galway on July 11th and 12th last.

MARNET (Marine Atlantic Regions Network) is a 2.5 year collaborative transnational project involving maritime regions from the Basque country of Spain, Brittany in France, Stirling in Scotland, Porto in Portugal as well as the Border Midland and West region of Ireland. The BMW Regional Assembly is lead partner of the MARNET project which will map the value of the Atlantic marine economy through the development of reliable and comparable socio economic data. The €1.3m project involves the participation of marine researchers as well as Regional Authorities across the Atlantic Area. In Ireland the expertise of the Marine Socio Economic Unit at NUI Galway will be crucial in developing a framework from which new added value activities within the marine sector can be developed to add to the 17,000 jobs already supported by marine related activities in Ireland. MARNET will also complement the integrated plan for the Marine Economy launched in February 2012 by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Mr. Simon Coveney, TD. The Plan aims to grow the marine sector and move from generating only 1.2% of GDP from this vast and diverse marine resource, which covers an area 10 times the size of Ireland’s land mass.
Local Authorities with marine interests will benefit from the MARNET project through the development of practical initiatives aimed at growing the marine sector at a local level.
 
The Project is part funded by the ERDF through the EU Interreg Atlantic Area Programme 2007-2013.

MARNET PROJECT PARTNERS:
L-R: Frances Fahy, NUIG, Catherine Burke BMW Regional Assembly, Rebecca Corless, NUI Galway, Arantza Murillas, AZTI Tecnalia, Spain, Kieran Moylan, BMW Regional Assembly, Xabier Fernandez-Macho, University of Basque Country, Spain, Michael O’ Brien, BMW Regional Assembly, Susana Moreira, CIIMAR, Portugal, Stephen Hynes, NUI Galway, Michael Mc Cauley, BMW Regional Assembly, Dugald Tinch, University of Stirling, Amaya Vega, NUI Galway and Regis Kalaydjian, IFREMER, France.

Congratulations to the Human Resource Management Journal (HRMJ), which received its debut Impact Factor this week of 1.388 on the ISI journal rankings. The Editorial Office of HRMJ is supported by the Institute for Business, Social Scienes and Public Policy at NUI Galway (Editors: Dr Tony Dundon and Dr David Collings). HRMJ is published by Wiley-Blackwell and is a 3* (out of 4) ranked journal on the Association of Business Schools (ABS) world rankings. It is the only peer-reviewed academic journal to be endorsed by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). The ISI result follows a three year strategy by the editorial team in building the quality and scholarly standing of articles acceptable for publication. This first impact factor result ranks HRMJ above many comparable 4* journals on the ABS list, and is now ranked 5th in the world in ISI's ’Industrial Relations & Labor’ category (1st quartile), and 69th (out of 166) in the 'Management' category (2nd quartile). Further details on the Human Resource Management Journal  may be found HERE .
                                                        

Whitaker Institute member Dr. Stephen Hynes pictured receiving his 2012/2013 Fulbright Award from the Chair of the Fulbright Commission In Ireland Ms. Una Halligan, at a ceremony held recently at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin.

Dr Hynes will undertake research at the Center for the Blue Economy CBE in the Monterey Institute of International Studies, California, in the area of marine economics and ecosystem service valuation.

Pictured at the Irish Accounting and Finance Association Conference at NUI Galway, 24 - 25 May 2012: Dr. Emer Mulligan, Head of the School of Business and Economics, Dr. James Browne, President of NUI Galway, Mr. Denis McCarthy of CIMA, and Dr. Breda Sweeney, of the Preformance Management cluster at the Whitaker Institute, NUI Galway.

Major Innovation Conference explores Why Exploiting Industry and University Research, Development and Innovation is Important

The highly successful 2012 Annual InterTradeIreland Innovation conference took place at NUI Galway on 12 and 13 June. The event focussed on a theme very pertinent in the currently economic climate ’Exploiting Industry and University Research, Development and Innovation: Why it Matters’. The conference provided practical insights how best businesses, academics and policy makers on the island of Ireland can exploit industry-university research, development and innovation to best effect in context of our economic recovery.

The Keynote Speaker was Professor Donald Siegel, Dean of the School of Business and Professor of Management at the University at Albany, State University of New York, USA. He has spent his career building knowledge and expertise on issues relating to university technology transfer and entrepreneurship, the effects of corporate governance on economic performance, productivity analysis, and corporate and environmental social responsibility. He serves as President of the Technology Transfer Society in the US and was recently ranked Number 2 in the world for academic research on university entrepreneurship. His two keynote addresses focussed on the value of academic entrepreneurship to Universities, companies, and the wider economy, and expounded the key policy measures that can be adopted to support greater university-industry collaborations.

An interesting panel discussion, chaired by Michael McAleer of the Irish Times Innovation Magazine, took place on the second day of the conference, with panel members coning from industry and university backgrounds. One of the key messages to emerge from this discussion is that adequate resources from government, universities and private enterprises are vital to support the advancement of academic entrepreneurship and tech transfer.

The Conference was attended by business leaders and senior managers in businesses across all industry sectors including public, private and the third sector. The first day of the Conference was of particular interest to academic researchers with an interest in innovation and entrepreneurship, and attracted presentations or new research from 5 Universities, 4 Institutes of Technology and 3 private enterprises.

The conference is part of the InterTradeIreland’s All-Island Innovation Programme which aims to promote and encourage innovation across the island of Ireland. It brings international expertise in innovation to Queen’s University Belfast, NUI Galway, University College Dublin and University College Cork. Best international practice is shared with business leaders, students, academics, knowledge transfer professionals and policy makers in each region via innovation lectures, seminars and master classes.

The All-Island Innovation Programme is delivered in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast, National University of Ireland, Galway, University College Dublin and University College Cork.

For more information on the InterTradeIreland All Island Innovation Programme visit
www.intertradeireland.com/all-island-innovation-programme

Picture 1: Dr. James Cunningham, Director, Whitaker Institute, NUI Galway
Dr. Eucharia Meehan, Head of Research Programmes and Capital Programmes, HEA
Professor Donald Siegel, University at Albany, State University of New York
Patricia McGovern, Head of the Intellectual Property Department, DFMG Solicitors

Picture 2: Professor Donald Siegel, University at Albany, State University of New York
Dr. Paul Brewster, Chief Technical Officer, Pure Marine Ltd.
Dr. James Cunningham, Director, Whitaker Institute, NUI Galway
Dr. John McKeon, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Allergy Standards Ltd.
Brendan Cremen, Director Enterprise and Commercialisation, University College Dublin

Picture 3: Dr. James Cunningham, Director, Whitaker Institute, NUI Galway
Professor Donald Siegel, University at Albany, State University of New York
Bernadette McGahon, InterTradeIreland

Dr. Patrick Collins, Researcher on the "Creative Edge" Research Project, an international multi-partner Project led by the Whitaker Institute, participated in a recent event at NUI Galway which focussed on the potential of the arts and creativity to sustain rural and Gaeltacht communities. The event received press coverage in the Irish Times and Dr. Collins' research was highlighted. Please see here for a link to the Irish Times article:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2012/0625/1224318621348.html

For more information on the Creative Edge Project, please visit HERE

Dr. James Cunningham, Director of the Whitaker Institute mentored the winning team of the MBA Association of Ireland National Strategy Competition 2012 held in Dublin on Saturday 23rd June. Many of the best business schools on the Island of Ireland took part in the competition including the Smurfit Graduate School at UCD and UCC. The competition required the team to prepare a strategic analysis and presentation on a Harvard Business Case (eBay, Inc and Amazon.com) over four hours and then present to a panel of judges. 
 
Pictured: Michael Parkinson, Myles McHugh, Suzanne Ryan, Ashwin Kher, Roger Sweetman and Dr James Cunningham.

Internationally, there is increasing interest in, and analysis of, human well-being and the economic, social, environmental and psychological factors that contribute to it. Current thinking suggests that to measure social progress and national well-being we need something more than GDP.  Facilitating the transfer and exchange of knowledge to bring about more well-being for everyone is a major goal of science.  However, the relationship between science and public policy is complex and there is a need to create new spaces where dialogue is fostered and where knowledge is translated into action.  The Well-Being in Ireland Conference, hosted by the Health and Well-Being priority theme at the Whitaker Institute at NUI, Galway, Friday 8 June, brought together scientists, community organizations and policy-makers to discuss the latest advances in well-being research and policy.

Helen Johnston, author of Well-being Matters: A Social Report for Ireland, delivered a keynote address, Why Well-being Matters, based on the findings of the report published by the National Economic and Social Council.

Alex Zautra, Foundation Professor of Clinical Psychology, Arizona State University, and author of Emotions, Stress, and Health (Oxford University Press), delivered a second keynote address on Social Intelligence and Community Well-being: Charting Paths to Resilience, based on recent well-being research conducted in the U.S. 

Central to the conference was the use of an Interactive Management collaborative systems design methodology to facilitate thinking in relation to barriers to well-being in Ireland, how these barriers are related to one another, and options for overcoming these barriers.  The Report of the Interactive Management workshop can be obtained by contacting Dr Michael Hogan.

For more information on the conference and the Interactive Management methodology and software system, please contact Dr. Michael Hogan, School of Psychology and Whitaker Institute, michael.hogannuigalway.ie

Pictured: Dr Michael Hogan and participants from the Well-being in Ireland Conference, June 2012.

The idea of wisdom is currently attracting renewed attention as a source of innovative ideas and practices for social organisation (e.g. Schwartz and Sharpe, 2010; Edmondson, 2011a). This workshop addressed two deficits in the associated debates, accentuating contributions derived from observed ’wise’ practices in the West of Ireland. Wisdom is generally regarded as a form of reasoning which responds to pressing life-problems without clear solutions in either expert or everyday knowledge. This workshop explored a) how such forms of reasoning can operate under conditions of social and intellectual diversity; b) the role of imagination in envisaging novel solutions.

Since Socrates’ time, commentators on wisdom have commended slowness to rush to judgement, even in dilemmas which initially seem clear. Contemporary work on wisdom (e.g. Ardelt, 2004) foregrounds tolerance and ’value-relativism’, explicated by Baltes and Staudinger (2000) as a capacity to understand how others see the world differently from oneself, while remaining committed to one’s own core values. However, closer studies of what people really mean when they believe they are being tolerant show strong tendencies to expect others to converge with their own ideas under more apposite temporal or social circumstances (Carey, 2006; Hutchings, 2008).

Papers at the workshop responded to this observation and to evidence collected in Galway and Connemara (e.g. Edmondson, 2005, 2011b), analysing selected local practices as effecting forms of social wisdom which illustrate more genuine forms of tolerance. It also drew on empirical and theoretical research into confronting cultural diversity both in Galway City and in Canada (Carey, 2008a).

We also focussed on the role in both wisdom and tolerance of uses of the imagination in comprehending other (world-)views, explored in historical travel literature and the sociology of tourism (Carey, 2008b; 2009; Edmondson, 2012), and to the roles in ’wise’ discourse of Irish proverbs, triads and epigrams.

This interdisciplinary workshop built on a meeting held in Toronto, Canada in April 2011, and anticipates a further meeting in this series to be held in Lancaster next year. It assembled internationally recognised experts on wisdom, as well as specialists in the history of ideas relating to tolerance and the impact of diversity on the imagination. Speakers included:

• Prof. Michel Ferrari (Dept. of Developmental Psychology and Education, University of Toronto, Canada)
• Prof. Monika Ardelt (Dept. of Sociology, University of Florida, USA)
• Prof. Trevor Curnow (Dept. of Philosophy, University of Cumbria, UK
• Prof. Rûdiger Kunow (Dept. of English and American Studies, University of Potsdam, Germany)
• Prof. Markus Woerner (Dept. of Philosophy, NUI,G)
• Dr Jane Pearce (Consultant Psychiatrist of Older Age, University of Oxford)
• Prof. Eileen Fairhurst (University of Salford)

This workshop explored the cutting-edge potential of wise social practices, highlighting observations in Galway and Connemara and connecting them to global debates, as well as offering a differentiated analysis which will show how such practices can respond to cultural and intellectual diversity. Both these aspects of the workshop stress the role of imagination in producing transformative solutions to ’wicked’ problems (those involving fluctuating, contradictory, multi-level demands which are difficult to analyse in conventional terms). They also illuminate claims that the ’archipelagic logics’ (Ette, 2011) of practice in areas such as the West of Ireland offer uniquely creative modes of responding to such problems.

The Workshop was supported by the Whitaker Institute and the Moore Institute. Conveners: Ricca Edmondson and Daniel Carey.

Pictured: Dr. Ricca Edmondson and participants of the Wisdom Workshop at Wittgenstein's Cottage, in June 2012.

The Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway, with support from the Irish Research Council for the Humanities & Social Sciences, recently hosted two industry workshops titled, “Using Management Controls to Enable Innovation”.

Organised by NUI Galway Accountancy and Finance lecturers, Dr Breda Sweeney and Dr Emer Curtis, the workshops involved a two hour interactive session with over 50 personnel from key innovative industries around Ireland. The first of the workshops took place in the Cairnes building, NUI Galway with the second taking place four weeks later in the Chartered Accountants House in Dublin. Participants from organisations such as Medtronic, Beckman Coulter, Bausch & Lomb, Abbot Diagnostics, HP, Fidelity Investments and KPMG took part in a lively and engaging discussion on the role of management control at different stages of the innovation process. Feedback received from those in attendance was extremely positive and further workshops tackling similar issues are being considered for the future. An edited webcast of the NUI Galway workshop is available via the Whitaker Institute website.

             

Pictured are Dr Breda Sweeney (left) and Dr Emer Curtis, Department of Accountancy and Finance leading the NUI Galway workshop.

For more information contact:

Dr. Breda Sweeney and Dr. Emer Curtis
Institute for Business, Social Science and Public Policy
breda.sweeneynuigalway.ie; emer.curtisnuigalway.ie

The Institute for Business, Social Science and Public Policy at NUI Galway is to lead an international project focused on promoting the emerging creative economy in four Northern European regions. The project entitled, ’Creative Edge’ brings together universities, development agencies and industry bodies from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Finland and Sweden to identify the current breadth and future scope of the creative economy in peripheral regions. This €1.1 million project is funded by the Northern Periphery Programme under Interreg 4C.

The Project partners are Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway, Western Development Commission, Craigavon Borough Council (Northern Ireland) Film i Vasterbotten (Sweden) and Kemi-Tornio University (Finland). It has at its core four main objectives:

• The mapping of the creative sector in peripheral European regions: an extensive exercise that will contribute to the growing academic literature on the impact of creativity on economic well-being.
• The creation of an Export platform: providing creative industries from peripheral areas with the opportunity to access international markets via real and virtual presences.
• An Employment bank: for potential employees and employers in an economy where skills requirement vary at an increased rate. This bank will provide virtual and real meeting places for information and knowledge sharing.
• Creative places: one of the most obvious impacts of the current economic downturn is the rate of vacancy of high-street outlets. This part of the project seeks to match emerging creative talent with available space to create and showcase their work.

The project is in the initial stages and has received, among others, the backing of the Arts Council of Ireland, the Irish Film Board, and the Crafts Council of Ireland. The consensus is that this project has the potential to create a fertile environment for the creative economy that in turn leads to broader positive outcomes in terms of job creation, economic growth and local communities in peripheral regions.

For more information contact:

Dr. Patrick Collins
Institute for Business, Social Science and Public Policy
Room 339, Cairnes Building
p.collinsnuigalway.ie

Research conducted by Dr. Meghann Drury, Dr Kieran Conboy and Dr Tom Acton is featured in the latest Research Briefing published by InterTradeIreland as part of the Community of Researchers (CoR) initiative. The CoR is part of the InterTradeIreland All-island Innovation Programme, and is primarily an initiative to bring together academics and postgraduate students interested in innovation in Ireland.

The aim of the CoR is:

To create a virtual community to strengthen innovation studies research in Ireland and its contribution to strategy, practice and policy.

The InterTradeIreland All-island Innovation Programme  is delivered in partnership with the Centre for Innovation and Structural Cahnge at NUI Galway, Queen’s University Belfast, University College Dublin and University College Cork. The Programme aims to promote and encourage innovation across the island. A series of free innovation lectures, seminars and master classes are held throughout the year to share international best practice in areas of innovation.

The events, which take place in Belfast, Dublin, Galway and Cork each year, are attended by over 1,000 business leaders, policy makers, students and academics from across the island. Whitaker Institute will host the 2012 Innovation Conference - details to be announced shortly.

To read the Research Briefing entitled " Understanding and Agile Software Development Team's Decision Making", please click HERE

For more information on the InterTradeIreland All-Ireland Innovation Programme, please click HERE