NUI Galway to host leading intercultural theatre companies to share experiences of their work with ethnic minorities to form future collaborative projects across European borders NUI Galway Drama and Theatre Studies lecturer, Dr Charlotte McIvor will host a public panel on ‘Theatre as Intercultural Dialogue? Migration, Interculturalism and Theatre in Europe Today’ with practitioners from four of Europe’s leading intercultural theatre companies. The panel of theatre practitioners will engage in ongoing debates about migration, minority representation and cultural diversity in the European Union and beyond. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is currently reporting the highest number ever on record of displaced people worldwide at more than 65 million. How does the work of theatre companies who directly engage contemporary and historical experiences of ethnic minorities with recent or family backgrounds of migration help challenge and complicate understandings of European belonging? How might these companies’ theatrical experimentation generate strategies for intercultural dialogue capable of moving beyond the theatre? Is theatre the catalyst for intercultural dialogue that might be needed now? The event forms part of Dr McIvor’s ongoing research on the relationship between migration, interculturalism and theatre in Ireland and beyond. Speaking about the event Dr McIvor from the O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance at NUI Galway, says: “This line-up of speakers represents a wealth of national and international best practice in this area. I am bringing this group together to facilitate sharing of experiences and hopefully catalyse plans for future collaborative projects across European borders. “It is my belief that creative work that addresses experiences of migration not only in its immediate aftermath needs to be supported more consistently and actively in Ireland given the racial and ethnic diversity of our national population, many of whom come from backgrounds of migration. I hope this event might inspire new practice not only from the gathered speakers, but those who might be sitting in the audience or hear about the event and didn’t think that there actually is a place in the Irish theatre and arts industry for their voices and their stories.” Featured speakers from four leading international theatre companies include; Haider Al-Timini and Bart Cappelle, Kloppend Hert, Belgium, Suman Bhuchar, Tamasha Productions, UK, Maud Hendricks and Bernie O’Reilly, Outlandish Theatre Platform, Republic of Ireland and Andrea Montgomery, Terra Nova Productions, Northern Ireland. The event will take place in the Human Biology Building, NUI Galway beside the Bailey Allen Hall on Friday, 27 April from 2pm-4pm. For more information contact Dr Charlotte McIvor at charlotte.mcivor@nuigalway.ie. -Ends-

Architects of the European Union peace programmes in Northern Ireland will come together at NUI Galway for the first time in 20 years to reflect on the role the EU played in the Northern Ireland peace process. They will be joined by academic experts for a unique symposium at the University on Friday 27 April, to discuss the EU’s role in the peace process, the future of the Good Friday Agreement, and the Irish border in the shadow of Brexit. The symposium will discuss the challenges posed by Brexit 20 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, at a time when EU involvement in the Peace Process and cross-border relations in Ireland is at the centre of public debate. Symposium speakers include: Mr Carlo Trojan, former secretary general of the European Commission and head of the 1994 Northern Ireland Task Force. Mr Hugh Logue, former EU Commission official. In 1994 he, along with two colleagues, was asked by President Jacques Delors to consult all parties in Northern Ireland. Their recommendations became the blueprint for the first EU PEACE Programme. Ms Jane Morrice, former head of the EU Commission Office Northern Ireland. She was involved in the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and was a member of the Standing Orders Committee, which set the initial rules governing Assembly procedures post-devolution. Mr Colm Larkin, senior official of the EU Commission from 1974-2004 and special advisor in the Office of First and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998-2001. Andy Pollak, founding Director of the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh. Tom Arnold, current chair of the All-Island Civic Dialogue on Brexit and former chairman of the Irish Times and member of the Royal Irish Academy. Dr Katy Hayward, School of Sociology, QUB and Dr Mary C Murphy, Department of Government, UCC. Dr Giada Laganà, Dr Brendan Flynn and Dr Niall Ó Dochartaigh, School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway. Event organiser, Dr Giada Laganà from the School of Political Science and Sociology at NUI Galway, said: “This is a unique occasion to learn that the role of the EU in the Northern Ireland peace process has been much more significant and much more positive than is often recognised.” The event will be opened by Noel Dorr, former secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs and former Irish Ambassador to the United Nations and the United Kingdom. Professor Alan Ahearne, Director of the Whitaker Institute, will make closing remarks. This unique and innovative event is organised by the Conflict, Humanitarianism and Security Research Cluster of the Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway, in partnership with the Moore Institute and supported by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Academic Association for contemporary European Studies. The symposium will take place in the O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance, NUI Galway on Friday, 27 April from 9am to 5.30pm. The event is free and advance registration is essential at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-european-union-and-the-northern-ireland-peace-process-tickets-42754005381 -Ends-

A new lecture series at the College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Celtic Studies at NUI Galway will continue with Professor of Clinical Psychology Brian McGuire, on Thursday, 3 May at 1pm. In his talk, Professor McGuire will describe the growing use of internet-based psychological therapies in helping people with chronic health conditions. He will describe research being carried out on campus to help people with conditions such as chronic muscular pain and chronic headache, chronic fatigue following cancer, multiple sclerosis and other chronic conditions. The talk will describe the potential benefits of these therapies as well some of the challenges in making them more widely available. Dr Seán Crosson, Vice-Dean in the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies at NUI Galway, said: “We are delighted to continue this new lecture series which provides a great opportunity for the University to make the general public more aware of the world-leading innovative research being undertaken in the college.” Upcoming speakers in the New Professors’ Inaugural lecture series include: Professor Niamh Reilly, School of Political Science & Sociology, on Thursday, 21 June An tOllamh Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin, Roinn na Gaeilge, on Thursday, 4 October. -Ends-