(Leagan Gaeilge) NUI Galway's longstanding commitment to developing the integration of the campus with the City of Galway and the River Corrib is set to take a significant step forward. The University will shortly begin working with Galway City Council on a new Government-funded, €1.5 million project to develop a Green Way from the Salmon Weir Bridge and around the Fisheries Field area, to include a new bridge across the Eglinton Canal. This pedestrian bridge will allow easy access to the main campus, and the extensive walkways along the river, from the existing City Centre Green Ways. The new walkway will provide an exciting new link between the main campus, Earls Island and the City, and will open up the University s attractive river walks to the public. Work is expected to begin on the new bridge in Autumn 2009 and it is due for completion in 2010. "The new walkway is just one of a number of exciting building developments on campus at the moment", said NUI President, Dr James J. Browne. Cosan Nua ina Nasc idir an Campas agus Cathair na Gaillimhe (View in English) Tá dul chun cinn á dhéanamh maidir leis an ngealltanas atá tugtha le fada ag OÉ Gaillimh ceangal a dhéanamh idir an campas agus Cathair agus Abhainn na Gaillimhe. Is gearr go dtosóidh an Ollscoil ag obair le Comhairle Cathrach na Gaillimhe ar thionscadal €1.5 milliún, a bheidh á mhaoiniú ag an Rialtas, chun Bealach Glas a fhorbairt ó Dhroichead na mBradán agus thart ar an nGort Iascaigh, agus a mbeidh droichead nua thar Chanál Eglinton i gceist leis. Leis an droichead coisithe seo beidh fáil go héasca ag daoine ar an bpríomhchampas, agus ar na cosáin cois abhann, ó na Bealaí Glasa i lár na Cathrach. Cuirfidh an cosán nua nasc úr iontach ar fáil idir an príomhchampas, Oileán Iarla agus Cathair na Gaillimhe agus beidh fáil ag an bpobal ar shiúlóidí mealltacha cois abhann na hOllscoile.Meastar go dtosóidh an obair ar an droichead nua i bhfómhar na bliana 2009 agus go gcríochnófar é in 2010. "Níl sa chosán nua ach ceann de na forbairtí tógála iontacha atá ar bun ar an gcampas i láthair na huaire", deir Uachtarán OÉ Gaillimh, an Dr James J. Browne. -Críoch-

NUI Galway and University of Ulster to Collaborate on Research NUI Galway today announced that the private papers of Brendan Duddy, former secret intermediary between the British Government and the Provisional Republican leadership, have been deposited in the University's library archives. The extensive collection of papers charts Brendan Duddy's involvement, from 1973 to 1993, in the intensive efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict in Northern Ireland. President of NUI Galway, Dr James J. Browne, said: "We are honoured to become the custodians of Brendan Duddy's valuable and unique collection. This archive will provide an extraordinary insight into the making of peace in Ireland, from the perspective of a man who played a pivotal role". NUI Galway, in collaboration with INCORE - the University of Ulster s International Conflict Research Centre, will carry out extensive research on the papers. The documents, which currently fill 30 box files, will be assessed and catalogued. In due course, documents from the archive will be digitised and made available to historians and other researchers in a collaboration between NUI Galway and the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). Brendan Duddy will speak at NUI Galway's Conference of Irish Studies on Saturday, 13 June, where several documents from the archive will be on display. He commented: "It is a pleasure and a privilege to entrust my papers to NUI Galway, where, I hope, they will be of some value to scholars of Irish history in the generations to come. I am particularly happy that the archive is to be shared with INCORE of the University of Ulster, based in my home town of Derry". A business man from Derry with a desire for peace, Brendan Duddy spent more than 20 years at the centre of extraordinary events in Northern Ireland. Sometimes using his own house as the venue for secret meetings, he acted as the contact between representatives of the IRA s ruling army council and British intelligence officers from MI6 and MI5. He was an intermediary in the negotiations aimed at resolving the hunger-strikes of 1980 and 1981, and also played a central role in the efforts to negotiate the IRA ceasefire in 1994. Brendan's role gradually became public in recent years, most significantly when the BBC aired the documentary The Secret Peacemaker in 2008. Dr Niall O'Dochartaigh of the School of Political Science of Sociology at NUI Galway and author of From Civil Rights to Armalites, an influential academic study of the Troubles in Derry, will be deeply involved in research on the papers. Dr Ó Dochartaigh says: "This is an extraordinary collection, one of the most important sources we have for understanding the Irish peace process. The papers will be an essential resource for any researcher trying to understand how peace was made in Ireland and a focus for historical research for years to come". Dr Brandon Hamber, Director of INCORE at the University of Ulster, said: "We are delighted to be collaborating with Brendan Duddy and NUI Galway on this important project. Rarely, is there an opportunity to get an inside view into how peace is really made. Brendan Duddy's archive does just that and is therefore not only of local but also international importance". The James Hardiman Library at NUI Galway already houses papers belonging to Republican Ruairi Ó Brádaigh, which will complement the acquisition of the Brendan Duddy Archive. The archives service of the James Hardiman Library has over three hundred archival collections, dating from the fifteenth century to the present day. Major collections include manuscript collections of poetry and folklore gathered by Douglas Hyde, the literary papers of John McGahern and the music of Joe Burke. -Ends-

Technology from a new NUI Galway start-up company, eagleEdge Ltd., is cutting almost 20% off fuel bills in the haulage and transport industries. By installing a 'black box' device, designed and developed in Ireland, the solution helps identify how changes in driver style across vehicle fleets can save fuel. eagleEdge, which was founded by a former NUI Galway research team and came out of the University's business incubation facilities, has been instrumental in reducing the fuel usage of large vehicle fleets by up to 18%. Improvements in individual driver performance of as much as 30-40% have also been achieved. The company's product FuelGauge monitors driving style and habits, and a customised report advises on where fuel is being wasted. This could be through hard acceleration, harsh braking, lack of cruise control usage, excessive speeds or various other factors. Jason Byrne is Director of eagleEdge: "What became evident in our research was the scale of the fuel problem for hauliers and logistics companies. Currently, a typical haulier or coach operator is spending at least 40% of their running costs on fuel, which is just staggering when you consider the tight margins a lot of these companies operate. When you consider the massive cost that fuel represents to fleet managers, it's easy to see why some transport chiefs are looking at innovative ways to turn their biggest cost into their biggest profit maker this year". Dr John Kavanagh is Director of the Technology Transfer Office, NUI Galway: "eagleEdge is a fine example of entrepreneurship leading to a very practical innovation and proves the adage that what gets measured gets done. This is a true Green Technology with cost benefits to the transport sector leading to lower fuel imports and a reduction in Ireland's carbon footprint". -Ends-

The largest ever survey of children and young people's health is to be planned by international experts in NUI Galway this week. A hundred scientists will gather to prepare for the next round of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study which will take place during 2010 in more than 43 countries and will include over 230,000 children aged 11-15 years. Of particular interest will be the opportunity to listen to the voices of Irish young people, who will showcase their projects and views on children's health and well-being and help ensure that their voices are fully represented in the planning process. Dr Saoirse Nic Gabhainn of the Health Promotion Research Centre, NUI Galway, and Principal Investigator for HBSC Ireland, said: "We are delighted to welcome colleagues from across Europe and North America to Galway, planning the next international survey is a huge undertaking and we need to make sure that the best possible methods are used". The HBSC survey aims for greater understanding of health among young people, both physical and emotional, and includes information on the context of young people's lives including families, school, communities and peer groups. These data sets will be vital to those developing policy, strategy and practice in the area of youth health and well-being in Ireland and internationally. In order to ensure that comparisons between countries are valid, the scientists convening in Galway will discuss and agree how to make sure that all countries follow the same procedures and collect information in the same way. All the questions to be included in the next survey round including the rationale and evidence-base will be discussed. "Young people deserve the best quality, evidenced-based planning for their health and well-being, and they want to be involved in the process – our aim is to make that possible" said Dr Nic Gabhainn. -Ends-

The Center for Disease Control in the United States has announced that a paper on Swine Flu, co-authored by NUI Galway's Professor Anthony Moran, has been nominated for a prestigious US science award. The manuscript Anti-Ganglioside Antibody Induction by Swine and Other Influenza Vaccines: Insights into vaccine-Associated Guillain-Barré Syndrome, was nominated in the Laboratory and Methods category in the 2009 Charles C. Shepard Science Awards. The research concerns the "swine flu" (H1N1) epidemic of 1976 in the US which has some similarity to the present-day AH1N1 outbreak. Over 40 million US citizens were given a swine flu vaccine in 1976. A very small percentage subsequently reported the development of a paralytic disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), which is a disorder of the peripheral nervous system that may lead to immobility due to paralysis. However, the link between the vaccine and the development of this syndrome remains to be proven. Professor Anthony Moran of the School of Natural Sciences at NUI Galway, explained: "Our paper dealt with a re-analysis of the 1976 vaccine* and its potential to contribute to GBS development. Using more modern approaches retrospectively on these samples, we were able to show that important safety issues should be considered when producing such vaccines to avoid the development of GBS. Thus, our findings will allow the development of even safer vaccines. This is of central relevance at the present time in producing a new flu vaccine for current usage". Since 1985, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) have presented the Charles C. Shepard Science Award to authors of the most outstanding peer-reviewed research paper published by CDC/ATSDR scientists during the preceding year. The award recognises scientific achievement at CDC/ATSDR and honours the memory of Dr Charles C. Shepard, whose career was marked by the pursuit of scientific excellence. Presently, in addition to honouring publications in three categories – Assessment and Epidemiology, Prevention and Control, and Laboratory and Methods – there is also an award for Lifetime Scientific Achievement. President of NUI Galway, Dr James J. Browne, commented on the prestige and relevance of this award: "The US Center for Disease Control is the leading disease surveillance authority worldwide, so the nomination of Professor Moran and his team for this award is highly prestigious and represents an acknowledgement of the internationally significant research being conducted at NUI Galway. I would like to congratulate Professor Moran and his team and wish him well at the award ceremony in June". The Shepard Science Award ceremony will take place at the CDC's Roybal Campus on Monday, June 29, 2009. This year's keynote speaker will be Nobel Laureate, Professor Paul Krugman. He will speak on "Health and the Economic Future". -Ends-