His Excellency the French Ambassador, M. Yvon Roé d'Albert, has launched a new book on Franco-Irish connections in the Royal Irish Academy. Edited by Professor Jane Conroy, School of Languages, Literature and Cultures, NUI Galway, this series of essays, studies and other contributions celebrates Pierre Joannon who is well known as one of the main mediators of knowledge of Irish matters in France and co-founder of Études Irlandaises, the most respected scholarly journal of Irish studies there. According to one commentator "This is a superbly edited series of stellar contributions in honour of one man to whom the whole island of Ireland deserves an enormous debt of gratitude". The contributors to Franco-Irish Connection Essays, memoirs and poems in honour of Pierre Joannon include: Kingsley Aikins (CEO, The Ireland Funds); Professsor Tom Bartlett (University of Aberdeen); John Bruton (former Taoiseach); Professor Jane Conroy (School of Languages, Literature and Cultures, NUI Galway); Denis Corboy (Director, Caucasus Policy Institute); Professor Emeritus Louis Cullen (TCD); Michel Deon (Académie Française); Sean Donlon (Former Irish Ambassador to US); Garret FitzGerald (former Taoiseach); Jacqueline Genet (Honorary President, Caen University); Frederic Grasset (former French Ambassador to Ireland); Alice Harrison; Maurice Hayes (Chairman, National Forum on Europe); Seamus Heaney (poet, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature); John Hume (politician, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize); Professor Richard Kearney (Boston College); Brendan Kennelly (poet); Professor Dermot Keogh (UCC); Sylvie Kleinman (TCD); Louis le Brocquy (painter); Professor J.J. Lee (NYU); Michael Lillis; Anne Madden (artist—one of whose oil paintings forms the cover); Jane McKee (University of Ulster); Lara Marlowe (former Paris correspondent for the Irish Times); John Montague (poet); Professor Grace Neville (UCC); Senator David Norris; Patrick O Connor (former Irish Ambassador to France); Professor Eunan O Halpin (TCD); Seamus Smith (former Irish film censor); Professor Ben Tonra (UCD); Professor Kevin Whelan (University of Notre Dame); and C. J. Woods (historian). The book is published by Four Courts Press. -ends-

The Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway, will host a special guest lecture by Justice Albie Sachs of the Constitutional Court of South Africa on Monday, 2 November. Justice Sachs' talk 'Paved with More than Good Intentions: from Port Elizabeth via Modderklip to 51 Olivia Road' will analyse historic evictions and land laws from the Constitutional Court of South Africa. As a young Jewish man in South Africa, Sachs worked as an attorney and has been a leader in the struggle for human rights in South Africa for over 40 years. He is well known for being a freedom fighter in the African National Congress. The author of numerous books on issues of gender, law and human rights, he was twice detained without trial by the security police under the Apartheid regime. In 1966 Justice Sachs went into exile, spending eleven years studying and teaching law in England. In 1988, he was blown up by a bomb placed in his car in Maputo, Mozambique, by South African security agents, losing an arm and the sight in one eye. After recovering from the bomb he devoted himself full-time to preparations for a new democratic Constitution for South Africa. While in exile during the 1980s, he helped draft the Constitutional Court of South Africa s Code of Conduct and its statutes. In 1990 he returned home and as a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive of the ANC took an active part in the negotiations, which led to South Africa becoming a constitutional democracy. After the first democratic election in 1994 he was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to serve on the newly established Constitutional Court. Dr Vinodh Jaichand, Deputy Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, comments: "The debt that South Africa, and the world, owes to Justice Albie Sachs is immense. As a political activist against apartheid he paid the price by being detained, exiled and losing an arm and an eye when the security police bombed his car. As an academic he was one of the architects of South Africa's independence, especially in drafting the much-acclaimed Bill of Rights, and as a constitutional advisor to the ANC. As a jurist he is one of the eminent voices of an internationally renowned Constitutional Court tasked with the establishment of jurisprudence that resonated with the core values of freedom, equality and dignity in a deeply divided country. This is a rare occasion to listen to one of the first-hand experts on human rights law in the world". Justice Sachs' new book by Oxford University Press, The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law provides deep insights into the way in which judging takes place. It has already become prescribed reading at two European institutions dealing with the study of human rights. The free public event takes place on Monday, 2 November, at 12.30pm in the Siobhan McKenna Theatre, Arts Millennium Building, NUI Galway. -ends-

Dr Brian Ward from NUI Galway's School of Physics has been recognised for his success under the US-Ireland Research & Development Partnership Programme at an event hosted by the US Ambassador to Ireland in Dublin. The event saw Minister for Labour Affairs Dara Calleary gather with Northern Ireland Minister for Employment and Learning Sir Reg Empey and US Ambassador Dan Rooney to announce the partnerships on behalf of the US-Ireland R&D Partnership. The US-Ireland R & D Partnership was established to develop innovations leading to economic development and improvements in health promotion and disease prevention by bringing together expertise from academic institutes in the US, Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is led by a steering group of senior representatives from each jurisdiction, with InterTrade Ireland providing the secretariat for the group on the island of Ireland. Dr Ward's award for €463,058, the first under this initiative, was funded along with collaborators from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from Massachussetts and Queens University Belfast. The partnership project is entitled Development of a Greenhouse Gas Ocean-Atmosphere Flux Sensor with MEMS-based Photoacoustic Technology. It will develop sensor technology to improve quantification of oceanic uptake of greenhouse gases, which is one of the biggest issues surrounding global climate change. US Ambassador Dan Rooney welcomed these partnerships, saying: "These successful projects have come through a US review process that is the international gold standard for research excellence. This clearly demonstrates the high quality of advanced research across the island of Ireland and adds greatly to its reputation as a centre of innovation that can compete on an international stage". Minister for Labour Affairs, Dara Calleary said: "We see the US-Ireland R&D Partnership as an important mechanism for achieving high growth and helping bring about the economic regeneration of the island". The partners from Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the US received funding respectively from Science Foundation Ireland, Invest Northern Ireland, and the National Science Foundation. Details of the other projects supported to date can be found at www.usirelandresearch.com -ends-

The NUI Galway Alumni Group will present Olympian, World Silver Medallist and NUI Galway graduate Olive Loughnane, in conversation with RTÉ Sports Journalist and NUI Galway graduate Evanne Ní Chuilinn. The event will take place at 6.30pm on Thursday, 12 November, in the Staff Club, Quadrangle Building, NUI Galway. This summer, Olive took the silver medal position in the 20K walk at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin – only the fifth ever medal Ireland has won at these championships. Olive finished 49 seconds behind defending champion and Olympic gold medallist Olga Kaniskina of Russia in a season s best of 1hr 28mins 58secs, just over a minute outside her personal best at last year s Olympic Games in Beijing. This interview will give intimate access to Olive's Olympic experience in Beijing in 2008, more recently her success in Berlin this summer, and her plans for the future. The event begins with a reception 6.30pm and all graduates and friends of NUI Galway are welcome. Register online at www.nuigalway.ie/alumni by Friday, 7 November. For further information please contact Colm O'Dwyer at alumni@nuigalway.ie or 091 493750. -ends-

NUI Galway's School of Geography, in partnership with Galway City Council, is looking to gather information on green businesses and eco-buildings around Galway City for a new project, Galway Green Map. The Green Map is a locally produced chart which identifies, promotes and links environmental, social, and cultural amenities within a specific area. Dr Frances Fahy, School of Geography, NUI Galway, explains the Green Map concept: "In 2007, Galway became a member of the Green Map System, a non-profit organisation which provides a locally flexible, but globally shared framework for environmental mapmaking. These maps typically show green areas, cycle paths, green businesses, organic markets, quiet spots in the city, interesting walking routes and the cultural sites that make an area unique. Creating a Green Map for Galway is an opportunity to identify and celebrate the City's green credentials". A Youth Green Map and a wider Community Green Map have already been produced for the Galway City and are currently available at www.galwaygreenmap.ie. These maps represent a holistic representation of the places and things that people value in their communities. The Galway Green Map project was initially funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and partly organised by researchers in the School of Geography, NUI Galway, members of the City Council and the citizens of Galway City. Those interested in putting their business on the map, should contact Dr Frances Fahy, NUI Galway at 091 492315, frances.fahy@nuigalway.ie, or Sharon Carroll at 091 536564, sharon.carroll@galwaycity.ie. Please include the name, location and a brief note describing the business and why it should be on the Green Map of Galway. -ends-