The third international conference, Building and Promoting Excellence in Practice, organised by the School of Nursing and Midwifery at NUI Galway, will bring together leaders in the field of nursing and midwifery to share their experiences of clinical care and research. The conference will be held from 4 to 5 April, in Áras Moyola, NUI Galway. The conference will cover topics relevant to the fields of chronic illness, mental health, older people, maternity care and women's health, and teaching and learning in practice. "This year's conference is particularly important", said conference chair, NUI Galway's Dr Declan Devane. "Faced with rapidly changing health care contexts, new research initiatives and demanding resource constraints, the opportunity for health care professionals to come together to discuss best practice is vital. Thoughtful practice is at the heart of making a difference to those accessing our health care services; this conference supports thoughtful practice by sharing ideas research and innovations". The keynote speaker will be Margarete Sandelowski, Distinguished Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Professor Sandelowski's research has been in the areas of technology and gender, and qualitative and mixed research methodology. She just completed a National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research study to develop methods to synthesize qualitative and quantitative research findings in systematic reviews of empirical research. She has numerous publications in both nursing and social science venues, including award-winning ethnographic work. The keynote speech will address 'The Challenges of Conducting Mixed Research Synthesis Studies for Evidence-Based Practice and Practice-Based Evidence'. The conference will also feature a keynote discussion from Professor Phil Race, the renowned educationalist who has a particular interest in how people learn best. He specialises in assessment, learning and teaching. His passion and focus for this conference will be on 'Making Learning Happen'. Professor Race's work was recognised in 2007 by the Higher Education Academy UK awarding him a National Teaching Fellowship, and the status of Senior Fellow of the Academy. The inspirational speaker John Lonergan, former governor of Mountjoy Prison, will also give a keynote address based on his personal experiences of personhood and humanising care in the prison services. He argues that our first responsibility as a society is to care for its most vulnerable people, the young, the old, the sick, the unemployed, the lonely and the poor. It is estimated that over 200 delegates will attend this conference which will feature over 100 presentations from national and international speakers. The conference will be of interest to all health professionals working in nursing or midwifery. For more information visit www.nursingmidwifery.ie -ends-

The Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC) at NUI Galway will host Professor Peter Kelly of Aalto University in Finland, who will be delivering this year's InterTradeIreland Innovation Lecture on the topic of 'Rethinking Business Models: Creativity Inspired Innovation'. The lecture will take place in Áras Moyola, NUI Galway on Thursday, 24 March at 6.30pm. Professor Kelly's innovation lecture will challenge conventional wisdom about developing a business, and also provide practical guidance on how to succeed in the current economic climate. He will also offer some concrete suggestions of how we can instil more creativity into our innovation system. Professor Kelly argues that Europe and Ireland have all the ingredients to be in a better innovative space and states that we just need the creative courage to explore it. Aidan Gough, Director of Strategy and Policy at InterTradeIreland says, "Innovation is not the preserve of high tech or R&D intensive businesses. Identifying and harnessing creative ideas is a learned process that all aspiring companies must embrace. All businesses need to continually innovate to remain competitive." Over the past 15 years, Professor Kelly has worked with entrepreneurs in Finland, Sweden, UK, Portugal, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Norway, Switzerland, and Canada. Since arriving in Finland in 1998, he has been the driving force behind entrepreneurship education at Aalto University, heading up the Helsinki School of Creative Entrepreneurship (HSCE). Professor Kelly is a leading international authority on business angels and was directly involved in the creation of Europe's first University pre-seed fund and an associated angel network. This event is part of The InterTradeIreland All-Island Innovation Programme, which aims to promote and encourage innovation across the island of Ireland. This lecture will appeal to the entrepreneurial academic community, entrepreneurs, companies and catalysts. All are welcome to attend. Pre-registration is required, visit www.conference.ie for full details. For more information, please contact Valerie Parker at CISC, valerie.parker@nuigalway.ie, 091 495971. -Ends-

NUI Galway has recently registered for The Green Campus Programme aiming to empower students and staff to create a more balanced campus community by actively preventing and reducing environmental impacts and associated costs. The seven-step Green Campus Programme is based on the successful Green Schools Programme and provides an ideal way for fostering environmental awareness in a third level institution in a way that links to everyday activities and study, and ties in with operational requirements of a complex multi-use facility. Green Campus aims to make environmental awareness and action an intrinsic part of the life and ethos of a school or college. The initiative includes the students, lecturers, non-teaching staff, and parents, as well as the Local Authority, the media, and local business. The Green Campus initiative mirrors the principles of Green-Schools and endeavours to extend learning beyond the classroom and lecture theatre and develop responsible attitudes and commitment, both at home and in the wider community. The programme, which is operated by An Taisce, has a seven-step operational plan which the University is required to complete. Dr Aoife Collins, Chairperson of the Environmental Committee for the Green Campus Project at NUI Galway, says: "The participation of staff and students in Green Campus is an ideal way of harnessing the enthusiasm and knowledge they have vis-à-vis environmental enhancement. The Green Campus Committee will be involved in spreading information to the wider University audience on issues varying from biodiversity to car-sharing. We are working towards attaining a Green Flag which will act as a visual sign of the committee's achievements." -Ends-

The School of Law at NUI Galway, in association with Mason Hayes + Curran solicitors, will host a conference on 26 March entitled Executive Accountability and Parliamentary Democracy. The conference theme is especially topical, and will be discussed in the context of a new Government and the beginning of a new era in Irish Politics and Public Law. Emily O'Reilly, Ombudsman, will provide the keynote speech, with panel presentations by Donncha O'Connell from NUI Galway's School of Law; Catherine Allen, a Partner with Mason Hayes + Curran solicitors; and the political analyst and TCD lecturer, Elaine Byrne. The half-day conference will be introduced by Marie McGonagle, Director of the LLM in Public Law at NUI Galway, and Judge Catherine McGuinness, Adjunct Professor of Law, NUI Galway. Commencing on campus at 9.15am in Áras Moyola, the event also marks the 5th anniversary of the LLM in Public Law at NUI Galway. According to NUI Galway's Donncha O'Connell: "At a time of heightened public awareness of political dysfunction as a contributory factor to current economic woes in Ireland, some attention is beginning to focus on the need for constitutional reform aimed at making the Executive more accountable to Parliament. This is a welcome departure from a quiescent acceptance of the constitutional scheme of things as just the way things are towards a more radical questioning by citizens, who now appreciate that there is a connection between the Constitution and the condition in which real people live". Donncha O'Connell, an expert in Constitutional Law, Human Rights and Law Reform, added: "Offices like that of the Ombudsman struggle to make the Executive - in its many emanations - accountable, but without a clearer connection to Parliament, with appropriate constitutional protection, it is difficult for such accountability to have the necessary level of political impact". The event is free and open to the public. Space is limited and anyone wishing to attend must register online at www.conference.ie. -Ends-

A new initiative which gives teachers an opportunity to use digital resources in the classroom was officially launched last evening in NUI Galway. Students of the Dioplóma Iarchéime san Oideachas (DIO) at the School of Education, NUI Galway have created interactive multimedia lessons as Gaeilge using Matchware Mediator. This one of a kind technology is sponsored by COGG (Comhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta), and will be available for both students and teachers nationwide to use. They afford teachers the opportunity to use digital resources in the classroom in an exciting, creative way. They target both the teaching of Irish and the teaching of other subjects across the curriculum through the medium of Irish. This dovetails with COGG's vision of serving the educational needs of Gaeltacht and Irish medium schools. Muireann Ní Mhóráin, CEO of COGG officially launched the initiative last night. Head of School of Education, Professor Chris Curtin, said, "This development will deliver meaningful and engaging experiences to help students learn in exciting ways." -Ends-