NUI Galway alumni and friends will celebrate the connection between James Joyce and Galway City with a pre-Bloomsday recital in Newman House, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin on Thursday, 14 June at 6.30pm. The recital is part of a series of  Bloomsweek recitals featuring Ireland’s leading classical guitarist, John Feeley, accompanied by NUI Galway graduate and James Joyce enthusiast, Professor Fran O’Rourke of UCD who will also be providing background information on Joyce. During the recital, Galway native John Feeley will be using will be James Joyce’s own guitar, which had been on display at the Joyce Tower Museum for the past 45 years. However, in the last year it has been carefully restored and it is now ready to be played again. The fact that Joyce studied in Newman House should also add extra resonance to the occasion. Professor O’Rourke said: “The guitar first features in Weiss’s iconic photograph of Joyce, taken in Zurich in 1915 and has been in the Joyce Tower Museum in Sandycove since 1967. Having heard a similar vintage guitar, it occurred to me that the Joyce guitar might be restored. I put the suggestion to Robert Nicholson, Curator of the Museum and with the expert work of Gary Southwell, it is now ready to be heard again.” Joyce was both an excellent singer and an accomplished musician, and music played a large part in his life and he incorporated it into almost all his works. Joyce’s major connection with Galway was through his wife Nora Barnacle from Bowling Green, just down from St. Nicholas’ Cathedral. Nora provided the inspiration in Joyce’s work for characters such as Molly Bloom, Greta Conroy and Anna Livia Plurabelle, among others. Joyce visited Galway and Nora’s family on several occasions and developed a deep interest and affection for the city and Joyce country which he maintained all his life. The recital is open to graduates and friends of NUI Galway. Tickets are €10 and are available online from NUI Galway Alumni Office, www.nuigalway.ie/alumni. For further information contact the Alumni Office at 091 492721. ENDS

The first international conference in NUI Galway’s new Engineering Building, entitled Shaking the Foundations of Geo-engineering Education (SFGE 2012), will take place from 4-6 July. SFGE 2012 is Ireland’s first major geo-engineering conference since the European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering held in Dublin in 1987. Geo-engineering (or geotechnical engineering) is the branch of civil engineering associated with the engineering behaviour of soil and rock and encompasses the design of building foundations, retaining walls, slopes, embankments, excavations and tunnels. The conference title is a pun on the fact that foundation design is a key part of the work of a geotechnical engineer. Dr Bryan McCabe, Lecturer in Civil Engineering and SFGE 2012 Chair, said: “This conference will explore key challenges, both technical and pedagogical, faced in the education and training of students of geotechnical engineering and related engineering disciplines. This will be achieved through a series of presentations and facilitated discussion workshops. Active engagement with the significant body of teaching and learning research, accumulated over many years, is what will set SFGE 2012 apart from previous international conferences of this type.” Renowned international keynote speakers include: Professor Paul Mayne, Georgia Tech; Professor Steve Ressler, US Military Academy at Westpoint; Professor John Atkinson, City University, London and Coffey Geotechnics; Dr Brian Simpson, Arup Geotechnics, London; and Professor Rich Felder, North Carolina State University. During the three day event, Professor John Burland, Imperial College London, will also be honoured with an award for his lifelong contribution to education in geo-engineering and will deliver a special invited lecture. Professor Burland is renowned for his role in stabilising the Leaning Tower of Pisa. SFGE 2012 will also incorporate a workshop of the popular ASCE Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEEd) programme which will have an appeal beyond geo-engineering to academics and practitioners in science and engineering. Those interested in attending can register online at http://www.sfge2012.com. For further details on SFGE 2012 contact Dr Bryan McCabe at 091 492021 or bryan.mccabe@nuigalway.ie. -ENDS-

‘To measure social progress and national well-being we need something more than GDP’ A conference at NUI Galway on Friday, 8 June, will address the issue of ‘Overcoming Barriers to Well-Being in Ireland’. The conference will feature the latest international thinking on the concept of well-being, and showcase research across themes including: Predicting Healthy Behaviour; Well-being in Youth; Family, Community & Society; Physical Well-being; and Positive Approaches. The conference is hosted by the Health and Well-Being priority theme at the Institute for Business, Social Science and Public Policy at NUI Galway.  Dr Michael Hogan and Dr AnnMarie Groarke from the School of Psychology at NUI Galway, are co-leaders of a research cluster within this theme which brings together experienced academics currently engaged in Health and Lifespan research. According to Dr Hogan, “Internationally, there is increasing interest in, and analysis of, human well-being and the economic, social, environmental and psychological factors that contribute to it.” Helen Johnston, author of Well-being Matters: A Social Report for Ireland, will deliver a keynote address on 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, will deliver a second keynote address on Social Intelligence and Community Well-being: Charting Paths to Resilience, based on recent well-being research conducted in the US. Dr Hogan adds “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 greater 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 event will feature an Interactive Management system design workshop. Interactive Management is a collaborative design process that allows a group of individuals with a vested interest in solving a problem to work together. Professor Benjamin Broome, Arizona State University, will assist with the design and facilitation of the workshop. -ends-

‘The Fall then Rise of Sleeping Finch’ NUI Galway will host an art exhibition, The Fall then Rise of Sleeping Finch by the University’s Artist-in-Residence Marielle MacLeman. The exhibition will be opened by NUI Galway Secretary, Gearóid Ó Conluain, on Wednesday, 13 June at 5pm. The exhibition will run from 14-27 June, from 11am-4pm Monday to Friday, and 1pm-5pm on Saturday in the University Art Gallery in the Quadrangle Building. The Fall then Rise of Sleeping Finch recalls historical museum keepers and collectors who, suffering insanity or incompetence, made obstacle courses of taxidermy, destroyed entire specimen groups through disapproval or embellished others in gold for aesthetic improvement. Marielle MacLeman presents a selection of work from her residency at NUI Galway’s Zoology and Marine Biology museums as the fanatical, furtive creations of Albert Finch Esq. as he attempts to recreate pieces that fell foul of his museum predecessors. In the exhibition Finch is an avid hobbyist, heraldry enthusiast, revivalist and recycler. His ‘remakes’ are rendered in cocktail sticks, pencil shavings and reclaimed papers from the museum floor. He catalogues the classes of the Animal Kingdom in ‘skeletal fly posting’, which form backdrops for his paper beasts mounted on shields hacked from chopping boards. Where others regard taxidermy as trophy, Finch crafts medals and rosettes for his prize-winning specimens. Marielle MacLeman is a visual artist based in Galway. Working across mixed media wall-based work and site-specific installation, her work often employs rigorous processes to explore sites and subjects with lost or changing roles. Marielle is particularly interested in exploiting materials not traditionally associated with fine art techniques. She studied Drawing and Painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, Scotland and began a residency at NUI Galway’s Museums in 2011. The residency has been supported by an Arts Council Bursary Award and a Galway City Council Individual Creative Artist Award. -ends-

Dr Gerard Flaherty, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Medicine and Medical Education at NUI Galway, has been elected as President of the Travel Medicine Society of Ireland during the 4th Northern European Conference on Travel Medicine (NECTM). The conference is taking place this week in Dublin. An experienced travel medicine physician, educator and researcher, Dr Flaherty has served on the Executive Council of the Society since 2007. During that time he was appointed as a Fellow of the Faculty of Travel Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow where he serves on the Faculty Board. He is also a member of the editorial board of the journal Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases in the UK. Dr Flaherty was instrumental in securing the Society’s bid to host the prestigious NECTM conference which has taken two years of detailed planning and organisation to bring to fruition. As Chair of the scientific committee of the NECTM conference, Dr Flaherty is responsible for every aspect of the scientific sessions. Dr Flaherty said: “It has been an enormous privilege engaging with our 12 European partner societies in developing an innovative and educational programme. We have enjoyed welcoming approximately over 700 delegates from the UK and mainland Europe to Ireland and we hope that many of them will return to Ireland in the near future as holidaymakers.” A diverse range of topics will be discussed at NECTM, reflecting the broad scope of travel medicine, including preparation of humanitarian aid workers for travel, serving the needs of disabled travellers, travelling with young children, travellers’ diarrhoea, accessing medical care overseas, psychological trauma in travellers, pandemic influenza, and malaria. Over a hundred Irish and international speakers will contribute to the programme of the conference, which was opened on Wednesday, 6 June by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, Dr Bill Tormey. The Minister of Health, Dr James Reilly, will host a reception for the delegates at Dublin Castle tonight (Thursday, 7 June). Dr Flaherty looks forward to his new role as President of the Travel Medicine Society of Ireland, saying: “I aim to raise the profile of the specialty of travel medicine or emporiatrics which is only 25 years old. There is a need to ensure that all travel medicine practitioners in Ireland apply the highest standards of clinical practice in preparing their patients for travel overseas and in assessing the ill returned traveller. To this end, I intend to put education and research top of my agenda for this Presidency.” For further details please see www.nectm.com. -ends-