2016

Dr Aaron Potito and three Geography undergraduates just returned from a 10-day field class in Chengdu, China, with Sichuan University’s University Immersion Program. The field course in Environmental Change and Sustainability included students and teachers from China, Italy, Australia, United States and Ireland.

Spatial Justice and the Irish Crisis, co-edited by Gerry Kearns, David Meredith and John Morrissey, and published by the Royal Irish Academy, has been shortlisted for the GSI Book of the Year Award. (http://www.geographicalsocietyireland.ie/awards.html). Book reviews of Spatial Justice and the Irish Crisis: "To counteract global capitalism’s tendency to run roughshod over the planet - uprooting communities and destroying environments - it is vital that we construct an embedded understanding of place as well as a concept of justice that defends the earth as our only home. This book and the idea of ‘spatial justice’ is a triumphant step toward that goal" - Dr David Nally, University of Cambridge"Spatial Justice and the Irish Crisis is more of a complete project than just a book, with excellent essays from noted scholars in Irish Geography and Irish Studies. It includes an essay by Danny Dorling, one of the best known geographers of his generation, and the triumph of the interview with David Harvey, the best known urban and geographical scholar of the generation" - Prof. Stephen Royle, Queen's University Belfast"This book bravely provokes debates on the questions and issues it is addressing concerning the Irish financial crisis. It is an admirable attempt to speak truth to power in regards to the Republic’s need to focus on social and environmental justice, health care, education and the marginalized" - Dr Charles Travis, Trinity College Dublin  For details on the book, please see the RIA website here (https://www.ria.ie/publications/books/spatial-justice-and-irish-crisis).

Aoife Ní Fhlatharta, PhD Geography candidate and recipient of the Dr Patrick Commins Rural Research Award was recently awarded the Rural Policy Studies Scholarship Fund to attend the 13th International Comparative Rural Policy Studies (ICRPS) Summer Institute, which is being hosted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks from the 14-26th July 2016. The funding which is supported by The Rural Policy Learning Commons project will cover the institute fee of $2000. The ICRPS Summer Institute provides a unique opportunity for students from a range of OECD countries to meet and work together on comparative rural policy issues. Participants of the Summer Institute will be exposed to the challenges of the rural North, and will have the opportunity to experience Alaska’s diverse interior. 

The humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, gender-based violence in Malawi, and the role of music in the lives of children in direct provision are amongst the research topics being funded by the Irish Research Council this year under its New Foundations programme. Details of the programme – which supports research on civic society and public policy issues – were announced today (23.03.16). In total, the Irish Research Council is providing €1 million to researchers across Ireland, on a range of projects involving collaboration between higher education researchers and NGOs. One of the projects is being led at NUI Galway by Dr John Morrissey, Senior Lecturer in Geography and Associate Director of the Moore Institute for Humanities. John’s project was initially developed during a recent research fellowship at the University of Cambridge. Entitled ‘Haven’, it is focused on the biggest humanitarian crisis in Europe since the Second World War, the Mediterranean refugee crisis, and has two core aims: to develop a collaborative body of research that addresses the root causes of the crisis and progressively offers an alternative envisioning of Western interventionism via the UN concept of ‘human security’; and  to initiate a series of public events where these vital perspectives can be constructively disseminated to key stakeholders, including the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Irish Naval Services and Irish Aid.For further information, please see the Haven Project’s website:https://havenprojectblog.wordpress.com

Geography staff and students at the end of year EXPLORE awards lunch. EXPLORE is where NUI Galway students and staff partner up and deliver their innovative ideas.  It is a proven model for co-creation, co-design and co-delivering - both on and off campus. The Discipline of Geography hosted 3 of the 19 University awards for the 2014/15 academic year. The 3 projects were: The Aether Drone Project (Dr Eugene Farrell), Geo-Bogs: Conserving Ireland’s Natural Heritage (Dr Terry Morley and Dr Audrey Morley) and YOLO (YOung peoples’ Life Opportunities) (Dr. Kathy Reilly). The EXPLORE programme also got coverage in the local newspaper The Galway Independent