Actions across talent development, STEM and entrepreneurship education and R&D expenditure highlighted as vital to Ireland becoming a global innovation leader.
The University of Limerick welcomes Ireland’s Strategy for Research and Development, Science and Technology - Innovation 2020 which was today (8th December) launched by the Minister for Skills, Research, Innovation Damien English TD, together with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Jobs.
This month saw some of the world’s leading academics in workplace ageing gather at the University of Limerick for the 3rd Age in the Workplace Expert Group Meeting. The meeting brought together 70 thought leaders from around the world, representing 47 prestigious institutions across Europe, the United States and Canada, to advance knowledge on successful ageing at work, in order to promote a sustainable workforce as the population ages.
The legendary Manchester band Joy Division are the subject of a two-day international symposium at the University of Limerick this week. Following on from previous events at UL on The Smiths, Morrissey and David Bowie, the Popular Music and Popular Culture Research Cluster are examining the legacy of the iconic Manchester band, whose career was cut short with the untimely death of their lead singer Ian Curtis in 1980. Best known for their song Love Will Tear Us Apart Joy Division are one of the world’s truly iconic and influential bands.
On 3rd November, the Minister for Business and Employment Ged Nash TD published a new report ‘A Study on the Prevalence of Zero Hours Contracts among Irish Employers and the Impact on Employees’ by the Kemmy Business School.
Minister Nash commented “the independent study by UL has found that zero hour contracts are not extensively used in Ireland. However, it is worrying that the UL study suggests increasing use of ‘if and when’ contracts that, when used inappropriately drive precarious working conditions”.
Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation Damien English TD, recently announced Matthew Gleeson, postgraduate researcher at UL, as the winner of Science Foundation Ireland’s Research Image of the Year competition for his picture ‘Lightning Wires’ at the SFI Science Summit in Kilkenny. The winning image was selected from over 40 submissions and will appear on the front of the 2015 SFI Annual Report.
Professor Shane Kilcommins has been invited by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald, T.D., to chair a Consultative Council on Penal Policy.
The creation of such a Consultative Council is one of a number of recommendations made in a report submitted to Government on 4th November, 2014 by the Penal Policy Review Group. That Group was established in 2012 to conduct a wide ranging strategic review of penal policy taking into account relevant work already carried out in this jurisdiction and elsewhere, the rights of those convicted of crimes, the perspective of those who are victims of crime, and the interests of society in general.
Biofuels are an important alternative to fossil fuels that can minimise the impact of energy production on global climate change. DIBANET is an Irish-led research project aimed at developing an integrated approach to biomass development that further enhances international cooperation between the EU and Latin America in the field of biofuels. This project aims at developing technologies to sustainably exploit biomass for the profitable production of biofuels and other valuable chemicals. The project supports the development of technologies with a view to reducing dependency on fossil diesel imports in Latin America and Europe.
Biofuels have the potential to significantly reduce the output of carbon caused by transport, and reduce the impact of transport on climate change. DEMA is a University of Limerick-led project focused on microalgae found in oceans, lakes and damp soil, and on rocks, where energy is extracted via photosynthesis to produce biofuels. DEMA is focused on the development, demonstration and licensing of a complete, economically competitive technology from the direct production of bioethanol from microalgae by 2016.
On the 29th of October, Dr James Carr from the Department of Sociology launched his new book: Experiences of Islamophobia: Living with Racism in the neoliberal era (London & New York: Routledge, 2016).