Policy

Conor Rowley & Prof Sean Redmond

Wicked problems are problems which are resistant to change, which morph over time and turn would-be ideal solutions into worse problems that persist; examples are no-go zones in urban areas, serious drug related activity and lack of pro-social leadership in communities devastated by routine criminal activity. Large scale evidence based programmes tip away at the edge of wicked problems, which severely expose the state, they do not fit into the administrative remit of one state agency or the other. Most significant of all wicked problems tend to be context specific.

Professor Shane Kilcommins, David Stanton, TD, Dr Catherine Naughton and Professor Sean Redmond

A University of Limerick study has established evidence that the deliberate involvement of children in criminal networks can be found throughout Ireland and extends beyond the ‘Greentown’ single area study.

The National Prevalence Study, launched by Minister of State David Stanton, TD has established that findings from the ‘Lifting a Lid on Greentown’ research based on an original single case study design, can be applied to the general Irish context. The study was undertaken by Dr Catherine Naughton and Dr Sean Redmond, from the UL School of Law.

L-R Mikael Lindvall,Peter O’Neill,Brian Fitzgerald,Taoiseach Enda Kenny,Mark Ferguson,Adam Porter,Mike Hinchey,Brendan O’Malley

Washington D.C., Monday, 20th March, 2017

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD has announced the signing of a new agreement between Lero, the UL headquartered SFI Research Centre for Software, and the Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Engineering at the University of Maryland, which will see both centres of excellence engage in extensive research collaboration in the coming years. The collaboration will focus on evolving critical systems and digital transformation.

Innovation 2020

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.

Jean McCarthy, UL, Jeanette Cleveland, Colorado State University, Noreen Heraty,UL

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.

Dr Juliet McMahon, Dr Tom Turner, Dr Caroline Murphy, Dr Michelle O’Sullivan, Minister Ged Nash, Dr Lorraine Ryan and Dr Jonatha

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”.

Dr Eoin Reeves, Director of the Privatisation and PPP Research Group at the University of Limerick

The fourth annual international conference on Public Private Partnerships has been co-organised by Dr Eoin Reeves, Director of the Privatisation and PPP Research Group at the University of Limerick in conjunction with Cornell University and the Universitat de Barcelona.