Scholars at Risk
 

News and updates will be posted on the SAR section of the Universities Ireland website regularly.

Cross-border News
 

InterTrade Ireland Website and Service Relaunch

InterTradeIreland is encouraging SMEs to ' Discover What's Possible' with its newly launched website and services.

InterTradeIreland has been supporting small businesses for over 15 years and to date has helped over 25,000 SMEs from every county in Ireland and Northern Ireland. No mean feat! However, with the launch of its new look website, it is hoped that even more SMEs will log on to ' Discover what's possible' for their business.
 
Read more here.


The Health Well

The Health Well website is an authoritative source of health-related evidence, data and good practice across the island of Ireland, incorporating a number of thematic Hubs. To view resources on the Health Well, please follow this link 

The Health Well Team Institute of Public Health in Ireland. 


Vulnerable older people and health inequalities: CARDI research

Older people on lower incomes and living in deprived areas across the island of Ireland have considerably worse health than better off people of the same age, according to a study funded by CARDI and carried out by researchers from Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. The findings show that older people on low incomes are more likely to smoke and have insufficient exercise. In contrast regular alcohol consumption is more common among those on high incomes.

Read the full research on the CARDI website. For more information contact info@cardi.ie.

Cross-border Events
 

Citizens and Constitutions
Engaging Citizens in Debates over Constitutional Reform on these Islands
Royal Irish Academy
Friday, 27 March 2015, 9.30am - 3.00pm

Debates over constitutional and institutional reform are much in the news in both parts of the island of Ireland and right across the UK.  The reports of the Irish Convention on the Constitution are working their way through to the Oireachtas and already two referendums are promised this May. The Stormont House Agreement has proposed new procedures to address controversies over flags and parades as efforts to progress the Good Friday Agreement continue. The outcome of last November’s Scottish independence referendum has resulted in intense debates in the UK over future constitutional arrangements.  The purpose of this event is to bring together leading researchers and practitioners in this area to review these debates and their likely outcomes with particular reference to the efforts (if any) to engage ordinary citizens as part of the process.

Click here to see provisional list of speakers.

RSVP: ibis@ucd.ie


CARDI Launch

CARDI will launch an all-Ireland report on disability in older heart disease patients on the morning of Thursday 26 March at the Holiday Inn, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast. Professor Frank Kee from Queen’s University Belfast will present important new findings on north-south differences, socio-economic gaps and variances by sex and age group. A light lunch will be served.

To register email events@cardi.ie.


Contested Commemoration: International Perspectives from South Africa and Croatia

Public lectures by:

Professor Fransjohan Pretorius (University of Pretoria) on the commemoration of the centenary of the Boer War in South Africa

 

Dr Britt Baillie (University of Pretoria) on the memorialisation of the Yugoslav Wars in the Croatian city of Vukovar

Monday, 2 March 2015 @ 2pm
The Canada Room and Council Chamber, Queen’s University Belfast

This event is free and open to the public. For further details please
contact Dr Marie Coleman at m.coleman@qub.ac.uk, or tel.: (028) 9097 3255.


Call for Applicants -
Economy and Society Summer School Blackwater Castle Cork

May 11-15th, Blackwater Castle, Co.Cork

The 2015 Economy and Society Summer School is now open for applications.
 
Now in its second year, for five days next May, at Blackwater Castle Ireland, the Economy and Society Summer School will bring together 50 scholars – around 20 faculty and 30 business and social sciences PhD researchers for an intensive and convivial residential course dealing with theories, concepts and methods of inquiry. Irish and international scholars from across the social sciences will present their approaches, recent research and conduct intensive study groups.
 
The summer school is tailored to the needs of doctoral students in Business and Social Sciences, and aspires to help post-graduates and research active staff to strengthen and widen their theoretical basis in ways that allows them to position their work amongst broader discourses, extend and sharpen their understanding of their theoretical and empirical practices and to contribute to their formation as independently-minded researchers. The school will be of particular interest to  PhD researchers from sociology, politics, anthropology, geography and history on the one hand, and organisation studies, management, marketing, finance and economics on the other.
 
Fee: €300
Application deadline: March 31st
Contact: info.easss@gmail.com

Organised by the school of Humanities and Business in WIT, in conjunction with the School of Sociology and Philosophy, UCC.


World War One Walk for the Cystic Fibrosis Ireland Transplant Fund

Cystic Fibrosis Ireland have teamed up with Myles Dungan as our Charity Ambassador for a unique walk in Flanders, Belgium. The walk which takes place over the weekend of May 15th to May 17th will seek to provide a better understanding on World War One from an Irish perspective. The 14km walk will take place along the Messines ridge where soldier from Ireland (North and South) fought together in the battle of Messines almost 100 years ago in 1917. By joining the walk you will not only get a fascinating insight into the Irish involvement in “The Great War” but also help with funding towards the Cystic Fibrosis Ireland Transplant Fund.

The cost of the walk is €900 with €450 payable by Mar 27th with the balance, your €450 fundraising target due by May 1st. This is a once off opportunity to enjoy a weekend in Belgium, visiting the historic cities of Bruges and Ypres, with plenty time to relax as well as getting a great insight into World War One from the walk, a visit to the Flanders Field Museum with supporting talks from Myles Dungan.
 

Find more information here.


Ethics and the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching

The All Ireland Society for Higher Education (AISHE) is holding a free event entitled 'Ethics and the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching' on the  27th March 2015 at the Dundalk Institute of Technology.  To book click here.

 

Relatives for Justice Report Launch

On Monday Relatives for Justice launched their most recent report 'Dealing with the Past in Ireland: Where are the Women? Women’s experience of conflict and need for implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325'. The report can be accessed online here.


Regenerating Local Spaces through Effective Community Planning

Thursday, 26 February - 9.30am to 4.00pm
Dublin Castle, Dublin

Co-operation Ireland invite you to this free seminar featuring input from; Michael Gallagher, Strategy Manager, Ilex Regeneration Company; Michael Walsh, Chief Executive, Waterford City & County Council; Alison McCullagh, Director of Regeneration & Planning, Fermanagh & Omagh District Council and Peter Hynes, Chief Executive, Mayo County Council. 

For more information and to register please email cdunbar@cooperationireland.org.

 

Free creative writing workshops - The John Hewitt Society

Exploring Identities - International Women's Day
Ulster Hall
Monday 2nd March 2015
2:30pm – 5pm
A free creative writing workshop exploring themes of female identity.

Exploring Identities
Ulster Hall
Friday 6th March 2015
2:30pm – 5pm
A free creative writing workshop for over 55s exploring the idea of identity within Belfast and what it means to be from this particular part of the world. 

See The John Hewitt Society website for more details.

 

 

European Matters

 

€79 million EU Investment for Ireland and Wales cooperation projects

€79 million for cooperation between Ireland and Wales has been approved by the European Commission. National contributions to the fund bring the total to nearly €100 million. €31.7 million EU funding will support 1,200 enterprises, leading to the creation of 35 new jobs. €27.7 million EU funding will assist coastal communities on the Irish Sea adapt to climate change. 24 private, public and non-profit organisations and 10 research institutions to collaborate and exchange knowledge for better response/adaptation. €15 million EU funding will contribute to promoting Cultural and Natural Resources and Heritage. As a result, the number of overseas visitors to the coastal communities of the Programme area should be increased by 2%.

Commenting on the adoption, European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Creţu, said: "This programme should have real benefits for Irish and Welsh people, particularly those living in coastal communities. Our cross border, interregional programmes are one of the most tangible ways the EU is working to help people address common challenges and tap into shared potential - together. In focusing on linking SME's and research organisations, tackling climate change and helping local tourism, we are addressing both the strengths and the challenges of these regions head on. We expect nearly 4 million people in these regions to benefit from the projects springing from today's decision."

Read more here


Change in EU Law Facilitates Cross-border Traffic Fines

A change in EU law allowing authorities in all 28 member states to enforce road-traffic fines on residents of other EU countries was approved by the European Parliament on 11 February. This change rectifies a similar law enacted in 2010, but which had since been struck down by the European Court of Justice. In redrafting this legislation, its legal basis has shifted from police cooperation (under which Ireland, the UK and Denmark has an opt-out) to transport policy, which encompasses all EU member states.

Read the draft report on the change here.


UACES CRN Centrifugal Europe - Annual Research Symposium 2015

'New Perspectives in European Studies: Europeanisation in the EU and the Neighbourhood'
Queen's University Belfast, 6-7 March 2015

The ongoing European crisis has created new challenges and brought tensions (old and new) to the surface at both state and sub-state level, leading to debates about the relationship between the national and the supra-national, and the limits of sovereignty within the EU in its current form. Such developments represent an unprecedented reversal of the centripetal forces that characterised European integration in the decades prior to the current crisis, and ask serious questions about the future of the EU and its integration project. Against the background, our conference explores the Europeanization in the EU proper, enlargement and ENP countries (incl. Turkey, Western Balkans and previous accession countries). We welcome contributions which ask whether the integration of European norms in the wider European context is going ahead despite crisis or has it been put on back burner?

The conference will feature eight research panels on theoretical approaches to Europeanisation, political change and post-conflict transformation in the EU, the European Neighbourhood and the Western Balkans; a roundtable discussion with representatives from the European Commission, and a book panel discussing the importance of Good neighbourly relations in Europe (Kochenov & Basheska, eds, Good Neighbourly Relations in the European Legal Context, Brill Nijhoff, 2015).

The conference will also feature three keynote addresses (more information about the speakers below):

The most recent version of the preliminary programme can be found here.
Participation in the conference is open. Please register by sending an email to the organiser Dr Ada Regelmann at a.regelmann@qub.ac.uk.


CARDI: The International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics European Region Congress

The International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics European Region Congress 2015 will take place 23-26 April 2015 in Dublin. CARDI will host two symposia at the event: the first on physical activity and ageing and the second on health inequalities and ageing. CARDI will also have poster presentations on whether health inequalities are related to broader social inequality and if e-government is compounding inequalities: understanding older people's interaction with online public services.

Find more information here.


EU Aid Volunteers project

The European Commission is setting up a European training programme for humanitarian volunteers and will develop European standards for humanitarian organisations to work with volunteers in EU-funded projects worldwide. The new EU Aid Volunteers project will provide opportunities for volunteers to engage in humanitarian aid and will be open to a variety of profiles, from newcomers to experienced humanitarian experts. More than 18,000 people are expected to take part in the programme, which will have a budget of €147.9 million for the period 2015 to 2020. The first volunteers are expected to be deployed in December next.

Click here for further information.


Call for Papers - Young Researchers’ Workshop:
European International Studies Association (EISA)

The workshop will precede the 9th Pan-European Conference on International Relations in Giardini Naxos, Sicily, Italy (23-26 September 2015)
 
This workshop will analyse the EU in multilateral negotiations from different theoretical, methodological and empirical perspectives. It will focus on patterns of EU participation in formal (international organisations, international conferences) as well as informal (ad hoc arrangements and spontaneous institutions) negotiation settings before and after the Lisbon Treaty. A wide number of policy areas will be covered, including: security, trade, environment, finance, human and social rights. The main aim of the workshop is to understand and explain the EU’s performance in multilateral negotiations characterised by increased complexity (a large number of actors and issues at the negotiation table) and uncertainty (difficulty in communicating preferences and information exchange).  Participants are invited to reflect on the following questions in their contributions: (1) To what extent does the EU influence the process and the outcome of multilateral negotiations? (2) What are the main drivers of the EU’s impact and effectiveness: its internal characteristics, the negotiation context or other external factors?

Please apply by sending a paper title and a 300-word abstract to both Lisanne Groen (lisanne.groen@vub.ac.be) and Iulian Romanyshyn (iulian.romanyshyn@imtlucca.it). The deadline to send your proposal is 15 March 2015. Participants will be able to apply for a financial contribution to their travel expenses and lodging. Participants of this workshop are also encouraged to attend the EISA 9th Pan-European Conference on International Relations (23-26 September 2015). Details about the conference are available here.


Strengthening food safety cooperation in Europe

An upcoming conference on food safety hopes to build upon the high levels of cross-border cooperation achieved by the EU-funded FOODSEG project. The FOODSEG project, which included Irish partner TEAGASC, completed in April 2014, successfully identified key food safety problems and risks and put forward new ideas on how to tackle these challenges. Now a follow-up conference in Rome, Italy has been organised to help further integrate these solutions and promote food safety along the supply chain.

Experts from a variety of fields – from agriculture and food production to inspection and consumer groups – will attend the event from 23 to 24 April 2015. The FOODSEG 2014+ Network event hopes to initiate cooperation, technology transfer and common research projects and also act as a platform to disseminate the project results

Click here for more information.

Funding Opportunities
 

Fully funded PhD studentship in Comparative European Social Policy -  
University of Kent

This studentship is part of the cross-national 1.5m NORFACE research project WelfSOC. The project uses innovative methods (deliberative democratic forums and a qualitative cross-national focus group survey) alongside analysis of quantitative survey data. It is the first project to use qualitative methods on such a scale in the comparative study of European social policy.

The studentship offers:

Possible research topics:

The applicant may also propose a different topic in the field of public attitudes towards the welfare state. Learn more here.


Four Year Scholarship for a PhD on European Commission Legal Service - 
Cardiff School of Law and Politics

The School of Law and Politics of Cardiff University offers a 1+3 ESRC funded PhD scholarship in the area of European law and governance. This is part of a PhD scheme that encourages legal research or law related research which has a strong methodological and empirical research basis. The PhD will focus on the role of the European Commission's legal service, and is linked with the research project LASI (Law, Science, and Interests in European policy-making).

The deadline for application is 13th March 2015. More information can be found here.


UCD Sutherland School of Law Doctoral Scholarships

Closing Date: Thursday 30th of April 2015

The Sutherland School of Law is pleased to offer up to two new doctoral scholarships in law from 2015-2016. The scholarships will provide tuition fees at the EU rate and a yearly stipend of €16,000. The scholarships are tenable for a maximum of four years, renewable each year subject to satisfactory progress. The scholarships are available to full time students commencing their doctoral studies in the School of Law in September 2015. A limited amount of teaching may be required of scholarship holders.

The scholarships are open to Irish, EU and international applicants.
Click here for more information.

Publications
 

InterTradeIreland Report:
'SMEs, Credit Constraints and Growth: A Cross-Border Study'

InterTradeIreland’s latest report - ‘SMEs, credit constraints and growth: A cross-border study’  published today, follows up on previous research by InterTradeIreland on 'access to finance'.

The report shows how the improving economic environment is reflected in the financial position of firms, with the numbers suffering from credit constraints halving between 2012 and 2014, and a significant increase in the numbers of businesses showing no signs of financial distress. 

Click here for further information.


Prevention and Early Intervention in Children and Young People’s Services

The Centre for Effective Services (CES) recently launched its latest publication Prevention and Early Intervention in Children and Young People’s Services – Ten Years of Learning in Dublin and Belfast. The Ten Years of Learning Report, compiled by CES, summarises the overarching learning from the outcome reports and briefing papers in the Prevention and Early Intervention Initiative (PEII) Capturing the Learning Series. The PEII involves 52 Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) programmes throughout the island of Ireland funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies (AP), sometimes jointly with Government and other organisations. A number of important themes emerged and this knowledge was distilled down to 7 key areas for change and 13 recommendations. When taken together they provide a coherent approach to prevention and early intervention to improve the lives of children young people, their families and communities.

Download the report here.


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If you would like to include a cross-border event, research or news item in the next issue of Border-Zine please send to Thomas Haverty by Wednesday 8th April.