Impact & Opinions | Tionchar & Tuairimí

Arts

articles
icon
Global Impact
20 May 2024
13  MINS

Overview of Mary Robinson’s Archive

Niamh Ní Charra, Archivist , University of Galway

The 21st of May 2024 marks the 80th birthday of one of Ireland’s most influential, celebrated, and hard-working citizens, former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson. The University of Galway is proud to house her archive, and while work to catalogue it continues, we mark this significant milestone with an overview of the archive’s contents and an update on progress. University of Galway is also a partner of The Mary Robinson Centre in the former President’s home town of Ballina, Co. Mayo, and together we are honouring her life and legacy by engaging scholars of all ages in the major themes of her archive.  

articles
icon
SDG Champion
18 December 2023
7  MINS

Ó Chois Fharraige go COP28

Dr John Caulfield

Céard atá le rá ag an nglúin óg in Éirinn faoin athrú aeráide? D’oibrigh foireann Ollscoil na Gaillimhe in éineacht le dhá mheánscoil Ghaeltachta i nGaillimh chun dóchas agus imní a ndaltaí a roinnt leis an domhan mór. 

articles
icon
SDG Champion
18 December 2023
11  MINS

Críocha an Chroí—An Artist’s Return to the Heartland

Christina McBride

A residency in the University of Galway’s Gaoth Dobhair Centre in 2022–23 allowed Glasgow visual artist Christina McBride to explore the natural and built environment of her mother’s homeplace in nearby Bun an Inbhir in a series of analogue photographs developed using local fauna and peatland materials. McBride’s residency in Donegal and the resulting exhibition, Críocha an Chroí / Heartland—was made possible by a partnership involving the University, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Ealaín na Gaeltachta and the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny. In autumn 2023, a second exhibition, Thall Udaí / Over By, focusing on the people of the place, was mounted in Sean-Scoil Bhun an Inbhir and a third is planned for Glasgow in 2024.

articles
icon
SDG Champion
14 December 2023
16  MINS

Sustainable Galway, for a Sustainable World

Prof Pól Ó Dochartaigh, Deputy President and Registrar

Sustainability is crucial for universities to fulfil their role as responsible institutes for the public good. Deputy President and Registrar, University of Galway, Prof. Pól Ó Dochartaigh, reflects on our achievements and learnings thus far, as we embark on a transformative journey towards a sustainable Galway, for a sustainable world.

articles
icon
SDG Champion
06 November 2023
22  MINS

Cultural Values in a Sustainable Future

Prof Lillis Ó Laoire

We may not associate SDGs with culture, but the UN’s 2030 Agenda acknowledges the need to safeguard the world’s diverse cultural heritages, and the role of culture in fostering a collective sense of responsibility and belonging. Award-winning writer and singer, Prof Lillis Ó Laoire asks: how can we steward our cultural heritages to realign them with sustainable futures?

articles
icon
Resilient Innovation
25 July 2023
13  MINS

Straitéis na Gaeilge: An Scéal is Deireanaí

Seoladh an chéad straitéis don Ghaeilge san Ollscoil beagnach dhá bhliain ó shin, ar an 16 Iúil 2021 agus tá toradh na hoibre atá déanta ag gach uile dhuine a raibh lámh acu i bhforbairt agus i bhfeidhmiú na Straitéise go dtí seo le haithint ar fud an champais agus dul chun cinn suntasach déanta.

articles
21 July 2023
11  MINS

Bold Nostalgia: Enda Burke at GIAF

Meadhbh McNutt

Galway International Arts Festival welcomes Enda Burke’s Far Away & Close to Home to Outset Gallery this year in a unique showcase of the Galway artist’s bold visual language. Recently awarded the International BarTur Photo Prize, Burke’s work has been published in various media from The Guardian to Rolling Stone Magazine. Here, University of Galway Editorial Manager, Meadhbh McNutt contextualises this multidisciplinary body of work in a short creative essay.

articles
icon
Creative Galway
09 February 2023
15  MINS

What Makes Us Empathetic?

Bernadine Brady, Conn Holohan

While there is evidence to suggest that empathy is on the decline in society, using varied methodologies, researchers at University of Galway are exploring new ways to counter these trends. Dr Bernadine Brady was Principal Investigator in a recent study at the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre (UCFRC) assessing the attitudes of 700 12–16-year-olds in Ireland on empathy, social values and civic behaviour. In Immersive Empathy, Principal Investigator Dr Conn Holohan and his colleagues are investigating empathy through a different lens, empowering clients of Galway Simon to tell their life stories and reflections on homelessness through oral history and virtual reality.

articles
icon
Creative Galway
27 January 2023
24  MINS

How Do We Value Creativity After AI?

Professor John McHale

However troubling to today’s creatives, the rapid development of AI has generated a high demand for a new kind of skillset, one that is arguably creative in its own right. What do these changes in the skills economy mean for educators and institutions? Economist Prof John McHale reports on recent research unpacking the value of creative skills after AI, and the role of star recruitment in catalysing these creative skills in institutions. Finally, McHale looks at the question mark lingering over the value of the creative economy, through the lens of cost-benefit analysis.

articles
icon
Creative Galway
11 January 2023
11  MINS

Making a Cultural Galway

Dr. Patrick Collins

Creativity as an aspirational goal has found its way into policy and popular discourse in recent years. It is a goal that, according to Patrick Collins – University of Galway Lecturer and author of the upcoming Galway: Making a Capital of Culture – requires a historical, cultural and geographical context. While Galway boasts a rich creative economy, here Patrick asks: does it have the capacity to support young creatives to make new types of culture in the future? Feature image: Artist: Galway Community Circus. Performance/event: LifeLine. Photographer: Emilija Jefremova.

articles
icon
Creative Galway
10 January 2023
14  MINS

Earth Writings: A Toolkit for The Climate Crisis

Dr Nessa Cronin

What makes the knowledge systems of the arts and humanities uniquely valuable in addressing our current planetary predicament? Lecturer Dr Nessa Cronin brings together artists, academics, scientists and community activists to explore this key question. Together with her collaborators, she has created a creative toolkit in Earth Writings—a critical and inquisitive lens through which to navigate the climate emergency—the impact of which is now reaching classrooms across numerous disciplines.

articles
icon
Creative Galway
15 December 2022
12  MINS

Telling the Story of Sexual Consent in Ireland

Dr Charlotte McIvor

We need to change national conversations around sexual consent; creativity makes that possible, says Dr Charlotte McIvor.

articles
icon
Creative Galway
15 December 2022
16  MINS

In Conversation: Stephen Dooley

Meadhbh McNutt

Spotify is the world’s largest music streaming platform, serving 456 million users with access to songs and podcasts from artists across the globe.   Alum Stephen Dooley is both an independent musician and an Engineering Manager at Spotify. He recently played at Éalú Le Grá Festival as one half of London-based house duo, Delac. We sat down to ask Stephen about his thoughts on making music, studying at University of Galway and the influence of Spotify on the music industry today.   Image: Original photograph by Alex Waespi (alexandrawaespi.com), design by Unthink.

articles
15 December 2022
6  MINS

College of Arts Graduate Focus: Aoife Geraghty

Aoife Geraghty

As part of our focus on University of Galway College of Arts, we chat to Aoife Geraghty, Brand PR & Corporate Communications team at Irish Distillers who undertook a Bachelor of Arts (English Language and Literature), 2018.

articles
15 December 2022
14  MINS

Our Future: The College of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies

Rebecca Braun

As part of our focus on University of Galway College of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies Executive Dean Rebecca Braun discusses the college’s ambition to inspire transformation through its ‘Looking Out to the World with Ambition’ strategy. 

articles
13 December 2022
10  MINS

Spotlight on: Arts Student, Katelyn Hayes

podcasts
13 December 2022

Creative Galway Podcast: Ikenna Anyabuike

University of Galway student, Ikenna Anyabuike, is an actor, writer, assistant dramaturg and one half of the musical duo, Armcandy. Ikenna was awarded the ‘Baptiste Programme’ with Smock Alley in 2022, as well as the ‘Axis Assemble 2022’ with Axis Ballymun. He also performs as part of an ensemble for the play ‘The Kinds of Sex You Might Have in College’ with Active* Consent.

articles
icon
Creative Galway
12 December 2022
14  MINS

Imagining the Creative University

Professor Rebecca Braun

Waning confidence in progress narratives and declining imaginative capacity, among other factors, have led us to what national policy advisor and professor, Geoff Mulgan calls “a deficit of social imagination”. At the heart of this crisis, as articulated by Professor Rebecca Braun, is the need to imagine alternative ways of being on a collective scale, through the circulation of knowledge. If universities, as knowledge communities, are to play a major role in this quest, how might the creative university of the future operate?

articles
icon
Sustainability
02 June 2022
7  MINS

ROPES: Biodiversity

Claire Hennessy

Published annually by students of the MA in Literature and Publishing at NUI Galway, ROPES Literary Journal  has firmly established itself as part of the flourishing literary scene in Ireland. Biodiversity by award-winning writer Claire Hennessy, provokes readers to consider ourselves and our futures in relation to our threatened and fragile environments. Originally published in Issue 30, and launched at the 2022 Cúirt International Festival of Literature.

Keep up to date on the latest from us straight to your inbox

Privacy policy