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Issue 5

October - December 2013

Message from the Director

The last quarter of 2013 was a busy time for the Institute. We hosted 13 events from international conferences and research symposiums, to specialised workshops and seminars. We continue to build the international reputation of the Institute through a growing network of collaborators. Guest speakers during this quarter came from Australia, Greece, UK, Ireland, Sweden, Finland and the US. We celebrated the culmination of the EU (NPP) funded Creative Edge Project with a conference which highlighted the range of successful outputs as a result of the Project. As we continue to build the Whitaker Institute, we are open to developing new collaborations to partner with our research community for future funding opportunities under Horizon 2020. Please contact us if you are interested in exploring such opportunities.

Is mise le meas,

Dr. James Cunningham.

Creative Edge Conference

Creative Edge partners from Film i Västerbotten, Sweden; the Western Development Commission, Ireland; Kemi-Tornio University, Finland; Craigavon Borough, Northern Ireland; and the Whitaker Institute.

The Conference, which explored How Creative Industries Contribute to and Shape Peripheral Region Societies and Economies, attracted over 100 delegates from multiple sectors, including national and local government, industry, academia, the arts, and NGOs. Over the course of the day, the importance of place, the direction of policy and the role of education were discussed. Dr Patrick Collins delivered the keynote address and Fulbright scholar Susan Monagan from Ithaca College, New York was one of several international guest speakers. A number of interactive sessions showcased Creative Edge initiatives such as MyCreativeEdge.eu, Creative Hubs, Creative Steps and the Mentoring Programme. For more, see the Creative Edge website HERE.

Big Data Workshop

The Social Sciences Computing Hub at the Whitaker Institute jointly hosted a workshop on Big Data, Analytics and Architecture of Computation with the Irish Centre for High End Computing (ICHEC). It introduced some novel statistical methods and computational techniques involved in big data analytics, including the issue of cleaning the data sets and automated classification, and visualisation. Speakers also discussed both the conventional and emerging innovative computational solutions for working with big data. For details and to access speakers' slides, see HERE

The Economic Cost of Domestic Violence

Dr Nata Duvvury and colleagues from the Gender and Public Policy cluster were recently commissioned by the World Bank to examine the economic costs and implications for growth and development of domestic violence. Building on a study commissioned by UN Women that focussed on Viet Nam, the authors reviewed data from nine countries, which indicates that costs are substantial, from 1-2 percent of GDP. In the economies reviewed, this amount nearly equals government spending on primary education. Read the Full Report.

Lean Enterprise Software and Systems Conference

Jan Bosch speaking at LESS 2013

The 4th International LESS Conference took place at NUI Galway in December. The programme included keynote adresses from David L Parnas (Professor Emeritus at McMaster University in Hamilton Canada and at the University of Limerick) and Martin Curley (VP of Intel Europe), workshop sessions, a doctoral consortium,and several interesting talks from both industry and researchers. See HERE for details.

Symposium on Regulation for Employee Voice

Professor John Budd, University of Minnesota

A research symposium celebrating the culmination of a 3 year IRC-ESRC bilateral research project concerned with employee involvement and participation on the island of Ireland was held in October. The event showcased leading national and international research on employee rights and employer obligations for workforce information and consultation, organisational practice and public policy debates. Guest speakers included John W Budd, University of Minnesota; Mick Marchington, University of Strathclyde and Manchester Business School; and Kieran Mulvey, Labour Relations Commission. For more, see HERE

Recent Seminars and Guest Speakers

We were delighed to host Fulbright Scholar Susan Monagan from Ithaca College, New York who conducted in-depth research on Artist-Entrepreneurs in the West of Ireland.

Professor Margaret Abernethy from University of Melbourne and Dr Julia Mundy University of Greenwich delivered a seminar on Uncertainty as a Determinant of Performance Measurement and Compensation Systems.

Dr. Jean McCarthy from the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College spoke on Work and Employment Issues for the Ageing Labour Market: Multi-Study Evidence from Ireland

Professor Michael S. Lewis Beck, Professor of Political Science at the University of Iowa delivered a facinating talk on Economic Conditions and Predicting Elections: Insights from Weather Forecasting

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