On Tuesday, December 10th 2024, International Human Rights Day, 180 Transition Year and Politics and Society students from Cork Educate Together Secondary School, Carrigaline Community School, and Millstreet Community School came together for an inspiring event. The conference was co-organized by Michaela Alfred-Kamara of Cork Educate Together Secondary School and Shirley Martin from the School of Applied Social Studies at University College Cork (UCC).

The School of Applied Social Studies is delighted to recognise the success of its PhD and Doctoral students in securing IRC and CACSSS Excellence Scholarships over the last few years. 

Representative democracy is undergoing a deep crisis of legitimacy. Climate assemblies, participatory budgeting, and civic tech are examples of democratic innovations that connect the voices of everyday people to decision-makers. On the one hand, these participatory and deliberative democracy (PDD) processes are celebrated for their potential in addressing political distrust and polarisation by deepening public engagement. On the other hand, they are accused of being cosmetic solutions to deep-seated problems that continue to exclude already disempowered groups (along socioeconomic, gender, racial, physical, and mental ability lines).

SEOS, an interdisciplinary two-year joint Masters Programme offered by eight world-class European universities, pooling their internationally renowned expertise in engaged research on the topic of Superdiversity.