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Ireland’s Place in the Global Financial Crisis

Where is Ireland’s place in the Global Financial Crisis? This question will be addressed at UCC on February 16th and 23rd when the School of Economics will host two evening sessions explaining the origins of the current Irish economic crisis.

Biodiversity and Infectious Disease - Towards One Health

Infectious diseases are a major world problem. They, like many invasive species, specifically pose a threat to native biodiversity. The extent that conservation of biodiversity requires disease management as well as the health benefits of such conservation is the focus of the next lecture of the Annual College of Science, Engineering and Food Science (SEFS) Public Lecture Series at UCC on February 15th 2012.

Faculty of Law Annual Essay Competition

The Awards Ceremony for this year’s Law Annual Essay Competition took place recently. The competition attracted an unprecedented number of entries from all over the country. The winners were presented with cheques to the value of €200 in the presence of participating schools and staff from UCC’s Department of Law.

International Undergraduate Case Competition

A team of four of UCC’s top Bachelor of Commerce students representing the College of Business and Law have been accepted to compete in an international Undergraduate Case Competition in the John Molson Business School in Montreal, February 19th to Feb 26th 2012. Competition will take place between the top 24 Business Schools in the World.

International Recognition for Cell Imaging

Professor Mary McCaffrey, Department of Biochemistry, UCC and her team of researchers have achieved international recognition for cell imaging. A recent article from the group (Kelly, E., et. al., 2012) characterising Rab30 localisation and function has been awarded the ‘front cover’ image of the February 1st issue of Biology of the Cell. The image is a Confocal micrograph of a cell expressing fluorescently labelled Rab30 and the Vesicular Stomatitis Virus G protein (a cargo protein).

Violence in Medieval and Early Modern Ireland

Violence has probably always been an integral part of human affairs. Brutal regimes of punishment have featured in many political settings. These culturally-determined acts have motivations beyond the destruction of individuals and these often centre on the maintenance and extension of power. In the next lecture of the Annual College of Science, Engineering and Food Science (SEFS) Public Lecture Series titled: “Bodies and Souls: Performative Violence in Medieval and Early Modern Ireland”, Dr Barra O Donnabháin will review of the use of violence in medieval and early modern Ireland. He suggests that regimes of punishment also have potential to reveal changing attitudes to bodies and to souls.

New era in Buddhist Studies at UCC

In another ‘first’ for the pioneering Study of Religions department at UCC, a research post in Buddhist Studies has been established at the university. It is one of three fellowships awarded jointly to Oxford University, King’s College London, and UCC. To mark the award, senior Thai Buddhist monk Ven. Veera Vingvorn and eminent Buddhist Studies expert Dr Kate Crosby of London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) visited UCC on Friday 3rd February. During the course of their visit, they met UCC’s President Dr Michael Murphy and lectured to students.

UCC Neuroscientist Attracts Key Eurpean Funding

Professor John F. Cryan, Head of the Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience and PI in the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre has recently been awarded key research funding under the European Commission's Framework Programme 7 (FP7) Health initiative to understand the neural basis of compulsive behaviour. The grant “Translational Adolescent and Childhood Therapeutic Interventions in Compulsive Syndromes” (TACTICS) is worth € 6 million overall and also involves researchers at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Utrecht University, Kings College London, University of Cambridge, UK, Central Institute of Mental Health Mannheim, Germany, Tel Aviv University, Israel and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston in addition to a number of European SMEs.

Person of the Month

To mark UCC’s award of The Sunday Times Irish University of the Year 2011-2012 and also being the only Irish university to achieve the unique status of Ireland’s five-star university, UCC President, Dr Michael Murphy received the January Cork Person of the Month.

2012 Chinese New Year Gala

Chinese New Year was celebrated at the Annual Spring Festival Performance on Saturday last (January 28th 2012) in the Firkin Crane Theatre, Shandon, Cork City. The event was co-organised by Cork City Council, UCC Confucius Institute and sponsored by the Headquarters of Confucius Institute in Beijing and Shanghai University which is the partner university of UCC.

UCC academic to chair International Committee

The French Ministry for Higher Education and Research, Paris, has invited Professor Grace Neville to chair an international committee of senior academics, pro-vice-chancellors and OECD and former EU officials in a major French Government policy initiative designed to strengthen the focus on innovation in teaching and learning in Higher Education in France.

Matching industry needs with employment opportunities

University College Cork (UCC) has welcomed the remarks by CEO IDA Ireland, Barry O’Leary when he issued advice to those students who will complete their CAO applications on where the greatest job opportunities will lie in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) companies in the future. “Ireland’s availability of skilled labour is one of the primary reasons cited by IDA clients for establishing their operations in Ireland”, he said. He referred to The Irish Management Institute/National Irish Bank Survey of Multinational Companies in Ireland 2011 which recently revealed that nearly half of all multinationals based in Ireland expect to grow employment in the next 12 months.

A Cork Alternative to Bloomsday

The writer James Joyce’s Cork connections are perhaps not too well known. Joyce’s father was brought up in Cork and later visited with his son, James, staying on one noted occasion in the Victoria Hotel. On Thursday, 2nd February, to mark the 90th anniversary of the publication of his most well-known novel, Ulysses, UCC Library and the Graduate School, College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Science will host the writer and poet Iain Sinclair who visits UCC to launch an exhibition marking the anniversary and to give a public lecture and reading. The lecture will take place in the Council Room at UCC at 6pm, following the launch of the exhibition at 5.00pm in the Boole Library. All are welcome with RSVPs to c.odoibhlin@ucc.ie.

Linking Science and Literature

UCC Scientist, Dr Tom Moore has achieved third place in the 2012 Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition recently announced by the Munster Literature Centre.

UCC Lecturer honoured by Harvard

Dr Eleanor Doyle, Senior Lecturer and Assistant Head, School of Economics, UCC has been elected into the ‘Hall of Fame’ of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Harvard Business School. Dr Doyle is only the sixth person to receive this honour.

Mel Mercier nominated for Irish Times Theatre Award

Head of UCC School of Music and Theatre, Dr Mel Mercier has been nominated for a prestigious Irish Time Theatre Award, in the category Best Designer: Sound, for music he composed for the play Sétanta.

Understanding Computer Science

Computers are extremely important in modern life. Understanding how they work, how they reason, how they “think”, what are their limitations, is a fascinating subject called computer science. In the next lecture of the Annual College of Science, Engineering and Food Science (SEFS) Public Lecture Series titled: “Teaching the Principles of Computer Science to Primary-Aged Children” on February 1st, Professor Barry O’Sullivan, Computer Science Department, UCC will focus on making the fundamental ideas of computer science accessible to children from the ages of 7-12 and their families.

A passage to Cork…

The Lonely Planet Guide 2012 is not the first travel guide to extol the special charms of Cork. A famous 18th century Indian travel writer described how he was attracted to the city by the beauty of its ‘gentle slopes’ and its large river which ‘resembled the Ganges’. The links between Cork and India were celebrated yesterday in UCC (Thursday 26th) at a reception to mark India’s Republic Day for its 60 Indian students and staff many of whom attended in their national dress.