Within the UNIC Lightning Bites Series, speakers are invited to share concrete insights and examples of engaged research that is driving meaningful change in post‑industrial cities. The event featured short, focused online talks from a diversity of perspectives, highlighting key challenges, opportunities, and emerging directions in engaged research.

Engaged research is a collaborative approach where researchers partner with community members, stakeholders, or end-users throughout the entire research lifecycle. It aims to address real-world, complex societal issues by integrating diverse perspectives and generating knowledge that is relevant, useful, and meaningful to the communities involved.

Urban Climate Collab, with support from UCC Centre for City Futures, host workshop as part of the 2nd UNIC Thematic Conference, held in Koc University, Istanbul

Dr. Evan Boyle presents on Urban Climate Collab: Reimagining my city through collaborations in mapping- insights from cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural learning 

Energy West hosting an event in the Portershed, Galway, exploring community visioning and energy transitions. Invited panellists, including Evan Boyle, provided insights from around Ireland. A summary is provided below:

Monday 13th - Friday 17th October 2025: International Sustainability Autumn School at University College Cork. This Erasmus+ funded programme brought together postgraduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and academics from across Europe to explore what it means to be a sustainability leader in today’s rapidly changing world with a presentation from Dr. Evan Boyle on transdisciplinary approaches to collaboration. 

Wednesday 25th June 2025: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, has announced €23 million ResearchIreland funding to support early-career researchers. 

Urban Climate Collab, with support from Cork City Council, brought together seven city council staff members and seven university faculty and researchers to explore our shared collaborations to meet climate action objectives within the city of Cork.