UCC’s Festival of Social Science explores the issues shaping society today

10 Dec 2025

• Third annual festival highlights new research, new voices and ongoing questions across social science research.
• Hosted by UCC Futures – Collective Social Futures, sessions focused on inclusion, climate justice, care, gender and the realities communities face today.
• Seven days of panels, performances and discussion across UCC’s social science community.

The third Festival of Social Science at University College Cork brought together researchers, students, practitioners and artists for seven days of events that showed the breadth of social inquiry taking place across the university.

Hosted by UCC Futures – Collective Social Futures, the programme mixed academic discussion with creative practice and work led by community organisations.

Research rooted in current social challenges

The festival began with a showcase of recently published books by UCC researchers. The collection spanned critical pedagogy, climate resilience, endangered language preservation and researcher development, including Walking as Critical Pedagogy (Routledge, 2025) and Climate Change Resilience Across Societal Contexts (Palgrave, 2025).

Professor Maggie O’Neill, Professor of Sociology and Criminology at University College Cork and Director of UCC Futures – Collective Social Futures, said: “The festival creates space to pause and consider the fantastic social science research happening across the University. The various activities and events we hosted demonstrate how social research can open conversations that matter and make a difference. Each project, in its own way, invites us to look more closely at people’s lived realities and to consider how we might build fairer, more caring and connected communities for our collective social futures.”

Music, spoken word and an exchange of ideas

An evening of socially engaged music and spoken word featured Citadel, African Queens, Rosie McCarthy and Oein DeBhairduin. The mix of performance and conversation introduced attendees to the themes raised across the week: identity, belonging, community, and the stories that shape people’s lives.

Examining social change

A social science research symposium brought researchers, students and collaborators together to explore the diverse range of social science research at UCC.

Panels explored social transformations and inclusion; climate justice and sustainability; researching marginalised communities and difficult pasts, and gender, feminisms, crafting and care.

Contributors showed how their research connects with issues facing communities, institutions and policymakers.

 “Many of the discussions circled back to recurring themes: how people experience social change, where power sits, the importance of creative and innovative methodologies and how social science research can respond to practical and ethical challenges,” Professor Maggie O’Neill said.

The keynote by Professor Kathleen Lynch (UCD) offered a clear lens through which to view the day’s conversations. Professor Lynch examined the assumptions that shape widely accepted models of education and research, asking whose knowledge is valued, whose labour is overlooked and how these choices shape academic and public life.

Dementia Lifeworlds: Conversations on end-of-life planning

Wednesday’s session focused on the Dementia Lifeworlds Project and its symposium, ‘Conversations towards Death: Making an Advance Care Directive as a Rite of Passage for End-of-Life Transition’. The event brought together specialists from law, medicine, nursing and hospice care to consider how people with dementia, and those supporting them, navigate decisions that are often sensitive, complex and deeply personal.

Speakers Mary Donnelly, Shaun O’Keefe, Caroline Dalton, Valerie Smith and Peter Kearney offered practical insights alongside reflections on ethics, consent and the realities families face. Professor Joanna Latimer (University of York and Visiting Professor at UCC) chaired the discussion, guiding a conversation that moved between policy, clinical practice and lived experience.

Organised by Professor Kieran Keohane, UCC Department of Sociology and Criminology, the symposium formed part of the ongoing Dementia Lifeworlds project, which continues to examine how care, autonomy and meaning are negotiated at different stages of dementia.

Intimate partner violence and substance use

Thursday’s seminar examined the links between intimate partner violence and substance use, drawing on research by Dr Sarah Morton, Dr James Windle and Dr Joan Cronin.

Hosted by the Department of Sociology and Criminology and the ISS21 Crime and Social Harm Cluster, the event encouraged reflection on service provision, lived experience and the barriers many women encounter.

Teaching, learning and the pressures shaping higher education

The festival concluded on Friday 28 November with a creative (un)conference on pedagogical practice and the pressures influencing teaching and learning today. Contributors from UCC, Maynooth University and UCD, along with creative partners from Wise Water Academy and MaREI, explored how educational spaces can support critical engagement rather than simply respond to external demands.

Professor John F. Cryan, UCC Vice President for Research and Innovation, said: “The UCC Futures – Collect Social Futures Festival of Science is an excellent showcase of the diverse range of social science research undertaken at UCC, and illustrates the interdisciplinary nature of our UCC Futures thematic areas. I would like to thank Professor Maggie O’Neill and the team in Collective Social Futures for their continuous leadership and commitment to advancing, supporting and showcasing the social sciences at UCC.”