University College Cork to host Praxis Global Citizenship Week

23 May 2025

• Events explore themes of justice, representation, and global solidarity asking who gets heard in shaping our shared future.
• Researchers, activists, and community members from Ireland and across the globe come together to share insights, challenge assumptions, and imagine more inclusive futures.

Justice, representation and global solidarity will be the focus a week-long series of public events taking place at University College Cork from 26 – 30 May. Praxis Global Citizenship Week invites members of the public, students and researchers to events framed around the central question: Whose Voices? Whose Futures?

The programme includes keynote talks, workshops, film screenings, research-informed actions, and academic panels — all open to the public.

Karol Balfe, CEO of Action Aid, will deliver a keynote address on power and participation, how to shape just futures through global citizenship.

Highlights include a hands-on workshop led by Dr Eilish Dillon on ethical communications and decolonising development, and a screening of No Other Land, the Oscar-winning Palestinian-Israeli documentary offering a powerful view of destruction and lived realities in the West Bank.

The programme will feature talks on environmental and energy justice from global perspectives with Dr Niall Dunphy, UCC Senior Research Fellow, and Tom Roche, Founder of Just Forests, advocate for environmental education and responsible forestry. It will also feature an online symposium with UCC staff and partners from Palestine, Peru, India, Malawi, and The Gambia, sharing findings from research on North-South partnerships in Global Citizenship Education.

Dr Gertrude Cotter, Lecturer in Global Citizenship Education at UCC School of Education and academic coordinator of the Praxis Project at UCC, said:

“At a time of deep global inequality, rising authoritarianism, and environmental crises, Praxis Week offers space to ask critical questions about power, voice, and responsibility. Who gets heard? Who decides what the future looks like? This week is about learning from each other, challenging dominant narratives, and imagining more just and inclusive ways of living, locally and globally. It’s open to everyone because these conversations belong to all of us.”

All events are free and open to the public.

For the full schedule and registration details, visit the event page.

About the Praxis Project

The Praxis Project aims to integrate Development and Global Citizenship Education (DGCE) into pedagogy, research and capacity building activities across University College Cork.  Led by UCC School of Education and funded by Irish Aid, the project encourages critical reflective engagement with the meaning and effectiveness of development education and global citizenship education.