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A look back at UCC Futures - Collective Social Futures Festival of Social Science 2025

Thank you to everyone who made the UCC Futures – Collective Social Futures third annual Festival of Social Science such a resounding success. Multiple events were held on campus over several days celebrating the social sciences. Read on to learn more. 

Book Launch and Showcase Event

The festival kicked off on Monday 24 November in the O’Rahilly Building with a Book launch and showcase event.  Professor John Cryan, Vice President for Research and Innovation, Professor Stephen Graham, Head of the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences and Professor Maggie O’Neill, Director of Collective Social Futures and ISS21 provided the opening addresses.

This well attended event celebrated some of the books published by our community in 2025 including:

• 'Walking as Critical Pedagogy'   Maggie O'Neill, Danielle O'Donovan, John Barimo, Gerard Mullally, Amin Sharifi Isaloo, Kieran Keohane, Tom Spalding, Katharina Swirak, Tom Boland, Ray Griffin. Published 2025 by Routledge.
• 'Climate Change Resilience Across Societal Contexts, Potentials and Visions for the Future.', Editors: Tracey Skillington, Annalisa Setti. Published October 2025 by Palgrave
• ‘Lalenes tel kalbi  / Της καρδκιάς μου οι τουλίπες​ /Kalbimin laleleri  /My heart’s tulips’  (Ministry of Culture, Republic of Cyprus, 2025). Edited by Bahriye Kemal and Giovanna Terzi. This is the first poetry collection in the Sanna language (Cypriot Arabic hybrid of Aramaic, Arabic. Turkish and Greek ) spoken by the Maronite-Cypriots, which is a severely endangered language  (UNESCO) and community. 
• ‘Being a Researcher’ Nollaig Frost. Published in 2025 by McGraw Hill.

Celebrating books launched by our community in 2025

Later that day, an Evening of Socially Engaged Music and Spoken Word took place in The Shtepps. We were delighted to welcome Citadel, Rosie McCarthy, Oein DeBhairduin and African Queens for a wonderful programme of music and spoken word. We were delighted to welcome Professor Stephen Graham who addressed the attendees on the evening before the programme got underway.

Clockwise from top left: Professor Maggie O’Neill addresses the audience, Rosie McCarthy and Oein DeBhairduin, Maggie and Rosie, African Queens, Citadel. Photos by Marcin Lewandowski.

Full Day Symposium

On Tuesday 25 November, a full-day symposium showcasing social science research across UCC was held, with opening remarks from Professor John Cryan, Professor Stephen Graham, and Professor Maggie O’Neill.

During the day, there were four panel discussions followed by Q&As, as outlined below.

Panel Discussions

• Social Transformations and Inclusions.Presenters: Dr Liam Weeks, Dr Kara Hosford, Dr Katharina Swirak. Chair - Dr Catherine Forde.
• Climate Justice and Sustainability. Presenters: Dr Martin Galvin, Dr Liz Folan O’Connor, Dr Niall Dunphy, Dr Ian Hughes, Bob Grumiau. Chair - Dr Ger Mullally.
• Researching with marginalised and/or difficult pasts. Presenters: Professor Laura Mcatackney, Dr Orla O'Donovan, Dr Gema Kloppe-Santamaría. Chair - Professor James Kapalo.
• Gender and feminisms: crafting and care. Presenters: Dr Kellie Morrissey, Professor Elizabeth Kiely, Dr Angela Veale. Chair - Dr Bahriye Kemal 

Thank you to all panellists and panel chairs for sharing your work and contributing so positively to the symposium.

Clockwise from top left. Panel 4: Professor Elizabeth Kiely, Dr Kellie Morrissey, Dr Angela Veale and Panel Chair, Dr Bahriye Kemal, Dr Orla O’Donovan, (Panel 3), Dr Kara Hosford, Dr Katharina Swirak, (both from Panel 1), Dr Liam Weeks, (Panel 1) and Climate Justice and Sustainability. Presenters: Dr Martin Galvin, Dr Liz Folan O’Connor, Dr Niall Dunphy, Dr Ian Hughes, Bob Grumiau, (Panel 2). Photos of Liam Weeks, Kara Hosford and Katharina Swirak by Marcin Lewandowski. 

Keynote Address

Our keynote  address was delivered by Professor Kathleen Lynch, UCD and was titled Beyond Human Capitalist Education and Research: Epistemic and Affective Considerations. A sincere word of thanks to Kathleen for her wonderful address.

The symposium ended with closing remarks from Director of Collective Social Futures, Professor Maggie O’Neill.

Professor Kathleen Lynch, UCD addresses the audience for her Keynote Address.

A snapshot of some of the events over the festival week.

Dementia Lifeworlds Project Symposium

On Wednesday 26, the Dementia Lifeworlds Project Symposium - “Conversations towards Death: Making an Advance Care Directive as a Rite of Passage for End of Life Transition” took place in the CACSSS Seminar Room. The event was organised by Professor Kieran Keohane, Department of Sociology and Criminology.

This well attended and well received event featured speakers: Mary Donnelly (Law, UCC); Shaun O’Keefe (National Consent Advisory Group); Caroline Dalton (Nursing, UCC); Valerie Smith (Hospice Foundation); Peter Kearney (Medicine, UCC). Chair & discussant: Joanna Latimer (York; Visiting Professor UCC).

For more information on Dementia Lifeworlds, visit About Dementia Lifeworlds

Women’s Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence and Substance Use

A Seminar hosted by the UCC Department of Sociology and Criminology, and ISS21 Crime and Social Harm (CSH) Research Cluster took place on Thursday 27 November in The Shtepps with speakers: Dr Sarah Morton (UCD), Dr James Windle (UCC) and Dr Joan Cronin (UCC).

Pedagogical Praxis as a Site of Struggle Against Neoliberal Fascisms - a creative (un)conference event

Friday saw another event in The Shtepps; a SATLE-funded event in conjunction with the ISS21 Research for Civil Society, Environment & Social Action (REACT) Cluster.

Key contributors included: Professor Jennie Stephens, Maynooth University and Dr Diretnan Dikwal-Bot, UCD with Creative inputs from Wise Water Academy and Lydia Cumiskey, BluePrint – MaREI

This event was organised by:  Michelle Bergin, School of Clinical Therapies; Titas Biswas and Catherine Forde, School of Applied Social Studies, and UCC Students Union.

Associated Events

More Collective Social Futures associated events took place in early December including:

• Monday 1 December, “Empty Suffering, and Social Suffering” - A Colloquium.
• Tuesday and Wednesday, 2-3 December, Social Pathologies of Contemporary Civilization conference “Enduring the Social Pathologies of (Late) Modernity: From Diagnosis towards Metanoia”.

A final word of thank you to everyone who attended events over the festival. We look forward to seeing you again next year.