We, The Internet: Engaging citizens in policymaking

Dr. Carolanne Mahony, Dr. Stephen McCarthy, Dr. Wendy Rowan, Zainab Hussain N Al Shabeeb, Dr. Patrick O’Sullivan, Department of Business Information Systems, Cork University Business School

Impact: National, International

'We, The Internet' aims to influence policy on the future of the internet and reduce public scepticism in policymaking. Recommendations are produced based on engagement with citizens and experts in over 80 countries. The project includes global and national partners such as the UN and the Eitic research cluster in UCC. We, The Internet, aims to change the way digital policy is made through open, inclusive and global participative processes. It includes national partners, citizens and stakeholders from over 80 countries, with support from global partners such as the World Economic Forum, UN, Internet Society and Google. This ensures input and collaboration across the Global North and South.

Results have been included in the creation of the Roadmap on Digital Cooperation issued by the UN and have been presented to the Internet Governance Forum, German Government and European Commission. Thus, enabling global citizens to impact policy at a global level. Our research investigates how open science practices influence sustainable and ethical technology policy and use. The project's insights have been published in local and international conferences, with further publications planned. Additionally, the project aims to conduct further citizen dialogues and to co-produce a citizens' roadmap for a better digital future.

"Citizens are not only consumers and recipients of technology but also actors and political participants."

- Michael Roth, German Minister of State for Europe at the German Federal Foreign Office

SDG 16 - Peace Justice and Strong Institutions

• Target 16.7 - Ensure responsive, inclusive and representative decision-making
• Target 16.8 - Strengthen the participation in global governance

SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

• Target 17.6 - Knowledge sharing and cooperation for access to science, technology and innovation
• Target 17.17 - Encourage effective partnerships

SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities

• Target 10.2 - Promote universal social, economic and political inclusion

Delivering Access to Justice in Environmental Matters 

Professor Áine Ryall, School of Law & Centre for Law and the Environment, Environmental Research Institute

Impact: Local, National, International

Effective law enforcement is essential to support delivery of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. It is vital that concerned individuals and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have access to courts and other appropriate redress mechanisms to ensure that environmental law is applied and enforced and that public authorities are held to account. ‘The Aarhus Convention’ is an international treaty that guarantees the right to information, participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters (‘the Aarhus rights’). This research explains the significance of the rights guaranteed under that international agreement that links the environment and human rights. The Aarhus rights are examined critically – on an ongoing basis – particularly the right of access to justice in environmental matters and how the rights are applied in practice at the local, national and international level and to explore how implementation can be improved.

The research outputs provide authoritative, objective, critical analysis of the Aarhus rights in practice and demonstrate how their implementation can be improved. By way of example: in February 2022 an invited submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the General Scheme of the Housing and Planning and Development Bill set out and explained how obligations on the State under international and EU law limit how far the Government can go in restricting the right to judicial review of planning and environmental decisions. Drawing on experience as a member (since 2015), and now Chair, of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (the quasi-judicial body tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Aarhus Convention across 46 States), this research offers unique, authoritative insights and analysis on how implementation of the Convention can be improved in practice.

SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

• Target 16.3 - Promote the rule of law and ensure equal access to justice

 SDG 13 - Climate Action

Children and environmental justice

Dr. Aoife Daly, School of Law

Impact: International

This research aims to theorise and analyse youth climate activism, and environmental activism more broadly, both inside and outside legal contexts. Attention is drawn to the position of children’s rights in relation to environmental justice, and particularly how they can be powerful advocates for change.

Research outputs have been delivered for reading in academia, by lawyers, and by the general public. Since 2020, several high-quality journal articles on the topic of children’s rights and environmental justice and five blog posts have been written. There is also engagement in significant impact work, including drafting by the Committee on the Rights of the Child of a general comment on children and the right to a healthy environment, a youth biodiversity assembly in Ireland, and a report for the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children. The body of research produced will impact the research world and the world more broadly by writing important analysis of where the rights of children sit in environmental justice, and drawing attention to the importance of their position in this space.

  “The right to a healthy environment is crucial for achieving children’s rights. Children are powerful actors for environmental and climate justice, and it is an honour for me to provide analysis of their rights, climate cases and other activities from a children’s rights perspective.”

– Dr. Aoife Daly

SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

SDG 13 - Climate Action

SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

CHASM: Consenting Health Related Data through Social Media

Dr. Yvonne O'Connor, Dr. Wendy Rowan, Laura Lynch, Professor Ciara Heavin, Department of Business Information Systems, Cork University Business School & Health Information Systems Research Centre (HISRC) – Research Cluster

Impact: Local, National

This research investigates people’s decision-making process with the electronic Consent (eConsent) process of Health Social Networks (HSN) through a User eXperience (UX) perspective. This involved identifying barriers to and facilitators of eConsent and designing an educational tool to better inform citizens who may not fully understand how/why their data will be utilised. This research highlights the rights of citizens when using online services by illustrating and educating on the implications of text heavy presentations of Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions statements.

In creating a user-friendly animation, our work ensured that the eConsent process was transparent to the user, while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of eConsent giving. This aligns with SDG 16, illustrating the values of justice for all, and building effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions. Through presentations and peer-reviewed publications we raised awareness of the principle of user rights in terms of choice at time of the eConsent process. A dedicated conference session (Crossing the CHASM to Digital Health, Cork 2017) attracted international scientists and the wider community which was a powerful activity towards shaping the future development of scientific explorations and raising public awareness. CHASM provided insights and an alternative option for education on eConsent thus, inspiring action. Wellcome Trust Grant funded CHASM Project Seed Award 201607/Z/16/Z.

" A dedicated conference session (Crossing the CHASM to Digital Health, Cork 2017) attracted international scientists  and the wider community which was a powerful activity towards shaping the future development of scientific explorations and raising public awareness. CHASM provided insights and an alternative option for education on eConsent thus, inspiring action."

– Professor Ciara Heavin

Watch the project video here.

SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

• Target 16.6 - Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions
• Target 16.7 - Ensure responsive, inclusive and representative decision-making 
• Target 16.10 - Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms

Centre for Law and the Environment

Professor Owen McIntyre; Professor Aine Ryall, Centre for Law and the Environment, Environmental Research Institute

Impact: Local, National, International

Centre research explores how the law can be applied – and improved – to address societal challenges associated with environmental degradation, including the climate and biodiversity crisis.  Drawing on our expertise and experience, the Centre provides an authoritative, objective voice in this complex and often controversial field of law and policy.

The diverse range of research pursued at the Centre contributes to the development of effective legal responses to contemporary environmental problems including promoting the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The Centre’s engagement at the international, transnational, regional national and local levels aims to support the transformational change required to deliver a sustainable future. Through our annual Law & the Environment conference, and other events, the Centre showcases and communicates frontier research in an accessible format, provides a forum to strengthen networks and engages in significant outreach and capacity building. Research-informed teaching, at undergraduate, postgraduate and professional development levels, is a fundamental element the Centre’s activity.  Through our research and teaching we aim to equip the next generation of lawyers, environmental professionals, and researchers to respond effectively to new and emerging challenges.

“The Centre for Law and the Environment at UCC is a recognised international centre of excellence in research, teaching and policy work relating to environmental law, policy, regulation and governance.”

SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

SDG 12 - Responisble Consumption and Production

SDG 13 - Climate Action

SDG 14 - Life Below Water

SDG 15 - Life on Land

Children of Exile: Human Rights, Memory and Communities of Activists

Dr. Cara Levey, Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Impact: International 

This research explores diasporic second-generation memory in Europe. Entitled “Children of Exile", the project builds on research to date on human rights organisations in Argentina and interrogates contemporary memory activism from a transnational perspective, comparing the memory work of ‘next’ generation activists in Argentine, Chilean and Uruguayan diasporas across Europe - in France, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden - established during the wave of Southern Cone dictatorships in the 1970s.  The project aims to promote inclusivity through revisiting the child-exile experience and its impact on the present, asking what we might learn from past immigration and refuge at the current time.

As well as dissemination through several articles and book chapters, and conference papers at national and international conferences, it is anticipated that interviews with second-generation exiles will be hosted in an online database that may serve as a teaching and educational tool for learning about the experience of migration on children and promoted inclusivity and social justice (SDG 16) reflecting on the legacy of violence in the present. This also allows for reflection on how we might make migratory processes and host spaces safer and more welcoming for children and young people (SDG 11). Finally, a number of the outputs (a forthcoming book chapter and book project) consider the experience of migration on girls and thus engage with exile as a gendered experience (SDG 5).

In a pioneering approach which maps the shifting iterations of memory activism in both generational and technological terms, Children of Exile brings previously neglected diasporic voices in from the periphery, forty years after the first Southern Cone exiles arrived in Europe, to consider their multiple and overlapping identity and community formation, paying attention to the voices of women and girls in particular. In its approach, the project deepens understanding of memory activism as a multidirectional process that works towards a better future, whilst the focus on previously neglected exile voices possesses potential for increased social and cultural understanding during what are proving to be uncertain times in Europe. The research is changing the landscape by bringing in a neglected group (the children of exile) who have historically been overlooked from scholarly and media work on this period of history. 

SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

SDG 5 - Gender Equality

SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities

Poetry, Politics and the Law in Modern Ireland

Dr. Adam Hanna, Department of English, School of English and Digital Humanities 

Impact: National

Poetry, Politics and the Law in Modern Ireland is a recently completed monograph about how poets have spoken of laws and have made their effects knowable and memorable. It is also about the role literature can play in rendering laws questionable, challengeable, and changeable. This research has changed the research landscape by focusing on poets’ responses in their writing to such contentious legal issues as partition, censorship, paramilitarism, and the curtailment of women’s reproductive and other rights. This is the first monograph in the growing field of law and literature to focus exclusively on modern Ireland.

SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Target 16.3 - Promote the rule of law and ensure equal access to justice 

Target 16.6 - Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions 

Target 16.7 - Ensure responsive, inclusive and representative decision-making 

Target 16.b - Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies