RePIC Master’s Students Engage with the City in UNIC CityLabs Week

25 Jan 2024

Students of the unique joint master’s programme RePIC (Redesigning the Post-Industrial City MSc) were welcomed to Cork on the 8th to 12th of January for the UNIC CityLabs Week as part of their two-year course. 

The students were welcomed to UCC and to Cork by UCC president Prof. John O'Halloran, Head of College of SEFS Prof. Sarah Culloty, and Associate Vice President, Director of European Relations and Public Affairs Dr Jean van Sinderen-Law. 

RePIC stands out for being the first joint master’s programme delivered by eight universities in the UNIC alliance and for embedding co-creation and engaged research skills for societal impact. UNIC is the European University of Cities in Post-Industrial transition; an alliance funded by the European Commission which connects UCC with nine other universities across Europe. During the programme students live and study in up to three of those universities. 

RePIC focuses on the urban challenges of cities in post-industrial transition and their superdiverse populations. The programme is led in UCC by Architecture and Geography, represented by the Joint Programme Directors, Dr Jason O’Shaughnessy and Dr Denis Linehan. Earlier this year, the RePIC Programme secured €5,742,000 of funding via the prestigious Erasmus+ Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters (EMJM) grant, enabling student scholarships. 

CityLabs are the flagship co-creation platform for university-city engagement through UNIC, enabling academics, students, public sector and civil society organisations to work together on co-creating solutions to societal challenges in real world contexts. This year, the UNIC CityLabs Week - overseen by Ciara O'Halloran and Dr Martin Galvin from UCC Civic and Community Engagement - examined urban issues in the policy context of the current development of the City’s Local and Economic Community Plan 2023-2029 and with a focus on the future regeneration of Cork Docklands.   

The week involved learning in partnership with City Council Council and local community partners, including Fairhill Community Association, Northside Community Enterprises, SECAD and Green Spaces for Health.  Highlights of the week included a welcome reception with UCC president Prof. John O’Halloran, Walking Interviews with community partners, Mutual Learning Exercises, and devising and developing design-led responses to Urban Challenges, presented to City partners at the end of the week.