Authors: Nina Trubanová, PhD Researcher at UCD SBES and Co-founder of Agape Open Science Community. Aswathi Surendran, PhD Researcher at University of Galway and Co-founder of the Agape Open Science Community. Cassandra Murphy, GoGreenRoutes PhD Researcher, ALL Institute and Department of Psychology at Maynooth University and Co-founder of Agape Open Science Community.
In the dynamic landscape of contemporary research, the concept of ‘open science’, also known as open scholarship or open research, serves as a multifaceted umbrella encompassing a range of principles such as open data, open access, open source, open peer review, open educational resources, citizen science, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Author:Ilia Marcev, PhD Candidate at the Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, and a Research Assistant with the ALL Institute’s SHAPES Project
Ilia Marcev
Unless your internet connection has been as unreliable as the weather forecast, or you were marooned on a desert island over the past few weeks, there is a strong chance you heard of the alleged “alien” bodies discovered in Mexico recently. While this strange discovery made international news, it drew very poor engagement and attention from the average UFO-enthusiast, let alone the average person like you and me. I believe it is fair to say that ten years ago this story would have exploded like a supernova across the internet, but today, the majority of people seem rather unconcerned with this novel development in humanity’s timeline. I can only speculate that the reason the world is unconcerned with potentially discovering our Martian neighbours is because, as exciting as alien intelligent life may sound, we are likely far closer to discovering new intelligent life here on Earth that would rival our own. This new intelligence is better known as – Artificial Intelligence (A.I.).
Author: Matthew McKenna, PhD Researcher at Maynooth University’s Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL), Research Funded through the Science Foundation of Ireland (SFI) Centre for Research Training in Advanced Networks for Sustainable Societies (ADVANCE CRT)
Matthew McKenna
‘The disability convention should accelerate the trend underway in most corners of the world toward respecting and advancing the rights of persons with disabilities. It will reinforce reform efforts underway in many countries. It will help put in place a dynamic of reform in those countries that have yet to begin a serious reform effort’ (Quinn, as cited in Quinn and Waddington ed., 2009, p. 114).
The above quote from Quinn and Waddington was made in the aftermath of the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD/Convention) in 2008. Their prediction proved to be correct as the CRPD provided a global framework for the advancement of human rights for and by, persons with disabilities, and helped to bolster existing frameworks for legal and policy reform efforts. It also helped to usher in new multilateral initiatives and strategic programmes to tackle disability discrimination and was intended to foster inclusion and human rights for all people irrespective of age or disability status. Whilst its implementation is still very much a work in progress, the CRPD proved to be a pivotal legal and policy instrument of international law by highlighting the discriminatory and inaccessible nature of modern society, thus raising the question of a need for a UN Convention on the Rights of Older People. On 1st October, the UN International Day of Older Persons, this proposed convention is worthy of serious discussion and renewed consideration.
Author:Firdavs Kabilov, PhD Fellow at the Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University
Firdavs Kabilov
Climate change has become a defining global challenge, with far-reaching implications for the governments and businesses. As the urgency to address climate change increases, novel avenues are being explored to catalyse action. One such avenue is climate litigation, a strategy that seeks to hold governments and businesses accountable for their contributions to climate change. The United Nations Environment Programme’s latest report Global Climate Litigation Report: 2023 Status Review shows that climate change-related lawsuits have substantially increased in recent years. As of December 2022, there were 2,180 climate-related cases filed in 65 jurisdictions, including international and regional courts. This brief post will focus on some of the most recent and notable cases to highlight emerging trends on climate change litigation and their impact on government policies and business practices.
Author: Matthew McKenna, PhD Researcher at Maynooth University’s Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL), Research Funded through the Science Foundation of Ireland (SFI) Centre for Research Training in Advanced Networks for Sustainable Societies (ADVANCE CRT)
Matthew McKenna
The mission and work of the Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute implements a novel, inclusive, and human-rights based perspective on ‘the development and application of appropriate technologies, person-centred systems and evidence-based policies and laws’. This highly complex and entangled web of social, legal, scientific and philosophical disciplines requires the skills and input from persons and professionals from a hugely diverse array of fields, who all share the common unifying goal of promoting a human-rights based approach to social inclusion, development and technological integration in society. Inclusive social policies and laws play a critical role in ensuring the equitable realisation of these goals. However, in order to challenge and disassemble discriminatory power structures supported by non-inclusive laws and policies inherited from an often problematic and segregated human history, it is imperative that future decisions are made with ‘eyes wide open’ to the role of humanitarian and inclusive discourse. These goals can only be achieved with social awareness and utmost caution to the powers of discourse, and through an understanding of how past wrongs can be repeated when there is collective ignorance towards the immense social influence and symbolic force wielded by language and social interaction.
“Every discourse, even a poetic or oracular sentence, carries with it a system of rules for producing analogous things and thus an outline of methodology”(Jacques Derrida, 1995)
Author: Gizem Yardimci, Early Career Researcher at ADVANCE CRT, PhD Student with Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL Institute) and School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University
Gizem Yardimci
The recent Turkish elections concluded a few weeks ago, marking one of the highest electoral turnout processes in Turkish history. This blog, which draws on my PhD research, aims to critically analyse the recent intense election process in Türkiye, examining the relationship between voter participation and the role of digital platforms, to ascertain the extent to which we can actually consider these elections “fair” and “free”. According to the Supreme Election Council of Türkiye, 88.92% of voters participated in the first round, and 85.72% in the second round. However, does such high participation serve as an indicator of the elections being conducted in a democratic, free, and fair environment? According to political scientists, high participation in this instance reflects a highly polarized and intense two-round election marathon. Additionally, digital platforms played a crucial role in communication for both parliamentary candidates and the four presidential candidates just before the first and second round.
On 14 May 2023, four candidates ran for the presidency. Turkish citizens living abroad also had the right to vote, and the process for these voters had begun weeks before the electoral day. However, days before the election, one of the candidates, Muharrem İnce, withdrew, resulting in a shift in the votes of domestic electorates. However, voters living abroad had already cast their votes. This news can be interpreted as an indication that the electoral process, as carried out, was not equal in terms of timely access to information, at least for voters living abroad. In addition, it should be highlighted that there are potential risks if citizens living abroad vote in advance, especially in an election where the results are quite close.
Author: Gizem Yardimci, Early Career Researcher at ADVANCE CRT, PhD Student in Law, Maynooth University
Gizem Yardimci
The Draft Artificial Intelligence Act (Draft AI Act) for the European Union (EU) represents a significant milestone towards the regulation of technologies employing AI within the EU. Since the zero version of the Draft AI Act was released on 21 April 2021, it has been discussed extensively by academics, policymakers and professionals who are involved in the decision-making processes within the EU. In May of this year, the European Parliament released a Draft Compromise Text with significant amendments on the Draft AI Act. Therefore, the European Parliament is in a position to launch ‘trialogues’ with the European Commission and the Council of the European Union. Overall, this development represents a formal step towards finalising the regulation for AI systems in the EU.
The main goal of the Draft AI Act is to improve the functioning of the internal market and to advance the creation of a digital single market as indicated in the Digital Single Market Strategy.
Author: Hannah Casey, ALL Blog Editor and PhD Candidate at the Department of Psychology, Maynooth University
Hannah Casey
At long last, the highly anticipated Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 has been fully commenced in Irish law today, April 26th. This Act, which replaces the outdated Lunacy Act of 1871, aims to align with Article 12 of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) by enshrining in statute the right for people with disabilities to make their own decisions, and removing formal guardianship arrangements. As part of this new structure, the Decision Support Service (DSS) will finally be able to open its doors and provide much needed services, supports, and resources to people who need it. This service will allow people with disabilities to access necessary supports to make their own decisions, with as much help as they themselves deem necessary. Such decision-making is referred to as supported or assisted decision-making– a formal method of support that has fast been gaining traction across the world.
Author: Ollie Bartlett, Assistant Professor of Law, Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute, School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University
Ollie Bartlett
The world was clearly inadequately prepared to fight Covid-19. An important factor in this was the inadequacy of public health law frameworks at international, regional and national level. Political attention quickly turned to the creation of a new pandemic treaty and the revision of supranational rules concerning cross-border health threats, comparatively little attention has been placed upon the role that the right to health should have played in shaping Covid-19 policy, or what role it should play in the future development of public health policy.
I have written on this question in the Irish context, and concluded that the debate begun in 2019 on the need for a right to health in the Irish Constitution is worth returning to. A constitutional right to health would support clearer and more proportionate public health decision-making, and may facilitate more direct challenges to government policies that have unacceptable or inappropriate consequences for health outcomes.
Author: Sowmya Shrivastava, 3rd year BSc Psychology Student, Maynooth University, Research Intern for Mac MacLachlan at the ALL Institute
Sowmya Shrivastava
There is a growing realization that hospital employees and services must comprehend the complexities of caring for and treating dementia patients. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that dementia rates will double every 20 years, reaching up to 115·4 million people with a diagnosis in 2050. A number of underlying neuropathological symptoms can lead to the diagnosis, which can create problems when trying to differentiate dementia from psychiatric disorders as the disease is found to often mimic them in presentation. Due to this, there is a broad research area in matters concerning the treatments and interventions for patients with dementia. Doctors and researchers have found that the disease modifying antibody drug Lecanemab slowed the decline in memory and mental agility by 27% in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease but what about the other 73%? What steps can be taken to aid the other, larger part of people living with this degenerative disease?
A unimodal approach has been the most obvious route researchers have taken in order to find a cure for dementia; meaning that only one type of treatment route is used for treating the patient. However there is a downside to this one sided view. By conducting a research review on studies carried out who either took a pharmacological stand or a psychosocial step towards treatments for patients, it was found that both have delivered inadequate results in terms of validity and reliability. The data within research statistically shows that by solely applying a single approach to treating patients, i.e., only psychosocial interventions without administering any drug treatment, the rate of dementia development is slowed, but only at a miniscule level.
Authors: Dr Tadhg MacIntyre, Assistant Professor, Maynooth University (MU) Department of Psychology, Scientific Coordinator of the H2020 Project GoGreenRoutes, Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL), and Dr Annalisa Setti, University College Cork (UCC), Member of GoGreenRoutes’ Advisory Board.
Tadhg McIntyre and Annalisa Setti
“We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it”, Barack Obama, 43rd President of the United States.
In this blog, Dr Tadhg MacIntyre (MU) and Dr Annalisa Setti (UCC) outline some of the known and unknown impacts of climate change on mental health.
1. Known Knowns: Climate Change Solutions
Climate change has consequences for our mental health in both the short-term (e.g. extreme climatic events) and long-term (e.g. existential threat), ranging from trauma to anxiety. How we cope with the challenge of climate change has implications for our ability to generate, engage with and promote solutions. Getting a handle on what some term the climate ‘emergency’ should be seen in the context of how we cope with other interlinked issues – all of which can potentially benefit from our attempts to mitigate climate change impacts. Biodiversity loss, obesity, sedentary behaviour, isolation and nature disconnection are not entirely unrelated from climate change issues.
Author: Ruth O’Reilly, Senior Built Environment Design Advisor, Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, National Disability Authority
Here at the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, we often use this quotation from the designer, Victor Papanek, to explain the focus of our work:
Figure 1: Quotation from Design for the Real World by Victor Papenek (1971)
A key tenet of Universal Design is that good design works well for everyone. Sometimes however, it seems that social sustainability is the forgotten pillar of sustainable development. How can we persuade designers that taking a Universal Design approach – designing for all people, regardless of their age, size, ability or disability – is a key element of sustainable development?
Author: Cassandra Murphy, PhD researcher in the Psychology Department of Maynooth University, funded by H2020 project GoGreenRoutes, Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL)
Cassandra Murphy
I often talk about sustainability in my work being in the realm of environmental psychology. My research explores the human-nature relationship, which inevitably links to pro-environmental behaviour. People often assume pro-environmental behaviour defines sustainability, but sustainability is much more than recycling and planting trees. Through my conversations I have learnt that the term ‘sustainability’ can be perceived differently. We constantly hear about sustainability, in the news, in our emails, in daily conversations; but what does this term really mean? Everyone’s understanding is individual to their lives and their experience. For some they instantly think of the UN Sustainable Development Goals whereas for others it can simply mean having the ability to keep up momentum of what they do each day and not burn themselves out. An all too familiar experience of many after the recent pandemic.
UN Sustainable Development Goals logo.
The most common definition of sustainability comes from the UN World Commission on Environment and Development which says sustainable development means “to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” That’s exactly what it is. Ensuring that throughout our lifetimes we strive to create a world in which we do not take from the generations that come after us, but instead make sure they have what we have, if not better. The future generations should have equal access to the resources we have and be able to benefit from them no matter where they are, or how much money they earn. In a sense, this is the idea that we are leaving no one behind.
This ERC funding will be used to build an interdisciplinary project team and will enable us to explore the core project research questions and aims, which span bioethics, science policy, law, and innovation. This team includes our project manager, Sinéad Masterson, and postdoctoral researcher, Opeyemi Kolawole, both of whom recently joined the team, and who will be joined in future by further postdoctoral and PhD researchers. Together, we will work to tackle the central project research question, which focuses on investigating what are the main bioethical implications posed by patents over ‘technologies’ related to the human body, and how are these bioethical issues accounted for, if at all, within European patent decision-making.
Author: Philip Finn, Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute and Post-Doctoral Researcher; recipient of the Irish Research Council Enterprise Partnership Fellowship.
The right to participate in the cultural life of the community is enshrined in a number of international documents, for example the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 27) and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (Article 15(1)(a)). In relation to the specific needs of people with disabilities Article 30 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires States to ‘enable persons with disabilities to have the opportunity to develop and utilize their creative, artistic and intellectual potential’. The Convention is central to elaborating a human rights model of disability underlining the recognition and participation of persons with disabilities in communal life. It necessitates accessibility as both consumers of culture as well as creators.
Author: Matthew McKenna, PhD Researcher at Maynooth University’s Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL), Research Funded through the Science Foundation of Ireland (SFI) Centre for Research Training in Advanced Networks for Sustainable Societies (ADVANCE CRT)
Matthew McKenna
The highly anticipated publication of the European Commission’s (EC) ‘European Care Strategy’ (ECS/strategy) on the 7th of September 2022 has been met with cautious optimism and circumspection. Certainly, there is a unanimous agreement that the arrival of this strategy is a welcome policy development. However, last week’s unveiling of the ECS also underlined how long overdue this development has been, and it represents an initial and elemental step in addressing the long-term systemic deficiencies in the European Union’s (EU) approach to the care of its citizens. If one is to view this radical collective change as a physical journey, then the ECS is arguably representative of a social and legal point of embarkation from a policy sense, and it is certainly not a final destination.
Author: Marta Arisi, is part of the University of Trento team working for the reCreating Europe Project focusing on GLAM.
Marta Arisi
Open cultural data can be considered an umbrella term referring to anytime data from Cultural Heritage Institutions (“CHIs”) is made available without restrictions, e.g., thanks to open licensing (as the Creative Commons). It often refers to online resources that contain descriptions, metadata, images, etc. Thus, open cultural data is also relevant to the field of digitization of cultural heritage.
“Open” stands for the possibility to access the content freely, and- to re-use it. While there is not an accepted definition, useful examples may come from the Open Data Charter or the definition of openness proposed by the Open Knowledge Foundation. Some projects even address the context of CHIs, such as OpenGLAM.
