Well done to Adam Collison in the 14th year of THREESIS

I was delighted to have been asked by Marina Ansaldo, PhD of the Vice President Office of Research & Innovation at the University of Galway to mentor Adam Collison, one of the finalists in this year’s Threesis, a competition for postgraduate researchers to explain their work in 3 minutes on 3 slides in front of 3 judges in a way that is clear, engaging & relevant to a lay or public audience
Adam is a final-year PhD student in Physics and his research focuses on evaluating the impact of energy retrofits on indoor air quality in public buildings, specifically offices and schools. He is passionate about his research. As he said himself “…What excites me most about my work is that air quality affects absolutely everyone, no one can survive without air, yet the factors that shape it indoors are poorly understood by most…”

Air quality is something that I too have a strong interest in, having being involved through Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics in citizen science projects such as 'The Air We Share' (part of decarbonising Galway)with Liz Coleman & Galway City Council.
At the Grand Finale yesterday, Adam came second in a very strong field.
So a big ‘Bualadh Bos’ to Adam for achieving Silver!! A well deserved award and recognition!
I ensured that I got my photo taken with him & Prof Donal Leech, Dean Of Graduate Studies!

Though not involved anymore in an organisational role, I have had a long association with Threesis having being one of its founding members in 2012 along with Ann Lyons, Dave Finn, Ena Brophy, Dr Lorraine Tansey, Louise Nolan, Ruth Hynes, Sarah Knight & Valerie Parker.
I got the idea for it from the national Thesis-in-3 that was then organised by SFI (now
Taighde Eireann) specifically for research centres personnel which had started in 2010, with the first winner being Eyal Oren from my own NUIG institute of DERI. I felt that we could do something similar in Galway & that ‘Threesis’ would be a catchy name!
The original committee, comprising a fantastic lively bunch of visionaries, agreed. But we expanded it to include both students & staff from across all disciplines, ensuring too that the judging panel reflected the wider Galway society. In the early years, we also hosted the finals in the city centre & soon got GMIT(now ATU) involved. In our first year (2012), the grand final (see right image on dual photo) was held in the Galway building of the local branch of Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health. The audio-visual technical manager then & now was the highly professional Cormac Staunton
At the first final the 3 judges were Liam Bluett, Director of Ballybane Enterprise Centre; Frances Shanahan, RTE Journalist; & Prof Terry Smith, Vice President of Research at what was then NUI Galway

After 14 years, it's so good to see the University of Galway’s Office of Research & Innovation team keeping Threesis going from strength to strength. Maith daoibh!

Google Glasses!

A visiting German student at the museum today tries out the Google Glasses from 2014.

Why not come along to our fabulous technology heritage facility and try out these iconic glasses and mor of our latest additional artifacts this Saturday (April 4th)? We are open to the general public from 11am to 2pm.

Eircode: H91 AEX4

Register at

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1985806304112?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

61 schools & youth events organised in January-March 2026!

Ever since our return from the Christmas holidays, it has been 'all systems go!' at the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics as we continue to deliver a range of exciting & meaningful educational programmes both directly in schools & for those visiting the Data Science Institute (DSI) of the University of Galway.
Whilst our engaged research projects involve partnerships with businesses, local government, state agencies, health professionals, farmers & communities not only in Ireland but all across Europe, we have always since our inception given significant attention to our Irish school-going population not only in upskilling them in technology skills that fit within the educational curriculum; in providing role models in the form of young researchers; in making them aware of career opportunities over our multiple research fields which align with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); but also in making them as well as their teachers & parents fully aware of & how to counter the dark side of the Web especially now in an era of growing abuse of AI by major players.
Our educational activities range from coding, Virtual Reality & digital local heritage workshops, to Research Talks on AI & Data Science, to guided tours of the Computer and Communication Museum of Ireland and in providing age-appropriate presentations on Internet Safety.
From early Jan to end of March, we will have organised 61 events for schools, youth groups, after-school clubs & university societies (e.g. in Engineering, Computing & Innovation) in counties Roscommon, Mayo, Offaly, Galway as well as in Galway city. I myself also got the opportunity to travel overseas in my EPE role- this month and last I mentored in the island school of Inishbofin! Furthermore, we make certain that we deliver programmes to ‘Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools’(DEIS) that have high concentrations of disadvantage.

Thanks to Insight Galway volunteers, we've ensured that our Educational & Public Engagement(EPEs) programmes are as strong in 2026 as they were in proceeding years, So a big thank you/Bualadh Bos to our researchers Abdul Wahid, Al Waskow, Alan Reidy,Alex Acquier, Carlos Tighe, Duc-Duy Nguyen, Ifeoluwapo Aribilola, Jefkine Kafunah, Katarzyna Stasiewicz, Gaurav Negi,Kashif Shaheed, Lucas Rabelo, Liz Hurley, Luke Porwol, Shakir Bilal, Janak Kapuriya, Jim Duggan,Jefkine Kafunah, John Andrew, Umair ul Hassan, Muhammad Sohaib Ayub, Muhammad Yasar Khan (PhD), Prateek Paul,Ronan Timon, Tunde Ajayi as well as to our great operations team of Brian Wall, Christiane Leahy-Coen, claire browne, Gerard Conneely, (PhD), Maria Smyth, Michelle Treacy & Tomas Grigas, PhD, PSM I
As always, I consider myself blessed to work alongside such colleagues who are prepared to give their time & energies to introduce their research to the wider community as well as in upskilling our youth in creative technologies

AI Research for the Good of People & the Planet

 

Over 50 German students and their teachers from the Galway Business School (GBS) attended a special 'AI for Good' event in the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at the Data Science Institute of the University of Galway where they learnt about some of our ground-breaking research projects designed to bring benefits to humanity and to the planet.
In a time when aspects of AI and science generally can and are being used to inflict death and destruction on planet Earth, it is critical that we increase our efforts to support STEM programmes that are life-giving.
At Insight we have for many years mapped our research against the United Nations 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) and organise activities to make the public aware of our work especially by engaging with schools, communities, businesses and policy makers.
So a big thank you/Míle buíochas to my fellow colleagues at Insight DSI for giving presentations to the visiting German students and making themselves available for questions, namely Elizabeth Hunter on 'Computational Modelling to Predict the Spread of Infectious Diseases'; Bharathi Raja Chakravarthi on 'Inclusive AI'; Prateek Paul on 'Incentive Alignment in Data Sharing Ecosystems'; and Jefkine Kafunah on 'AI, Big Data and Data Analytics for the AgriFood sector'.
After the research talks, I gave the young people an overview of the history (with a Galway & Ireland flavour!) of computing and communications technologies before providing them with an immersive guided tour of the computer museum.

2005-2025: From BEBO to Snapchat- Different Social Media, Same Story

 The first few years of the 2000s was the era of the Blogs (free, user friendly & easy to set up websites). 2005 saw the sudden rise of what we then referred to as ‘online social media’ heralded by the arrival of ‘Bebo’, and the growing popularity of ‘MySpace’, ‘Orkut’ etc. 2007 witnessed the launch of the iPhone with its apps and touchscreen. Within a few years, especially when broadband became almost nationwide by 2011, the ‘smart phone’ became an indispensable part of our daily lives.  Whilst hand-held technology has brought so many transformational benefits, nevertheless the built-in addiction of many of its social apps has also made us as users become ‘slaves to the machine’ and victims of the most vile hate never imagined in previous times. 

From 2005, I myself readily embraced social media and connected online not just to friends from my everyday world, but to those I had not seen for decades as well as to people worldwide that I never met in the real world but who shared the same interests as me. It was so empowering!!

However I also very soon witnessed a scarily darkside of the Web, as I encountered (as did millions of others) the new phenomena of cyberbullying, aggressive misogynistic pornography, racism, hate and violence which through these popular social media sites entered my home, my workplace and the schools I taught in.

However no-one in 2005 and for years later was talking about these issues especially to children, teenagers and parents. So I sought the permission of the management of my scientific research institute (DERI) in what is now known as the University for Galway if I could-as well as upskilling and increasing awareness amongst the public of the power of the Web in order to help transform particularly our youth from being ‘digital users’ into ‘digital creators’- to talk to parents, teachers and youth about the negative aspects of the web and what precautions needed to be undertaken. This request was readily granted.

I was probably the first ‘expert’ in Ireland to raise these concerns.

In 2025 I am still providing, through my education and public engagement role at the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics, advice and guidelines on Internet Safety to schools’ communities.

The social media providers and game sites may have changed over the last 20 years but the same issues of concern still exist. Though the Irish government has finally after a delay of decades implemented stronger more targetted legislation over the last few years, nevertheless at some levels the problems have got even worse. This is primarily because so many of the US-based Big Tech corporations are resisting legislation in Europe and elsewhere that aim to have social media/game sites provide better safeguards in order to protect users especially children and to eliminate the spread of lies. These businesses are putting profits and ideology before the welfare of ordinary people.

In my sessions I always adopt a holistic approach geared of course to the age and background of the audiences, be they first year children in primary school or parents of second level students. For parents this means appreciating the great positives but also the negatives of the Web, the realisation that addiction is built into social media/games, the need to set good example to our children in terms of our own usage, in having the ‘big chat’ with our children on the subject and thereafter in keeping the lines of communication open, in understanding the role of social media influencers, in appreciating the physical/mental health benefits of the Great Outdoors, and the importance of demanding appropriate legislation that is acted upon.

Whilst realising that putting in place meaningful age restrictions on the use of social media  age is not the be-all and end-all in keeping our young people safe online, it is most definitely an important part of the solution. So I am a big supporter of the Australian government’s recent banning of social media for under 16s. For it is helping to let pre-teens and early teens experience a childhood free from the hate, vitriol, misogyny and fake news that is more and more being encountered online as well as encouraging empathy and more meaningful real world relationships.

From late January I will be sending our partner schools practical guidelines on reporting online abuse/bullying and putting in place parental controls.

Finally I was thrilled that earlier this year I gave my first Internet Safety session to the teenage girls and teachers of Loreto convent secondary school at Rumbek in South Sudan. This was possibly one of the first such themed sessions ever to take place in sub-Saharan Africa.

Photo from the Galway City Tribune 2013.

 

Galway Science & Technology Festival, Part 2: ‘The Future was Yesterday’ at the Computer Museum

The largest crowd ever to visit the Computer & Communications Museum at the University of Galway occurred on the last day of the Galway Science and Technology Festival, and represented an appropriate finale to a 2 week programme with the theme of ‘Then, Today & Tomorrow’.
Under the ‘The Future was Yesterday’ banner, we showcased decades-old equipment & processes that are considered the latest cutting edge technologies such as robots, AI, 3D, Virtual Reality, online learning & gaming.
These included:
-19th century global communications (Morse Code) system in action that represented the birth of the ‘Global Village’
-sensor-based robot (inspired by R2-D2 of Star Wars!) which took part in Galway city’s 1984 St. Patrick’s Day Parade
-1970s AI-based tabletop computer chess set (inspired by a 1969 episode of Star Trek)
-1990s Virtual Reality headset
-1990s Flight Simulator
-1989 Immersive Technology Game glove
-1950s-1970s 3D image devices and 3D magazines
-1982 ‘remote working’ computing device
-1960s children’s Science Fiction device that inspired the mobile telephone
-an exact replica (made by Neal White & Tina O’Connell for the 2013 TULCA Festival of Visual Arts) of the first telecommunication satellite known as Telstar which in 1962 pioneered live global television & which is stilling orbiting the Earth!

Visitors also got to see probably Ireland’s oldest computer (from 1965 & on loan from Michael Jordan); how school-going teenagers in Galway during the early-mid 1980s (before invention of the World Wide Web) used what we now refer to as ‘cloud computing’, ‘online dating’ & ‘social media’; a robot (2016) called Mario that acted as a companion to people with dementia (from Prof Dympna Casey of UoG's School of Nursing & Midwifery).

Insight’s Conference Room was transformed into a Reading Room for 1950s/1960s children’s popular Marvel, DC & Eagle comics in which the stories of today & tomorrow were told yesterday (on AI, robotics, benefits & darkside of technology, space travel, oceanic pollution, environmental damage).
There was also on show the latest technology, used as part of the city’s decarbonisation zone, of a multiscreen Dashboard to monitor air quality at multiple locations as part of Galway City Council-led ‘The Air We Share’ project which includes Insight as a partner.
One of the most popular exhibits on the day was a 1970s era public telephone kiosk. Thanks to the technical wizardry of Liam Krewer & Aisling, & using my vintage vinyl record/CD music collection, we set up a ‘Dial-a-Song’ system. It facilitates the user dialing 4 digits between 1955 (birth of rock & roll!) & 2000 on the rotary phone to listen to a particular piece of music from that particular year!

Thanks to the volunteers from the museum board & Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics who acted as guides on the day.
Next public opening date: Sat Jan 24(11am-2pm)

Small Schools -the Heartbeat of Rural Ireland.

Providing Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM) projects to small rural schools is a key priority of our Insight Educational & Public Engagement programme.

So during May-June, we continued delivering a series of coding workshops to primary schools in Abbey, Ballinlough, Creggs and on the island of Inishbofin.

With the ongoing closure of village post offices, shops, Garda stations, hostelries and the decline in the traditional parish church attendance (which provided opportunities for local people to meet up weekly) as well as the economic difficulties in maintaining full-time family farming, it is the village school that acts as the heartbeat of the Irish countryside.

In spite of the severe challenges/threats of the present, I am optimistic that a sustainable technology-supported organic-based mixed agricultural sector with a Circular Economy process will be the future of the Irish countryside providing in the process quality products and healthy foodstuffs for the nation’s population and overseas markets.

So it is essential that in the interim local country schools are nurtured in order to keep the spirit of community alive in rural Ireland.

 

Finally, what I also love about visiting these schools is that more and more I met children whose older siblings I mentored, or even sometimes teachers that I taught science and coding too when they themselves were children in primary schools!

May-Jun: Educating Teenagers on the Good & Bad sides of Web Technologies.

The school year ended on a very busy note for my colleagues and myself at the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics in the University of Galway as we continued to introduce teenagers to our pioneering research and in upskilling them on the positive benefits of web technologies through workshops on creative coding and hands-on smart tools such as Virtual Reality, environmental sensors and citizen apps.

But once again I devoted a lot of time in making our young people aware and prepared, through Internet Safety sessions, of the dangers that exist in social media and gaming by educating them on cyberbullying, online misogyny, porn, hate, violence, racism, fake news and addiction.

In May, I spent multiple days giving Internet Safety sessions to the first and second year students of the BISH in Galway city and to those in both the junior and senior cycles of Coláiste Cholmcille in Connemara. These presentations always include insights into using social media/gaming positively, and Wellbeing elements such as on the importance of a good night’s sleep, spending time in the real world with friends, getting out into a natural environment or undertaking outdoor sports.

As always these presentations are two-way, for I also learn a lot from the young people themselves as they make me aware of problems or sites that they encounter which I personally may not have yet come across. So I always come away better informed allowing me to constantly update my content.

In a time of AI which brings huge benefits but also dangers, regulation of the Web is now needed more than ever before. Governments have to stand up to the mega tech giants and protect their citizenry. People come first.

Shades of Early Science Fiction

What looks like a piece of equipment from a 1930s-1940s science fiction 'Flash Gordon' or 'Buck Rogers' film has taken up residency in the Computer & Communications Museum of Ireland located at the University of Galway and supported by my workplace of the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics.

Designed and made by Pat Murphy in 1987 as his final year project for the B.Tech in Education at Thomond College (University of Limerick), it is actually a computer desk housing a Commodore 64 microcomputer, monitor, tape deck and a library of cassettes. The 64 was then one of the world's top selling computers in the business, educational and domestic markets.
But this wooden unit is more than just a computer desk- it is a beautifully crafted structure combining practicality with artistic design which I am sure was inspired by early science fiction.
Pat is still teaching carpentry as part of Construction Studies in a Dublin secondary school.
Photo shows a very happy John Murphy (Pat's brother) standing beside this desk just after he got the computer, tape deck and monitor fully operational.
We thank Pat and John for loaning this exquisite piece of equipment to the museum.

Today I enjoyed Dancing with a Lovely & Happy Partner on a Virtual Reality dance floor!

This morning/afternoon, my brilliant friend Luke Porwol (right of photo) gave a training session to his colleagues who have volunteered to mentor workshops on Virtual Reality (VR) to schools visiting our Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at the University of Galway as part of theGalway Science and Technology Festival.

Whilst I have always been a strong advocate of learning through real life experiences especially within the natural world through the Outdoor Classroom and field studies, nevertheless I have for years passionately believed that Virtual Reality will provide a new, exciting, engaging and immersive dimension to young people in multiple subjects across the Irish educational curriculum. For instance if you are studying Ancient Egypt in History class, wouldn't it be wonderful if you could travel back in time as an avatar into a VR world and experience the pyramids of Giza when they were being constructed over 4,600 years ago; or if you are studying the Human Body in Biology class wouldn't it be so beneficial if you could move around the veins, arteries and heart of the Circulatory System; or in Geography Class be able to paddle a canoe along the Amazonian River in VR and see the causes and impact of deforestation.

As part of the training session today I danced with a lovely avatar who brought so many of the senses alive (sight, sound and touch!). When I finally had to leave the VR dance hall and return to the real world, my dance partner looked so sad that I actually got a bit emotional! For It was really nice to meet someone (or something!) that actually appreciates my dance moves

Making a Difference - SDG-themed Research at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics of the University of Galway.

 

I was very proud of my colleagues today at the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, University of Galway as they presented their ground breaking research during the 'Data Science Institute Lightning Talks' event held as part of the university's SDG Week 2024. Their work is truly inspirational and benefits both people and the planet as we showed today how Insight research fulfills the majority of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Topics included 'Unlocking Health Data for Smarter Decisions' by heike vornhagen; 'Converting Wastewater into Energy' by Saeed Alsamhi; 'Decarbonisation and digitalisation of Atlantic Ports' Umair ul Hassan; 'Intelligent Pavement Condition Rating System for Cycle routes and Greenways​' by Ihsan Ullah; 'Peatland Policy Portal for Ecosystem Restoration and Carbon Sequestration' by Fergus O'Donoghue ; 'Marine Planner Tool' by Carlos Tighe; and 'Monitoring & Improving Air Quality' by Eoin Jordan.

We were honoured to have present at this very well-attended event Brid Seoige, Head of Content at the University of Galway, Eugene Farrell from the Discipline of Geography at the University of Galway and Irish representative on the European Marine Board (marine science policy) Working Group on ‘Coastal Resilience’, and Michelle O'Dowd, Sustainability Officer at the University of Galway.

The University of Galway is the number one university in Ireland and in the top 50 in the world for Sustainable Development.

Insight is playing its part in helping to secure this key status for Galway and Ireland.

Finally, well done to Brian Wall for his excellent job at MC, Thomas Grigas for the technical support, Claire Browne for the logistics and Nitesh Bharot for taking this fine photo! 

 

Do You Remember the great Volvo Ocean Race festival of 2012?

 

 

What a magnificent game changing event the Volvo Ocean Race Festival of 2012 was for Galway. The whole city and county came together like never before to make it a true all-stakeholders collaboration. Schools, colleges, small businesses, corporations, science educational centres, research institutes, artisans, horticulturalists, the council, the state sector, the voluntary groups, the environmentalists, the crafts people, the artisans, the digital makers, the arts- there was a place for everyone to contribute. The docks were transformed from being a quiet quarter largely unknown to most Galwegians, into a vibrant lively bustling hub. A tent city sprung up near the Claddagh seashore. I was lucky enough to be part of the team that included Liam Ferrie, Tom Frawley, Frank McCurry and my dearly departed and much missed friend Chris Coughlan that took over one of these large tents in order to introduce the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland and Coderdojo Galway to the world!

 

My youngest son Daíre (see photo) was, along with so many of other children of Scoil San Phroinsias, involved in knitting a beautiful giant multi-coloured sail that covered the metal Claddagh Hooker boat sculpture at Eyre Square- It was one of the most memorable symbols of that year and of that festival.

The Bogs of Ireland, Past & Future exhibition

Last Saturday a wonderful Citizen Science initiative, coordinated by my great friend and colleague Niall Ó Brolchain, took place at my workplace of the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics located in the Data Science Institute at the University of Galway.

Entitled Mapathon2024, it involved volunteers from many countries using open data to map the locations and policies of the peatlands across Europe. There were team entries from Estonia, Netherlands, France, urban and rural Ireland.

To support this event, I organised an exhibition on the Bogs of Galway based on photos from Insight’s BEO project, which represents an online digital local heritage archive comprising images, videos and audios telling the story of Ireland in times past. Supported by the Galway County Council's Heritage Office and the Galway Education Centre, this material has been collected over the years in collaboration with schools and community groups. Also on display were old sods of turf from our own family bog (sold many years ago to the Irish government for conservation purposes), an enamel (metal) mug used for the much needed cup of tea during breaktime on the bog, and the Slane (Irish = Sléan), the traditional implement used in Ireland for the cutting of the peat.

Hopefully these photos and items will bring back many happy childhood memories to people of my vintage of long hot summer days working in the bog with family cousins and neighbours!

The exhibition also highlighted the new role of peatlands in the 21st century in tackling the interconnected global climate and biodiversity crises and the importance in restorating them to serve as the largest of land-based natural carbon sinks.

Most of the photos in this montage are decades old and were originally black and white before I colourised them.

 

Upstairs, Downstairs – the Inside Story of an Irish ‘Big House’

One of the most enjoyable nights that I have experienced for manys the long year took place recently when it seemed the whole community of Fohenagh and environs, complimented by heritage enthusiasts, politicians and dignitaries, came together to celebrate and to give due recognition to my good friend Frank Gavin for the launch of his excellent book entitled “The Dillons of Clonbrock, a History”.

The venue was Gullane’s Hotel in Ballinasloe and the large attendance and its makeup was a reflection of the high esteem and respect that Frank is held in across east Galway and beyond. Amongst the participants were Senator Aisling Dolan; Galway County Cathaoirleach Liam Carroll; Martin Mac Oirealla, a highly enthusiastic ‘heritage in schools’ educator; Joe Mannion, another local historian par excellence; and the 87 year old Michéal Keaney, owner of the historical Castle Ellen (birthplace of the mother of Edward Carson, the founder of Northern Ireland) and the finest engineer that Galway City Council ever has had.

Master of ceremonies for the event was the brilliant Christy Cunniffe, one of Ireland’s best known community archaeologists. Special guest speakers were Marie Mannion, the country’s hardest working and much admired local authority heritage officer; and Professor Terence Dooley the distinguished historical writer and Director of the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates at the National University of Ireland Maynooth.

I myself was honoured to be asked by Frank to also be a guest speak at the launch, to write the foreword for the publication and to enhance and colourise an old black and white photo taken of Clonbrock House circa 1904 that formed the cover of the book.

I was especially and personally honoured as both sides of my family fought on the republican side during the Irish Civil War, whose forces were sadly responsible for the burning down of many of the gentry mansions across the country, seeing them as symbols of centuries of colonial oppression.

I have known and admired Frank since 2008 when we first collaborated in helping the children of Fohenagh National School, under the guidance of the much loved principal at the time, Anne Burke, to undertake research studies and field trips on the history of the Clonbrock estate. The extraordinary series of podcasts and videos made with the school and the local community during 2008 and 2009 will be relaunched on March 6th 2024 at a special event in the Galway Education Centre to commemorate the BEO online heritage archives project and the Fionn Primary School Science 2002-2005 initiative.

The best tribute that I can give Frank here on the importance of his work is to repeat the foreword that I wrote in the book:

“There have been multiple books written about the Anglo-Irish gentry and their great estates which dominated and shaped the Irish countryside for centuries. Many more will follow in the years ahead. But this book is different. For the author is able to give a personal perspective from within the walls of the demesne as he himself was part of this ‘Upstairs and Downstairs’ world in its twilight years.

Frank Gavin worked as a gardener in the Clonbrock estate when Ethel Louisa Dillon, daughter of the fourth Baron Clonbrock who was one of the largest landowners in Ireland, was still alive. She was a debutante in Victorian London society at a time when it was said that the sun never set on a British Empire that covered almost a quarter of the world’s landmass. Frank provides some fascinating information on the Clonbrock estate during its heyday in the 19th century when the third and fourth barons, along with the latter’s extraordinary wife Lady Augusta Caroline Dillon, were exceptional in this era for being highly progressive pioneering residential Anglo-Irish landlords who practiced mixed farming; planted woods; constructed heated glasshouses (growing exotic fruits such as grapes and peaches), a forge, a sawmill, a butchery, a photographic house and a sophisticated piped water system for the estate; set up a poultry co-operative and established four schools in the locality for the children of their tenant farmers.

But Frank is at his best when he provides the names, photographs and the stories of the people who worked alongside him in Clonbrock and whose families had often done so for many generations before. He moves the spotlight along from the imperial landed class towards the farmhands and house servants that were the essence of these estates and whose descendants still live locally.

This is local history at its most authentic, when it is done by someone who has lived and experienced the subject matter at first hand.”

Little Schools are the Heartbeat of Rural Ireland & the Foundations for its Revitalisation

 

COVID cut me off from what is one of the most enjoyable blessful elements of my work at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics NUI Galway, namely the opportunity to travel to every corner of Galway county and city in order to teach different aspects of technology in the schools that function as the heartbeat of their local communities.

This is particularly true of the little schools of rural Galway, which serve as the vibrant hub of their villages and parishes. The photo shows Creggs, one of these great primary schools located in the idyllic village that gives it its name and in which I spent a most enjoyable day last week teaching coding to the senior classes (being teaching there since 2006!).

In this period of rural decline it has been these learning institutions that have kept alive local traditions, such as making St. Bridget Crosses on February 1st; decorations and floats for St. Patrick’s Day; planting trees for Tree Week; painting festive eggs at Easter; and playing the songs and reciting the myths and legends of the locality in times past. As Irish people have abandoned farming (for work in the big city) and the great social gatherings that was the weekly Sunday only a few decades ago, it is the school that maintains a sense of ‘community spirit’ by bringing together the grannies, parents, cousins and neighbours of the pupils to enjoy concerts at Christmas, fancy dress parties at Samhain/Halloween, heritage nights, charity fundraising and group cycles. It is also the children of the school that are the life blood of the parish sports and youth clubs.

But these schools have been suffering for many decades due to creeping urbanisation. Fifty years ago Ireland's social and economic life revolved around an agricultural system based on the small family farm and rural towns were vibrant places serving their farming hinterland. Today too many of these country towns look like ghost towns with lines of abandoned and boarded up premises; the small family farm has lost its national economic centrality and the mosaic of fields of colourful wildflower meadows, barley, rye, oats, potatoes, cabbages and apple/damson/pear/orchards have all but disappeared from the landscape.

Depopulation in rural Ireland has led to many school closures including some that I worked in such as Corgary, Carnageehy and Woodlawn in east Galway. The car-based transport infrastructure assists this trend as it encourages some parents living in an increasingly suburban-orientated Irish countryside to understandably take children to schools near where they work in the big towns and cities.

But I now see the seeds for a resurgence in rural Ireland based on the principles of the Circular Economy characterised by mixed organic farming; the return of grain, vegetable and fruit growing in fields surrounded by hedgerows or drystone walls; a revitalisation of indigenous crafts and arts, the establishment of wildlife sanctuaries which includes deciduous forests, a network of interlinked greenways, an increased state committment towards public transport, an increased emphasis on renewable energies (wind, water, biomass), and a hospitality trade focused on sourcing locally grown foodstuffs.

The COVID lockdown has opened our eyes to the endless opportunities available with a proper broadband infrastructure allowing many to work long distance be if from homes or from the shared space of small town innovative digital hubs (some are set up already in what was until recently boarded up shops and pubs). Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss as well as the consequences of the destructive Russian invasion of Ukraine have shown us the crucial need to use local solutions to solve global crises. Sustainable jobs exist in nature guardianship, Outdoor Learning, Outdoor leisure (hiking, rowing, cycling etc), energy production, farming at so many levels, electronic repair/recycling/upcycling, biomedical manufacturing, education, crafts, arts, culture, scientific/technology research and green tourism. 3D printing, using safe recyclable materials, will mean the return of the 'cottage industry' to rural Ireland.

So it is crucial that the little country schools are now nurtured and kept open during this period of transition.

I have happily worked in these schools (and their second level ‘big brothers’) since 2002 teaching a range of science and technology courses (coding, film production, photo editing/enhancing, heritage, environmental science, data science, Citizen Science and Internet Safety) as well as offering teachers and children the opportunity to attend sessions at my university workplace to learn from my younger research colleagues, to visit my beloved computer museum as well as to exhibit at the annual Galway Science and Technology Festival Fair.

Hopefully soon I will have re-established the school circuit that I had in the years before COVID not only in the city but in so many villages and parishes in the county stretching from Inishbofin off the coast of Connemara to Tiernascragh near the River Shanno

A New Member for the ‘Hall of Graduates’ at Data Science Institute, NUI Galway.

 

Congratulations to my good friend and (now) former Insight Research Centre colleague Safina Showcat Ara who defended her PhD thesis today on the topic of "Exploration Algorithms for Discoverable and Undiscoverable Decentralised Online Social Networks."

She will soon take her rightful place alongside her husband Zia Ush Shamszaman on the walls of our 'Hall of Graduates' at the Data Science Institute NUI Galway dressed up in her spectacular PhD finery.

Safina and Zia were key members of Insight and contributed to the life of the centre at so many levels.

As well as their research work, they were active participants in our multi-cultural festivals, our excursions across Ireland, our Christmas/end of year parties, our ‘coffee and chat’ get togethers in Deri Cafe, our public engagement activities in schools and elsewhere…

Due to COVID, we can’t understandably organise these social activities for the foreseeable future. So many friends have left my workplace since the pandemic began as they complete their studies to move on to pastures new. But due to the new environment we all find ourselves in, I don’t have the opportunity to meet the new Safina Showkat Aras and Zia Ush Shamszamans in the flesh.

I really miss this social connectivity. I really need to met people in the real world. The online and virtual worlds have limitations

Pacman- Happy 40th Birthday!

One of the greatest video games of all time, Pacman is 40 years old this month and yet remains as popular as ever.
Created by Toru Iwatani and a team at the Japanese game company Namco, it was released on May 22nd 1980. It was the first game written to appeal to a female audience. Iwatani saw that the whole video games industry catered only for men and concentrated on sport and violent war themes. Only boys seem to populate the arcade machine halls. So he decided to develop a game with cute, happy looking bright coloured characters based around colourful foods such as deserts and sweets. One of the inspirations for the Pacman image was a pizza with a slice removed. The ghosts in the game were inspired by the television series Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Galway’s United Nations: 34 Languages spoken at my university workplace!

In celebration of international Mother Language Day we installed, in the foyer of our workplace (the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, Data Science Institute, NUI Galway), a World Map in which our colleagues decorated with scripts written in the alphabets of their own language.

February 21^st is a global day of commemoration designed to increase awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity. It is officially recognised by the Galway’s United Nations: 31 Languages spoken at my university workplace as an opportunity "to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world."

It was first initiated by Bangladesh. So it is appropriate then that it was my good friend and colleague Safina Showkat Ara from that country who suggested that we also mark this very important occasion at our research institute. I was only to happy to oblige.

And what a wonderful exercise it turned out to be. For in populating the map we happily discovered that there are at least 34 languages spoken at our research institute- Arabic, Armenian, Bangla, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Kannada, Kashmiri, Kurdish, Magahi, Mandarin, Marathi, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Ukrainian, Urdu, Russian, Sanskrit, Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Vietnamese and Yoruba. Wow!

We hope that this new initiative will become a new tradition that will continue to be observed for years and years to come.

It is also worth noting that my other good friend and colleague Sina Ahmadi correctly pointed out that millions and millions of people across the world are today deprived of learning in their mother language in their own countries. Denial of a people’s right to express their cultural identity has been used throughout history by brutal repressive regimes often to overcome resistance to foreign rule. For hundreds of years the British imperial forces in Ireland tried to destroy our right to independence by a combination of war, ethnic cleansing, introduction of foreign settlements, economic exploitation and a denial of cultural expression by the native Celts. 

It was Pádraig Pearse, the great Irish revolutionary and leader of the 1916 uprising against British rule, who summed up so well the need to resist the latter policy of ‘cultural assimilation’, “A country without a language is a country without a soul.”

Today cultural assimilation is the policy of many countries towards indigenous peoples living in forests, wetlands and mountains, none more  so than in Brazil where President Bolsonaro

aggressively pursues a campaign of taking Amazonian lands from the Amerindians for commercial exploitation by ranchers, palm oil growers, miners and loggers leading in the process to the loss of the Earth’s lungs. 

In a time of growing globalisation it is important that we promote harmony, the sisterhood /brotherhood of humanity, and peace between cultures, race and sexes based on respect and equality. Fundamental to this view is that we should also treasure diversity in all its form. For the world would be so much poorer if we lose our traditions, heritage and language. Variety is after all the spice of life! 

Furthermore, as you can see from the large poster in the front of the photograph, our institute is where people from all over the world come together to work on research into tackling Climate Chaos in so many sectors (peatlands, air, water, waste, manufacturing, cities...). We stand united for the common good.

Nóta: Tá muintir na Rúise agus na hÍsiltíre inár n-ionad oibre a labhraíonn Gaeilge!