Author:Eva Krolla, Research Assistant in the ERC-funded DANCING Project at the School of Law and Criminology and Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute, Maynooth University
DANCING Mid-Term Academic Conference speakers
The European Research Council (ERC) funded research project ‘Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity in EU Law: Exploring New Paths – DANCING’ based at the ALL Institute and the School of Law and Criminology under the lead of Principal Investigator Prof. Delia Ferri marked its halfway point by hosting the DANCING Mid-Term Academic Conference on Monday, 4 September 2023 at Maynooth University.
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: Rachel Brown is a PhD candidate at the Department of Psychology, Maynooth University and a Research Assistant with the ALL Institute’s SHAPES project
Rachel Brown
Like many of you, I recently watched Christopher Nolan’s biographic film documenting theoretical psychist Robert Oppenheimer’s involvement in the Manhattan Project and the creation of the first nuclear weapons. Although I enjoyed the film, I was left with a strange sense of unease about scientific knowledge and the power that knowledge has to change the world, and not always for the better. As I drove home, I considered my own responsibilities regarding the knowledge my research will produce. Needless to say, the 20-minute car journey home from the cinema felt very long that day.
Shortly after seeing the film, I came across Oppenheimer’s 1956 address to the American Psychological Association (APA) entitled Analogy in Science. It was an engaging and eloquently written speech and I assure you it is well worth the read. Intriguingly, he gives a stern warning to the field of psychology, while given at the height of behaviourism with widespread fear of mind control over individuals and society, 68 years on Oppenheimer’s warning seems just as relevant now as it did then.
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: Dr Opeyemi Kolawole (Post-doctoral Researcher, PatentInHuman Project)
Dr Opeyemi Kolawole
Medical devices are integral to healthcare service delivery. Patients and healthcare service providers utilise these devices to diagnose, prevent, monitor, alleviate, and restore impaired body functions. Depending on the complexities of these devices and how they are deployed, they can become integrated with the patient’s body, and the patient’s healthy functioning and life may become dependent on the device (for example, an insulin pump or a pacemaker). Yet, like every other device, medical devices are susceptible to wear and tear: embedded software in the device may become obsolete over time, and physical elements may become deficient, making a device unsuitable for the patient’s needs. What options are available to the patient or health service provider in such instances? Should they, or a trusted repairer, be allowed to repair these devices? Patients and hospitals confronted this question at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
On 20th April 2023, the PatentsInHumans team were delighted to host the public launch event for the European Research Council (ERC) funded PatentsInHumans project in Maynooth University. The event was attended by over 45 individuals, including, members of the public, students and academics working in a range of disciplines (including law, biology, political science and business), practising lawyers, and technology transfer specialists.
The PatentsInHumans project, based in the School of Law and Criminology and ALL Institute at Maynooth University, commenced on the 1st November 2022 and is a large interdisciplinary five-year project. It is funded by a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant and led by Professor Aisling McMahon. Alongside Professor McMahon, the PatentsInHumans team includes project manager, Sinéad Masterson, and postdoctoral researcher, Dr Opeyemi Kolawole. As the project develops, we will be recruiting more researchers to join the team in the coming months and years ahead.
Author: Joan Alaboson is a Doctoral Researcher in the Department of Psychology, Maynooth University. She has a background in medicine and an MSc in Public Health with broad research interests in non-communicable diseases, particularly mental health, social determinants of health and quality of life.
Joan Alaboson
‘What can be done to make settling into the PhD, better?’ asked Dirk, the Director of the Science Foundation Ireland’s Centre for Research Training in Advance Networks for Sustainable Societies (ADVANCE CRT) at a meeting with funded PhD students. Being the only one in the room that had recently commenced my studies, at that moment I felt there was a deep sense of concern for my well-being by ‘management’. It was the first of such fora I’d attended, and I left with a lasting impression of being in relatable company during my studies.
True inclusion, however, could often be elusive, despite best efforts. There is hardly any organization, entity or group that does not seek to represent the interests of those concerned. It may be expressed in a vision, mission, goals, or activities. Yet, many can be left out. Sometimes, it is a fault inherent in group development, when diverse people are not present to consciously bring unique perspectives to the fore. Similarly, it may result from work protocols or culture that fail to recognize and may neglect, systematically, the views and or needs of diverse people.
