TRiSS Talks

Movements for independence, within the EU in Scotland, Catalonia and the British vote to exit the EU, have become an increasingly prominent feature on Europe’s political landscape over recent years. But what challenges do seceding nations face and what are the potential gains in terms of policy autonomy and political sovereignty? On January 29th 2019, Trinity Research in Social Sciences had the following speakers who explored these, and other issues related to contemporary European succession:  Carles Puigdemont, Catalan politician, who will discuss the present political situation in Catalonia and the right to self-determination in Europe.  Marvin Suesse, Assistant Professor in Economics at Trinity College, who will examine the economic costs of sovereignty.  Michelle D’Arcy, Assistant Professor in Political Science at Trinity College, who will consider secession and the fiscal contract: reflections from the post-colonial world.  Emanuel Coman, Assistant Professor in Political Science at Trinity College, who will consider a theoretical analysis of Woodrow Wilson self-determination  The event was chaired by Prof Gail McElroy, Professor in Political Science and Head of the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy. www.tcd.ie/triss www.tcd.ie/ssp

Trinity Research in Social Sciences, in partnership with its member schools and disciplines, ran a weekly series "COVID-19 and a Changing Society". These featured insights from across the social sciences from Trinity academics and international Social Scientists.  Our first event “COVID-19 and the Future of Cities” on May 18th 2020 at 3pm Irish Standard Time was co-hosted with the Department of Economics at Trinity College Dublin. Panelists:  Prof. Edward Glaeser, Harvard University  Prof. Jessie Handbury, University of Pennsylvania  Prof. Diego Puga, CEMFI  Chair:  Prof. Martina Kirchberger, Trinity College Dublin Edward Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1992. He has published dozens of papers on cities economic growth, law, and economics. In particular, his work has focused on the determinants of city growth and the role of cities as centers of idea transmission. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1992. Some of his recent work examines how COVID-19 has affected small businesses. Jessie Handbury is an Assistant Professor of Real Estate at the Wharton School in the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her BA and PhD at Columbia University and was selected as a NBER Faculty Research Fellow, International Trade and Investment. Her research interests lie at the intersection of urban economics, trade, and industrial organization. She has developed an exposure index based on smartphone app location data to help analysis during the current pandemic. Diego Puga is Professor of Economics at CEMFI, in Madrid, Spain. His research interests include urban economics, economic geography and international trade. Born in Spain, where he completed his undergraduate degree in Economics, he obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1997. He is member of the Multidisciplinary Workgroup advising the Spanish government on scientific issues related to COVID-19 and its future consequences. Martina Kirchberger is an Assistant Professor at Trinity College Dublin. She is a development economist with a particular interest in urbanization, infrastructure, the construction sector, labor markets, and spatial mobility. Previously, she was an Earth Institute Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Columbia University. She received her DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford in 2014. Some of her ongoing research examines the labor market effects of COVID-19 on low-skilled urban workers.

At the 10th Children in Care Research Forum, Dr. Dawn Mannay presented the findings of a case study of an arts-based programme delivered in Wales, UK to young people in foster care.

Trinity Research in Social Sciences, in partnership with its member schools and disciplines, ran a weekly series "COVID-19 and a Changing Society". These featured insights from across the social sciences from Trinity academics and international Social Scientists. Our third event “Human Rights and Democracy after COVID-19" was co-hosted with the School of Law and Trinity Centre for Constitutional Governance (TriCon). It features Prof Gabor Halmai from the European University institute, Mr Alok Prasanna Kumar of the VIDHI Centre for Legal Policy in New Delhi, Prof. Donna Lyons from Trinity College, and Prof. Suryapratim Roy from Trinity College. Human rights and democracy have been threatened by the Covid health crisis. While lockdown measures are a reasonable response to a public health emergency, they must respect national and international human rights frameworks. Some countries, however, have taken advantage of the crisis to entrench authoritarian projects and undermine human rights. This timely discussion explores the international human rights norms as well as the evolving situation in Hungary and India. Gabor Halmai is Professor and Chair of Comparative Constitutional Law at the European University Institute in Florence. His primary research interests are comparative constitutional law and international human rights. He has published several books and articles, as well as edited volumes on these topics in English, German and Hungarian. He has previously taught and researched at the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary and Princeton University in the USA. He was previously chief advisor to the President of the Hungarian Constitutional Court. Alok Prasanna Kumar is Senior Resident Fellow and Team Lead at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy in New Delhi. His areas of research include Judicial Reforms, Constitutional law, Urban Development, and Law and Technology. He writes a monthly column for the Economic and Political Weekly and has published in the Indian Journal of Constitutional Law and National Law School of India Review apart from media outlets such as The Hindu, Indian Express, Scroll, Quint and Caravan. He has practised in the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court. Donna Lyons is assistant professor of international law at Trinity College Dublin. She researches, writes and teaches in the area of international human rights law. She is an expert member of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee on Human Rights. Prior to taking up the Assistant Professor position at Trinity College, she held positions with the Law Reform Commission of Ireland and the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Chairing the session will be Suryapratim Roy. He is assistant professor of Regulatory Law in the School of law. He teaches and writes on environmental law, climate law, and the law’s response to risk. Before joining academia, he was a researcher with the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg and practised infrastructure law in Mumbai.

Trinity Research in Social Sciences, in partnership with its member schools and disciplines, ran a weekly series "COVID-19 and a Changing Society". These featured insights from across the social sciences from Trinity academics and international Social Scientists. Our second event “Travel and Tourism in a Post Covid Society" was co-hosted with the School of Business and featured Prof. Brian Lucey from Trinity College, Prof. Denise O'Leary from Technological University Dublin, Prof. Brent Ritchie from the University of Queensland and Prof. Jane Ali-Knight from Edinburgh Napier University. As one of the world's biggest industries, the tourism sector is facing massive repercussions from the Covid health crisis and the associated lockdown measures. Not only is it the hardest hit sector; it could be the one slowest to recover from the upcoming economic recession. This timely discussion features a range of international experts. Denise O’Leary is Assistant Head of School of Hospitality Management and Tourism in Technological University Dublin. She has extensive experience as a manager, lecturer and researcher in third level institutions in Ireland and the US and over 10 years of experience as a consultant in the private sector. One focus of her academic research is on collaboration at both an organisational and inter-organisational level and she explores collaboration in networks, including food tourism networks. She is also interested in tourism skills development. She is currently involved in the Next Tourism Generation Alliance project, an EU funded project which includes education, training and industry partners from across Europe and is tasked with developing a Blueprint for addressing skills needs in the European tourism sector. Ritchie Brent has coordinated several research projects including Sustainable Tourism CRC and consultancy work for a number of tourism organisations in the public and private sector in Australia, England, Vietnam and New Zealand. His research interests are associated with tourism risk management. His research has focused on understanding risk from an individual and organisational perspective. His work on organisations explores risk attitudes and response strategies to effectively respond and recover from crises and disasters. He also explores tourist attitudes to risk and their risk reduction behaviour, including beach goers, Australian outbound travellers and potential travellers to the Middle East and in Indonesia. Jane Ali-Knight is currently leading and developing the festival and event subject group as well as lecturing at Universities internationally and facilitating training and development in the field. She is Course Director of the highly successful ‘Destination Leaders Programme’ delivered with Scottish Enterprise. Her core activities fall into three main areas: event and festival related programmes; research and publications and conferences and professional events. She is currently a board member of BAFA (British Arts and Festivals Association); Without Walls; Women in Tourism; Hidden Door Festival and is a Fellow of the HEA and Royal Society of the Arts. Chairing the session will be Brian Lucey. He is Professor of Finance at the School of Business, Trinity College Dublin. A graduate of TCD , with a First Class degree in Economics in 1984, Professor Lucey has worked as a statistician in the Department of Health and as an Economist in the Central Bank, prior to joining TCD. He has studied at graduate level in Canada, Ireland and Scotland, and holds a PhD from University of Stirling.