An Talamh Bhláfar

An Talamh Bhláfar (The Fertile Land) is a song that bridges heritage, culture, and sustainability. Created by Maynooth University (MU) and University College Dublin (UCD) through the Horizon Europe BioBeo project and the BiOrbic BioCultúr project, it shares the significance of the bioeconomy with communities through the arts. The video launch coincides with the appearance of one of our guitarists on the RTE Late Late Toy show @rtelatelateshow #latelatetoyshow. The bioeconomy, focused on sustainable resource use and innovation, offers a path to resilient communities. By weaving these principles into a song inspired by Ireland’s cultural and ecological heritage, An Talamh Bhláfar shows how land, language, and tradition are deeply connected with a bioeconomy. In Ireland, the landscape and cultural identity are inseparable, reflected in place names, traditions, and livelihoods. The song highlights how communities can honour these ties while adopting sustainable practices. Through music, An Talamh Bhláfar invites listeners to embrace a shared vision of sustainability, celebrating the potential of the bioeconomy to protect both nature and culture for future generations

ERC PatentsInHumans: Year 2 Report

Building upon work in year 1, a key part of the research in year 2 focused on developing deeper understandings of the potential bioethical issues posed by patents over technologies related to how we treat, use and modify the human body. Research was conducted to develop a deeper understanding of scope of the ‘bioethical’ implications which can arise in such contexts, and how ‘bioethics’ as a term is defined within the project. Relatedly, Prof McMahon developed further her research refining the five-category taxonomy used within the project of patentable ‘technologies’ related to how we treat, use or modify the human body, namely: 1) patentable ‘technologies’ that are derived from the body such as isolated human genes which are patentable in Europe; 2) patentable ‘technologies’ which comprise of tools acting on the body, such as tools used in diagnostic or surgical processes; 3) patentable ‘technologies’ that are chemical substances created outside the body but which treat the body, such as medicines; 4) patentable ‘technologies’ that are integrated with the body, such as elements of medical devices; and 5) ‘technologies’ which are intended to be used in ways that can enhance the human body, or alter the creation of future human life. The research led to refining of category 5, as although some technologies within categories 4 and 5 may overlap (such as where technologies have dual uses), for the purposes of category 5 the project is interested in the distinct bioethical implications posed by patents over technologies which are intended to be used in ways which could enhance the body in significant ways, or technologies that are intended to be used to create/change human life, such as in the assisted human reproductive or gene editing contexts

'One must defend oneself as a Jew': Hannah Arendt's German as a Language of Refuge

The abstract is included in the text

Why Trump's attacks on libraries are bad news for everyone

Opinion: Recent events in the US have shown us libraries, and the services and information they provide, must never be taken for grante

Gender equity and care for transformative climate justice

As global climate change is destabilising lives and worsening inequities and disparities in Ireland and around the world (Deubelli & Mechler, 2021; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2022), climate justice is emerging as an urgent global policy priority (Kashwan, 2021; Newell et al., 2021; Robinson, 2018). Climate justice, an approach to climate action that goes beyond the technological emphasis on decarbonisation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, focuses attention on the intersectionality of the social, economic, and institutional changes that link technological change with societal transformation by centring social justice and economic equity (Stephens, 2022; Sultana, 2022). Transformative climate justice recognises that the climate crisis is a horrible symptom of extractive and exploitative systems (Sultana, 2025). A transformative climate justice approach calls for systemic and structural changes acknowledging that the climate crisis is not a scientific problem that can be fixed with technological solutions (Newell et al., 2021). Transformative climate justice also links climate vulnerabilities with the societal risks and geopolitical dangers associated with increased social instability, migration and growing inequities (Harlan et al., 2015; Stephens, 2020). Transformative climate justice embraces a feminist and decolonial approach to redressing the legacy of economic injustices, gender inequities, extractive labour practices, housing insecurity and systems of exploitation that are worsening climate vulnerabilities (Kuhl et al., 2024; Sultana, 2025). Climate justice prioritises trans formative economic investments, social policies and innovative practices that are based on human dignity, equity and care. Climate justice is intentional and explicit on the necessity to disrupt the status quo financial and political systems that continue to marginalise people and communities by concentrating wealth and power among those individuals and organisations that are already privileged (Newell et al., 2021; Schapper, 2018; Sultana, 2022; Whitaker, 2021). The rapidly growing global climate justice movement, based on feminist principles, has been, and continues to be, led by women (Robinson, 2018). Patriarchal systems have reinforced and perpetuated the assumption that investing in technological innovation will enable humanity to control the climate, while minimising the potential of investing in social innovation, social justice and social change. Transformative change requires a collective moving away from these dominant patriarchal discourses toward a feminist and intersectional perspective that integrates care and gender equality. This paper reviews why a feminist climate justice approach focused on gender equity and care is essential for the transformative societal changes that are urgently needed for a more healthy, just and stable future for all. The paper first describes why and how feminist climate justice is a necessary response to climate isolationism. Then, it describes why the integration of care and gender equity into climate policy is fundamental and how care is a feminist concern. Next, examples of intersections of care and climate within the Irish context are provided, followed by a concluding discussion on moving toward transformative climate justice

On the wind-driven European shelf sea-level variability and the associated oceanic circulation

The shelf to the west of Ireland, France and the United Kingdom is a region where currents and sea level respond to the wind activity in a remarkable manner throughout a range of timescales. Using altimetry-obtained measurements and a wind reanalysis, we demonstrate in the present contribution how the sub-annual sea-level variability can be understood as a response to the wind action. The winds drive water towards (away from) the coastline through Ekman transport, yielding sea-level changes coherent along and across the shelf and with maximum amplitude at the coast. The alignment of the winds with the isobaths determines the magnitude of sea-level changes. To investigate the impacts of these changes on the circulation variability, we bring together a comprehensive dataset of 30+ in-situ observations of recent current changes. Using these measurements, we show that sub-annual changes in the shelf-edge circulation from the Goban Spur to the Faroe-Shetland Channel arise from the geostrophic adjustment to shelf sea-level variations induced by the Ekman-driven accumulation of water towards the coastline. Our analysis suggests that the along-isobath current generated through this mechanism are primarily found over the shelf, only impinge on the upper slope, and do not affect the circulation above greater depth (>500 m). Nonetheless, important slope circulations such as the Rockall Slope Current are substantially influenced on their shoreward side by this simple geostrophic adjustment process. Because sea-level changes co-vary over large distances on the shelf, there also is remarkable along-isobath coherence in the associated current changes but we warn against concluding this is evidence for the continuity of an‘European Slope Current’ circumnavigating the European slope from Portugal to Norway

Linguistic Contributions to a Model for the Celticisation of the Western Archipelago

The question of the arrival of Celtic-speaking peoples in Britain and Ireland, i.e. the Celticisation of these islands in prehistory, has been a bone of contention – and a mystery – since the early days of Celtic Studies. For the longest time, the only two disciplines that could meaningfully contribute to this debate were archaeology and historical linguistics. However, during the latter part of the 20th century the realisation grew that the methodologies and the data of the two disciplines are not commensurate, and that the conclusions drawn by scholars from the involved disciplines are not compatible with each other. Since 2015, a third discipline with an entirely new type of data has joined the discussion: palaeogenetics. The analysis of ancient DNA provides a completely different perspective on the prehistory of the Western Archipelago and allows insights into it that neither archaeology nor linguistics are able to achieve with their own methods, and that can inspire the two traditional disciplines to look at their data again and reevaluate it. This talk is a modest attempt from the point of view of historical Celtic and Indo-European linguistics to respond to the new insights and challenges that palaeogenetics has to offer, and to assess how they can be integrated into a general theory of the Celticisation of the Western Archipelago

Fast optimal control performance evaluation for wave energy control co-design

With the application of energy-maximizing control for wave energy converters (WECs), the WEC design problem becomes a control co-design problem. One of the fundamental requirements of co-design is to evaluate the optimal control performance, i.e., average power generation. Previous control techniques include model predictive control (MPC) and pseudo-spectral (PS) control, but both require iterative optimization, with computational requirements the main limiting factor in co-design. In this study, a fast optimal control performance evaluation method is proposed based on a ‘wave-by-wave’ (WbW) representation. The idea is to split the wave excitation force (WEF) signals into individual waves, process them separately, and then combine the results with the distribution of WEF amplitude and period, yielding a straightforward average power calculation. The method is fully developed and studied, considering the cases of position-only, and general, constraints, as well as different choices to obtain the WEF parameter distribution. It is shown that the WbW method can achieve a very high control evaluation fidelity (within a 5% error) and give almost the same co-design result as MPC and PS (implemented using WecOptTool), but with a significantly reduced computation time (e.g., hundreds of times faster), therefore being a game changer for control co-design of WECs

Power system stability with high integration of RESs and EVs: Benefits, challenges, tools, and solutions

In our daily lives, electric energy is essential and impacts numerous aspects of society. The electricity produced from conventional sources falls short of meeting contemporary demand, giving rise to power supply issues and environmental concerns, including the emission of greenhouse gases. For all those reasons, the transformation to Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) is indispensable, more than ever. Nevertheless, the inherent uncertainty and low inertia introduce operational challenges and threaten power system stability. Various research papers have been published regarding RES integration and design. However, research articles addressing stability in distributed generation networks with RESs are either scarce or inadequate. To address power system stability, the primary objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the benefits, challenges, and integration of RESs and electric vehicles (EVs), in addition to tools, software, controlling mechanisms, and potential solutions related to RESs integration. Integrating HVDC technology with hybrid RES enhances long-distance power transmission efficiency, reduces losses, and improves grid stability, making it an effective solution for variable RES generation. Therefore, the HVDC link has been taken as a case study and is simulated using DIgSILENT /MATLAB softwares. The result shows that the HVDC link is more stable than the HVAC transmission in terms of voltage stability when integrating the RESs, which could result in a voltage limit violation. The 100 % RESs integration may proceed more smoothly and efficiently if DC voltage is present

The ERC DANCING WP4 Tools for Change

This report is part of the project entitled ‘Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New Paths – DANCING’. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 864182). This report reflects only the authors’ views and does not necessarily reflect those of the European Union (EU) or the ERC