How is sector change in UK universities impacting on the occupational stress levels and well-being of academics?

This essay is an exploration into feelings of stress, anxiety and powerlessness amongst professionals in Higher Educational Institutions. This paper draws on research that helps to define and identify what is meant by stress and anxiety. It then attempts to capture current issues within the higher education sector and offer some reasons as to why stress amongst academics is on the increase. The discussion then moves onto different interpretations of how academics respond to the transformational changes they are experiencing. Related to this, different paradigms are suggested for interpreting the phenomenon of New Public Management (NPM)

Lost in Translation: Interpreting and Presenting Dublin’s Colonial Past

As Alderman (2010: 90) has recently written, the potential struggle to determine what conception of the past will prevail constitutes the politics of memory. This paper aims to investigate the politics of memory at play in determining how Dublin’s colonial heritage is constructed and represented to tourists. Dublin’s profile as a tourism destination has grown recently. It attracted 5.4 million visitors in 2009 (Fáilte Ireland 2010). Culture and heritage underpin both its touristic appeal and the city’s official efforts to represent itself as a destination. Much of Dublin’s most iconic built heritage is strongly associated with its development as a colonial capital. Many decades after independence, contemporary Ireland is a vastly changed place. Yet the process of dealing with colonial heritage in tourism contexts is not unproblematic. This paper begins to unravel both the construction and the representation of the city as a tourism destination to investigate how the city is remembering/forgetting its colonial heritage. Its approach is interpretivist, and methodologically, its efforts focus on one hugely important site: Dublin Castle, the seat of English administration in Ireland for 700 years. Centrally located in a prime tourist area to the south of the city centre Dublin Castle is the 6th most visited fee-paying attraction in the state (Fáilte Ireland 2010). Data are gathered through: In-depth interviewing with key personnel involved in the multiple sites operating as distinct tourist ventures within the Castle Discourse analysis of the Castle’s promotional and informational literature Analysis of the tour guiding narratives offered to tourists. The findings point to a selective narration of history in various aspects of the Castle’s operation as a tourist attraction. They lend support to the argument that tourism constitutes a mechanism through which places can actively seek to reclaim and recast historically important places of memory

Events, social connections, place identities and extended families

The study reported here investigates the role that planned social gatherings play in shaping social connections, forging group identity and re-affirming connections with significant ‘home’ places within families where relationships extend across space. Empirically, it draws on a study of the Gathering, a 2013 national tourism initiative that encouraged people in Ireland to organise ‘gatherings’ to attract ‘home’ family members scattered across the globe. It reports data generated using mixed methods administered in two Irish counties. The findings demonstrate the profound meanings that the gatherings had for participating family members. The events served to strengthen existing family ties and to create new ones both between family members separated by geographic distance and spread across family generations. They further served to renew and revitalise connections with the family ‘home’ place, to enhance a sense of belonging for the family units studied and to strengthen family identity

When, where and how am I now? Researching identity in university communities of practice

The establishment of communities of practice (CoPs) has emerged nationally as a strategy to promote ‘excellence’ in teaching and learning in Australian universities. CoPs in Australian universities have been reported as fostering the development of identity in practice and collegial academic identity. In these accounts identity development is associated with storytelling around everyday practice, although the relationship between narrative and identity development has not been explored or described in detail. Similarly, although the complex and changeable university contexts in which these CoPs operate is noted and described in the literature, there is currently no detailed account published of the relationship between the broader discourses that shape these contexts and the process of identity development in university CoPs. We argue in this paper that there is a need for a new way of researching identity formation in university CoPs. Drawing on Trinh Minh Ha’s work (1992), we propose that fragmentation be used as a working metaphor for thinking about and researching identity development in university CoPs, with direct reference to the contexts in which they operate. The proposed new approach takes into account the complexities and variety of discourses that influence identity formation in CoPs and the changeable and sometimes contradictory Enterprise University contexts in which Australian CoPs operate. In this paper fragmentation is described and applied to the process of researching identity formation in university CoPs. This paper also describes how fragmentation guides the combined narrative research and discourse analysis methods used in the proposed approach. This paper argues that fragmentation provides the means for developing practical (or experiential) insights as well as conceptually structuring a useful method for investigating discursive factors, to open up a variety of potential new understandings about identity formation in university CoPs

Understanding the Library as a Commemorative Exhibition Space

While traditionally recognised as quiet places for study and for reading, today public libraries house in their premises many more activities than they did in the past (Capillé, 2018). No longer just spaces that only house and preserve collections, libraries now stress the importance of the relationship between the collections, the knowledge they contain, and their readers (Mickiewicz, 2016). In this regard, the staging of exhibitions for the public have become increasingly significant and ‘constitute a new area of professional expertise for libraries serving a new, expanded user base in a specific way’ (Fouracre, 2015: 384). While exhibitions help fulfil the role of the library as educator and knowledge disseminator, the scope of exhibition work in libraries is both extensive and varied (Dutka, Hayes and Parnell, 2002). This frequently includes the staging of commemorative exhibitions, events that are typically planned with the intention of affirming and reinforcing memories that provide a sense of heritage and identity (Frost & Laing, 2013). Such events are important for their meanings, which may differ from person to person, and which are frequently contested (Laing & Frost, 2019) and which, as Drozdzewski, Waterton and Sumartojo (2019) suggest are strongly linked to the construction of both individual personal identities and collective, national identities. However, little has been done to further our understanding of commemorative exhibitions in public libraries, in particular with regard to the relationship between the exhibition, the attendee and the library. This research seeks to address this. Employing a qualitative methodology the research centres on the ‘Goodbye Dublin’ War of Independence commemorative exhibition staged by Dublin City Library & Archive, the largest library authority in the Republic of Ireland. The exhibition, which commemorated the central role that Dublin played in Ireland’s War of Independence 1919-1921, ran from August 14th to October 31st, 2019 as part of the annual Dublin Festival of History. Over this time-period, 30 interviews were undertaken with exhibition attendees to explore the meanings the exhibition held for them. The research findings indicate that the exhibition provided clarity, understanding and moments of learning for those attending. Of particular significance were the myriad of meanings and personal connections that the exhibition, in particular the visual images, evoked. These ranged from reflections on the War of Independence and its impact on Irish society, to wars in general, as well as personal reflections and reflections on contemporary life. A key finding of the research was the importance that respondents placed on the role of public libraries in staging commemorative exhibitions, and the significance of these exhibitions in reconnecting attendees with the city, its history, and with the library itself

Evolution and progression of education for sustainable development programmes in Ireland: from the kindergarten to the operating theatre

n/aGlobal Cleaner Production & Sustainable Consumption Conference http://www.cleanerproductionconference.com/Transformation of education for sustainable development (ESD) programmes to meaningful action within society presents significant challenges including systemic integration, consistency of methods, and ensuring relevance and quality. Programmes like Eco-Schools, intended initially as an international environmental educational initiative, have developed, through thematic implementation processes and extensive collaboration with governmental agencies and NGOs, to embrace both development education and ESD. The Eco-Schools Programme, developed from the Blue Flag Programme for beaches and marinas, is coordinated at an international level by the Foundation for Environmental Education. The Programme has operated in Ireland since 1997 with over 93% of all primary and second level schools currently participating. Students from Eco-Schools progressing further through the education system demanded ESD action on reaching university, which lead to the development of the Green- Campus Programme. All Irish Universities and more than half of Institutes of Technology are registered on the programme with many awarded Green-Campus status, meaning that these sites engaged with the Eco-Schools programme, committed to continual improvement and elected for verification through detailed assessment processes. The Green-Campus Programme has been successfully implemented in Cork University Hospital, Ireland’s largest teaching hospital. Likewise, early years educators used relevant aspects of the Green-Schools Programme in the kindergarten. Evolution and progression of the Eco-Schools Programme in Ireland was largely an organic process, however, evaluation of this case study reveals a flexible, dynamic framework which international policy makers and NGOs can imitate in order to champion enduring ESD programmes that are responsive as well as responsible

Developing Cultural Tourism Through Cross-Sector Co-operation: Evidence from the West of Ireland

Studies of co-operative activity in the tourism literature focus largely on linkages between tourism firms and little has been done to examine co-operation between tourism firms and those in other sectors. Yet the inter-dependency that exits between tourism and other sectors in product development is clearly apparent. One such example is in the production of cultural tourism where co-operation between the cultural and tourism sectors is a necessity. This paper reports on the findings of a project undertaken in regions in the west of Ireland. The research, identifies that while not without its challenges, there is a strong willingness for cross-sector co-operation by both sectors. It highlights the importance of a shared vision and notes the need for a leader to \u27champion\u27 the idea of co-operating with another sector. The findings have implications for both the sectors and policymakers and for informing discussions on how to harness linkages between tourism and other sectors. Keywords: Co-operation; cultural tourism; Ireland; cross- sectoral co-operation

Understanding the library as a commemorative exhibition space

This research responds to calls to further our understanding of exhibitions in the library context (Rogatchevskaia, 2018; Fouracre, 2015) by exploring the significance of a commemorative exhibition staged in a public library. Employing a qualitative methodology, it centres on the ‘Goodbye Dublin: The War of Independence in the City’ commemorative exhibition, staged by Dublin City Pearse Street Library, between August 14th and October 31st, 2019. The findings show that the commemorative nature of the exhibition appealed to a variety of new, lapsed and frequent library users, connecting with Irish and non-Irish residents, as well as tourists visiting the city. In this regard, the exhibition was effective in its objective of appealing to a new and wide-ranging audience, however, the findings underline the need for more diverse and varied marketing, if this aim is to be entirely successful. The staging of the exhibition as an active authoring and articulation of the past by the library is highlighted, and the use of multimedia is seen to transform the library into an emotionally charged, dynamic and multisensory space. This facilitates an immersive encounter, involving interplays between the exhibition narratives and visitors’ personal memories and interests. This offers different ways for visitors to engage with the library, inspiring them to find new meanings, explore issues of personal, collective and national identities, and to reassess contemporary events. Overall, the research makes an important contribution by highlighting the complexity and importance of commemorative exhibitions in the context of public libraries

The Dynamic Role of Entrepreneurs in Destination Development

This article explores the significant role that entrepreneurs play in destination development. It contends that while the influence of entrepreneurs is discussed in the literature, scant attention has been paid to the dynamic, catalytic and longstanding nature of this influence. This research shows that entrepreneurial activity is dynamic and creative, and has the ability to influence the creation of a culture for tourism that underpins tourism development over long periods of time. Employing a qualitative case study approach, the research investigates Killarney, Co. Kerry, a developed tourism area in Ireland. It identifies not only the way in which entrepreneurs can shape development at a tourism destination at a particular time but also how this influence can continue long after the original entrepreneur is involved. These entrepreneurs are acknowledged as key ‘tourism influentials’ that underpin the initial and continued development of tourism through their actions