In this episode of the MUSAE podcast, Dr Aoife O'Gorman (UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science) talks to Angelo Cangelosi (Professor of Machine Learning and Robotics at the University of Manchester) and artist Maciej Chmara about creative solutions for our food systems with a particular focus on robotics.

MUSAE is an EU Horizon funded project developing approaches for art-driven innovation. 
The project brings together experts from different disciplines to define an innovative model to integrate artistic collaboration in the European Digital Hubs.

The vision is to enable companies to develop innovative products and services that address key issues in the food system.

The UCD team - Prof Lorraine Brennan and Dr Aoife O Gorman - bring expertise in food and health and are actively involved in mentoring the artists as they develop their future prototypes. 

For more information about MUSAE, please visit: https://musae.starts.eu/

MUSAE - creative solutions for our food systems

Multilingualism in Ireland is a podcast series hosted by Stephen Lucek and Marion Schulte. In episode 4 the hosts talk to Dr Bronagh Catibusic about multilingualism and the University of Sanctuary initiative in Trinity College Dublin. 

Dr Bronagh Catibusic is an Assistant Professor in Applied Linguistics (TESOL) in the Centre for Language and Communication Studies. She holds a B.A. (Hons.) in English Studies, an M.Phil. in Applied Linguistics, and a Ph.D. from Trinity College Dublin. She has previously lectured on the teaching of English as an Additional Language (EAL) in Dublin City University. She has also been involved in research for the Council of Europe, the National College of Ireland, and several NGOs on issues pertaining to language and migration. Her research and publications relate to language acquisition and pedagogy, curriculum and assessment, and plurilingual and intercultural education, with a particular interest in contexts of forced migration. Bronagh has a long record of teaching, research, and engagement with refugee and migrant communities in Ireland. She recently received an Irish Research Council 'New Foundations' award for a research project focusing on technology-enhanced language learning with adult migrants. She is also actively involved in the University of Sanctuary initiative and leads the Trinity English Conversation Classes, a valuable civic engagement project through which Trinity staff and student volunteers provide language and intercultural support for people who are seeking refuge in Ireland. She currently working on research relating to this project and is involved in initiatives, established within Trinity and by the Irish Universities Association, in response to the crisis in Ukraine.

About the hosts

Stephen Lucek is an Assistant Professor in Linguistics in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics. His research focuses on linguistic competencies and resources of language users in Ireland. This extends to multilingualism, register variation, and polydialectalism. In much simpler terms, he is interested in how users access language in all its forms. 

Marion Schulte is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Rostock. Her research focuses on various contexts of language use and language variation –she is especially interested in sociophonetics, multilingualism in postcolonial societies (Ireland and Namibia), as well as short-term and long-term language change.

Multilingualism in Ireland. Ep4: University of Sanctuary with Bronagh Catibusic

Multilingualism in Ireland is a podcast series hosted by Stephen Lucek and Marion Schulte. In episode 3 the hosts talk to Leire Sarto-Zubiaurre who researched the acquisition of Spanish as a foreign Language by Irish learners for her PhD topic.

About the hosts

Stephen Lucek is an Assistant Professor in Linguistics in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics. His research focuses on linguistic competencies and resources of language users in Ireland. This extends to multilingualism, register variation, and polydialectalism. In much simpler terms, he is interested in how users access language in all its forms. 

Marion Schulte is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Rostock. Her research focuses on various contexts of language use and language variation –she is especially interested in sociophonetics, multilingualism in postcolonial societies (Ireland and Namibia), as well as short-term and long-term language change.

Multilingualism in Ireland. Ep3: language acquisition with Leire Sarto-Zubiaurre

Multilingualism in Ireland is a podcast series hosted by Stephen Lucek and Marion Schulte.

Fióna Bolger is a poet, creative writing teacher & workshop facilitator, based in Dublin. Find out more about her work and poetry. https://www.fionabolgerpoetry.com
https://www.ilsschool.org/dubylon.html and https://www.unapologeticmag.net/new-page

Stephen Lucek is an Assistant Professor in Linguistics in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics. His research focuses on linguistic competencies and resources of language users in Ireland. This extends to multilingualism, register variation, and polydialectalism. In much simpler terms, he is interested in how users access language in all its forms. 

Marion Schulte is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Rostock. Her research focuses on various contexts of language use and language variation –she is especially interested in sociophonetics, multilingualism in postcolonial societies (Ireland and Namibia), as well as short-term and long-term language change.

Multilingualism in Ireland. Ep2: Plurilingualism (with Fiona Bolger, Stephen Lucek & Marion Schulte)

In this episode of the MUSAE podcast, Dr Aoife O'Gorman (UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science) talks to Sanja Šikoparija and Víctor Fernández, who worked together as part of the NOURISH team, one of the winning projects from MUSAE's Second Open Call. Aoife also talks to Eva Monestier from POLIMI, coordinators of the MUSAE project.

MUSAE is an EU Horizon funded project developing approaches for art-driven innovation. The project brings together experts from different disciplines to define an innovative model to integrate artistic collaboration in the European Digital Hubs.

The vision is to enable companies to develop innovative products and services that address key issues in the food system.

The UCD team - Prof Lorraine Brennan and Dr Aoife O Gorman - bring expertise in food and health and are actively involved in mentoring the artists as they develop their future prototypes.

For more information about MUSAE, please visit: https://musae.starts.eu/

MUSAE - NOURISH Team, participants in MUSAE's Second Open Call and POLIMI

'From Modern Crisis to Permacrisis and Polycrisis. Epistemological Perspectives and Interventions’ was a symposium which took place in University College Dublin in May 2025 and was supported by the UCD Strategic and Major Initiative Scheme.

In this episode a recording of panel 8 at the symposium - Imagining Futures in the Age of Permacrisis. This panel featured: Aleida Assmann (Konstanz) who spoke about ‘Changing Concepts of the Future’. Anne Fuchs (UCD) spoke about the openness of the future. John Barry (Queens), ‘Fluxed Futures or "Barbarism if we're lucky": Radical Hope and the Responsibility of Intellectuals’; Jeanne Riou (UCD), ‘Permacrisis, Epochal Threshold and the Problem of Time’. The panel was chaired by Marek Tamm (Tallinn).

Imagining Futures in the Age of Permacrisis

'From Modern Crisis to Permacrisis and Polycrisis. Epistemological Perspectives and Interventions’ was a symposium which took place in University College Dublin in May 2025 and was supported by the UCD Strategic and Major Initiative Scheme.

In this episode a recording of the opening roundtable at the symposium. This roundtable, entitled 'Living with Permacrisis and Polycrisis', featured panelists: Aleida Assmann (Konstanz); John Barry (Queens University Belfast); Kieran Keohane (University College Cork); and activist Ailbhe Smyth. The roundtable was chaired by Anne Fuchs (UCD) & Marek Tamm (Tallinn).


Living with Permacrisis and Polycrisis

The UCD Humanities Institute is delighted to host a roundtable discussion with two world-renowned public intellectuals: Aleida Assmann (Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c, Emerita Professor of English Literature | University of Konstanz) and Susan Neiman (Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c, Director, Einstein Forum | Berlin) have made significant public interventions in the ongoing debate on democracy and its institutions, misinformation, anti-Semitism, the war in Gaza, the rise of the far right and the need for a cultural memory that is responsive to global polycrises.

The evidence that we are living in a world of seismic disruption is overwhelming: the unravelling of postwar liberal order and of the transatlantic alliance; the unprecedented decision by the new US government to vote with Russia against a Ukrainian and European backed UN Resolution condemning Russia's war against Ukraine; Trump’s threats to take control of the Panama Canal, Greenland, Gaza and Canada; the unleashing of trade wars; the global erosion of democracy; the rise of the far right in Germany, Europe and globally; the crisis of trust in democratic institutions; malign disinformation campaigns by hostile actors – these are just some examples of cascading and connected crises that threaten the postwar liberal order. In this tumultuous context championing a critical cultural memory based on diversity, equality and inclusion is ever more important. We will discuss the need for critical cultural memory in response to revisionist agendas, while also exploring new approaches that reflect the diverse make-up of contemporary societies.  

Aleida Assmann is emerita Professor of English Literature at the University of Konstanz.  Her research on cultural memory, its forms and functions has been path-breaking, as manifest in her global recognition. Related areas of her research are: the history of media, the history and theory of reading.

Susan Neiman is a US American philosopher, cultural commentator, essayist and public intellectual.  She has written extensively on the juncture between moral philosophy, metaphysics, and politics, both for scholarly audiences and the general public. She currently lives in Germany, where she is the Director of the Einstein Forum. 

The Future of Cultural Memory. A Dialogue in Times of Disruption with Susan Neiman, Aleida Assmann

Luke Casserly is a multidisciplinary performance maker from Longford, Ireland.

His work weaves together ecological research, autobiography, sound art, and site as a way of carving out space for new possibilities to emerge between live performance and physical landscape. His projects have brought audiences through city streets, back gardens, train stations, beaches, and a bog in the Irish Midlands. These have led to the creation of a network of wildflower meadows across Ireland (1000 Miniature Meadows, 2020–23), the planting of 1,000 indigenous trees (Root, 2021), and the development of an organic perfume made using botanicals from the Irish bog (Distillation, 2023). Often using autobiography as a starting point, his work attempts to open new conversations around humanity’s impact on the environment. He is interested in making work with a positive environmental legacy beyond the moment of live encounter with an audience, creating gentle, subversive interventions in response to the climate crisis while avoiding the anxiety, greenwashing, and didacticism that often surrounds the topic in contemporary society.

In 2024, he was appointed as a Biodiversity Artist in Residence at Dublin City Council. For more information go to Luke's website: https://www.lukecasserly.org

In episode 1 of Extracts Luke talks to hosts Sarah Comyn and Megan Kuster about his work.

The music is from the South African performance art ensemble ‘The Brother Moves On’. We gratefully acknowledge the UCD Humanities Institute and UCD’s College of Arts & Humanities Research Strands Seed Funding scheme for funding this project.

Extracts - Episode 1. Luke Casserly


EXTRACTS is a podcast series about how artists are working to reimagine the potential futures of mined, excavated, and extractivist landscapes hosted by Sarah Comyn and Megan Kuster. 

In episode 2 of Extracts, hosts Sarah and Megan talk to Rhiannon Gwyn about her work.

Rhiannon Gwyn was raised in Sling near Bethesda - a quarrying village in North Wales, a place that has, and continues to strongly influence her creative practice.

In 2019 Rhiannon graduated with a first class Artist Designer: Maker degree from Cardiff School of Art and Design. On the course she was encouraged to experiment with a variety of materials and their processes and found her interest to be with slate and clay, now her practice seeks to discover new possibilities in the crafting of these materials.

You can find more information about Rhiannon Gwynn's work at https://www.instagram.com/rhiannongwyn.artist

The music is from the South African performance art ensemble ‘The Brother Moves On’.

We gratefully acknowledge the UCD Humanities Institute and UCD’s College of Arts & Humanities Research Strands Seed Funding scheme for funding this project.


Extracts - Episode 2. Rhiannon Gwyn

UCD Conway Institute is an interdisciplinary research centre based in University College Dublin. We explore the mechanisms of health and disease. This allows us to develop new preventative strategies, diagnostics and therapeutics to benefit health & well-being. Our vision is to be a leader in biomedical research and innovation. We provide an invigorating environment to facilitate excellence in the biomedical sciences and translate new knowledge.  https://www.ucd.ie/conway

MUSAE - creative solutions for our food systems

UCD Conway Institute

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