The CLASS Acts podcast is an initiative of UCD Conway Institute, a research institute based in University College Dublin.

In episode 3, Dr. Eoin Cummins talks with Associate Professor Virginie Gautier from the UCD Center for Research in Infectious Disease who is a Conway Fellow. 

Virginie explains how an interest in reproductive biology sparked her interest in science, which is now focused on virology. Virginie describes how her passion for virology has mainly centred on understanding the biology of HIV and has more recently pivoted towards coronaviruses during the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

CLASS Acts

The podcast series will introduce you to scientists at the heart of fascinating new research at the Institute.

What motivated our researchers to pursue a career in science? What journeys have they taken along their career path? What areas of research are they pursuing? How have their careers been influenced by mentorship along the way?

Some of these scientists have long-established research groups in the Institute while others have just beginning to build their own team. All of them have spoken about their work in our weekly Conway Lecture & Seminar Series; or CLASS for short.

Our host is Dr Eoin Cummins; Assistant Professor in Physiology in the UCD School of Medicine and a Conway Fellow. Eoin leads a research group studying how carbon dioxide and oxygen affect cellular behaviour.

Eoin is also passionate about educating the next generation of scientists and medics and actively contributes to equality, diversity & inclusion initiatives within UCD.

He was inspired to create the CLASS Acts podcast to share the many and varied backgrounds and journeys taken by Conway researchers on their routes to scientific success.

www.ucd.ie/conway

Virginie Gautier: CLASS Acts (UCD Conway)

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)

The third roundtable in our online series for 2024/25 seeks to explore the diverse forms of representation that emerge from and engage with extractivist activities and their underpinning ideologies. We invite speakers from various disciplines to consider forms broadly, including but not limited to novels, poetry, travel writing, memoirs, petitions, photographs, and picture postcards.

The aim is to foster a dialogue that transcends conventional definitions of genres and forms, to think about how extractivism can generate unique forms of representation, and how these forms, in turn, critically engage with the practices and ideologies of extractivism. Additionally, we aim to create a space where speakers and attendees can share the obstacles they have encountered when working with forms that pose linguistic, cultural, or methodological challenges, and to discuss how these challenges shape their interpretations and analyses.

Speakers:

Dr Adelene Buckland, Department of English, King’s College London
Dr Julia Ditter, Department of Literature, Art, and Media Studies, University of Konstanz
Associate Professor Nathan K. Hensley, Department of English, Georgetown University
Associate Professor Charlotte Rogers, Environmental Humanities, University of Virginia

The workshop was chaired by Dr Ge Tang, who is a Postdoctoral Fellow on Minerals.


Minerals Online Roundtable III: Extraction and Forms of Representation

Minerals Online Roundtable IV: Extractivism and Material Histories
Online
Apr 28, 9:00 am–10:30 am

The fourth and final roundtable in our online series for 2024/25 seeks to explore extractivism through the lens of material histories, encouraging expansive thinking about material culture associated with extractive practices and ideas.

Participants are invited to consider a wide array of materials, from extractive tools to architectures, from domestic artefacts to artworks created in mining fields, and from environmental remnants to archival records, etc. This roundtable aims to reveal how material culture can illuminate broader issues related to extractivism, including but not limited to race, gender, and environmental impacts, while also enabling the recovery of lost voices and stories.

Speakers:

Dr Madhavi Jha, Assistant Professor, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani
Dr Oliver Tappe, Substitute Professor, University of Kontstanz
Dr Nicholas Y. H. Wong, Assistant Professor, University of Hong Kong

The workshop was chaired by Dr Ge Tang, who is a Postdoctoral Fellow on Minerals.

Minerals Online Roundtable IV: Extractivism and Material Histories

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

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

Virginie Gautier: CLASS Acts (UCD Conway)

UCD Conway Institute

Related tracks