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Dermot Hayes, disability community activist from Ennis in conversation with Dr Rosie Gowran, School of Allied Health, UL and Leigh Gath, disability rights campaigner on the importance and challenges of getting the right wheelchair nationally and globally and the difficulties that wheelchair users face when proper supports are not available.

Oisín Kavanagh is a pharmacist and PhD researcher with the Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre (SSPC), the SFI Pharmaceutical Research Centre, at the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ. He discusses how advances in the distribution and production of medicines might shape the pharmacy of the future and how these could help to alleviate the financial burden on the State while in turn easing the burden on patients, making drug delivery easier and more effective. He explores how 3D printing of personalised medicines in pharmacies may bring benefits but also raises the regulatory concerns that may ensue within an industry that is highly monitored and regulated.

The Research Soapbox event highlighted how research can make a real difference. The lunchtime showcase event took place in the Fab Lab in Limerick’s city centre and involved researchers from PhD to Professor with voices from the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ Thesis in 3 Competition as well as the Research Impact Podcast Series. The event was moderated by Prof Helena Lenihan, Chair of the UL Research Impact Committee. The range of topics varied from match fixing in sport to designer medicines and from folding turbine blades to the rights of wheelchair users and a lot more besides.

Psychology has traditionally focused on biological, genetic or personality factors to explain why some people cope better or worse than others in adverse situations. However such a focus can lead to a therapeutic dead end as it is very difficult to change a person’s temperament or genetic predispositions. In the first of a series of guest host podcasts, Psychology Masters student Ilyana Keohane introduces Prof Orla Muldoon as she discusses the research carried out at the Centre for Social Issues Research ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ where they address this problem by conducting highly regarded research on the benefits and burdens of so-called ‘collective identities’, such as nationality, socio-economic groups, and ethnicity.

In 1900, only 14% percent of the world’s population lived in a city. Today, for the first time in history, more than half the planet’s population reside in urban areas. These urban centres are now racing to become the smart cities of the future. Limerick has received a major boost in the race to become a smart city through its designation as Ireland’s first ‘Lighthouse Smart City’ through the Positive City Exchange Project. Rosie Webb, Senior Architect, Limerick City & County Council and Deputy co-ordinator of the Positive City Exchange Project and Professor Merritt Bucholz, founding Professor of Architecture at the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ, who is also an investigator on the project join us to tell us more about this project to shape Limerick’s future.

Ethnomusicologist, Irish traditional musician and lecturer at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ, Dr Aileen Dillane talks about her research project FestiVersities: European Music Festivals, Public Spaces, and Cultural Diversities. This research is supported through Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA), European Commission.