School of Languages, Lawand Social SciencesNewsletter, Spring 2018

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Dr. Angela Feeney, Head ofSchool of Languages, Law andSocial SciencesAngela Feeney joins us as Head of the School ofLanguages, Law and Social Sciences having servedas Head of the School of Business and Humanitiesand previously as Head of the Humanities Department at ITT.  Her academicbackground is in Languages, holding a BA in French and Irish, an MA in Frenchand a Postgraduate Diploma in Translation from the Chartered Institute ofLinguists.  In addition, Angela has over thirty years experience in education withqualifications in the field that include a Postgraduate Diploma in Education and

her PhD examines student retention and engagement at third level.

Angela joined the staff of ITT when it opened in 1992 as a lecturer in French,lecturing in French language, literature and Translation Theory, leading the BA inApplied Languages and the BSc in Computing with Languages as well as the firsttaught Masters in the School.  She was a founding member of the National Centrefor Franco-Irish Studies at ITT, supervising postgraduate students in the areas ofliterature and bilingualism.  Angela also acted as Assistant to the Registrar onsecondment during which she worked on the documents to support the qualityassurance of the Institute. She has acted as external examiner in many otherinstitutions, including DIT.

Angela was the first Erasmus institutional coordinator for ITT and currentlyrepresents Ireland in an EU funded Erasmus+project (Janus+) on the theme ofsoft skills competencies evaluation in the workplace, the output of which is anonline measurement tool to be used by both trainees and mentors.  Previously,she has been a National assessor on Canada-EU joint consortia and Nationalrepresentative on QualiTraining project and the Digital Online Training (DOTS)projects for the European Commission.

Angela set up the first academic award for student and staff volunteering in ITT. Through her coordination of the first Social Care Practice placements sheestablished sustainable links with the region through an annual Volunteering Fairhosted each year to raise awareness of social issues among the academiccommunity.  She also established international internships for the students oftourism and hospitality.  Angela set up English language programmes forinternational academics and researchers through the ITT Summer School as wellas Summer Camps for local school children in the area of Digital Media andCulinary Arts Academy which was awarded HEA funding in recognition of theinitiative.

Angela was awarded the Faculty Research Award by the Canadian Embassy inIreland for her research on French-Canadian literature.  In addition, she wasawarded HEA funding to develop a joint Masters with Canada through theErasmus+ programme.  Recently awarded Chevalier des Palmes Académiques bythe French government in recognition of her work in promoting the study ofFrench language and culture and in creating multiple linkages between the twocountries.  She is currently a member of the executive board of AMOPA theAssociation for Members of the Ordre des Palmes Academiques.

Dr. Cathal Curran, AssistantLecturer in LawDr. Cathal Curran commenced as an Assistant

Lecturer in Law on 22nd January, 2018. Cathal has aBA and LLB (from NUIG); LLM from UCC and a PhDfrom TCD.Cathal's doctoral thesis considered the rule of lawideal and the practice of statutory interpretation inthe jurisprudence of the superior Irish Courts, in light

of interpretative theory. He has lectured in the Law Department in MaynoothUniversity, as well as in the Law School in UCC. Cathal lectures in Jurisprudence,Prison Law, Introduction to Law and Core Legal Skills.Cathal’s primary research interests concern the rule of law ideal, interpretationand the philosophy of language, statutory theory and critical theory.

Margaret Fingleton, AssistantLecturer in Social CareMargaret Fingleton commenced as an AssistantLecturer in Social Care on 21 February, 2018.Margaret has a BA in Social Care from DIT; MA inTherapeutic Childcare (Carlow College); and is currently a PhD candidate in DIT(supervised by Dr. Fiona McSweeney). She previously worked in a similar role in ITTallaght and has also worked on the lecturing team of the MA in TherapeuticChildcare in Carlow College. Margaret has worked in the Statutory and Voluntarysector and has experience in Residential and Community care, Youth andDisability services and was owner and manager of Finwey Farm which providedAnimal Assisted Therapy/ Activities and Forest School education.Margaret's teaching areas are Professional Practice, Groupwork, Communication,Reflective practice, Placement coordination and supervision.Her research interests are Social Justice, Attachment, Therapeutic interventions,Animal Assisted therapy, Migrant experiences of Higher Education and Socialcare.

Social sciences publicationsupdateThe catalogue of publications by Social Sciencesstaff (2013-2018) has been updated.

See details of 90+ journal articles, monographs, reports and book chapters [here].

New book chapter by Dr. SusannaNocchiDr. Susanna Nocchi has a chapter entitled 'ForeignLanguage Teaching and Learning in Virtual Worlds:The Construct of Affordance' in a recently publishedbook by Nova Publishers 'Virtual Worlds: Concepts, Applications and FutureDirections'.

Book summary

"Virtual Worlds: Concepts, Applications and Future Directions explores the richand fascinating topic of virtual worlds by bringing together research findings anddiscussion pieces from an international group of leading practitioners in the field.There are many different definitions of virtual worlds, but they all share thecharacteristic of enabling real-time interaction between users who are present inthese worlds in the form of avatars, i.e., digital projections of ourselves into virtualenvironments. A particular theme of the book is how our activities in virtualworlds continue to develop our understanding of the nature of virtual experience,and particularly what it means to be digitally human. These ideas are exploredfrom a diverse and engaging range of perspectives that include archaeology,languages, teacher training, computing, meditation and well-being, forensicscience, performance art and artificial intelligence. Each chapter provides an in-depth discussion and analysis, and practical examples of successfulimplementations of virtual world technologies are also included. The book will beinvaluable to researchers and practitioners in the fields of virtual worlds, virtualreality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence. It presents evidence,discussion and advice on some of the underpinning concepts relating to virtuality,on the application of virtual technologies to our daily lives, and encourages us toponder the possible futures of these types of technology." (Nova)

Dr. Chris Dixon on BBC Radio ScotlandChris Dixon was interviewed by award-winning author and broadcaster, Billy Kay,for a BBC Radio Scotland documentary series entitled “Don Roberto.”  The subjectof the programme is author and politician Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham(1852-1936).  The first episode, The Adventure Begins, was broadcast on Tuesday20 February 2018 and features heavily Chris’ wide ranging interview, coveringCunninghame Graham’s Spanish and Latin American connections, his politics andhis writings about American Indian people [Listen here].

Social sciences research seminarseries20 February 2018: Dr. Muireann O'Keeffe, fromthe Learning, Teaching and Technology Centre, led awell attended seminar entitled 'Academic Twitterand scholarly identity: constructing your digitalscholarly identity on Twitter'.

The research was conducted for Muireann's PhDdissertation, which is available online [here].

The seminars are organised by Dr. Mairéad Seymour.

Upcoming seminarsThe next two seminars in the Social Sciencesresearch seminar series are:

Dr. Matt Bowden, Senior Lecturer, School ofLanguages, Law and SocialSciences, will give a seminar on 'PluralPolicing and the Formation of a Security Field:Some Early Findings' from 1 to 2pm on Tuesday 06 March 2018 in RD005Rathdown House, DIT Grangegorman Campus.

 

Dr. Amy Healy (Postdoctoral Researcher, European Social Survey Round 8),Mary Immaculate College at the University of Limerick will present on ‘Usingthe European Social Survey for Teaching and Research’ on Tuesday20th March 2018 from 1 to 2pm in RD005 Rathdown House, DITGrangegorman.

All welcome. Tea/coffee and sandwiches will be provided. Registration is requiredfor catering purposes: 

https://pluralpolicing.eventbrite.ie

https://europeansocialsurvey.eventbrite.ie

Spring graduation 2018Many congratulations to all of our students whograduated on Saturday 24th February. Studentsfrom the following programmes graduated at a beautiful ceremony in St. Patrick'scathedral 

MA in CriminologyMA in Child, Family and Community StudiesBA in Early Childhood EducationBA in Social CareBA in Languages and International Tourism (Spanish)

Congratulations to Eret Haava, MA in Criminology, who won the Social Sciencesprize for academic excellence in a Masters Dissertation.

Well done to you all.  We are proud of you and wish you all the best for the future.

100s of photos of the day can be found on the Graduate Network facebook page,with links to high resolution pics in Dropbox [click here].

Sociological Association of Ireland annual conferenceis coming to GrangegormanThe 2018 Annual Conference of the Sociological Association of Ireland is comingto Grangegorman on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th of May 2018. 

Further details of the conference and the Call for Papers can be viewed [here].

Spring 2018 Law public lecture seriesWe are delighted to invite the public to four Law lectures in the coming weeks.

All welcome, queries to law@dit.ie

 

"How judges judge: Insights into judicial decision making". Dr. Brian Barry,

School of Languages, Law andSocial SciencesBradogue

DIT Grangegorman, Dublin 7.

Tel.: 01-4024164

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7th March 2018, 6pm, Room 5034, DIT Aungier Street

 

“High times: A comparative evaluation of the laws governing the regulationof cannabis in Colorado and the continuing cost of prohibition in Ireland”. MrNiall Neligan BL, 14th March 2018, 6pm Room 4079 DIT Aungier Street

 

"The cul-de-sac of European Union law - why the current model isn'tworking". Dr Stephen Carruthers, 21st March 2018, 6pm Room 2046 DITAungier Street

 

“Commercial Leases in 2018: New developments in Landlord and TenantLaw”. Ms Ruth Cannon BL, 9th April 2018, 6pm Room 5034 DIT AungierStreet