Location: TUS, Moylish Park, Limerick City, Ireland
Commences: 09:30 10 May 2022
Finishes: 16:00 12 May 2022
Training School Overview
COST Action 18236: SHIINE – Multi-Disciplinary Innovation for Social Change is hosting its first Training School at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS): Mid-West Campus, Limerick City.
In an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world, traditional disciplinary approaches to the framing and resolution of social and economic problems deliver ever diminishing returns. Discussions abound, therefore, about how best to educate and prepare graduates for complex challenges facing communities and societies in the 21stcentury.
Knowledge Alliances between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), private or social enterprises, civil and voluntary organisations and statutory agencies aim to foster innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity, employability, knowledge exchange and/or multidisciplinary teaching and learning. These partnerships are becoming increasingly necessary and relevant. Academia has coined the term ‘quadruple helix’ to reflect this form of collaboration between various stakeholders to tackle societal challenges. The changing nature of contemporary society highlights that social issues are often highly complex and multifaceted.
The aim of this Training School is to demonstrate, through the adoption of Multi-Disciplinary Innovation (MDI) methods, how we can respond to social problems with a design-led approach which has a problem-oriented ethos, supporting positive social change and the development of public policy discourse.
The Training School will apply the Multi-Disciplinary Innovation methodologies to a case study location, specifically the North Regeneration area of Limerick City. This location comprising of the communities of Moyross, Ballynanty and King’s Island, has recorded very significant levels of socio-economic deprivation across multiple decades. The root causes for this deprivation stem from low education attainment rates; high unemployment rates; and high proportion of lone parents. Furthermore, a significant proportion of the housing stock is owned by the local authority / municipality. These communities were primarily built in the 1960s /1970s and very little social infrastructure was provided initially. In the 1990s / 2000s, these communities witnessed significant challenges associated with high rates of poverty; anti-social behaviour; and drug misuse / dealing. In response to these challenges, various actors including higher education institutions; local authority; Irish state; community and voluntary sector; social enterprise; and private sector have worked collaboratively in order to develop sustainable solutions to counteract the challenges faced by the communities within the Limerick North Regeneration Area.
The Training School will cover the following theoretical concepts through a series of lectures (offered from a multi-disciplinary lens):
- Quadruple Helix
- Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship
- Multi-Disciplinary Innovation
- Community Planning and Socio-Economic Profiling
Furthermore, participants at the Training School will participate in problem-solving workshops and associated fieldtrip to community and voluntary groups; social enterprises; and private enterprises / industry within Moyross. The TUS: Mid-West Campus is situated within this community., thereby enabling Training School participants to walk between the various different settings.
Criteria: Training School Grants will be primarily reserved for PhD students and young researcher with a primary affiliation in an institution located in an ITC (Inclusiveness Target Country).
The ITCs are as follows: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.
EU Member States Regions Outermost Regions: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Reunion Island and Saint-Martin (France), Azores and Madeira (Portugal), and the Canary Islands (Spain)
Young researchers are individuals less than 40 years of age.
The training grant is only eligible to individuals who participate for the full duration of the Training School in Limerick (10 -12 May 2022).
The training grant will cover: accommodation, travel costs and daily allowance. The funding rules and requirements for applicants participating in COST Action Training Schools are outlined in the Annotated Rules for COST Actions (please see Section 6).
Applicants are requested to submit a completed application form https://forms.gle/kWec5aBrcCA82wzj8 and Curriculum Vitae by 15 April 2022 to Dr Shane O’Sullivan (shane.osullivan@tus.ie)
All enquiries can be forwarded to Dr. Shane O’Sullivan (shane.osullivan@tus.ie) , Training School Co-ordinator for Cost Action 18236; and Lecturer in Community Development, TUS.
