Queens University – Slugger O'Toole

Queen’s to host virtual conference on sensing divisions in human societies…

Queen’s Policy Engagement on May 15, 2020, 1:32 pm

| Readers 342

The School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, and the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University will host a virtual conference exploring human divisions in society on 21-22 May. This free conference aims to investigate the nature of troubling and persistent divisions in human societies that often keep societies from producing stable governance. Some societies which will be explored are Northern Ireland, Australia, Austria, Cyprus, Greece, India and Nigeria to name but …

Queen’s Quarter superblock – Freeing a city quarter from vehicle traffic and pedestrianising Botanic Avenue…

Jonathan Hobbs on May 12, 2020, 10:33 am

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Following Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon’s announcement of a new Walking and Cycling Champion, to lead the emergency measures needed to immediately increase active travel space and priority, we take a closer look at one aspect of plans: superblocks. The term has been used to describe work to reduce traffic levels within areas of Barcelona, and Bikefast has proposed a superblock-style approach to re-configuring Belfast’s Linen Quarter. Coronavirus has claimed many lives and devastated families, and will continue to do so – in greater …

SOAPBOX: Why university staff are striking…

Soapbox on February 21, 2020, 7:33 am

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Dominic Bryan, is a Professor at the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queen’s University Belfast. You can follow him on Twitter. Staff in Northern Ireland at Queen’s University, the University of Ulster and the Open University, myself included, are on strike again. Staff at Universities all over the UK are on strike again. This is the second time in a year and the third time in three years. It is utterly frustrating that we are back in …

Free event: Queen’s Policy Engagement Post-Brexit Clinic on 4 February 2020…

Queen’s Policy Engagement on January 28, 2020, 5:19 pm

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Join us for what will be the first post-Brexit Clinic here at Queen’s Policy Engagement. The UK’s request to extend the Brexit deadline to 31 January 2020 was agreed back in 2019 and Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal recently became law after it received royal assent from the Queen, having gone through all the required stages in Parliament. As things stand, the 1st February 2020 will mark the first day of the transition period for the UK and the beginning of a very …

GE2019: Post-Election Analysis and Implications for Brexit…

Queen’s Policy Engagement on December 12, 2019, 4:06 pm

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Free Event: Tuesday 17 December at 12.30pm Bell Lecture Theatre, Main Campus, Queen’s University Belfast Why not come along for some post-election dissection with a side of Brexit analysis thrown in! Boris Johnson’s call for a general election was finally heard, and as we all know by now, UK voters are off to the polls on the 12th December for what commentators are calling the most important election in a generation! Join us at Queen’s University on the 17th December …

Free event – Rejections, Defections and Elections…

Queen’s Policy Engagement on June 12, 2019, 6:53 pm

| Readers 459

Over the past three years, Brexit has been the gift that just keeps on giving. There are those who want to rip it open and get stuck right into it, while there are others who are halfway to the shops with the receipt in hand. Since our last Brexit Clinic at Queen’s in March, Theresa May’s Brexit deal was once again rejected by Parliament, an extension until 31 October was agreed and May’s subsequent negotiations with Labour on a way …

Free Slugger Session Event on Tuesday the 28 May 2019: Gun Violence in America…

Brian O'Neill on May 20, 2019, 2:09 pm

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In this Slugger Session at Queen’s we will be in discussion with Elizabeth Charash on the topic of Gun Violence in America. Wide access to firearms and loose regulations lead to more than 39,000 men, women and children being killed with guns each year in the USA. In 2017, some 39,773 died from gunshot injuries, an average of nearly 109 people each day. Per capita, this is significantly higher than in other industrialized countries. Firearm homicides in the USA disproportionately …

Free event – Imagine: The UK’s Future Relationship with the EU…

Queen’s Policy Engagement on March 12, 2019, 5:08 pm

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The date for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union draws ever closer. EU leaders have previously agreed the political declaration that sets out the broad aspirations for the kind of relationship the UK and the EU envisage having after Brexit. But what will this so-called ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership actually look like? And how will it, and more immediately UK withdrawal from the EU, impact on the many areas of collaboration that have been built up over 45 years of …

Free conference at Queen’s University Belfast. Global Conflict: The Human Impact – 23-24 August 2018…

Soapbox on August 6, 2018, 3:26 pm

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The conference, convened by Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Chicago, will be addressed by a range of distinguished speakers who will share their expertise on the Northern Ireland peace process, the peace process in Colombia, and the international refugee crisis, among other themes. Confirmed speakers include United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi; former US Senator George J. Mitchell; former US Assistant Secretary of State Anne C. Richard; Dominic MacSorley, CEO of Concern Worldwide; and James Robinson, Reverend …

Should Queen’s University break its link with The Presbyterian Union Theological College?

Brian O'Neill on June 12, 2018, 4:44 pm

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There has been a public backlash against the perceived anti-LGBTQ policies of the Presbyterian Church. Many people have left the church over it, and many more are considering their position. The writer Tony Macaulay and his wife Leslie have left the church after more than 50 years of membership, and decades of inspiring service. Tony was a youth worker for the Presbyterian Church on a violent interface during some of the most dangerous years of the Troubles. Their daughter is …

The authority to speak, linquistic intolerance, anonymity and monolingual regimes

Concubhar on April 26, 2018, 7:53 am

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There’s a line in a poem by Seán Ó Riordáin poem called Daoirse/Captivity or Unfreedom which talks about a woman and the way she might talk to you and the impact that would have on you. Dá labhródh bean leat íseal nach ísleofá do ghuth, dá mbeadh an bean réasúnta, nach réasúnófaí thú. If a woman spoke to you quietly, wouldn’t you lower your voice, if the woman was reasonable, wouldn’t that make you reasonable too. Bernadette O’Rourke, who gave …

A tribute to Patrick Johnston – Vice-Chancellor of Queens University

Terry Maguire on June 5, 2017, 10:24 am

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There was palpable shock and genuine grief among the staff of Queens on Sunday evening following announcement of the death of the Vice-Chancellor, Paddy Johnston. A top flight academic and brilliant administrator had died suddenly in his prime when he had so much more to give. We were in the same year at St Columb’s College, Derry during the first half of the 1970s. He being a day boy and I being a boarder, and being in different classes of …

Queen’s Hosts Interactive Showcase ‘Global Thinking Locally’ at Belfast City Hall tomorrow

Soapbox on May 29, 2017, 8:32 pm

| Readers 317

Queen’s University Belfast will be hosting an interactive showcase event at Belfast City Hall to demonstrate the impact the University has on the community in Belfast and across the globe. The showcase will take place on Tuesday, 30 May 2017 from 10am – 2.30pm in the Great Hall at Belfast City Hall. There will be over 30 interactive exhibitions from a range of Queen’s world-leading experts and researchers showcasing their work under the themes of Future Cities, Healthy Citizens, …

Voices for the Voiceless: culture and community resistance (QUB ICRH)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on September 29, 2015, 11:34 pm

| Readers 447

EXCLUSION & MARGINALISATION: How do communities use culture to express and counter their exclusion and marginalisation? A screening of Ken Fero’s short film “Burn” looking at aftermath of 2011 English riots and killing of Mark Duggan followed by a discussion about culture and community resistance – Voices for the Voiceless on 15 October by QUB ICRH.

Cuts lead third level education down the path of the privileged

Soapbox on July 9, 2015, 10:48 am

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Eugene Tinnelly is a founder member of the Student Poverty Alliance Group. He writes for us about the cuts in higher education Education should be free. Whether it be primary level or third level, your access to education should not be determined by what’s in your wallet but instead, by what’s in your brain. People will say that’s an idealistic way of looking at it but tell that to the people of Denmark who receive universally free education. Unfortunately the …

Stranmillis launch their Spring Lifelong Learning programme

Brian O'Neill on January 27, 2015, 3:16 pm

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One of the benefits of working from home is the possibly of sneaking off to the cinema etc. when things are quiet. Each year I am also tempted to do some of the lifelong learning courses at Queens or Stranmillis. Unfortunately reality gets in the way and I seldom make it away from my digital shackles. If you have some free time the courses are really worth a look. Are you running night/lifelong learning classes? Feel free to plug them in …

QUB Student’s Union show signs of “Old Guard” mentality

Turgon on May 7, 2014, 9:58 am

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Queen’s University Students’ Union from the 1970s until at least the mid 1990s suffered from extremely divided student politics. It even reached the stage that the Northern Bank was excluded from Freshers’ Fair; whilst assorted IRA members were made honorary life members and a number of members of the executive went on after graduation to gaol for IRA terrorist offences.(one popped back up again recently as a Deputy Headteacher) Bizarrely they also voted to ban Nestle products from the Students’ …

Red Squirrels and Pine Martens in Fermanagh

Turgon on May 3, 2014, 12:20 pm

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Amid all the fevered discussion of recent days I thought something much lighter and fun was called for. From the BBC: Queens academic Dr. David Tosh has been trying to gain further information about the distribution of red and grey squirrels in Fermanagh with help from the Fermanagh Red Squirrel Group and the National Trust in putting up camera traps to photograph red squirrels. This has been somewhat successful but has actually taken many more photographs of the rarer and …

Slugger online debate on ‘community asset transfer’ starts next week…

Mick Fealty on February 13, 2012, 2:56 pm

| Readers 42

From next Monday, Slugger will play host to a series of blog essays and on-the-ground interviews on the subject of community asset transfer (see this piece on the Guardian’s blog for an idea of what it actually is). Here’s the Asset Transfer Unit’s description: …asset transfer is a shift in management and / or ownership of land or buildings, from public bodies, (most commonly local authorities), to communities, (community and voluntary sector groups, community enterprises, social enterprises, etc). The main …

NI Universities show strong religious imbalance in student numbers

vanhelsing on October 18, 2011, 3:25 pm

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The Minister for Employment and Learning, Stephen Farry, was asked yesterday by MLAs Jim Allister and Gregory Campbell how many Protestants attended universities in Northern Ireland. The answer – only one third of students. Firstly let’s be clear – it doesn’t matter when students achieve a university place what religion they are. What I am more interested are the reasons behind the figures. Pupil numbers in terms of Secondary and Grammar schools in Northern Ireland can be found on the …