Ciara Ryan—'Development and analysis of a long term, quality assured daily precipitation network for Ireland.
High quality long-term observational datasets are essential to understanding historical and contemporary changes in the climate system. Availability of such data at appropriate time scales is paramount to effective climate risk management and understanding changes in extreme events. Our knowledge of historical change and variability in daily precipitation is currently limited to the last sixty years as digitised daily meteorological records typically only extend to the latter half of the 20th century. Additional data extending to the mid-19th century is available but held in paper copy in archived form. A fundamental challenge to understanding natural and anthropogenic signals of change in Irish climate therefore, is the rescue and refinement of historical observational records currently beyond scientific scrutiny. Recently Met Éireann have undertaken the considerable task of archiving and imaging historical meteorological observations for Ireland. Thus, for the first time, the opportunity exists to transcribe, quality assure and analyse this data. In this presentation, I will present an overview of my research which proposes to do just that by creating a long-term daily precipitation network for Ireland.
Mary Broe—'The Making and Unmaking of Homely Places: A multi-generational study of persistence and displacement in the Pearse Street Communities.'
The study will document forms of place-making, attachment and displacement by three generations of Pearse Street families to analyse the effects of Irish housing policies. Many of the children brought up in Pearse Street had to leave the area to find affordable housing. The result is that each generation has had to start from scratch in building relationships and attachment to their new community. This multi-generational study will chart their tracks through the city to examine the place-attachments they forge.
This project aims to better understand place-making, serial displacement and possible root shock across three generations in different parts of Dublin. A key objective is to analyse place-making by the Pearse Street community and its descendants in four settings: (1) the Pearse Street social housing; (2) descendants living in affordable housing in the Docklands; (3) those living in social housing estates at the edge of Dublin (such as Ballymun, Ballyfermot and Tallaght); and (4) those living in suburban and dormitory villages (such as Lucan, Ratoath). The analysis of place-making includes studying the stories people tell of how their neighbourhoods either sustain or make difficult their everyday lives. How is public space used, both as sociality and play, by residents? What cognitive maps do people make in explaining how they use their neighbourhoods? What attachments back to Pearse Street are maintained by residents in settings 2-4 above?
Georgina Perryman—'Walking and the ‘Right to the City’: Activist walking tours as critical placemaking, pedagogy and memory-work in Dublin'
Walking tours in Dublin have critically addressed consequences of neoliberalism and austerity, including the housing crisis, the financialisation of the city, and cuts in social services, and have challenged hegemonic gendered, classed, and heteronormative historical narratives. However, what are the transformative effects of walking upon people's experiences and engagement with the city and social movements? This talk will outline my approach to investigating this central research question and the literature and methods that frame the project so far.
Geography: Research Postgrad Presenations