Research in the Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI) is focused upon two central research pillars - People, Place & Environment, and Social & Economic Transformations. MUSSI also manages, supports, and develops a number of associated critical national data infrastructures.
By combining scholarship on social and spatial perspectives and environmental research with the power of information and geotechnologies, Maynooth University researchers are addressing the key societal challenges of the 21st Century.
Projects within the People, Place and Environment theme include:
The institute also collaborates closely with the research clusters within the People, Place and Environment research theme. These clusters are: Climate and Environmental Change, Geocomputation & Earth Observation, Spatial Analysis, Smart Cities, Migration, Transnationalism & Diaspora
The rapid pace of societal and technological change is transforming how we live now and challenges us to design a future which promotes social justice and inclusion. The transformations in our current world will drive change in how we educate, learn, connect with each other, do business, govern and build societies. Through our work, we seek to better understand social and economic change and to provide a platform for an equitable and sustainable future.
Projects within the Social and Economic Transformations theme include:
The institute also collaborates closely with the research clusters within the Social and Economic Transformations research theme. These clusters are: Business Innovation, Education, Learning Environments and Professional Practice, Markets & Financial Exchange, Policy, Law & Governance, Social Justice, Participation & Human Rights, Sustaining Communities
Maynooth University has invested in a number of outstanding nationally/internationally significant data infrastructures. These infrastructures promote the social, economic, spatial, and environmental research undertaken by MUSSI members. They also enable MUSSI members to offer data services to industry/government agencies/third sector organisations/social scientific researchers across Ireland and abroad. These infrastructures include:
Irish Qualitative Data Archive (IQDA) (PI Professor Jane Gray)
Digital Repository Ireland (DRI) (PIs Professor Rob Kitchin and Professor Jane Gray)
All-Island Research Observatory (AIRO) (PIs Professor Rob Kitchin and Justin Gleeson)