The Department's staff are often asked to participate in public debates and events.
While there are a variety of ways to do this, below you will find links to blogs, articles and media appearances by staff.
Maynooth University Department of Sociology
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Prof Jane Gray features in this Irish Examiner piece on the changing paths to parenthood in Ireland, May 2022
"Shifts in attitudes and improvements in fertility treatment have driven many of the changes. Technology has opened up the possibility of parenthood to more people, says Gray. “Our families have changed accordingly and become much more flexible as a result."
Jane Gray is a Sociology Professor at NUI Maynooth (NUIM) and co-author of Family Rhythms: The Changing Textures of Family Life in Ireland, a book that charts the evolution of Irish families from the early 20th century to the current day, which is featured in this Irish Examiner Piece on the changing paths to parenthood in Ireland, published 3 May 2022.
Research from Dr Pauline Cullen & Shane Gough - 'Women from ethnic minorities reveal abuse experienced on election trail' via Irish Examiner, March 2022
Research from Dr Pauline Cullen and Shane Gough of Maynooth Sociology Department highlights abuse women from ethnic minorities reveal experienced on election trail via at Irish Examiner, published 31 March 2022.
'This is who he is' writes Prof John O'Brennan on Vladimir Putin for Dublin Review of Books, March 2022
"As Ukraine endures the agony of a brutal assault by Russian forces, the world is beginning to confront the cost of misreading Vladimir Putin ‑ his character, his intentions, his obsessions, his risk calculus and his worldview."
Professor John O'Brennan of Maynooth University Sociology Department writes about Vladimir Putin in 'This is who he is" for Dublin Review of Books: This Is Who He Is - DRB, March 2022.
Sociology PhD student, Oleg Chupryna, writes about Ukraine across multiple global media platforms, February 2022
Maynooth Sociology PhD Student, Oleg Chupryna, recently published a number of articles on the current crisis in Ukraine and the legacy of Revolutions in Ukraine:
- In the piece which was published by the RTE Brainstorm, Oleg examines the root causes of the current Ukraine crisis and suggestions about the most effective approaches to dealing with that. Published on 2 February 2022.
- Published on 26 January 2022 by Spain's online media diariosigloxxi.com - Orange Revolution in Spanish is aimed at the Spanish speaking readership.
- In the article published by the Canadian online media the Geopolitical Monitor, Oleg gives an assessment of the recent dramatic events in Kazakhstan. Published on 26 January 2022. Spanish version also available via diariosigloxxi.
- Published on 24 January 2022 by The Eurasia Review. The piece is dedicated to the 17th anniversary of the successful conclusion of Ukraine’s second revolution in the last thirty years – the Orange Revolution, which played a key role in the country’s democratization.
- Ukraine: Will Zelenskiy’s Presidency Last the Full Term? – OpEd, 29 December 2021 via Eurasia Review. An assessment of Ukraine’s Zelenskiy presidency in the middle of his cadency. Two and a half years ago a complete novice in politics, comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy won the presidential race in Ukraine with the overwhelming 73 per cent votes in his favour beating the seasoned politician incumbent president Poroshenko. Now it's time to analyse his achievements and failures halfway through his presidential term.
- The Euromaidan Revolution, the popular rebellion that shook European geopolitics, 21 December 2021. This article is aimed at the Spanish speaking readership and is written in Spanish. It is Oleg's first publication in the Spanish language and is published by Spain's digital media platform diariosigloxxi.com. Oleg gives an overview of Ukraine's Euromaidan Revolution. It could be said that the said revolution was one of the crucial events in contemporary European political history that triggered many processes in current international politics. The current tensions between the West and Russia have been one of those processes.
- Without stronger support from the West, Ukraine will continue to live under the threat of invasion, 10 December 2021 . In this article published on The London School of Economics and Politics website, Oleg examines the Euromaidan Revolution and it's legacy which is now under threat given recent Russia's military build-up along Ukraine's border, and the Kremlin's rhetoric suggesting that a full-scale military offensive is now on the cards, and a potential invasion may be taking place early next year.
- To the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the Ukrainian Euromaidan: how was it?, 22 November 2021. The piece by Oleg about the Euromaidan Revolution in Ukrain was published by Kasparov.ru media platform in Russian is aimed at the Russian speaking readership and is written in Russian.
- Ukraine’s Revolution on Granite: A Prelude to Independence published by Geopolitical Monitor on 1 November 2021. Oleg assesses the student Revolution on Granite in Ukraine, an important historic event little known to the international community, the thirty-first anniversary of which was recently marked. Arguably, it was one of the crucial events which triggered many processes in contemporary history, such as Ukraine's independence, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the geopolitical consequences of that.
- Assessing Ukraine’s future thirty years after its independence published on 15 October 2021 in multi-disciplinary London School of Economics and Politics blog, assessing Ukraine’s origins, national identity & perspectives thirty years after its independence.
Oleg is currently undertaking a PhD study in the Sociology Department at Maynooth University, supervised by Professor John O'Brennan and Dr Barry Cannon. Oleg is also a member of Maynooth University Centre for European and Euraisan Studies.
Dr Pauline Cullen discusses gender-based violence on Newstalk's On The Record podcast, January 2022
Dr Pauline Cullen joined Newtalk's On The Record podcast with Gavan Reilly to discuss gender-based violence and what can be done to stamp it out in Ireland.
Listen to the full podcast here, recorded 16 January 2022.
Watch STOPFARRIGHT Seminar Series 1-5 led by Dr Barry Cannon, December 2021
STOPFARRIGHT is an Irish Research Council funded project, led by Dr Barry Cannon of the Department of Sociology at Maynooth University in association with Crosscare. The project aims to promote discussion and debate between academics and civil society groups on how best to counter-strategise against the growth of the far right in Ireland. As part of its activities, STOPFARRIGHT held a series of online seminars with leading Irish and International academics and civil society members working on the theme of resisting the Far Right:
- 20 October 2021, Seminar Series 1: Misinformation and the Far-Right. Watch the first seminar.
- 28 October 2021, Seminar Series 2: Anti-Far Right Strategising 1: European Perspectives. Watch the second seminar.
- 15 November 2021, Seminar Series 3: Anti-Far Right Strategising: Global Problem, Local Responses. Watch the third seminar.
- 29 November 2021, Seminar Series 4: Far-Right and Racism in Ireland. Watch the fourth seminar.
- 8 December 2021, Seminar Series 5: Civil society and the Far-right. Watch the fifth seminar.
Prof Mary P. Corcoran discusses 'Even if a higher power didn't exist, would humans create on?' on RTE Radio 1's The Leap of Faith, December 2021
Mary P. Corcoran joined Ian Robertson, psychologist & Kenneth Pearce, philosopher to discuss the question “Even if a higher power didn't exist, would humans create one?” on RTE Radio 1’s The Leap of Faith, on Friday, 10 December. Listen back here.
Prof John O'Brennan on Euronews discussing the proposed EU 'sanctions hammer', December 2021
John O’ Brennan appeared on Euronews on 8 December 2021, to discuss the proposed EU ‘sanctions hammer’ and whether it is likely to be adopted in EU legislation in the near future. His comments can be found in this piece: https://www.euronews.com/2021/12/08/brussels-is-vowing-to-fight-back-against-economic-coercion-but-how-far-will-it-go
Read Dr Rebecca King O'Riain's interview about Squid Game with the Hong Kong Economic Journal Monthly, December 2021
Dr Rebecca Chiyoko King-O'Riain discussed the Netflix hit, Squid Game, with the Hong Kong Economic Journal Monthly.
Read the interview here https://monthly.hkej.com/monthly/article?id=2987388, published December 2021.
Prof John O'Brennan hosts IIEA webinar by world renowned intellectual, Ivan Krastev, November 2021
Professor John O Brennan hosted a talk by the world renowned intellectual, Ivan Krastev (Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna and Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia) for the Irish Institute for International and European Affairs, on Wednesday 24 November. The theme of the talk was how COVID has impacted on the European Union and how the pandemic might further change Europe. The talk was based on the recent book on that theme published by Mr Krastev with Allen Lane publishers.
You can watch back the webinar here:
Watch back Care Provision: A Feminist Economist's Perspective seminar with Prof Mary Murphy, November 2021
Care Provision: A Feminist Economist's Perspective took place via Teams on 15 November 2021. This online seminar was hosted by The CareVisions research project, Institute for Social Science in the 21st Century at University College Cork.
Watch back the seminar here.
Abstract: Care provision builds on personal commitments and social obligations, but as a result, is often taken for granted. How can we make a case for more generous public support and more equitable sharing of care responsibilities? A feminist economic perspective provides a helpful vocabulary for answering this question.
Discussant: Professor Mary Murphy, Department of Sociology, Maynooth University
Speaker: Professor Nancy Folbre, Director of the Program on Gender and Care Work at the Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Prof. John O' Brennan discusses the Northern Ireland Protocol & Brexit on the Sean Moncrieff Show on Newstalk FM, October 2021
Professor John O' Brennan was interviewed on the Sean Moncrieff Show on Newstalk FM about the Northern Ireland Protocol and Brexit on Thursday 14 October.
Listen back to the full discussion here.
Prof. Mary Corcoran chairs Kildare County Council's panel on Women & Diversity in Local Government, October 2021
Professor Mary Corcoran chaired a Government panel discussion hosted by Kildare County Council with support from the Department of Local Government, Environment and Heritage on Wednesday, 13 October 2021. The event was directed in particular at Transition Year students around Kildare to encourage them to consider careers in politics and public service.
The event featured six high profile panellists: Cllr. Naoise O’Cearuil, Cllr. Chris Pender and Cllr. Angela Feeney all of Kildare County Council alongside, Celina Barrett, Chief Fire Officer, Kildare CoCo, Sonya Kavanagh, Interim Chief Executive, Kildare CoCo and Alison Crowzer, entrepreneur, investor and chair of Women for Election.
Interestingly, three councillors on the panel are all Maynooth University graduates: Cllr. Naoise O’Cearuil studied Politics; Cllr. Chris Pender studied Community Work; and Cllr. Angela Feeney holds a doctorate in Education.
Watch the full event back (https://vimeo.com/601060039#) and see pictures below:
Prof. John O'Brennan talks Brexit, EU-UK relations & The Northern Ireland Protocol on TRT World Television, October 2021
Professor John O’Brennan was interviewed on 13 October 2021 by TRT World television on Brexit, EU-UK relations and the Northern Ireland Protocol. You can view the segment via this YouTube link:
Why is the Netflix series Squid Game so popular? writes Dr Rebecca King O'Riain for RTE Brainstorm, October 2021
The hit Netflix series, Squid Game, is the latest in a growing global engagement with Korean popular and commercial culture.
Read the full article here by Dr Rebecca King O'Riain published via RTE Brainstorm on 11 October 2021, on why the show is so popular.
Dr Delma Byrne shares commentary in Irish Times article - Boys will be boys: are schools guilty of unconscious gender bias? October 2021
"Teachers were more generous to girls than boys in this year’s Leaving Cert – but some academics say the evidence doesn’t hold up"
Dr Delma Byrne shares comments on the topic in this Irish Times article boys will be boys: are schools guilty of unconscious gender bias? published on 5 October 2021
Prof. John O'Brennan gives interview to Sarajevo-based N1 television in Bosnia discussing the upcoming EU-Western Balkans Summit Meeting, September 2021
In the run-up to the EU-Western Balkans Summit Meeting on 6 October, 2021, Professor John O' Brennan gave an interview to Sarajevo-based N1 television in Bosnia. assessing what was at stake in the Summit Meeting and evaluating the significant problems exhibited by the EU enlargement process.
Watch the full interview back here, published on 30 September 2021: https://ba.n1info.com/english/news/professor-obrennan-tells-n1-will-western-balkans-countries-ever-join-the-eu/
John also gave an interview to Reuters on the same topic and this article was much discussed in international media: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-no-longer-agrees-balkan-membership-guarantee-diplomats-say-2021-09-28/
Prof. John O'Brennan on Newstalk's On the Record podcast, discussing German federal elections & the legacy of Angela Merkel for Germany & the EU, September 2021
Professor John O' Brennan took part in a in-studio discussion on Newstalk FM's 'On the Record: Sunday Paper Review 19 September'. The discussion focused on the German federal elections and on the legacy of Angela Merkel for both Germany and the European Union.
Listen back to the full podcast here: https://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/on-the-record-with-gavan-reilly/on-the-record-sunday-paper-review-september-19th-2
Prof. Mary Murphy discusses a new welfare imaginary for the island of Ireland in RIA's ARINS project blog, September 2021
In this Royal Irish Academy ARINS (Analysis and Research: Ireland North and South) blogpost, Professor Mary Murphy discusses a new welfare imaginary for the island of Ireland and how our society can collaborate to imagine a better welfare state across issues of social security, poverty and inequality, north and south.
Read the full blogpost here, published on 13 September 2021.
Prof. Mary P. Corcoran explains the key points of her paper published on food apartheid in the USA, July 2021
In light of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, ‘food apartheid’ has come under the spotlight. Food justice movements are expanding, and re-politicizing hunger in poor communities across US cities and beyond. Embedded structural and racialized inequalities are being exposed and challenged. Professor Mary P. Corcoran illuminates the extent of community-based activism around food justice in New Haven, CT in her research paper Beyond ‘food apartheid’: Civil society and the politicization of hunger in New Haven, Connecticut, published 9 June 2021.
Watch and listen to Professor Corcoran explain the key points of her paper in this video published on ScienceSocieties, YouTube:
Professors Seán Ó Riain & Mary Murphy discuss low pay in SIPTU's Low Pay Republic Webinar, June 2021
Professors Seán Ó Riain and Mary Murphy took part in a webinar with SIPTU on "Low Pay Republic: Combatting Low Pay in the Irish Labour Market". They discussed low pay and the suite of labour market and enterprise-level policies which are required to tackle Ireland’s low pay epidemic.
Articles in the Irish Times & Irish Examiner about The National Women's Council's, Women on Boards Report authored by Dr Pauline Cullen, June 2021
Articles published in the Irish Times and The Irish Examiner discuss the The National Women's Council (NWC) of Ireland's new Increasing Gender Balance on Boards: The Case for Legislative Gender Quotas in Ireland report, authored by Dr Pauline Cullen of the Sociology Department at Maynooth University. The NWC's report highlights that women remain significantly underrepresented in boardrooms of Irish companies, and in senior leadership roles. Furthermore, they are facing a very slow pace of change, as well as evidence of stagnation and regression. The NWC has called for mandatory gender quotas to apply to corporate boards.
Read the articles here:
The Irish Times published on Thursday, 24 June 2021
The Irish Examiner published on Thursday, 24 June 2021
Dr Rebecca King O'Riain writes in the Irish Independent about the challenges facing students during the pandemic, April 2021
Dr Rebecca King O'Riain (Department of Sociology, Maynooth University) writes in the Irish Independent Opinion section about the many challenges faced by our resilient students during the pandemic.
Read the full article here.
Published in the Irish Independent on Friday, 30 April 2021
Prof. Mary Corcoran chairs Full & Plenty, Farming & the Future webinar hosted by Limerick Gallery of Art, April 2021
Professor Mary P. Corcoran chaired the "Full and Plenty- Farming and the Future" panel discussion with Professor Stephen Kinsella (University of Limerick) and Dr. Monica Gorman (University College Dublin). The webinar was hosted by Limerick Gallery of Art on 13 April 2021.
View the full webinar here.
Irish feminists need to mobilise for a post-pandemic future by Dr Pauline Cullen & Prof. Mary Murphy in the Irish Politics Forum, March 2021
Dr Pauline Cullen and Professor Mary Murphy, both of the Sociology Department at Maynooth University, write about the Irish feminists need to mobilise for a post-pandemic future built on an ethic of public care in the Irish Politics Forum.
This blog was orignally published in March 2021.
How Ireland’s response to the pandemic is impacted by austerity era reductions writes Prof. Mary Murphy in the Irish Politics Forum & Transforming Society blog, March 2021
In this blog, Professor Mary Murphy (Sociology Department, Maynooth University) and Dr John Hogan (College of Business, Technical University Dublin), editors of Policy Analysis in Ireland, consider how Ireland’s response to the pandemic is impacted by austerity era reductions.
The blog was originally published in March 2021 in the Irish Politics Forum and the Transforming Society Blog.
Prof. Mary Corcoran on why the lockdown's bad hair days are no laughing matter, RTE Brainstorm blog & video, March 2021
Professor Mary Corcoran writes why the lockdown's bad hair days are no laughing matter for RTE Brainstorm.
Read the full article here, published in March 2021.
Watch the video by Laura Gaynor based on this blog featuring Professor Mary Corcoran: https://twitter.com/RTEBrainstorm/status/1379407566963367937
Prof. Mary Murphy publishes new blog in PublicPolicy.ie, UCD Geary Institute on 'A Post Pandemic Housing Imaginary', March 2021
Professor Mary P Murphy of the Sociology Department at Maynooth University, recently published a new blog titled, 'Build Forward Public: The Case For A Post Pandemic Housing Imaginary', on PublicPolicy.ie:
"A huge fault line exposed during the pandemic is Ireland’s globalised political economy model in which the country opened up to the market large parts of society, including housing, health, and pensions. For example, 80% of nursing home accommodation and 70% of childcare places are provided through the market (Murphy, 2020). Conversely, Irish pandemic responses are severely limited by poor capacity in public services in housing, health, nursing homes, creches, education and special needs. The pandemic offers an opportunity to revalue the concept of ‘public’."
Read the full blog here which was published on Wednesday, 24 March 2021 in PublicPolicy.ie, UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy
Dr Pauline Cullen on gender-based violence in the Irish Times, March 2021.
In the Irish Times, Dr Pauline Cullen discusses how gender-based violence was ‘propelled’ onto the agenda by a large number of submissions to the Citizens Assembly ahead of its discussion of gender equality.
Read the full article here which was published on 13 March 2021.
Are we suffering from 'numerical fatigue' when it comes to Covid? writes Prof. Mary Corcoran via RTE Brainstorm, March 2021
"There are lots of moving parts with this disease which makes it difficult to capture through compiling raw numbers or generating statistical scenarios. To date, there have been multiple revisions made of statistical projections on Covid's trajectory. While there is lots of information out there, it may not translate straightforwardly into knowledge.
We can be forgiven if we have started to suffer from 'numerical fatigue'. Numbers tell us something, but they do not tell us everything."
Full article available here: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2021/0303/1200578-covid-19-numerical-fatigue/
Article by Professor Mary Corcoran, Department of Sociology, Maynooth University. Published in RTE Brainstorm, Wednesday, 3 March 2021.
Dr Laurence Cox on his new book The Irish Buddhist at the UCD Asia Pacific Research Network, February 2021
“The Irish Buddhist: the Forgotten Monk who Faced Down the British Empire”, a new book by Laurence Cox (Maynooth University, Sociology Department), Brian Bocking and Alicia Turner (Oxford University Press, 2020), tells the life of Dublin-born sailor, hobo, Buddhist monk and anti-colonial activist Laurence Carroll / U Dhammaloka. Dhammaloka had at least 5 pseudonyms, covered up 25 years of his life, was tried for sedition, put under police surveillance, faked his death and eventually disappeared.
Watch Laurence discuss this book in the video below, at an event for UCD’s Asia Pacific Research Network, held on 18 Februay 2021:
The authors of the book did multiple online events throughout the past year including at Princeton Fund for Irish Studies, Melbourne Irish Studies, Lausanne South Asian Studies, Mahidol University Religious Studies (Thailand), Shan State Buddhist University (Burma), EPIC the Irish Emigration Museum, UCC Study of Religions and Maynooth’s IFUT trade union.
Prof. Mary Corcoran on RTE Radio 1 series Like Family, discussing the impact of COVID 19 on young people, September 2020
Listen back to Professor Mary P. Corcoran as a guest panelist on RTE Radio 1 series “Like Family” - a special edition with Brenda Donohue, discussing the impact of COVID 19 on young people. Recorded September 9, 2020
Access podcast here: https://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/share/radio1/11231898
Prof. Aphra Kerr & colleagues write blog for Media Literacy Ireland on Ethical Artificial Intelligence, September 2020
Professor Aphra Kerr and colleagues write a blog post for Media Literacy Ireland - ‘We Expect Ethical Artificial Intelligence – Who will deliver it?’.
Read the full article here: https://www.medialiteracyireland.ie/news/we-expect-ethical-artificial-intelligence-who-will-deliver-it, orginally published on 4 September 2020.
Prof. Mary Corcoran chairs Childhood Development Initiative webinar on Engaging Dads, Supporting Families, September 2020
Professor Mary P. Corcoran chaired the "Engaging Dads, Supporting Families" webinar, organised by the Childhood Development Initiative on September 20, 2020.
View the full webinar here:
Why have over a million Irish people downloaded the Covid-19 app? Prof. Aphra Kerr, RTE Brainstrom, July 2020
‘Why have over a million Irish people downloaded the Covid-19 app?' writes Professor Aphra Kerr for RTE Brainstorm.
See the full blog post here: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0720/1154327-covid-tracker-app-ireland-technology-privacy-data/, originally published on 20 July 2020.
Why making that call is better than texting or tweeting in these times of cocooning & social distancing writes Prof. Aphra Kerr. RTE Brainstorm blog & video, March 2020
'Why making that call is better than texting or tweeting' in these times of cocooning & social distancing writes Professor Aphra Kerr for RTE Brainstorm.
Read the full blog post: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0324/1125022-why-making-that-call-is-better-than-texting-or-tweeting/ orignally published on 24 March 2020.
Watch a video by Laura Gaynor, based on this blog here: https://twitter.com/RTEBrainstorm/status/1244934821912162304
Reconfiguring welfare in an eco-social state - Social Europe blog by Prof. Mary Murphy & Dr Michael McGann, May 2020
The problem with existing systems of income support is not their conditionality but their presumption that only market participation is a legitimate contribution. Read more in this Reconfiguring welfare in an eco-social state: participation income and universal services blog published on Social Europe by Professor Mary Murphy and Dr Michael McGann, 29 May 2020.
Ten steps on a high road Covid era back to work strategy by Prof Mary Murphy, MU Spotlight on Research, May 2020
"We need to avoid returning to a ‘normal’ that did not work for many people. Rather, we need to develop the most appropriate model of activation for this unique Covid-19 era, writes Dr Mary Murphy, Department of Sociology"
Read Ten Steps on a High Road Covid Era Back to Work Strategy by Professor Mary Murphy published on Maynooth University Spotlight on Research, May 2020.
The Vienna Model: Housing for the 21st Century - Dublin City FM Podcast with Professor Mary Murphy, July 2019
Listen back to This is Where We Live - The Vienna Model: Housing for the 21st Century on Dublin City FM's Podcast with Professor Mary Murphy, Maynooth University Department of Sociology. July 2019.
Professors Mary Murphy & Seán Ó Riain talk Nordic Models on the Reboot Republic Podcast, Tortoise Shack, June 2018
Why do we always hear the argument that we need to be more like the Nordic Countries? Well probably because they match the direction of their economies to meet the needs of their societies. Professors Mary Murphy & Seán Ó Riain discuss the ways we can adopt those systems on to our market based economy on the Reboot Republic Podcast via Tortoise Shack. Originally published on 15 June 2018.