6-part documentary series by RTÉ and the Irish Universities Association explores game-changing university research projects.
Change Makers: Irish universities’ most innovative and transformative research projects solve real-life problems
- 6-part documentary series by RTÉ and the Irish Universities Association explores game-changing university research projects.
- Series charts the work of university researchers and the lives of the people they help as they develop technologies and treatments for diabetes, pre-eclampsia, compulsive behaviours and maths anxiety and tackle societal challenges in areas like education, equality, inclusion and the environment.
December 20 2021: The Irish Universities Association has partnered with RTÉ and New Decade TV to bring Ireland’s Change Makers, the most transformative research-led projects and the inspiring people behind them, to Irish television this coming January and February 2022.
The series will showcase the remarkable and lasting public impact of leading research projects by eight universities in Ireland in areas such as children’s health, health technology, education, youth justice, gender equality and inclusion, as well as the environment.
Take Dingle Peninsula 2030, a University College Cork and MaREI research project using the power of citizen science to reduce Dingle’s carbon emissions by 50% in just under 10 years, or the Neureka App for Mental Health developed by the Global Brian Institute at Trinity College Dublin that combines mobile technology with citizen science to help create a clearer picture of people’s mental health as two transformational projects in the series.
Also changing the game in terms of research impact are University College Dublin’s AI PREMie project which uses Artificial Intelligence to ‘disrupt’ diagnostics practices in pre-eclampsia to help save the lives of mothers and their newborn babies and University of Limerick’s Greentown Project where a new investigation system identifies the most vulnerable young people at risk of joining Irelands organized crime gangs.
Commenting on the unique impact of Irish university research, Jim Miley, Director General of the IUA, said, “Irish universities play a crucial and growing role in solving real-life problems in society. Change Makers shines a light on the transformative research-led projects and partnerships that are delivering meaningful change across Irish society. Be it in health, education, social sciences, the environment and across all age ranges, the innovative research at our universities brings untold value to the people of Ireland now and will continue to do so in the future. Covid has shown the real value of science and research and our hope is that these powerful stories will make people realise the everyday benefits to people’s lives made possible by university research”.
The six episodes will feature research from University of Limerick’s ‘SI Drive’ and ‘Greentown’ projects; Dublin City University’s ‘Backdrop’ and its ‘Moving Well Being Well’ projects; Maynooth University’s ‘Story Exchange’ and its ‘STEM Passport’ projects; NUI Galway’s ‘HIVE’ and ‘Health Behaviour in School Aged Children Study’; Trinity College Dublin’s ‘Sorgente’ and ‘Neureka’ projects ; University College Cork’s ‘CIPHER Hip Hop Interpellation’ and ‘Dingle Peninsula 2030’ projects; UCD’s ‘Citizens Assembly’ and Ai PREMie projects; Technological University Dublin’s ‘Happy Maths’ project.
The 6-part series will be broadcast from Monday January 3rd 2022 at 8.30pm on RTE One television and the RTE Player.
Episode 6: Diversity & Inclusion
- TCD – Sorgente
Community, academic and industry partners working together to encourage young refugees and migrants to engage with their imagination, while learning English as a second language, honouring both their heritage identity and their new identity as migrants, while supporting teachers that work with refugees and migrants to use the arts, focusing on the present and future, rather than on the past.
- UCC – CIPHER Hip Hop Interpellation
Housed in the UCC School of Film, Music, and Theatre this ERC funded project is the world’s first global study of hip hop music and culture. UCC’s Prof. Griff Rollefson and a team of global researchers will investigate how and why this highly localised African American music has translated so easily to far-flung communities and contexts around the globe. The music already impacts every young person across Ireland and across the world, so this study attempts to tell us why it is so appealing and useful for speaking truth, for combatting racism, but also its role as a creative and positive platform for tackling societal problems of identity and inclusion.