conference – Slugger O'Toole

‘Building anew’: sharing lessons of transition in Germany and Ireland

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on October 10, 2023, 11:50 am

| Readers 3439

A conference to mark Germany Unity Day was held at the Royal Irish Academy, co-hosted by ARINS (Analysing and Researching Ireland, North and South), Maynooth University, and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Dublin. Two panel discussions explored practical matters of transition in Germany while being alert to and making attempts to avoid and/or counter societal polarisation in any transformation process. The German Ambassador to Ireland, Cord Meier-Klodt, said that for him the focus of the day’s …

The impermanence of land and legacy

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on July 29, 2023, 7:12 am

| Readers 1289

Impermanence is a collection of essays by writers from or living in Northern Ireland. Its co-editor, Neil Hegarty led a discussion at a John Hewitt International Summer School event, with contributors Jan Carson, Susan McKay, and Nandi Jola, reflecting upon the book’s themes and suggesting ways of looking at our past, present, and future. Neil Hegarty provided context for the book. He was in Paris and witnessed the burning of Notre Dame, which made him think about the loss of …

GFA and Windsor Framework ‘tributes to complexity’: McDonagh at JHISS

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on July 26, 2023, 4:53 pm

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At the opening address of this year’s John Hewitt International Summer School in Armagh, Bobby McDonagh, former Irish Ambassador to the UK and Permanent Representative to the EU, explored themes of the nature of identity, the beauty of complexity, the power of language, and reasons for optimism in the future of society on this island. McDonagh began with reference to this year’s chosen poem by John Hewitt, “An Irishman in Coventry”, written in 1958. The poem deplored “The glittering fables/Which …

Musicking for peacebuilding

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on December 2, 2019, 11:47 am

| Readers 601

Musicking for peacebuilding Sounding Conflict: From Resistance to Reconciliation by Allan LEONARD 28 November 2019 The state-of-the-art acoustic facility, the Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC) at Queen’s University Belfast, was a most appropriate meeting place for a two-day symposium that explored the roles of music, from activist resistance to a hopeful tool for reconciliation from conflict. The event was organised by the Mitchell Institute for Global Peace at Queen’s University. Professor Fiona Magowan welcomed several dozen delegates, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor David …

The role and responsibilities of media in divided societies. Discuss.

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on November 18, 2019, 11:48 am

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The role and responsibilities of media in divided societies. Discuss. by Allan LEONARD 8 November 2019 A two-day international conference examined the role that media plays in divided societies and in creating more peaceful and stable communities. Organised by the Social Change Initiative in partnership with Conciliation Resources and the University of Edinburgh’s Political Settlements Research Programme, the event was attended by journalists from South Africa, Colombia, Myanmar, Rwanda, Turkey, the Middle East, the Balkans, Kashmir, Somalia, Syria, Nepal, and …

“Understanding irrationality to save the human race”: Lord John ALDERDICE

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on May 21, 2019, 9:51 am

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“Understanding irrationality to save the human race”: Lord John ALDERDICE by Allan LEONARD 15 May 2019 The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast hosted a spring conference in honour of the 10th anniversary of the awarding of an honorary degree to President Daisaku Ikeda (President, Soka Gakkai International (SGI)). The evening before the day conference was marked by the unveiling of a commemorative peace bench in the university’s quadrangle garden, as …

Media guidelines potential remedy for damaging past reportage

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on March 8, 2019, 6:48 am

| Readers 427

Media guidelines potential remedy for damaging past reportage by Allan LEONARD 5 March 2019 The project team of “Victims and Dealing with the Past” at Queen’s University Belfast hosted a launch event of two complementary media guideline publications: one for victims and survivors of the Northern Ireland conflict on how to best engage with the media, and another for journalists, editors, and educators on how to best engage with victims and survivors and report on legacy issues. As Dr Cheryl …

Education: We all have a role to play

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on February 19, 2019, 1:48 pm

| Readers 973

Education: We all have a role to play by Allan LEONARD 7 February 2019 The Integrated Education Fund hosted a day conference on some aspects of education in Northern Ireland, with a discussion on what role individuals, local communities, and organisations can play in realising a better vision. Contributors included: Baroness May Blood (Integrated Education Fund (IEF)), Dirk Schubotz (Queen’s University Belfast), Mairead McCafferty (Northern Ireland Commission for Children and Youth (NICCY)), Eileen Chan-Hu (CRAIC NI), Maire Thompson (Hazlewood Integrated …

Soapbox: Housing Then and Now – Conference on 15 June in Dungannon, 50 years on from Caledon sit-in

Soapbox on May 20, 2018, 3:39 pm

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HOUSING THEN AND NOW – one day free conference in Dungannon on Friday 15 June examines the housing allocation system in the 1960s, civil rights marches, the formation of the NI Housing Executive, and the present day challenge of how to provide social housing which is not divided on religious grounds with input from activists, academics and the students of today.

“To change the riverflow of history”: Constitutional pasts and futures @UCDdublin #GFA20

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on May 10, 2018, 2:54 pm

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“To change the riverflow of history”: Constitutional pasts and futures @UCDdublin #GFA20
by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News
8 May 2018

Political and legal scholars, peacemakers and peacebuilders convened at the Royal Irish Academy to review and discuss potential constitutional relationships between Ireland and the United Kingdom, especially vis-a-vis Northern Ireland and the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and the import of Brexit.

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster)

Peacebuilding a shared Northern Irish society ✌️ Editor 🔍 Writer ✏️ Photographer 📸 https://mrulster.com

Consensus, Red Herrings and Umbrellas – Panel on Post-Agreement Politics at #Agreement20

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 9, 2018, 8:30 am

| Readers 387

THREE PAPERS presented at the #Agreement20 conference addressed the topic of post-Agreement politics in NI, looking at political consensus, what can be learned from white elephants like the Girdwood Community Hub, and comparative studies between Hong Kong, post-war Germany and NI.

Gráinne Watson on smart cities with citizen centric solutions

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 17, 2017, 10:02 pm

| Readers 678

Dr Gráinne Watson spoke to Slugger about ‘smart cities’ ahead of her session at Thursday’s Big Data Belfast conference. The concept has burgeoned as local and national governments try to address the impact of climate change, recycling targets, urban regeneration, transport congestion and economic investment.

Suicide reduction or prevention? Contact NI conference in Belfast

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on November 16, 2016, 7:20 pm

| Readers 291

Contact NI’s annual suicide prevention conference will be held on Thursday in Belfast. In a Northern Ireland where government departments and bodies often seem more keen on obfuscation and face-saving than data-sharing and truth-telling, switching from suicide reduction to a zero suicide approach that requires honest sharing and learning seems a large step. But a very worthwhile one in a place which continues to lose lives with the long-lasting ripples of the conflict.

Cross Currents in British & Irish Working Class Life: a day of talks, debate, performance & song #workingclasslife

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 15, 2015, 9:00 am

| Readers 383

A research group at the Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities at QUB has spent a year organising public-academic engagements posing and interrogating new research questions relating to working class history, politics, culture, literature and music. They’ve been asking … How has working-class life been created in Northern Ireland’s imagined and material worlds? Have the commonalities of class, across sectarian lines, been distorted, or indeed effaced, by the perennial focus on national division in NI politics? How can we …

Chief Constable at #DignityAndRights conference: Delay increases hurt & erodes trust in PSNI’s ability to deal with past

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 4, 2014, 4:21 pm

| Readers 325

What is Northern Ireland’s vision for progressing and protecting human rights in Northern Ireland in the years ahead? How do the principles of participation, accountability, transparency, dignity and equality underpin human rights? Dignity and Rights: A framework for the future is a two day conference running in the Stormont Hotel in East Belfast, jointly hosted by a variety of organisations who have worked on human rights and equality issues in Northern Ireland for many years: Age NI, CAJ, Children’s Law …

Live Drawing the Green Party conference

Brian Spencer on March 31, 2014, 1:22 pm

| Readers 148

The leader’s speech. Taking a firm line on developers, planners and non-disclosure of party-donations. Current councillor John Barry (@CllrJohnBarry) and council candidate Clare Bailey (@ClareBaileyGPNI): Green Party candidate for Balmoral Elli Kontorravdis (@EKontorravdis): And onto Ross Brown and that cartoon: Make sure you read or listen to Ross Brown’s (@voterossbrown) story via Alan. A journey from flag-totting super-Prod to green-fingered, eco-man. Fascinating, relatable-to and relevant. The Chinese proverb says that travelling a 1000 miles does more for the mind than reading …

The Alliance Conference in cartoons

Brian Spencer on March 24, 2014, 1:17 pm

| Readers 71

Here’s a selection of cartoons and sketches etched out during the Alliance conference, including some renderings of Alliance’s new generation of politicians. Judith Cochrane MLA (above) introduced a selection of the youthful candidates who will be standing this May. Naomi Long MP said of them: “They may be young politicians, but they’re politicians, and of some caliber.” Nuala McAllister (@NualaMcAllister) …

What Women Want: removing barriers to full participation in politics

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 9, 2014, 12:28 pm

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Labour Party in Northern Ireland

Labour Party NI are holding a women’s policy conference on 22 March in The Pavilion at Stormont. The all-day event – the same day as the Alliance Party conference – is free to attend and open to non-party members and men. Under the title of What Women Want? the organisers want to discuss “real solutions to barriers to full participation in politics”. In Bronagh Hinds’ chapter of Everyday Life After the Irish Conflict: The Impact of Devolution and Cross-Border Cooperation …

John McCallister says Sinn Fein already have a “new Ireland” while Gerry Adams calls for “an entirely new dispensation”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 19, 2013, 9:59 pm

| Readers 156

By coincidence, while John McCallister didn’t have the opportunity to speak at the UUP conference today, he did get an invite to address Sinn Fein’s Towards a New Ireland – A new phase of the peace process conference in London this afternoon. He started a little apologetically … If my comments at any time seem unduly harsh or perhaps unfair, be assured that such is not my intention. I am here in good faith to promote political dialogue and debate …

#PSA12 Conference liveblog (Tuesday)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 3, 2012, 7:35 am

| Readers 9

Political Studies Association

The Europa Hotel lobby was busy yesterday with Irish World Dancing Championship participants rubbing shoulders [Ed – and ringlets] and Political Studies Association conference delegates. The former had ringlets, the latter carried conference guides! Prof Paul Carmichael from the University of Ulster is co-convening the conference. listen to ‘In Defence of Politics’ on Audioboo Throughout the conference, a liveblog will capture tweets (hashtag #psa12) and photos and links to what’s happening in the Europa. This morning the main PSA 2012 …