On Wednesday 15th December 2021 at 12:00 noon GMT (13:00 CET), the BeyondScale team at DCU will host an interactive 1 hour webinar on “Eating Insects to get my Degree”- Social Innovation and Sustainability at DCU. The webinar will include guest speakers from DCU who will showcase their socially  innovative sustainability  initiatives that they have implemented, creating an impact within DCU and in the wider community.

Register here for the event.

SeasonsPace Food Growing Initiative

The SeasonsPace initiative is a new project undertaken by DCU and Newcastle University in collaboration with Airfield Estate social enterprise in Dublin and community organisations in Paris. It promotes the many benefits of growing your own food, and it also aims to promote informed decisions around food provenance and the resources that have gone into producing it. One of the strands of this externally-engaged project creates links between communities of growers in Ireland, France and England, while another investigates how schools in Ireland can promote sustainability through a “growing and thinking” programme of work.

Dr Dervila Cooke teaches and researches at the School of Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies at Dublin City University. Her background is in French and Francophone studies, where she has researched and published on diverse areas, for example urban culture, school experiences in literature, migrant and minority experiences in literature, and eco-critical perspectives. She is the initiator, main project lead and funding recipient for the SeasonsPace project, funded by the Irish Research Council in 2021. She has previously worked at Saint Patrick’s College of Education, Oxford Brookes University and University College Dublin.

Dr Susan Pike is an Assistant Professor at DCU Institute of Education. Her teaching includes initial and post graduate teacher education at early years and primary levels. Susan’s research focuses on curriculum design and innovation in schools and
teacher education in geography, sustainability and outdoor education.

30-day Sustainability Challenge

As part of the new BA programme in Climate and Environmental Sustainability at DCU, Dr Darren Clarke asked his first year students to take on one challenge for 30 days that would contribute positively to the climate crisis. The students engaged in all types of creative challenges, with one student even incorporating insects into their diet for the 30 days! Darren will discuss the impact the challenge has had on the students. Darren will be joined by Leonie Goodwin who is part of the cCHANGE team in Oslo. Leonie
played a key role in designing the 30-day Sustainability Challenge at cCHANGE and helped Darren with the implementation and delivery of the challenge at DCU.

Dr Darren Clarke is an environmental geographer in the School of History and Geography, with research interests in the social and governance aspects of climate change / environmental change. His research focuses on the dynamics of climate change as a social and governance issue, with a particular emphasis on understanding climate change / environmental change and its impacts on social behaviour and actions. He has a particular interest in transformative responses to prevent and adapt to climate change. He previously worked with the Irish local government sector in delivering research to support their climate change ambitions.

Leonie Goodwin works as an advisor at cCHANGE, a social start-up bridging sustainability transformation research and practice with advisory services, digital tools, and capacity building. Leonie has many years’ experience in sustainability – in change and transformation, leadership, corporate sustainability, sustainability research, project management, communications, event management, administration and finance and governance. She has worked across a range of sectors including the
public and private sectors, in NGOs, academia, for multi-stakeholder initiatives and the UN.
The webinar will be hosted by Dr Emer Ní Bhrádaigh and Donnchadh Kindlon.
Register here for the event.

The webinar will be hosted by Dr Emer Ní Bhrádaigh and Donnchadh Kindlon.

Register here for the event.