Podcasts

Many of us will become a victim of crime at some point in our lives, yet many victims chose not to report these crimes to the police. Ultimately, a large number of victims in Ireland are not engaging in the criminal justice system. Prof Shane Kilcommins, Dr Susan Leahy & Dr Eimear Spain from the Centre for Crime, Justice and Victim Studies (CCJVS) and the School of Law have sought to better understand this phenomenon with a view to understanding how best to engage with and support victims of crime, while also informing public policy and legislative reform. By focusing their research on the place of victims within the criminal justice system, the team is giving a voice to underrepresented minorities including victims with disabilities. Recorded by GK Media Ltd.

Advanced drug delivery systems are having an enormous impact on human health. new drug delivery technologies including nanoparticles and nanotechnology are now being studied for use in treating cancer. Approaches for synthesizing new biomaterials, which can be used in fighting brain cancer and new approaches for engineering tissues are being developed that may someday help in various diseases. Robert Samuel Langer, Jr. is an American chemical engineer, scientist, entrepreneur, inventor and the David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a widely recognized and cited researcher in biotechnology, especially in the fields of drug delivery systems and tissue engineering. His publications have been cited approximately 220,000 times and his h-index is 233.

In Ireland, only 30% of women and 45% of men over 65 remain disability-free for life. Dramatic changes in cells start in our 30s, while in our 40s, health and functionality are impacted by increasing weight gain, decreasing bone density and loss or weakening of muscle. People with low lean tissue or muscle mass are classified as sarcopenic. Conservative estimates predict that the incidence of sarcopenia will increase by 50% over the next 30 years, making it a major public health issue among Ireland’s increasing older population. Prof Phil Jakeman and Dr Catherine Norton discuss their research which has proven that that sarcopenia can be offset by modifications to dietary habits. Their research shows that optimising the quality and timing of protein intake decreases age-related loss of muscle mass and in turn can benefit the quality of life of those who are affected by sarcopenia.

Recorded by GK Media Ltd.

In the world of social networks, “superspreaders” are users whose retweets can make information travel faster than everyone else. Prof James Gleeson from the Mathematics Applications Consortium for Science and Industry (MACSI) explains how his latest SFI funded project is using mathematics to help identify these superspreaders. He outlines how a better understanding of how information spreads through social influence will help us find ways to spread important information more quickly (e.g., for health or terrorism alerts), and to control undesirable aspects of social media such as the spreading of misinformation and false rumours. Recorded by GK Media Ltd.

Carbon fibre is a key material in a range of industries from automotive to wind energy. Dr Maurice Collins is leading a €4.9m EU wide project called LIBRE to create a cleaner and cheaper alternative means of carbon fibre production using lignin, a polymer found in wood and bark, rather than current petroleum based methods. He discusses the environmental and financial benefits of this enhanced production method and the future direction for his research. This project has received funding from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 720707.
Recorded by GK Media Ltd.

More than 12% of athletes have played in a match that was fixed and nearly 15% suspect they have, according to the findings of a European survey. Dr Deirdre O’Shea and Dr Tadhg MacIntyre are two psychologists who have been involved in a pan-European Erasmus+ project called Fix the Fixing. Their research seeks to tackle this global phenomenon, and understand its impact on the athletes involved, the supporters and the overall reputation of sport.

Recorded by GK Media Ltd.