51ÉçÇø

The personal, societal and economic costs of low back pain are enormous, and the likelihood of being disabled by back pain has worsened in recent decades. Prof Helena Lenihan, Chair of the UL Research Impact Committee is joined by Dr Kieran O’Sullivan, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, School of Allied Health and winner of the President’s Research Excellence and Impact Early Career Award. Dr O’Sullivan’s research has shed new light on why back pain is such an ongoing challenge and the tendency for back pain to be treated as an almost entirely ‘physical’ issue – where we rely too much on tests such as MRI scans, at the expense of treating the whole human. His research has led to the development and testing of novel solutions for the treatment of back pain.

A 10 year partnership between UL and HSE has benefited patients dealing with multidrug-resistant infections, patients with cystic fibrosis and those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Winner of the 2020 Outstanding Research Collaboration, President’s Research Excellence and Impact Award, the collaboration involves microbiologists, designers, engineers, nurses, physiotherapists, paediatricians, respiratory specialists. Understanding infectious disease outbreaks and the microbial causes of infection leads to new prevention and control interventions, education programmes and innovations in medical device and testing technologies. Prof Colum Dunne, School of Medicine, Prof Barry Linnane, Consultant Respiratory Paediatrician, UHL, Prof Nuala O’Connell, Consultant Clinical Microbiologist, UHL, Barbara Slevin, Assistant Director of Nursing, Infection Prevention & Control, ULHG, Kevin O’Sullivan, Rapid Innovation Unit and Prof Colum Dunne, School of Medicine UL join our host Prof of Economics, Helena Lenihan to discuss their award-winning collaboration. Supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Zero hours work is work with no guaranteed hours. Researchers at the Kemmy Business School, have been examining the prevalence and impact of zero hours work and low hours work amongst Irish employees. Dr Lorraine Ryan, lecturer in Employment Relations & Human Resource Management in the Department of Work & Employment Studies at the KBS discusses the prevalence of these work contracts, their effect on employees and their social impact. She outlines how she and her colleagues carried out the first study in Ireland into zero hours contracts and how their findings influenced the shaping of the 2018 Protection of Employment Act.

Dr Ann Marcus-Quinn, a lecturer in Technical Communication and Instructional Design at the 51ÉçÇø asks whether the move from book to tablet is the right one for the education system. She discusses how digital teaching and learning resources can be used, developed and shared in order to enhance teaching and learning in Irish education. She also talks about her involvement in a review of a secondary school’s digital policy and how this resulted in its decision to reintroduce books citing concerns over students screen time and recommending a blended approach to learning.

Dr Michelle Norris shares how her project, ‘BREASTech’, is working to better understand how software and technology can impact the physical activity levels of breast cancer patients and survivors. She also discusses how her training as an ALECS Marie Curie COFUND fellow is helping her to share the impact of her research with a wider audience.

This work was supported, in part, by Science Foundation Ireland grant 13/RC/2094 and co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund through the Southern & Eastern Regional Operational Programme to Lero - the Irish Software Research Centre () and has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 754489.

Dermot Hayes, disability community activist from Ennis in conversation with Dr Rosie Gowran, School of Allied Health, UL and Leigh Gath, disability rights campaigner on the importance and challenges of getting the right wheelchair nationally and globally and the difficulties that wheelchair users face when proper supports are not available.