DrFinbarr Brereton

Designed one of only three posters to be deemed `Highly Commended' out of over 200 postgraduate research posters exhibited.

Member

Flooding in Ireland: Perceptions, Preparedness and Policy, March 2012 This one-day seminar, 'Flooding in Ireland: Perceptions, Preparedness and Policy', co-hosted with Eoin O'Neill and supported by the UCD Earth Institute, was about sharing knowledge and research findings concerning socio-economic policy issues associated with flood risk management, with a focus on Ireland. Invited speakers, from Ireland and internationally, included members of academia, researchers, and those involved in planning and risk management professions, with an opening address by Minister Brian Hayes (Ministerial responsibility for flood risk management). Keynote addresses were delivered by Dr. Iain White of University of Manchester and Dr. Christian Kuhlicke of Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig. The event was attended by c. 100 attendees from inter alia emergency services' providers, engineers and spatial planners from local authorities, the Office of Public Works, insurance companies, as well as academics from natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences.

European Social Survey Conference, UCD Newman House, Dublin, Ireland, June 10-11 2013 This conference, organised in collaboration with Dr Michael Brennan and Professor Peter Clinch, and funded by the Irish Research Council, investigated key economic and social questions facing Europe using European Social Survey (ESS) data. Topics, including the current state of democracy in Europe, how the financial crisis changed the political landscape, and the impact of increasing unemployment on happiness, were investigated. Sessions included: Work Family Balance chaired by Dr Frances McGinnity (ESRI); Political Legitimacy & Trust chaired by Dr Amy Healy (UL); Environment & Well-being chaired by Dr Mirko Moro (University of Stirling); The Welfare State chaired by Dr Inez Calzada (Institute of Public Policy, Spanish National Research Council); Political Participation chaired by Dr Peter Robert (Institute for Political Science, Hungarian Academy of Sciences); and Education, Economic Crisis & Homophobia chaired by Brendan Halpin (UL). The ESS is an academically-driven social survey designed to chart and explain the interaction between Europe's changing institutions and the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of its diverse populations. Established in 2001, and currently preparing for its sixth round, the survey covers more than thirty nations and employs the most rigorous methodologies. A repeat cross-sectional survey, it has been funded through the European Commission's Framework Programmes, the European Science Foundation and national funding bodies in each country and won the Descartes prize in 2005, awarded by the European Commission for 'excellence in scientific research.

Pooling Linking Sharing: Spatial Representation of Data Using GIS, UCD Urban Institute Ireland, 22-24 March, 2010This workshop, organized by Dr Finbarr Brereton as part of a larger project entitled HAPPINESS (HAPpiness, Political Institutions, Natural Environment and Space) - A comparative analysis of the influence of environmental conditions, environmental regimes and political context on subjective well-being, was funded by the European Science Foundation's HumVIB EUROCORES programme. The workshop was delivered by three GIS experts, Dr Daniel McInerney, Dr Harut Shahumyan and Ms. Susanne Schmidt. Invited speakers included Kirstine Kolsrud, and Atle Jastad, Senior Advisers at the Norwegian Social Science data Archive and Dr Mirko Moro, Division of Economics, University of Stirling. The objective of the workshop was to allow i) an opportunity for Collaborative Research Projects funded under the ESF's HumVIB EUROCORES programme to engage in data sharing and cooperate on data collection efforts and ii) provide an overview of the basic principles and techniques within GIS which underpin research applications in the social sciences, using the European Social Survey.

Boom to Bust Policy Dissemination Seminar Series 2011 - 2012 This seminar series, co-hosted with Eoin O'Neill over c. 18 months in association with the UCD Earth Institute, comprised a series of public seminars, hosted at regional locations around Ireland, with the findings of recent research projects presented to local communities that are impacted by socioeconomic development and environmental change. Seminars included: A Living Landscape with Dr Karen Foley (UCD) in Killarney; The Bus is Back with Dr. Simon McDonnell (CUNY) in Dublin; Happiness and Our Environment with Dr. Mirko Moro (University of Stirling) in Bray; Rural Housing Failures with Dr. Menelaos Gkartzios (Newcastle University) in Naas; Transport and Land Use Planning with Dr. Fearghal King (TransLink, Vancouver) in Carlow; Rural Quality of Life with Dr. Craig Bullock and Dr. Finbarr Brereton (both UCD) in Carrick-on-Shannon; Boglands - The Future in Our Hands with Dr. Marcus Collier (UCD) in Athlone; Innovation and Diversification in the Farm Household with Dr. Terence McFadden (UCD) in Castlebar; and, Planning and Flood Risk with Dr Eoin O'Neill (UCD) in Dublin.