📰 In case you missed: “To Change the World, We Need to Rethink Research-Policy Engagement” is a new paper by Professor Kathryn Oliver, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,  published as part of a new Policy Innovation Ideas series on PublicPolicy.ie . This paper examines the landscape of knowledge mobilisation initiatives, and summarises what we know, what we don’t, and what we need to do next as a research community. publicpolicy.ie/policy-innov…

There is still time to register for next week’s webinar “An Introduction to the Irish Economy: What non-economist policymakers need to know” with Peter O’Connor, Department of Finance. 🗓️ Thursday, 1st October 🕐 3–4pm (Irish Time) 💻 Online via Zoom 🌍 Open to everyone 🎟️ Free – registration required here: ucd-ie.zoom.us/webinar/regis… #UCD #Webinar #Policymaking

The Geary Seminar Series is back! Our next Geary Seminar will take place next Tuesday, 15th September at 1pm in the Geary Seminar room (B003/004). We will welcome Dr Ausra Cizauskaite, UCD School of Social Policy Social Work and Social Justice, to present on “Social Investment in Childcare: Exploring Women’s Subjective Assessments of Work-Care Balance Difficulties”. Lunch will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there! 😃 #UCD #GearySeminar

Registration has now opened for the next Executive Education and Training Programme "Harnessing Relational Public Services for Better Social Outcomes" taking place on 23–24 September at the UCD University Club. Part of the Empowering Policy Excellence initiative at the UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy, this two-day, practice-led programme explores Relational Public Services and Human Learning Systems (HLS) as complementary approaches to transforming how public services respond to complex social challenges. Designed for senior policymakers, public service leaders and practitioners, the programme offers an opportunity to explore practical approaches to reshaping Irish public services so they can respond more effectively to complexity and improve social outcomes. For more information about the autumn programme, visit epex.ie/

Dr @LauraCFoley, Geary Institute & PublicPolicy.ie and Prof Nicola Piper, Korea University published a new paper in the International Journal of Sociology as an outcome of the BICs scheme. “Mapping the players on/in the field of transnational policy networks: strategic action to strengthen labour rights”, analyses how transnational networks can be agents for policy change in the field of migrants’ rights by demonstrating how networks can cooperate to strategically use the wider institutional environment to push norm-violating States, and organisations, towards implementing policy changes. Read here: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…

📰 New paper on PublicPolicy.ie by Joan O’Donnell, Toby Lowe, Gabriel Eichsteller & Adele O’Neill “Reframing Public Services in Ireland as a Relational Practice”. This paper makes the case for reframing public services in Ireland as Relational Public Services (RPS) that take a Human Learning Systems Approach (HLS), which describes a way of organising viable services built around relationships and collective learning. The paper explores the importance of relationships, complexity, and how taking a systemic approach to learning can contribute to understanding how policy-making and practice can work better to serve all the humans in the system. publicpolicy.ie/papers/refra… #Ireland #PublicServices #Relationships #Reframing

How effectively can governments create supportive structures that enable the involvement of citizens in shaping policy? “The opportunities and challenges of politically designed co-creation platforms” is a new paper by Sam van Elk & Britt Regal (King’s College, London) published as part of a new Policy Innovation Ideas series on PublicPolicy.ie. This paper examines one approach to doing so through a case study of the London Borough of Culture programme, identifying how such attempts may both enable and constrain citizen involvement. publicpolicy.ie/policy-innov… #CoCreation #Governance #Citizens

📰 “Navigating the Adoption of AI for Policymaking” is a new paper by Omar A. Guerrero, (Centre for Social Data Science, University of Helsinki) published as part of a new Policy Innovation Ideas series on PublicPolicy.ie. The author draws on his experiences working with various types of public organisations across different countries to argue that the current hype for AI has unique characteristics that call for rethinking how public institutions adopt this technology for policymaking. The paper underlines that before rushing into adopting AI, policymakers first need to ask some key questions, and that they need to understand 1) the problem that they seek to address, 2) the institutional context and the organisation’s internal capacity, and 3) the various AI tools available, and what they can offer. 🔗: publicpolicy.ie/policy-innov… #AI #Policymaking #Hype

A new paper by Jane Lewis, Anne-Marie Baan, Emma Wills, Eleanor Ott, Amy Lloyd & Dan Bristow “Implementation-minded policy making” has been published as part of a new Policy Innovation Ideas series on PublicPolicy.ie. This paper, written by a team of researchers from the Centre for Evidence and Implementation and the Wales Centre for Public Policy, examines how bad implementation can result in policy failure. The authors show how successful policy implementation depends on the interaction between the content or ‘logic’ of the policy and the implementation context, highlighting how effective implementation is underpinned by a lack of ambiguity in the policy, and the quality of alignment between the policy and the implementation context. The authors argue that by embedding a range of implementation support approaches in policy work, this creates contexts and supports for effective policy implementation, thus reducing policy failure. publicpolicy.ie/policy-innov… #PolicyImplementation #PolicyFailure #Logic #Ambiguity #Policymaking #Policymakers #policy #Implementation #ImplementationScience #EvidenceBasedPolicy #EvidenceBased #SystemsChange

Join us for the last GIRSI Masterclass of the year! We will welcome Dr Heba Ismail from the Zayed University, Dublin to present on 'LLMs for Social Good: Designing Trustworthy, Domain-Adapted AI Systems for Public Policy, Education, and Public Health'. In this masterclass, participants will learn how LLMs can be safely integrated into public-facing services to enhance decision-making, improve institutional efficiency, and protect communities from harm. Register here: forms.gle/v9uTBFp9cZpau2i5A #UCD #GIRSI

📰 New paper on PublicPolicy.ie by Sara Benedi Lahuerta (UCD), Sara O’Sullivan (UCD), Suzanne Carthy (IADT) and Jennifer Keane (PayGap.ie). “Closing the Gender Pay Gap: Learning from Ireland’s Pay Data and European Transparency Reforms” examines the implementation of Ireland’s pay transparency regime under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021. It argues that shortcomings in data quality, enforcement, and structural supports have limited its impact and risk reducing pay reporting to a symbolic exercise. The paper concludes with six recommendations to make transparency a mechanism for accountability and genuine equality. publicpolicy.ie/papers/closi… #GenderPayGap #PayInequity #PayGapReporting #GenderEquality

We would like to invite you to attend the upcoming webinar of our Inspiring Policy Innovation webinar series on the 4th December, 3pm - 4pm on Zoom. We will welcome Dr Omar O. Guerrero to present the seminar titled 'Beyond the Hype: Promises, Pitfalls, and Illusions of AI in Policymaking'. You can register here: ucd-ie.zoom.us/webinar/regis… #UCD #Webinar #Policymaking

New paper on PublicPolicy.ie by Claire Hayes “Public Consultation and Policymaking in Ireland: The Failure of the Green Paper On Disability Reform as a Case Study”. Public consultation is a cornerstone of democratic policymaking, offering citizens an opportunity to shape decisions that affect their lives. This paper examines the evolution of public consultation in Ireland and its role in fostering transparency and inclusion, with a particular focus on the Department of Social Protection’s 2023 Green Paper on Disability Reform, and concludes with recommendations to strengthen consultation processes.  publicpolicy.ie/health/publi… #PublicConsultation #CitizenEngagement #PolicyDesign #DisabilityInclusion #Ireland

Our next Geary Seminar will take place next Tuesday, 30th September at 1pm in the Geary Seminar room (B003/004). We will welcome Assoc Prof Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila and Dr Theresa Schilling, UCD School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, to present on ‘UNITE: Transforming higher education through inclusive, decolonial, and intersectional approaches’. Lunch will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there! #UCD #GearySeminar