Some highlights from the weekend and Sounds from a Safe Harbour - the best festival ever, and right here in Cork!

Unexpected find at the Douglas book swap - I’ll re-read it in translation

Powerful piece by Roberto Saviano in The Guardian: "Solitude is the added punishment for courage". (BTW, one of the many reasons why I will never understand the romanticisation of organised crime in popular culture...) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

2,864.7 km round trip driven, almost 60 km walked, 6 ferry voyages, many ancient stones, rocky hills, beaches, and uncounted drams of whisky. That was the Northern Scotland 2025 adventure!

Summer morning, Orkney Islands

How did Ireland become Europe's second most expensive country? Analysis by @howardemma.bsky.social @tudublin.bsky.social @researchireland.ie on the factors behind why we're near the top of this particular league table www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

Acqua di San Giovanni, 2025 Edition. Traditionally, it’s made on St. John’s Eve with whatever can be found in the fields or your garden. The bowl will spend the night outside to catch the dew, and the water will smell wonderful come tomorrow morning! #acquadisangiovanni

It's #Bloomsday

Thank you @shushradio.bsky.social for having me! Choosing the playlist was great fun and I really enjoyed the conversation.

Ten Years of PsychSlam...Absolutely amazing programme, team, and students! And always one of the highlights of the year for our School of Applied Psychology: youtu.be/RZwwSINsbYw?...

Forza Lucio!

A new snooker era…Zhao Xintong is the first Asian world champion, immensely talented, fun to watch and clearly not wanting to waste his second chance… And it feels like the Class of ‘92 are walking away into the horizon…(in Ronnie’s case, Saudi Arabia)

Desislava Bozhilova: the first woman to referee all three snooker Triple Crown finals. She is refereeing the World Championship final this weekend.

Some East Cork sunshine before marking and snooker

Fabulous day in Sheffield. Always nice to be back, always magical to watch snooker at the Crucible

Me: someday my research will be mentioned in the opening paragraph of a New York Times article! Also me: hmmm should have been more specific. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/s...

The Gearagh

Rainy Saturday + Snooker World Championship

🤯

There are days in life that shake you. I’m shattered 💔 to share that I just found out that the US Government terminated my 2024 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (~$2 million), threatening my long-promised assistant professor job at Columbia University & academic career... 1/🧵

"When it first opened in 1946, after the second world war, the institution was intended as a symbol of postwar friendship." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

"Taskmasking" and performative productivity: www.theguardian.com/money/ng-int...

Happy Birthday @squeefulraven.bsky.social

The Camel Site in northern Saudi Arabia is such a gem. About 7,000 years ago, people used stone tools, raised platforms, ladders, and incredible skill to carve life-sized camels into the rock faces. Fascinating article by @mariaguagnin.bsky.social and colleagues anetoday.org/guagnin-came...

....ooooh, it's so depressing to see your research ideas that nobody wanted to fund (no matter how many times you tried and how many positive reviews you got) become actual "things" in the world out there, being covered by the media, etc....

Looking forward to @haimson.bsky.social presenting his upcoming book to @patlabucc.bsky.social this week!

We are advertising two permanent lecturer vacancies: 1 - Lecturer in Applied Psychology, Early Years and Childhood Studies, Job ID 084211 2 - Lecturer in Applied Psychology, Individual Differences Specialism, Job ID 084212 Full jobs specs on the UCC vacancies portal www.ucc.ie/en/hr/vacanc...

I wish this article got translated and published internationally...After so many years living and travelling abroad, I am still shocked that there are such romanticised views of mafia criminality still around... www.ilpost.it/2025/02/09/s... (via @ilpost.it)

How technology has changed Irish mourning rituals Livestreamed funerals, memorial websites and online books of condolences have become accepted and important mourning rituals in Ireland, @luiciolfi.bsky.social writes.

My piece on @rtebrainstorm.bsky.social is live today, based on our recent study of technology use for participating in mourning practices in Ireland (cc @patlabucc.bsky.social)

Vigil for Joe Drennan at UL: www.rte.ie/news/munster...

Dark thoughts? Here’s some kitten content for you

Technology is an established part of mourning rituals in Ireland UCC researchers investigated experiences of new technology and established traditions associated with Ireland's rich history of ‘a good send-off’.

Another media article, this one on @siliconrepublic.bsky.social : www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/u...

While traditional Irish mourning rituals remain strongly established, technology now plays an important and accepted role, research from University College Cork has found.

Media coverage of our recent study (with Ava McCoy) about how digital technologies have become part of mourning practices in Ireland. Piece in @irishexaminer.bsky.social www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41... (cc @uccresearch.bsky.social)

I spoke to Meta's fact-checking partners about today's announcement that Meta was giving up and implementing a Musk-style Community Notes model "We were blindsided by this, We have no idea what the future looks like for the website going forward." www.wired.com/story/metas-...

🎊Happy to share a preprint of an article recently written with @maricacassarino.bsky.social and @dvenables.bsky.social papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... The article deals with #CommunityEngagement in creating #communication strategies to mitigate risks and effects related to #AirPollution. 1/3 👇

Extraordinary photos by Seamus Murphy www.theguardian.com/world/galler...

Some folks are born models, some folks are born goofballs #FinnAndLuke

Winter Solstice sunset, 2024. A Happy Midwinter to all - treasure the light!

The TEI 2024 conference, co-chaired by Luigina Ciolfi @luiciolfi.bsky.social (PAT, UCC) and Trevor Hogan (MTU Crawford) was recognised by a "Collaboration Award" at the recent Cork Conference Ambassadors event hosted by the Cork Convention Bureau. www.corkindependent.com/2024/12/04/c...

Glad to share that our new publication, "The opportunities and challenges of using online social platforms after pregnancy loss: A systematic review of qualitative research" is now available online in Computers in Human Behavior Reports. @sarah-foley.bsky.social Access link: doi.org/10.1016/j.ch...

I love Maeve Brennan’s writing. Looking forward to this! www.rte.ie/culture/2024...

I'm looking forward to seeing this! www.rte.ie/news/regiona...

Another great media feature for The Toy Library - led by @patlabucc.bsky.social and ADVANCE CRT PhD student Giorgia Anile (via @news.rte.ie) www.rte.ie/news/ireland...

📣 Our article (with Ava McCoy) ‘You were going online for that person’: How Digital Tools Shaped Irish Mourning Experiences Amidst COVID-19" is now published in JCSCW, reporting on digitally-mediated mourning rituals and practices during the pandemic and after. Link doi.org/10.1007/s106... (1/2)

This is a special memory of a special evening. Delighted that the TEI 2024 conference was awarded a special Collaboration Award at the Cork Conference Ambassadors awards last night. It was a great pleasure to collaborate with Dr Trevor Hogan to bring this event to @ucc.bsky.social and @mtu.ie

Interesting article today in @rtebrainstorm.bsky.social, "How the smart doorbell has changed canvassing in Irish elections" by Professor Mary Corcoran www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

Fellow UCC folks, let @statsepi.bsky.social know if you are not listed yet and would like to be!