Now out in Transfer (@etui.bsky.social): my article on the implementation of the minimum wage directive. In October 2022, the EU adopted this landmark piece of social policy to ensure fair pay and strengthen collective bargaining. What impact has it had so far? journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

🚨 #CfP reminder! Join us in Oxford (13 Jan 2026) for ‘Social Policy in Europe: Diverse Contexts, Shared Challenges’ Exploring European #SocialPolicy? We welcome papers using diverse methods and perspectives on urgent and evolving issues in the field 🌍 #EUSocialPolicy #PolicyStudies #PSA2026

"Poverty is no longer a standalone socio-economic issue. Instead, poverty is compounded by and interlinked with the increasingly dramatic effects of the climate emergency," @UNDP Acting Administrator Haoliang Xu. news.un.org/en/story/2025/…news.un.org/en/story/202...25

The EU is a geopolitical actor. In a new article, just published in the @jeppjournal.bsky.social, I introduce the SI 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘌𝘯𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮. I argue for a framework of 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬: the EU’s way of wielding power. 👉 Read here: bit.ly/4mvKnh6

Manchán 🕯️

Living Wage 2025/2026 increases to €15.40.

📘 64.4 @legalmusings.bsky.social, @klueserthan.bsky.social & M.Haselmayer address how left‑wing parties have prioritised social progress over economic equality 💱 in recent decades. #PoliSky #OA

When in Inistoige.

Just published #OpenAccess: "Knowledge production and learning in housing struggles" I examine how knowledge is produced and learned within housing struggles, particularly how non-housing issues spill over into housing movements. Full paper here 👉 doi.org/10.1007/s435...

Leinster are URC champions!

The former Waterford Crystal manufacturing site is to be transformed to form part of the country’s first co-located university enterprise quarter in a €130 million initiative. @setupresident.bsky.social www.wlrfm.com/news/waterfo...

“Nick O’Brien has made a thought-provoking contribution to the literature on administrative justice, powerfully arguing that democratic participation should be at the core of official responses to citizen grievances.” - Paul Daly, University of Ottawa

Happy to finish my first marathon yesterday alongside my brother. Love the little Oscar statuettes from my boys 🤗

Families' wealth in 1427 predicts their wealth in 2011.

Looking forward to attending this lecture this evening. www.tasc.ie/news/2025/04...

Gaza has been failed by silence and impunity - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

🚨 New study reveals that when used to summarize scientific research, generative AI is nearly five times less accurate than humans. Many haven't realized, but Gen AI's accuracy problem is worse than initially thought.

Researchers from SETU Carlow and Waterford at the Sociological Association of Ireland Annual Conference 2025 at UCC #SAIcon25 #SociologyIreland @setu-research.bsky.social #SETU #SETUResearch

Really enjoyed the SAI annual conference. Fantastic papers and discussions. @sociologyireland.bsky.social

Two weeks on from the publication of the near decade-long Farrelly commission investigation into the 'Grace' foster home abuse case, and questions are still being asked about its findings, writes Fiachra Ó Cionnaith

The prison population across Ireland exceeds 5,000 in a system with bed capacity for over 4,600, leaving the Irish Prison Service operating at 14% over capacity

Our paper one LLM's ability to answer opinion polls was just published; gatekeeped version here journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... and open preprint here: osf.io/preprints/so...

Watching United is not good for my heart!

Grand slam for Rory!

Completed the Wexford half marathon earlier today with my brother. Great day out.

Another massive win for Leinster.

SETU successfully completed the @qqireland.bsky.social CINNTE review process. @setupresident.bsky.social Well done all 👏🏻 www.qqi.ie/sites/defaul...

It is 2002. I am 18 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis. It is 2008. I am 24 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis. It is 2020. I am 36 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis. It is 2025. I am 41 years old. We are in a—

An intellectual history of digital colonialism by Toussaint Nothias in Journal of Communication academic.oup.com/joc/advance-...

This, from Timothy Snyder, is definitive, on Greenland open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...

New article: Navigating Digital Welfare: A Multi-Level Maze? In Social Policy & Administration. I argue that greater conceptual and empirical engagement with welfare state complexity is needed in studies of digital welfare. (OPEN ACCESS) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Delighted to see this article published open access. It draws on qualitative interviews with people subject to work-related conditionality to explore whether conditionality is experienced as a set of standardised time demands doi.org/10.1017/S004...

Does Mainstream Populism Work❓ I answer this question in a new paper officially out at @psrm.bsky.social❗ Check out the paper here: doi.org/10.1017/psrm... Key take-aways in the thread below 🧵⬇️:

🚨 New article alert! Máiréad Enright, “Up with the Brave”: Gender, Transgression and Judges’ Use of Catholic Convents in England and Ireland, 1930–1959 open access ✅ doi.org/10.1017/S073...

Pentathlete had set PBs in three of the first four events

A leading oncologist has warned that patients on low incomes are missing out on vital cancer care as more and more new life-saving drugs are only available to those who can afford to pay. www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41...

There’s a problem with how we measure fuel poverty blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

In our new paper @profbambra.bsky.social and I argue that the ongoing #polycrisis has profound implications for global #publichealth, shaping health inequalities now and for future generations. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Crisis in academia: ‘I love research, but I don’t see any security or stability in it’ #speirgorm www.irishtimes.com/ireland/educ...

A final reminder that a book launch event for 'Critical theory for Social Work' is happening this week. This in-person event will take place in the space outside the TRiSS Seminar Room in the Arts building at Trinity College Dublin on Thursday from 5-7. www.eventbrite.ie/e/book-launc...

We are looking for your submissions to our ESPAnet 2025 stream: www.espanetmilano2025.it/en-US/stream... The more submissions, the more paper slots. And great team of convenors! @petroleuse-sbd.bsky.social P. Schober @cassandraengeman.bsky.social @heejungchung.bsky.social @hannahzagel.bsky.social

Workshop CFP: 'The use of research creation and arts-based methods in studying housing, planning and the built environment' (9–10 September 2025, Maynooth University, Ireland). Includes 13 bursaries for travel/accommodation to attend. Further details at: datastories.maynoothuniversity.ie?p=650

Our article 'A Crisis of Political Trust?' led by @viktorv.bsky.social is now out in @bjpols.bsky.social! We use >3,000 surveys in 143 countries between 1958 and 2019, finding that trust in representative institutions has generally been declining in recent decades. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

The creeping normalisation of far right politics is being outrageously abetted by a class of tech entrepreneurs who see themselves as revolutionaries but, in reality, are people entirely ignorant of history. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Pronatalism is the latest Silicon Valley trend. What is it – and why is it disturbing? theconversation.com/pronatalism-...

This book analyses recent changes in the #PrivateRentalMarket, using case studies from the UK, Europe, Australia and the USA, and assesses the initial impacts of the #COVID-19 pandemic. New in paperback: