Nuacht Cairnes by JE Cairnes School of Business & Economics

Nuacht Cairnes

NEWS FROM THE J.E. CAIRNES SCHOOL OF BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

Issue 1 February 2014

Welcome

Contents Welcome

Undergraduate Skills Development

2–3

Selected Publications and Research

4–5

Student Activities and Achievements

6–7

Internationalisation Update

Accreditation Update

Research

10 – 12

Conferences and Events

13 – 15

Alumni News

I would like to introduce the first issue of our J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics newsletter. This new series will provide ongoing updates on the various activities and achievements across the school. The current issue outlines a broad range of activities, including the redevelopment of the school mission and strategy. This is underpinned by new initiatives such as Assurance of Learning in order to better serve our students, staff, and the region. Other highlights in this issue include updates on current research activities such as publications and recently hosted conferences. From this foundation we aim to become the leading Business School nationally in attracting European Horizon2020 research funding in our priority areas. All activities highlighted in this issue underpin the school’s long term strategy of attaining world class accreditation. We have already achieved EPAS accreditation for our Business Information Systems programme and AMBA accreditation for our MBA. Successes such as these are key for our school’s ongoing development, given that they are a stamp of world quality and provide a benchmark for evaluation. Further, accreditation is increasingly used as a criterion by students when choosing where to study, employers when hiring graduates and both private and public funders when allocating research grants. On a personal note, this month my role as Interim Head of School came to an end and I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of the Staff, Students, Alumni and the School Advisory Board, whom I have had the pleasure of working with over the past 12 months. I would also like to welcome back Dr. Emer Mulligan who is resuming as Head of School and I would like to wish her all the best in the role. Dr. Kieran Conboy

NUI Galway Elite Sports Scholarships

Young Sporting Talent at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics

Connect with us:

In November 2013, NUI Galway Vice President for the Student Experience, Dr. Pat Morgan, presented 26 outstanding athletes with NUI Galway Student Sports Scholarships. The new recipients bring to 60 athletes in 15 different sports that are supported by the NUI Galway scheme. 7 of the 26 new Scholarships were awarded to 1st year Undergraduate students from the School: Córmac Lynch (Athletics), Ronan O’Sullivan (Basketball), John McManus (Gaelic Football), Robert Duggan (Hurling), Sean O’Hagan, (Rugby), Richard Fahy, (Soccer) & Eric Neary, (Soccer). The support that the students receive from the Scholarships are designed to maintain their academic and sporting progress and are managed by a former Olympian, NUI Galway Elite Sports Officer Gary Ryan. This year’s recipients represent some of the finest young talents in Irish sport today.

www.facebook.com/JECairnes www.twitter.com/nuigcairnes www.youtube.com/cairnesnuigalway

Ireland U19 International Sean O’Hagan

Receiving a sports scholarship from NUI Galway’s Dr. Pat Morgan, was Clare hurler Robert Duggan

Undergraduate Skills Development Skills to Succeed - 1st Year Core Learning In this course students learn to develop Skills that are necessary for success at NUI Galway and subsequently in their working lives. First Year Students take Skills to Succeed which combines on-line activity, small group workshops and large group lectures to focus on areas such as self-management, academic writing and research, learning styles, creative thinking, teamwork, presentation skills and career planning. One of the aims of Skills to Succeed is to offer students an opportunity to widen their learning experience. A key element of this module is “Introduction to Excel”. Lectures have been organised specifically for students where the purpose is to provide them with an understanding of the use of spreadsheets and to develop their ability to produce accurate work and outputs. Students get the opportunity to apply this learning using real world examples and case studies. Each student also attends weekly Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) workshops which are facilitated by our 2nd Year students known as PAL Leaders. PAL allows students to develop their personal and professional skills such as leadership, team working, organising, time management, listening, communication and presentation skills.

Skills for WorkLife - 2nd Year Core Learning The Skills for Work Life module is taken by 2nd Year Bachelor of Commerce. It is also offered to the Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) and 3rd Year B.Sc. in Business Information Systems students. The course aims to improve student employability and preparation for the workplace by developing a set of practical skills that form the basis for effective working life. The course uses a blended-learning approach and combines on-line activity, small group workshops and project work and large group lectures to focus on areas such as self-awareness, communication, teamwork, industry representative tutorials, CV preparation, and individual interviews. A number of students are chosen to fill the role of PAL Leaders who receive training in how to run PAL sessions effectively and how to manage group discussions.

Irish Water Safety Awards winners 2013

The majority of students engage in the Community Partner Project. The CCP integrates meaningful community engagement with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility and strengthen community links. Through service learning, students use what they learn in the classroom to solve real-life problems. In November 2013, students had the opportunity to showcase their project work at the first Skills for Work life Showcase event held in the Aula Maxima. 50 different community partners were involved in the programme, with a total of 64 projects completed by 245 students, who signed up for the module. A group of students who took part in the Skills for Work Life Programme were presented with the “Community & Social Responsibility Award” by Irish Water Safety in late November 2013. This award was presented in Dublin Castle in recognition for the work achieved by students who were partnered with Irish Water Safety, the statutory body established to promote water safety in Ireland, as part of the Skills for Worklife Community Partner Programme.

Career Mentoring 2013 The J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics Career Mentoring Event 2013 took place on Friday, October 18th 2013. The event was organised by Dr. Niamh O’ Riordan, lecturer in BIS, and Ms. Angela Teahan, Student Placement officer. This one-day event provides a crucial link between university life and the workplace. It is an invaluable opportunity for students to gain unique insights into the world of employment. This year, the event attracted more than 65 applications from second year students in the School of Business & Economics. Ultimately, places were offered to 31 students (up from 17 in 2012) and 16 mentors joined us on the day (up from 9 in 2012). These mentors represented a number of key industry players including CIMA, Davy Stockbrokers, Deloitte, DHKN, Medtronic, PWC, Plexus Strategies Ltd and Storm Technologies.

School Career Mentoring Event 2013

The consensus from mentors is that “this is a very worthwhile exercise” that “enables mentors to gauge, identify and mould emerging talent” and to “help students present themselves in their most positive light”. Mentors were impressed by our students and observed that they were “engaged and interested in their future”. Feedback from students was also very strong. One student wrote that she “felt like I got invaluable advice, and all the mentors were approachable and answered any questions I had. They also gave me guidance as to what I should be doing now to improve my future job prospects”.

Career Development The Career Development Centre (CDC) contribute to a number of lectures and workshops on the Skills for Work Life module to introduce students to the concept of career management and to ensure that in third year they make an informed decision on their choice of stream. The Career Development Centre facilitate classes on topics such as self awareness, opportunity awareness, career decision making, CV preparation and interview skills. The CDC input to the module includes ‘Industry Awareness’ tutorials with professionals, who are mainly NUI Galway graduates from all five streams of the B.Comm degree.

School Career Mentoring Event 2013

International Experience and Placements International Experience & Placements are an integral part of many programmes offered at the School of Business and Economics. The Bachelor of Commerce can be extended from three to four years. Students are offered a competitive opportunity to enhance their studies, spending one year studying abroad or one semester studying abroad along with a one-semester placement. In third year students will study a range of business courses through English at an international partner university in North America, Asia, Europe or Australia. Students are placed across many areas of business, which include HR, Marketing, Accounting, Economics and BIS. One of the main objectives of Placements is for students to widen their experience of business and cross-cultural issues while developing a range of transferable skills and competencies necessary for their future careers. This year there are 20 students on the B. Comm. International Experience programme. Many students have come to recognise international experience as an exciting opportunity for skills development and demand for places this year is very strong. The B. Comm. Programme Board plans to offer 35 places next year. The closing date for 2014/15 applications is February 21st.

BSc BIS Students on Study Abroad, Hong Kong

Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise 3rd Year Specialist Learning For the fifth consecutive year the J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics at NUI Galway has partnered with local businesses to provide students with the opportunity to learn real-life business through the ‘Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise’(ICE) initiative. This course aims to introduce students to the theory and practice of innovation in organisations, society and the economy. It has an underlying theme of innovative practice and is designed to educate students to recognise and develop opportunities for innovation in response to organisational challenges. ICE is available to all final year students of Commerce, Business Information Systems, Information Technology and a number of Engineering programmes. As part of their final year of studies, approximately 400 students are given the opportunity to work together in a multidisciplinary fashion to innovate in all aspects of business and community enterprise. With the support of 20 business leaders from the Western Region who act as mentors, the students engage in group-based projects requiring them to devise a unique enterprising idea. Each of the mentors are assigned a set of project groups to advise the students with the development of each idea. In 2012/13 and as a competitive part of the module, groups of students were required to present their innovations to mentors through a number of judging stages, resulting in the selection of four finalist groups who, in March 2013, competed for a prize fund of €4,000, sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and Enterprise Ireland.

ICE Winners 2013

Selected Publications and Research

Books: • Technology Entrepreneurship - Bringing Innovation to the Marketplace, Evers, N., Cunningham, J. and T. Hoholm (London: Palgrave-MacMillian 2013). • Social Marketing, from Tunes to Symphonies, Gerard Hastings and Christine Domegan, (Routledge UK 2013). • Global Anti-Unionism: Nature, Dynamics, Trajectories and Outcomes, Gall and Dundon, (Palgrave: London 2013) • Integrated Reporting - Reflections on the Concepts, Principles, Elements and Case Studies that are redefining Corporate Accountability, edited by Cristiano Busco, Mark L. Frigo, Angelo Riccaboni, Paolo Quattrone, pp. 1-350, (Springer 2013) • Case Studies in Global Management: Strategy, Innovation and People Management, (Dundon and Wilkinson, (Tilde University Press, Victoria 2012)

Chapters: • Maloney, M. & McCarthy, A., “Reward Management.” In Cross, C. and Carbery, R. (Eds). Human Resource Management: An Introduction, (Palgrave Macmillan 2013). • O’ Shea, E., Walsh, K. “Environmental Gerontology: Making Meaningful Places in Old Age, Transforming long-stay care in Ireland” In: Rowles, Graham and Bernard, Miriam (Eds.). Environmental Gerontology: Making Meaningful Places in Old Age, (Springer Publishing Company 2013) • Turley, G., “Transition Economies: The First Two Decades,” In: Handbook of the Economics and Political Economy of Transition Economies (Routledge UK 2013). • Dundon, T., “Assessing Participation” In: T. Redman and A. Wilkinson (Eds.), Contemporary Human Resource Management: Text and Cases, (London : Prentice Hall 2013)

Peer-reviewed journals: • “Generation Y Females Online: Insights from Brand Narratives”, Ruane, L. and Wallace, E., (2013) Qualitative Market Research, 16 (3):315-335. • “Human Resource Management and Performance: Evidence from Small and Medium-Sized Firms”, Sheehan, M. (2013) International Small Business Journal. • “Strategic HRM, Devolvement, and the Perceived Performance in Multinational Corporations (MNCs): A mediating role for Line of Sight?” Sheehan, M., (2013) Organisation and Management, Polish Academy of Sciences. • “Editors: Special Issue on the Challenges of Managing the Third Sector”, Helmig, B., Jegers, M., Laspley, I, & Robbins, G. (2013), Public Management Review. • “The impact of perceived ethical intensity on audit-quality-threatening behaviours”, Sweeney, B., Pierce, B., Arnold, D.F., (2013), Accounting and Business Research, 43:112-137.

• “The Success Story of the Eurozone? Irelands Austerity Measures”, Robbins, G. & Lapsley, I. (2013), Public Money & Management. 34 (2), 91-98 • “Transactive memory systems as a collective filter for mitigating information overload in digitally enabled organisational groups”, Whelan, E. and Teigland, R., (2013), Information and Organisation . • “Group Process Losses in Agile Software Development Decision Making”, Coyle, S., Conboy, K., Acton T., (2013), International Journal of Intelligent Information Technologies, 9 (2). • “The performance of recommender systems in online shopping: a user-centric study”, Dabrowski, M., Acton, T., (2013), Expert Systems with Applications, 40:5551-5562. • “Digitising the R&D social network: revisiting the technological gatekeeper”, Whelan, E., Golden, W., Donnellan B., (2013), Information Systems Journal, 23:197-218. • “The Getting of Wisdom: The Future of PM University Education in Australia”, Bredillet, C. N., Conboy, K., Davidson, P., Walker, D., (2013), International Journal of Project Management. • “Changing the Introductory IS Course to Improve Future Enrollments: An Irish Perspective”, Whelan, E. and Firth, D., (2013), Journal Of Information Systems Education. • “The Strategic Micro-Firm: a Role Play in management training for dynamic businesses”, Busco, C., Barnabè, F., Zatta, G.F., Lambri, M., (2013), Journal of Workplace Learning, n.5, pp. 328-342. • “Care relationships, quality of care and migrant workers caring for older people”. Walsh, K., Shutes, I. (2013), Ageing & Society, 33 (3). • “Modelling the Independent Effects of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus on Maternity Care and Cost”, Gillespie, P., Cullinan, J., O’ Neill, C., Dunne, F., (2013), Diabetes Care. • “Of Mice and Pens: A discrete choice experiment on student preferences for assignment systems in economics”, Flannery, D., Kennelly, B., Doherty, E., Hynes, S. and Considine J., (2013), International Review of Economics Education. • “A Panel Travel Cost Model accounting for endogenous stratification and truncation: A latent class approach”, Hynes, S. and Greene, W., (2013), Land Economics, 89 (1):177-192. • “Determinants of breast cancer screening uptake in women, evidence from the British Household Panel Survey”, Carney, P., O’ Neill, S., O’ Neill, C., (2013), Social Science and Medicine. • “The Welfare Implications of Disability for Older People in Ireland”, Cullinan, J., Gannon, B., O’ Shea, E., (2013), The European Journal of Health Economics, 14:171-183. • “Experiences of neighbourhood exclusion and inclusion among older people living in deprived inner-city areas in Belgium and England”, Buffel, T., Phillipson, C., Scharf, T., (2013), Ageing & Society, 33:89-109.

Conference Publications: • Metadjer, Naoise; Srinivas, Raghavendra (2013) “Do financial markets undergo Critical Transitions?” Poster Presentation, Irish Research Council Annual Symposium, Dublin, October 2013 • Ahearne, Alan (2013), “Economic Sovereignty in Ireland: A Thing of the Past?” Keynote Address at the 9th Conference of EFACIS, NUI Galway, June 2013 • Ahearne, Alan (2013), “Making the Best of It: Lessons from Ireland’s Experience in an EU/IMF Programme,” Paper presented at the 2nd Scientific Conference of the Tassos Papadopoulos Centre for Studies “Cyprus: Five Years in the Eurozone”, May 2013 • Barry, Chris, Torres, Ann and Hogan, Mairéad (2013), “Identifying and Categorising Decision Constructs Used In Business-to-Consumer Commercial Transactions: An Exploratory Study”, Irish Academy of Marketing Conference (IAM) 2013 • Ryan, P., Giblin, M., Collings, D. and Fahy, J. (2013) “Specialisation, Adaptation and Connectivity in Staving off Extinction”, Academy of International Business Annual Meeting, Istanbul, Turkey, July 2013. • Mulligan, E., (2013), “Tax Risk Management in a Global Context”, Paper Presentation, Brehon Law Symposium, 2013.

Student Activities and Achievements Breakfast Near Tiffany’s A group of NUI Galway Executive MBA students took part in a week-long Global Gateway Programme at the world renowned Fordham University in New York City in June 2013. Students met with experienced academics and attended seminars and lectures from finance, leadership and change to teamwork through Jazz.

L-R: Dr. Alma McCarthy, Executive MBA Programme Director; Gemma Leddy, Director Wealth Services, O’Connor Davies; Sean McCooey, Managing Partner, Pulteney Stret Capital; Sean Lane, Senior VP, US Trust; Adrian Jones, Goldman Sachs; Edel Robinson, Executive MBA 2012-14

One highlight was a Breakfast Panel organised and sponsored by the Galway University Foundation entitled “Reflections on Professional Success”. All of the speakers, many of whom are NUI Galway graduates, have distinguished international careers and shared their experiences in the corporate world together with the challenges encountered in achieving ‘balance’ in their personal and senior executive lives. The Executive MBA students learned the importance of embracing change, on-going learning and development, mentoring and building relationships. The event was hosted at the exclusive New York Athletic Club on Central Park. “The NUI Galway event was extremely beneficial and in a wonderful location which really complemented the programme in Fordham”, said John Evans, Executive MBA 2012-14.

NUI Galway EMBA Students pictured at Fordham University, Summer 2013

Active Learning and Industry Engagement on School Undergraduate Programmes

Final Year HR Stream Students pictured with Ms. Gillian Chambers HR Manager, Radisson, Galway on a recent visit to the hotel

Members of 4th year BIS engaged in active learning and a site visit to Thermo King Galway as part of the new module Lean Principles for the IS Professional

Powerful Conversations NUI Galway’s Executive MBA recently hosted the 7th Masterclass entitled “Powerful Conversations”. Leadership is a Conversation. Smart leaders today engage with employees in a way that resembles an ordinary person-toperson conversation. The essential attributes of interpersonal conversation are Intimacy, Interactivity, Inclusion, and Intentionality. In addition, the key to a powerful conversation is a powerful question. These were some of the key points shared by Barry Walsh and panel guests, business owners and MBA graduates themselves Paul Glynn – Topform, Gene Browne - the City Bin Co., Alan Mulholland - Mulholland Bookmakers and Barry Walsh - the People Development Co. The event was hosted by Dr. Christine Domegan. The four guests are members of a peer group of eight business leaders that meet every second month to share ideas and experience and help resolve critical challenges each is facing in their business and their leadership. Together for almost eight years the panelists spoke about the benefits of being in such a Powerful Conversation group, how it gives them an opportunity to step back from their businesses, reflect and get advice from others in the group who may have experienced similar situations. Being a member of the group and seeing what it does to support business leaders, Barry Walsh (a professional business coach) was inspired to establish other groups known as ‘the Power of Seven’. With several groups in existence and new groups available to join, Mr Walsh said “what business executives get from a peer group like this is more than they could ever get from a training or coaching programme, it really does help them to think and act differently”.

L-R: Mr. Gene Browne The City Bin Co; Dr Christine Domegan, Interim Executive MBA Programme Director; Mr. Alan Mulholland - Mulholland Bookmakers; Ms Suzanne Ryan, Chair MBAAI Western Chapter; Mr. Barry Walsh, The People Development Co. and Mr. Paul Glynn – Topform

Internationalisation Update International Experience The International Experience year available through the Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Commerce Accounting programmes is increasing in popularity. The J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics has for the last 4 years offered its students the opportunity to study a range of business modules through English at international partner universities in North America, Asia and Europe.

HKUST

The School developed new partnerships and secured additional places with existing links. New study abroad exchanges were agreed with University of Technology, Sydney, home of the former Dean, Professor Roy Green, and Hong Kong Baptist University, where the MSc. International Management class pursue a week-long study visit. We are pleased two additional places are available for outbound students at the prestigious Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

Initiatives in China The J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics is cultivating opportunities in Asia. As a member of an NUI Galway delegation to China, the Interim Vice Dean of Internationalisation, Mr. Cian Twomey, visited Guangdong University of Technology and Shantou University. The School is working with these universities to establish bilateral exchange programmes for students and faculty. These exchanges will offer students and staff who travel to China an invaluable learning and cultural experience, while the presence of Chinese students and faculty in NUI Galway will bring fresh perspectives on China’s culture and economy into our classrooms and disciplines.

NUI Galway delegation to Shantou 2013

MBA Executive Education Summer Courses In July 2013, the Interim Head of School, Dr. Kieran Conboy, and the Interim Vice Dean of Internationalisation, Mr. Cian Twomey welcomed a visiting group of Fordham MBA and EMBA students and faculty to campus for a week-long programme dedicated to “Gaining a Global Business Perspective”. The Fordham delegation was led by Dr. Meghann Drury-Grogan, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Management, and Dr. Francis Petit, Associate Dean for Executive Programs at Fordham University. The Fordham delegation’s visit was quite successful, as they are returning in 2014. The School’s EMBA programme continues their week-long study visit to Fordham’s Manhattan campus, held in their first year of study.

Fordham University eMBA week at NUI Galway 22nd - 26th July, 2013. L to R: Mr Cian Twomey ( JE Cairnes School of Business & Economics, NUI Galway), Dr Kieran Conboy ( JE Cairnes School of Business & Economics, NUI Galway), Dr Megham Drury-Grogan (Fordham University), Dr Francis Petit (Fordham University)

Fordham University eMBA week at NUI Galway 22nd - 26th July, 2013

Accreditation Update Association of MBAs (AMBA) In May 2013, the J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics announced the attainment of the global AMBA accreditation for its Executive MBA programme (EMBA). AMBA provide the only dedicated accreditation regime for MBA Programmes and now positions NUI Galway against the best worldwide. The NUI Galway Executive MBA is one of the leading management development programmes in the country. A general management programme which enhances and develops business and management capabilities while preparing students for strategic leadership roles, the programme places an emphasis on strategic decision making and develops practical and professional skills for success in increasingly complex environments. Sir Paul Judge, President of the Association of MBAs, Dr Emer Mulligan, Head of J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, NUI Galway, Dr Alma McCarthy, Executive MBA Programme Director, NUI Galway, Chris Russell, Chair of Board of Trustees, Association of MBAs

EFMD Programme Accreditation System (EPAS) In May 2011, the J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics announced the attainment of the global EPAS accreditation for its BSc Business Information Systems (BIS) programme. EPAS is an international programme accreditation system operated by EFMD. It aims to evaluate the quality of any business and/or management programme that has an international perspective and, where of an appropriately high quality, to accredit it. The BIS programme is consistently being reviewed and improvements implemented and the team continue to review the programme content and modify the curriculum as required.

MSc International Management graduates pictured with Prof. T. Dundon and Dr. P. Ryan after their Conferring Ceremony, October 2013

Research Update

Research Funding Academics in the School were awarded funding for 12 projects in 2013, totalling €1,865,000. We are still waiting to hear results from the recent IRC call for funding – of the 32 applications made from NUI Galway, 10 came from the School.

Professor Ciaran O’Neill appointed as HRB Research Leader for Ireland

Prof. Ciaran O’ Neill

Congratulations to Professor Ciaran O’ Neill who was recently appointed as a HRB Research Leader. The Health Research Board (HRB) has appointed six new HRB Research Leaders as part of an €9 million investment to address strategic gaps and leadership capacity in population health and health services research in Ireland. In total 3 of 6 HRB Research Leaders are based in NUI Galway - Professor Ciaran O’Neill, Dr. Molly Byrne and Dr. Brian Maguire. Many of the research programmes are addressing areas which have traditionally been under-funded, but are crucial, such as health economics and biostatistics. Prof. Ciaran O’ Neill and the other Research Leaders will create a solid foundation of expertise and evidence to deliver better health, reduced health care costs and new approaches to care that benefit patients, care providers and the economy.

School awarded IRC Grant to evaluate the Impact of National Funding Agencies

Dr. Lorraine Morgan and Dr. Kieran Conboy

Dr. Kieran Conboy and Dr. Lorraine Morgan, School of Business & Economics, were awarded an Irish Research Council grant of €147,000 to evaluate the impact of national funding agencies and identify and validate new and improved funding mechanisms and strategies. In particular their project focuses on identifying and implementing best practice crowdsourcing and crowdfunding strategies for public funded research. Key outputs from this research include a benchmarking exercise of international funding agencies’ use of crowdsourcing models and the effectiveness of these initiatives. Furthermore, it will identify ways that national agencies can optimise the inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes of the crowdsourcing efforts and maximise participation of individuals and firms including gender and ethnicity, industry sector and location diversity. The project runs for 48 months and will involve ongoing engagement with key people in the national funding agencies, as well as collaboration with the Open Innovation group at UC Berkeley.

Marnet Project

Dr. Stephen Hynes

In 2012, SEMRU, within the Whitaker Institute, was confirmed as a partner on a major EU INTERREG IV Atlantic Area project. This project brought together a network of marine research institutions allied with regional bodies from across Europe. Led by an Irish regional body (BMW Regional Assembly), the project is implemented by a consortium of 10 partners Spain (2); France (3); Ireland (2); Portugal (2); United Kingdom (1) representing 6 Atlantic Area regions. SEMRU joins the BMW Regional Assembly as the Irish partners on this €1.3 million project. SEMRU also take the scientific lead on the project. The MARNET project, as it is called, contributes to the 1st priority of the INTERREG IVB Atlantic Area European programme by promoting transnational entrepreneurial and innovation networks. MARNET’s main objective is to enhance competitiveness and innovation capacities in marine economy niches of excellence. The MARNET project, for the first time, maps the value of the marine economy throughout the Atlantic Area. Previously, SEMRU undertook an analysis of the Irish Ocean Economy and placed a monetary value on component activities such as marine food, marine leisure, renewables etc. The MARNET project will extend this model to the Atlantic Area and develop a series of socio economic indicators which will map the value of the sector and implement practical applications that will demonstrate the value of the model to Atlantic regions. The long term objective of the Network is to become a recognised collaboration of institutions with marine socio-economic expertise available for consultation with a range of EU institutes & stakeholders across a range of marine sectors & regions. The Project Leader is Dr. Stephen Hynes, Socio-economic Marine Research Unit (SEMRU).

Dr. Eoin Whelan, Winner 2013 Richard Beckhard Memorial Prize Dr. Eoin Whelan, lecturer in Business Information Systems was recently awarded a highly prestigious award from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr Whelan won the 2013 Richard Beckhard Memorial Prize awarded by MIT’s Sloan Technology Review for the “most outstanding” article published on organisational strategy. The article “Creating Employee Networks That Deliver Open Innovation” was written by Whelan and collaborators Salvatore Parise, Jasper de Valk and Rick Aalbers. They examined how some companies are acknowledged innovation leaders and argue that others have failed to match them because the mix of external and internal ideas for innovation doesn’t happen as efficiently. “We were interested in how companies become innovative,” Whelan explains. “We found that innovative companies have to constantly scout what’s going on in the outside world to see what new ideas are out there and what new technologies are being developed. This interest led to research with an Irish software company. “The company develops software for call centres and lost a major contract to a competitor who was viewed as having superior interactive voice technology. “However, when we looked at it we found that the company had actually known about that technology more than a year before and an employee had brought it to the attention of management at the time. The problem was that the manager who the employee went to didn’t know what to do with it or how to bring it to the next stage.”“We call these people ‘idea connectors’ and it’s the combination of the scouts and the connectors that can make the difference.” Whelan believes that the lack of recognition for these roles is preventing many organisations from realising their innovative potential. “A company might have 100 people in the R&D division, but there might only be a handful of them with a genuine interest in keeping up with what’s going on outside and with the latest trends in technology.

Dr. Eoin Whelan

J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics to the forefront of Talent Management Research worldwide Prof. Hugh Scullion was recently ranked number one worldwide for research productivity in Talent Management and his research team on Talent Management ( based in the Discipline of Management ) was ranked second worldwide with Harvard Business School in first place ( University of Barcelona research study, 2013. Forthcoming in Human Resource Management Review, 2014). He has recently co-edited a new book on Strategic Talent Management : Contemporary Issues in International Context to be published by Cambridge University Press in 2014. The book which draws on contributions from international scholars maps and globalises the Strategic Talent Management field.

School Winner at IAM Best Paper Awards 2013 Ms. Mairéad Hogan, Dr. Chris Barry & Dr. Ann Torres won Best Paper (Technology Management) for their paper – ‘Identifying and categorising decision constructs used in business to-consumer commercial transactions – an exploratory study’. The research paper was concerned with the area of decision-making during a Businessto-Consumer (B2C) on-line transactional process. It has been evident that on some websites the process is far more fragmentary and ‘start-stop’ than one might anticipate, were good design principles used. Much of this discontinuance arises from decisions constructs that are presented to consumers. Thus the research was motivated to identify what are the nature and types of decision constructs that consumers encounter throughout on-line transactional processes. The study successfully produced an exhaustive taxonomy of decision constructs that should form the basis for further critical research. Continued on next page

School event – Experiences with EU Funding At a seminar in October 2013 we heard from a number of School and College colleagues who have been successful in acquiring EU funding. They gave us an insight into their experiences and also what they believe is required to successfully secure funding. Many thanks to Prof. Maura Sheehan (Marie-Curie fellowship and FP7 collaborative funding), Dr. Christine Domegan (FP7 capacities funding), Dr. James Cunningham (Interreg and COST funding), Dr. Stephen Hynes (Interreg and PF7 collaborative funding) and J.B. Terrins of the CDLP (MarieCurie ITN funding).

Horizon2020 School Strategic Support Fund H2020 is a key part of School Strategy and a Support Fund was created to grow expertise. The School has provided seed funding in key areas. Dr. Emer Mulligan, Dr. Ger Turley and Mr. Stephen McNena are undertaking a comparative study of tax systems. Dr. Michael Lang, Dr. Denis O’Hora (Psychology), Clare Doherty and Sean Browne (PhD students) are conducting a study of factors influencing decisions to disclose personal information on-line. Dr. Emer Curtis, Ms. Patricia Martyn and Dr. Geraldine Robbins examine cost consciousness in healthcare. Dr. Orla O’Dwyer, Dr. Garry Lohan, Dr. Lorraine Morgan, Dr. Niamh O’Riordan and Dr. Sharon Coyle are examining advancing research in innovative software processes and methodologies. Dr. Rachel Hilliard’s project is entitled ‘Networking Early Stage Innovation Scholars’. Dr. Alma McCarthy and Dr. Geraldine Robbins are investigating the role of reform and leadership in driving public sector innovation. Finally, Dr. Patricia McHugh will undertake a study of healthy co-created societies which involves visualising and mapping citizen/stakeholder empowerment and knowledge migration pathways for social innovation and policy.

New PhD students 11 new students embarked on the Doctoral programme this year, and our induction session ran recently, organised by Dr. Rachel Hilliard. Many thanks to Dr. Kieran Conboy, Dr. James Cunningham and Dr. Tom van Rensburg for their words of advice and encouragement. We also heard tales from the trenches - some final year PhD students took time out to come and share their experiences with the new students. Many thanks to Sinead Keogh, Kieran Conroy and Eugene Hickland. Eugene successfully defended his thesis a couple of days later, so congratulations to Dr. Hickland.

L-R: Dr. Sharon Coyle, Dr. Patricia McHugh, Dr. Kieran Conboy

PhD Graduations Congratulations to the following students from the School who graduated this year: • Sharon Coyle (BIS) • Patricia McHugh (Marketing) • Thomas McDonnell (Economics)

• Anthony Farrell (Economics) • Sheila Walsh (Management) • Elias Woldesenbet (Economics)

Conferences and Events NUI Galway Awards Business Certificate to 260 Junior Certificate Students Students from across Connacht, who received an “A” in Junior Certificate Honours Business Studies, were presented with Certificates of Achievement from the College of Business, Public Policy and Law, NUI Galway recently. The presentations, in association with the Business Studies Teachers Association of Ireland (BSTAI), were made at a special ceremony at the University which included teachers and parents on Tuesday, 28th January 2014. This is the fourth year NUI Galway has presented these awards and 260 students received recognition for their achievement at the ceremony. The certificates were awarded to students from over 55 individual schools throughout the counties of Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. Professor Ciaran O’ Neill, School of Business & Economics, NUI Galway, who presented the certificates to each individual winner, said “NUI Galway’s international success is built on a strong and enduring relationship with its hinterland and therefore we see these awards as very important. I congratulate all the students on their achievement and also the work of teachers in helping students achieve their potential. I hope I will also have the pleasure of meeting many of these students again in NUI Galway in the future on one of our business or commerce programmes.” Jennie Harrington, President, BSTAI said “The BSTAI are delighted to continue its partnership with NUI Galway in hosting this ceremony which celebrates and recognises academic excellence in Business Studies at a young age. I’m confident many of today’s award recipients will build successful careers in the business world.”

Chloe Carrick and Ciara Fletcher from Ard Scoil Mhuire, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway pictured at the Junior Cert Awards, January 2014

Obesity Conference January 2014:

The Obesity Problem: Insights and analysis from economics, medicine and public health The Health Economics and Policy Analysis research group at NUI Galway hosted a one day conference on obesity on Friday, 17 January. Obesity is a complex, interdisciplinary problem that involves genetics, physiology, the environment, psychology, and economics. Economic factors have played a significant role in the development of the obesity crisis and economics offers many insights into various solutions to improve the crisis and to prevent more people from becoming obese. Topics addressed on the day included: An overview of the extent of the obesity problem in Ireland, Socioeconomic inequalities in childhood obesity in Ireland, Economic cost of obesity in Ireland & the distributional effects of a ‘fat tax’ in Ireland. The keynote speaker at the conference was Professor John Cawley from Cornell University. Professor Cawley is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading economists on this issue. The event was streamed live via the Cairnes YouTube Channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/CairnesNUIGalway

Professor John Cawley, Cornell University speaking at the Obesity Conference, 17 January 2014, NUI Galway

LESS Conference 2013 The Business Information Systems Discipline and Lero Research Group at the School of Business and Economics, NUI Galway, hosted the 4th International Conference on Lean Enterprise Software and Systems (LESS 2013), which ran from 1st to 4th December 2013 in the J.E. Cairnes Building. The conference (with Dr. Kieran Conboy as one of the Program Chairs and Dr. Lorraine Morgan as Organising Chair), attracted approximately eighty industrial practitioners and researchers worldwide, in the fields of information systems and software engineering, and focused specifically on theory, practical applications and implications of agile and lean development methods. The conference featured a very interesting program, with keynotes from David L. Parnas and Martin Curley (VP of Intel Europe). David L. Parnas is one of the founding figures of the software engineering field, while Martin Curley is one of the pioneers in the field of open innovation. The program also featured panels, open spaces, workshop sessions from Prof. Pekka Abrahamsson (Lean Startups) and Prof. Jan Bosch and Dr. Helena Holmström Olsson (Continuous Deployment), a Doctoral Consortium and some really interesting talks from both industry and researchers.

David L Parnas and Brian Fitzgerald after David’s keynote on “lean and muscular software”

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NUI Galway Seminar Explores Role of HR in Supporting Innovation

Dr. Emer Mulligan pictured with An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, at the Brehon Law Symposium 2013. The Brehon Law Society hosted its third U.S./Ireland Legal Symposium in Westport on September 25th – 27th, 2013. Dr. Mulligan presented a paper on Tax Risk Management in a Global Context and was a panel member for a discussion on Global Tax Tourism.

On Friday the 8th November 2013, Dr John McGurk, Head of CIPD, addressed HR professionals, Western Region CIPD branch members, NUI Galway students, staff and alumni and spoke about the importance of human resource management in supporting organisational innovation. The event, sponsored by Medtronic, was jointly organised by the Discipline of Management and the Western Region CIPD branch and was held the Aula Maxima in NUI Galway. Maureen Maloney, Programme Director for the Masters in Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management at NUI Galway said, “It was fantastic to assemble such a group of high quality participants to speak about an important and timely topic. Of course, we were delighted to reunite with our alumni and friends from the HR community.” This seminar was organised to celebrate 10 years of CIPD accreditation of the Master in Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management at NUI Galway. Over 200 alumni of the programme are working as professional HR managers in Ireland, the UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, Australia, the United States and other countries.

IRC Research Symposium:

Regulating for Employee Information and Consultation on the island of Ireland

NUIG CIPD speakers: L-R: Dr John McGurk, CIPD Head of Scotland, Geraldine Grady, Chairperson of Western Region CIPD, (Alumni, Class of 2006), Tom Ryan, Associate HR Director, Alkermes (Alumni, Class of 2006), Annette Murphy, Assistant Principal, Department of Social Protection (Alumni, Class of 2003), Martin Conroy, Senior Director of Continuous Improvement at Medtronic

A research symposium celebrating the culmination of a 3 year Irish Research Council (IRC) project concerned with employment governance and rights for worker voice on the island of Ireland was held in NUI Galway on Friday 18th October 2013. The research, led by Professor Tony Dundon of the Management Discipline, was partnered with Queens University Belfast. The symposium showcased the project’s findings, which were drawn from 22 workplace sites in 16 companies with operations on both sides of the Irish border. The research evidence directly engages and informs organisational practice and public policy debates. Following a number of key international speakers, the symposium concluded with a roundtable discussion including business and trade union leaders, government policy-makers and advisors, as well as academics. The symposium was addressed by: John W. Budd, Professor of Work and Organisations in the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management; Kieran Mulvey, Chief Executive of the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), Ireland; Mick Marchington, Professor of Human Resource Management, University of Strathclyde and Emeritus Professor of Human Resource Management, Manchester Business School; Tony Dundon, Professor of Human Resource Management and Employment Relations and Head of Management at the School of Business and Economics, NUI Galway; and Jimmy Donaghey, Associate Professor of Industrial Relations at Warwick Business School.

Inaugural Economics of Cancer Research Symposium Delegates at the IRC Research Symposium, NUI Galway, 18th October 2013

In September 2013, Brendan Walsh (Health Research Board/National Cancer Institute Health Economics Fellow) and Prof. Ciaran O’Neill (Health Research Board Research Leader and Discipline of Economics, NUI Galway) hosted the Inaugural Economics of Cancer Research Symposium in the Bailey Allen Hall. This event was supported by a Health Research Board Grant and established the Economics of Cancer Research Group. At this symposium researchers from the National Cancer Institute (USA), University of Washington, Stockholm School of Economics, Imperial College London and others presented at the event, and President Browne opened proceedings. For more information please see the group’s webpage at www.economicsofcancer.com

L-R: Professor Ciaran O’Neill (NUIG); Professor Michael Kerin (NUIG); President Dr James Browne; Dr Michael McBride (Chief Medical Officer Northern Ireland

IAIS Workshop on Cloud Computing Research The School of Business & Economics at NUI Galway hosted the first Irish Chapter of the Association for Information Systems (IAIS) Workshop on Cloud Computing Research on 27th September, 2013. The workshop (with Dr. Tom Acton, Business Information Systems, Dr. Lorraine Morgan, Lero Research Group and Dr. Chris Coughlan, Hewlett-Packard as Workshop Chairs), entitled ‘Research and Practice in the Cloud: What is on the Horizon?’ was supported by IAIS, the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre (Lero) and NUI Galway’s Whitaker Institute, and was jointly delivered by NUI Galway and the Cloud Computing Services Innovation Centre at Hewlett-Packard. The workshop focused on the Irish national agenda for research on cloud computing, and brought together approximately 70 researchers and practitioners across the island of Ireland. The program featured a panel of industry experts from Sourcedogg, Version 1, Dimension Data and Cloudstrong, as well as research presentations that focused on topics such as cloud adoption, cloud business models, innovation in the cloud, mobile interaction with cloud services, among others.

L-R: Emmet Donnelly, Sourcedogg, David Waldron, Cloudstrong, Gary Ramsay, Dimension Data, Tom Acton, NUI Galway, Lorraine Morgan, NUI Galway, Kieran Conboy, NUI Galway, Chris Coughlan, Hewlett Packard and Vikas Sahni, Version 1.

Symposium on the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and Head and Neck Cancer As part of a Health Research Board (HRB) Knowledge Exchange & Dissemination Scheme (KEDS) grant, the Economics of Cancer Research Group (Discipline of Economics) and the Academic Department of Otolaryngology, NUI Galway worked in tandem to organise a symposium on the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and Head and Neck Cancer on May 17th 2013 in the Aula Maxima. Subsequently, the organizers of the symposium published in the Journal of Cancer Policy and the Irish Medical Journal on the rise of this type of cancer. At the 2013 Irish Healthcare Awards, the efforts of NUI Galway team was acknowledged for commendation in the best educational symposium category. For more information, check out www.economicsofcancer.com

Irish Healthcare Awards 2013, L-R Prof. Ivan Keogh (Surgeon), Mr. Diarmuid Coughlan (PhD student in Health Economics) and Mr. Tony O’Connor (Surgeon)

Visit by Professor John Mullahy, University of Wisconsin, Madison The Health Economics and Policy Analysis group in the School of Business and Economics was delighted to welcome Professor John Mullahy for a visit to NUI Galway in October 2013. John Mullahy is Professor of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he is also an affiliate professor at the LaFollette School of Public Affairs, and an affiliate and executive committee member at the Center for Demography and Ecology. Professor Mullahy’s research interests include the evaluation of health interventions, comparative effectiveness analysis, analysis of patterns of healthcare spending, health-related behaviors and time use, and the applications of econometric methods.

Professor Mullahy with members of the Health Economics and Policy Analysis group, NUI Galway

Professor Mullahy gave two seminars on health economics topics during his visit to NUI Galway. In addition, Professor Mullahy spent a lot of time discussing research methods with various PhD students and members of staff. The aim of the Health Economics and Policy Analysis group is to develop, apply and teach methods for the economic analysis of health and health care. For more details about the group and about forthcoming events please visit http://www.nuigalway.ie/health-economics/ Dr. Emer Mulligan, who was a Conference Rapporteur at the Harvard Kennedy School/Irish Tax Institute Conference on Global Tax Policy held in Dublin Castle, October 16th & 17th, 2013

Alumni News

NUI Galway Deloitte Economic Forum On Monday January 20th, 2014 the NUI Galway Deloitte Economic Forum, (The Irish Economy – Leaving the Crisis behind us?) took place in the National Concert Hall, Dublin. Dr. Alan Ahearne and Professor John McHale presented Economic perspectives from the J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, NUI Galway on the evening. Industry and Political perspectives were presented by Brendan Jennings , Managing Partner, Deloitte (Brendan is an NUI Galway Alum - B. Comm. graduate), Pat Rabbitte, TD, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources & Michael McNicholas CEO, Bord Gáis. The forum was moderated by Harry McGee of the The Irish Times.

Brendan Jennings, Managing Partner, Deloitte

Success at MBA World Trophy 2013 for NUI Galway The MBA World Trophy which took place in Dublin (May 2013) brought together teams of highly motivated entrepreneurs from some of the world’s top Universities to compete against each other with their start-up businesses. They had their business model challenged by a leading panel of successful entrepreneurs, VCs and thought leaders. The MBA World Trophy is the first initiative of its kind: a unique showcase of entrepreneurial talent from some of the world’s finest graduate schools. The team that won the award for the most impactful business idea includes two BioInnovate Ireland Fellows, Ashwin Kher (NUI Galway BioInnovate Team) and Michael Morrissey (University of Limerick BioInnovate team), both of whom are NUI Galway MBA graduates and Joseph O’Callaghan, a 3rd Year Biomedical Engineering student at NUI Galway. The value of the MBA and the training received during the BioInnovate programme was critical to the team’s success as team member, Michael Morrissey (BioInnovate Ireland Fellow and NUI Galway MBA 2012) states: “The MBA at NUI Galway was instrumental in providing us with the skills to compete effectively at this level. The emphasis on strategy and innovation and its application out of the classroom provided a strong foundation for our success. The BioInnovate program taught us the fundamental steps in the process of medical device innovation and identifying clinical needs that stressed the importance of patient and user impact. Winning the title of ‘Business Most Likely to Have a Global Impact’ is something we’re proud of. Being recognised by someone of the calibre of Professor Vivek Wadwha is really huge for us”.

Richard Bruton, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation pictured with Ashwin Kher and Michael Morrissey

Competition entrants included some of the best schools in the world including: INSEAD (FR), UCD Smurfit, Instituto de Empresa Business School (ES), NYU Stern, ESAN Graduate School of Business (Peru), Columbia (US), Rotman School of Business (CA), Warwick (UK), Tel Aviv University (Israel), IPADE (Mexico) and Trinity College Dublin.

Global Irish Economic Forum – Regional Roundtable NUI Galway hosted a Regional Roundtable, including a public forum, on October 3, 2013 ahead of the Dublin Castle events on October 4 and 5. The regional event held in Galway, in partnership with Enterprise Ireland and NUI Galway brought together members of the Global Irish Network, SMEs in the West region, and the academic community. Participants in the public forum included NUI Galway B. Comm. Graduate Irial Finan - Executive Vice President of Coca-Cola, and fellow NUI Galway graduates Aedhmar Hynes CEO of Text100, Gerald Lawless, President of Jumeirah Group and Martin McCourt, Executive Vice-President of Gemalto. The public forum was moderated by Dr Gavin Jennings of RTÉ, also a graduate of NUI Galway.

Executive MBA Graduate Mike Parkinson Mr Irial Finan

Mike Parkinson, who graduated from the Executive MBA at the Cairnes School of Business and Economics in 2012, has recently accepted a promotional expatriate assignment with Transitions Optical to Manila in the Philippines. Before taking the promotion, Mike was a senior manager on the Transitions Optical Tuam leadership team with over 20 years’ experience across Operations, Engineering and Logistics. His new role involves managing over 300 staff and has responsibility for Imbibed Operations, Line Engineering, Technology Engineering and total site Packaging Operations.