Academic Research: is it of any value to the taxpayer?

This is the title of a debate to be held later this evening in TCD. Might be of interest to those following recent developments in the debate about public investment into R&D in Ireland. Details below.

The debate will be led by Professor Poul Holm (TCD), Dr Declan Jordan (UCC) and Professor Luke O'Neill (TCD)

Time: 6.00 p.m - 7.30 p.m.

Date: Tuesday 1 December 2009.

Venue: Robert Emmet Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

What’s Smart About Ireland’s Smart Economy?

This is the title of an RIA event to be held at City Hall, Dame Street, Dublin 2 on Wednesday, 14 October 2009, at 6pm. More details are available on the RIA website here (scroll down to #4). The event is sponsored by the Higher Education Authority and is part of Innovation Dublin Week 2009. It is jointly organised with Dublin City Council.

Chair: Professor Michael Cronin MRIA

Panellists: Professor Peter Clinch, Taoiseach’s special adviser on the smart economy, David O’Meara, Managing Director of Havok, Jim Barry, CEO, National Toll Roads, Professor Frances Ruane, MRIA, Director of the Economic and Social Research Institute and Tom Boland, CEO of the Higher Education Authority

A Guide for the Young Economist

"A Guide for the Young Economist - Writing and Speaking Effectively About Economics" is available on GoogleBooks.ie as a preview (here). The book is written by William Thomson; according to Repec.org(here), it is an invaluable guide for young economists working on their dissertations, preparing their first articles for submission to professional journals, getting ready for their first presentations at conferences and job seminars, or facing their first refereeing assignments. "In clear, concise language--a model for what he advocates--William Thomson shows how to make written and oral presentations both inviting and efficient. Thomson covers the basics of clear exposition, including such nuts-and-bolts topics as titling papers, writing abstracts, presenting research results, and holding an audience's attention."

Doctoral Research Training in Health Behaviour

The website of the American Academy of Health Behaviour is worth looking at:

http://www.aahb.org/

They have an interesting white paper with recommendations for doctoral research training in health behaviour.

This should be interesting to researchers at the centre working in both the higher education and health behaviour streams.