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Carbon collusion: Cooperation, competition, and climate obstruction in the global oil and gas extraction network
No full textWhile publicly-available datasets often document how much fossil fuel is extracted within oil-producing countries, they do not generally indicate who is responsible. To address this gap, we constructed the Global Oil and Gas Extraction Network, a dataset containing the extraction sites of the 26 largest oil and gas companies, and the quantities extracted annually from 2014 to 2018, accounting for 67% of total production. Using this dataset, we present a first-of-its-kind network analysis of global oil and gas extraction. We find fifty-eight percent of operations involved joint ownership across companies, demonstrating growing interdependence after industry-wide losses in 2016. Countries in which National Oil Companies (NOCs) were active were less likely to host Hybrid state-investor companies, and even less likely to host Investor-Owned Companies (IOCs), while certain Hybrids and IOCs tended to operate in the same countries; both trends became more pronounced between 2014 and 2018. Reflecting colonial legacies, the seven Big Oil companies, headquartered in either the US or Europe, extracted oil and gas from the most countries. These findings reveal a complex global network of strategically aligned actors, indicative of tacit and explicit transnational industry-state collusion to obstruct climate policies. These findings additionally underscore the need for comprehensive data to support a managed fossil fuel phaseout
PatentsInHumans Team publish Report of First International PatentsInHumans Workshop
No full textThe PatentsInHumans team are delighted to publish the Report of the First International PatentsInHumans Workshop today.
The workshop which was held on the 29th and 30th of April 2024 was organised as part of the European Research Council funded PatentsInHumans project. The workshop took place at Renehan Hall, Maynooth University.
Over the course of two days, the workshop brought together twenty-two leading national and international speakers drawn from a range of academic disciplines including law, business, health, social sciences, and practitioner fields, including experts working in legal, ethics, technology-transfer and healthcare.
The speakers and workshop discussions focused on examining the potential bioethical issues posed by patent grant and use (including licensing and enforcement) of patents over a range of technologies related to the human body, including vaccines, medicines, medical devices etc. It also considered the range of avenues that could be used to engage with these bioethical issues both inside and outside patent law in Europe, and the potential opportunities and challenges for how we engage with such bioethical issues in Europe. Such issues are central to the scholarly focus of the PatentsInHumans project, and the findings of the project in such contexts, have the potential for important societal impacts, including around delivering effective contemporary health innovation and health delivery systems. The event was attended by approximately forty people.
The report which was authored by Professor Aisling McMahon and Sinéad Masterson provides a brief overview of papers presented, and of some of the key aspects of discussions during the workshop
Innovation and commercialisation: the role of the international dynamic marketing capability in Malaysian international entrepreneurial firms
No full textPurpose – This study aims to investigate how international entrepreneurial firms (IEFs) successfully
commercialise innovative products/services internationally. In doing so, the authors examined the role played by
the international dynamic marketing capability (IDMC) in the relationship between explorative and exploitative
innovation and commercialisation. In addition, the authors also evaluated how the breadth and depth of
international networks facilitate IEFs in upholding the effects of the IDMC to influence commercialisation.
Design/methodology/approach – To test the research model, structural equation modelling is used based
on time-lagged survey data drawn from 201 Malaysian IEFs. To validate the results, additional robustness
tests and endogeneity analyses have been performed.
Findings – The findings show that the IDMC positively mediates the relationship between explorative and
exploitative innovation and commercialisation. Furthermore, the finding exhibits that the effects of the IDMC
on commercialisation are positively moderated by the breadth and depth of international networks.
Originality/value – Given the fragmented and general nature of the extant marketing research on the IDMC,
the study contributes to the international marketing literature by providing rich and nuanced pertinent
knowledge. This study advances dynamic capability theory in relation to IEFs by establishing the IDMC as a
functional capability suited to enable them to successfully commercialise the products/services resulting from
explorative and exploitative innovation
Intra-EU Sustainable Careers: A qualitative study and interpretation of the transnational career sustainability of intra-EU migrants in Germany, Ireland, and Spain.
No full textThis dissertation explores the career sustainability of forty-two European Union (EU) citizens living and working in another EU country. It examines how sustainable careers can be pursued, achieved, and maintained in a transnational context over time. The countries of focus are Ireland, Germany, and Spain, considered both as home and host countries for the study participants.
Adopting a social constructionist philosophical paradigm, this predominantly inductive study analyses the participants' intra-EU mobility experiences, viewing them both from their own migration realities and from the broader perspective of intra-EU geographical labour mobility as a phenomenon. The research employs a whole-life perspective (Litano & Major, 2016; Hirschi et al., 2020) to analyse the transnational career sustainability of intra-EU migrants.
The analysis integrates literature from international human resource management (IHRM), expatriation, and career studies, alongside interdisciplinary literature on migration and transnationalism. This approach aims to provide a deeper understanding of how participants construct and interpret their career experiences within a dynamic transnational context. The findings contribute to existing research on international careers and the sustainable career construct from a transnational perspective. Transnationalism is defined as "the processes by which immigrants build social fields that link together their country of origin and their country of settlement" (Glick-Schiller et al., 1992, p.1), operationalised here as transnational living, where participants maintain "sustained and similarly significant attachments, interactions and presences in two or more societies separated by national borders" (Carling, Erdal & Talleraas, 2021, p.2).
In this dissertation, the constituent components of transnational living—social integration, social organisation, complementarity, rhythm, and balance—are detailed in Chapter Four (section 4.4, pp. 81-85), empirically explored in Chapter Six (section 6.3, pp. 124-145), and further discussed in Chapter Eight. Theoretically, this work establishes the case for applying the conceptualisation of transnational living—originating from the migration field—within the international business domain. The discussion chapter integrates the five dimensions of transnational living with the levers of a sustainable career to present a structuring mechanism
of a transnational sustainable career (section 8.2.3, p. 208-214), which has been empirically validated in this PhD research undertaking.
By integrating the concepts of transnational living and sustainable careers, this dissertation presents an organising framework for studying the sustainability of transnational careers, offering a novel perspective on dynamic inter-country career movements. The study reveals that the three indicators of a sustainable career—happiness, health, and productivity—intersect with and are influenced by the complementarity dimension of transnational living. These complementarities, which can be professional, relational, or related to general well-being in the host country, vary across different career and life stages, highlighting the temporal nature of both sustainable careers and transnational living.
Empirically, this PhD dissertation provides a snapshot of intra-EU migrants' career experiences and their continuous associations and engagement with their home and host countries over time and space. In a world characterised by globalisation and mobility, this study describes how and discusses why internationally mobile individuals maintain ties with their home countries while residing in a host country, normalising the experience of living with a "foot in both camps." The study contributes to the international career and mobility literature by introducing the concept of "transnational living," which holds potential value for management and international HRM scholars. While this study looked specifically at the geographical setting of the EU, there may be other examples of particular settings facilitating transnational living (e.g. Australia to New Zealand). The main contribution of this study is the provision of an overarching framework of contemporary transnational sustainable careers which can be used to investigate the rise of transnational living as a phenomenon, beyond the EU, and transnational living as a contemporary means of adjustment
Children's School Lives: Children's Wellbeing in Irish Primary Schools (2019-2023)
No full textThis report marks the seventh in the series from the Children’s School Lives longitudinal study. Wellbeing in Irish
Primary Schools 2019–2023 presents experiences shared by almost 4,000 children in close to 200 primary schools,
their teachers, school leaders, parents and, in the case of some children, their grandparents. Drawing on this rich
data set from the two cohorts of children participating in the study, the report shines a light on children’s wellbeing
from junior infants through to sixth class
GeoPrice: The development of an efficient, rapidly-updating, mix-adjusted median property price index model using stratified geospatial matching.
No full textThe topic of house price index modelling is one which is central to a significant
number of market stakeholders; governments, central banks, homeowners and businesses,
among others. The impact which property price indices have on inflation,
economic growth and policy-making are profound, yet the methodology and processes
behind the generation of these statistics tools are rather opaque.
National statistical agencies will typically use one of two de-facto standard methods
for modelling the housing market, those being hedonic regression and repeatsales.
While these methods bring with them distinct advantages, they also suffer
from significant drawbacks. One of the most problematic of the these is the volume
of rich property data required by the model. These data requirements often necessitate
the use of non-public data sources, usually acquired through privileges as a
government agency. As such, it is difficult for end-users of these statistics to verify
the veracity, reliability and accuracy of the results.
Furthermore, these intensive data requirements induce a typical lag to publication
in excess of two months. As a result, not only homeowners and businesses, but
even policy-makers are operating on stale information, which is a substantial limitation
given the critical influence exerted by the housing market on so many facets of
the economy.
Our proposal is a novel, geospatially stratified house price index model which
can be computed automatically on publicly available datasets. The algorithm does
not require additional, privately-held attribute data for each property, nor does it
necessitate a great deal of statistical expertise to implement, maintain and interpret,
as the existing standards do. In this thesis, we will outline our methodology and
demonstrate the performance of the index, initially on the Irish property market.
Following an initial study on Irish sale transactions, the model is extended to
a database of asking prices for homes online, thus demonstrating the flexibility of
the approach. This illustrates the accessibility of the model to operate on a variety
of data sources. Finally, our algorithm will be employed to create a property price
index for the United Kingdom, where the public dataset of sale transactions is significantly
more plentiful. The results of this demonstrate that our index is not only
as good as the official hedonic regression model produced by the ONS in the UK,
but far exceeds the smoothness and noise reduction achieved by said model, while
maintaining a month-to-month correlation in excess of 85%. Moreover, our proposal
achieves this with a lag time from data publication in the order of hours, rather than
weeks, as per the ONS house price index
‘What are the factors of over representation of Indigenous ethnic minorities in persons in their respected countries; focusing on the comparison of ethnic minorities in Ireland, New Zealand and Australia?’
No full textOver representation of ethnic minorities within criminal justice systems prisons; statistics have been researched by many academics, however ‘Indigenous Ethnic Minority’ research regarding imprisonment rates and states reactions to these rates has been less researched and invested in. This thesis aims to draw upon existing research and imperial evidence to comment on New Zealand and Ireland’s state's reaction to the over representation of their indigenous ethnic minorities within their respected countries prison.
Objectives of this research was to draw; 1. a background of each Indigenous ethnic minority whilst explaining the terms used throughout such as Ethnicity. 2. Comment on the theories and pillars believed to be leading causes of these divisions in society and lastly 3. Shine a light on Ireland’s lack of advancements regarding its protections of Irish Travellers compared to other states with similar indigenous minority community population such as New Zealand and comment on what needs to be improved upon to change this.
Using a comparative approach of existing research both peer reviewed and blank this thesis discovered that Ireland is vastly behind in its attempt to protect and advocate for the Irish Travelling community when it comes to their continual miss- treatment within the criminal justice system, although New Zealand is not a shining example of what other states should do it is however an example of the investment that needs to occur by states into their indigenous minority communities to begin this change. This thesis draws both comparisons and differences of the two communities and delves into the possible reasoning behind said community’s mistreatment within the criminal justice system using theories and economic factors
“War has entered the blood’’ Conflict related sexual violence - Why men rape in wartime. Identifying causal factors and legal responses.
No full textConflict related sexual violence is a phenomenon which causes devastation to innocent civilian populations and has lasting implications beyond the serious physical violation. This dissertation explores the causation of sexual offending during war through a predominantly offender perspective by examining different case studies, which are intended to demonstrate both similarities and differences in its occurrence. Through theoretical frameworks and analysis of military structures and cultures the commission of sexual violence can be understood to be complex and rooted in the politics, culture, ethnicity, and religion of the individual context. The title of the thesis ‘War has entered the blood’ is definitive of the distinguishable transition between peace and war time and its influence on the perpetration of sexual violence. Connections between time periods are undeniable, however, the breakdown in social order and shifts in governing powers allow for changes in behaviour which are influenced by internal groups dynamics and hierarchal structures in the armed forces and in many cases alter the type and severity of sexual violence. The research extended to examine the variation in sexual offending as opportunistic, as a practice, as a weapon of war and as a form of genocide. Each context analysed demonstrated how perpetrators exploit the obvious vulnerabilities of the target population through sexual violence to gain advantage for various purposes. Changes to behavioral norms during war appear to elevate violent tendencies with rape becoming exceptionally brutal.
Assessments of legal responses to conflict related sexual offending demonstrated the challenges associated with prosecuting offenders and how individual cases have reoriented international criminal law and its focus on this serious crime. This process has not been linear, and the cases chosen for analysis suggest that the law works in tandem with external sociological and political elements and remains a work in progress.
The research predominantly indicated that the perpetration of sexual violence as an individual isolated offence is less frequent than it being employed as a practice or systematically. In some of the regions examined the practice of sexual violence was due to permissive and tolerant attitudes of commanders and in other instances formed part of a military and governmental strategy which was planned in advance. The range of territories chosen, the former Yugoslavia, Palestine, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo formed an important part of the research as it demonstrated past and present contexts which have experienced sexual offending during war. Analysis of each region provided a wealth of information which highlighted the patterns and distinct differences in how sexual violence is commissioned
Warrior Networks: Elite Soldiers and their Transition to Civilian Life.
No full textThe aim of this research is to explore the transition of Special Forces soldiers from
elite military units to civilian life. There is a large social-scientific literature on
transition, which emphasises adjustment challenges and negative outcomes for
mental health and violence. But what factors determine successful transition? A
number of recent studies conclude that successful transition is a matter of “cultural
competences,” but the term culture is deployed without analytical precision.
Moreover, other social-scientific studies worry about the excessive power of
“culture” in the form of informal networks and guilds, which may well be the
source of the competences that lead to success. The scholarly discussion about
transition from military to civilian life, then, is dominated by anthropological
concerns and disciplinary concepts – most obviously culture and its synonyms –
but no reference is made to anthropological theory or to ethnographic research.
This research is an anthropological exploration of the cultural space
between the military and civil society. It is grounded in an ethnographic study that
tracks the transition of individuals from a comparative sample of key military
units. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the focus is on military-civil fields,
on habitus, and on capital, in order to develop a more nuanced, anthropological
understanding of “cultural competence”. The project also makes an empirical
contribution by focusing on the understudied world of elite Special Forces. As yet,
there has been no in-depth study of the transition of soldiers from this elite and
high-stakes world to civilian roles. Over the lifetime of this project, I will follow
the transition of individuals from several units, focusing on field, habitus and
capital, to provide an anthropological perspective on military-civil transitio
What is it that I seek? An autoethnographic exploration of my self-care needs as a helping professional.
No full textThis work is an attempt to write my way out of a dilemma I’ve had for quite some time. I say write, but to write I have had to search and research and re-search. I’ve read and re-read and listened. I’ve sat, I’ve stood, I’ve watched, I’ve observed, I’ve thought. I’ve walked and wandered and wondered. I’ve written a bit. I’ve agonised. I’ve written another bit. Deleted most of it, agonised again and started again. The process of writing about self-care this year mirrors my various attempts to identify sustainable self-care practices for over thirty years. Experimentations this year have been a series of starts and stops, learnings and un-learnings or re-learnings. My hope is that when I get to The End, it will also be the beginning of a new phase in self-care as a helping professional, one that is in keeping with my uniqueness, my nature and my interests