Working in the community

The Department of Economics at NUI Galway has a long tradition of working in the community at local, national and international level. Members of the department have made significant contributions to the development and evaluation of strategic policy initiatives on a large number of issues. This involvement is driven in many cases by the research activity of individual academics.

At a local and regional level, department members have served on the Atlantic Gateways Committee and as Western Assembly Advisor, and have engaged with Údaras na Gaeltachta and various county and city councils. Much of this work has been done with graduates from the Department’s Masters in Rural Development programme who often find employment in local and regional development agencies.

At a national level, department members have played an influential role in the development of policy in a number of areas. Examples include the development of national policy for long-term care, the development of the national spatial strategy, advising on education and science policy and advising on the impact of the various changes to the EU Agriculture Policy.

Internationally, members of the department have worked on advisory bodies to the European Union, for example, the EU Think Tank on EU/Russian Relations and have driven the development of the national plan in developing economies in Eastern Europe.

Members of the Department have served on various EU Observatories. Individuals have also been involved in the development of economic modeling in countries such as Brazil and Pakistan. Several large EU-financed research projects are based in the department (for details see the Research section of this web site).

Community work also includes work done for the economics profession. In this regard, department members have been very active throughout their careers. Department members have served as referees for leading economics journals such as Econometrica, the Economic Journal, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation, Applied Economics, Regional Studies, Journal of Health Economics, Review of Income and Wealth, Public Choice, Social Choice and Welfare and the Journal of Economic Methodology. Department members have also been active in organizing conferences. Recent examples include workshops in Computational Economics and in Rational Choice and Normative Philosophy as well as conferences on Health Economics, Demography, Economic Transition in Eastern Europe and Environmental Economics. The Department has played an active role in the Irish Economics Association and has organized several of its annual conferences.

Another aspect of community work that should be mentioned is work done within the University. Members of the Department have served as Dean of Research as well as Dean of both the Arts and Commerce Faculties. A number of individuals have also served as members of the Governing Body of the University while every person in the department has worked on various faculty and department committees. In addition, several members of staff have served on national educational bodies. Examples include membership of the Higher Education Authority, work done for the Irish Research Council on the Humanities and Social Sciences and work done for the Enterprise Ireland Millennium Scholarships.

Further details on all of these activities can be found on the individual pages of staff members.