DCU Institute for Climate and Society
DCU Institute for Climate and Society
conference

Institute for Climate and Society Annual Conference

to
Venue
HG20, Nursing and Human Sciences Building, DCU Glasnevin Campus
Target Audience
All Welcome
Is registration required?
Yes
Registration Link
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/dispatches-from-a-changing-climate-tickets-12989219…

Dispatches from a changing climate: Engaging society through activism, storytelling and the arts

The fifth annual DCU Institute for Climate and Society conference will take place on 29 April 2025 in HG20, Nursing and Human Sciences Building, on the DCU Glasnevin Campus.

Our keynote speaker is Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, who will deliver a report to the UN General Assembly this autumn on the challenges faced by human rights defenders working in the context of climate change and a just transition.

The conference will feature a range of speakers from the arts, the media and academia. Please see the programme below. 

Join us on 29 April for our annual one-day conference where we will explore the role of activism, storytelling and the arts in responding to the climate crisis. The event is free and open to the public but registration is required. 

 

Register here

Conference programme

Time Details Speaker
9.00

Registration

Tea & coffee

  
9.25 Welcome Dr Diarmuid Torney, Institute Director and Associate Professor, DCU School of Law and Government
9.30 Choral performance DCU Campus Choir
9.40 Keynote address

Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders

Introduction by Prof Dáire Keogh, DCU President
10.30

Panel 1

Defending environmental human rights at home and abroad
  • Sarah de Roure, Head of Protection, Front Line Defenders
  • Dr Harriet Fildes, Head of Programmes, Scottish Human Rights Defender Fellowship, University of Dundee
  • Fidelma O’Kane, Save Our Sperrins
  • Dr Walt Kilroy, Assistant Professor, DCU School of Law and Government

Chair: Dr Rowan Oberman, Assistant Professor, DCU School of Stem Education Innovation and Global Studies
11.30 Coffee break  
12.00

Panel 2

The arts and the environment
  • Kerri Ní Dochartaigh, Writer
  • Luke Casserly, Multidisciplinary performance maker
  • Rosie O'Reilly, Visual artist
  • Dr Ellen Howley, Assistant Professor, DCU School of English

Chair: Prof Derek Hand, Executive Dean, DCU Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
1.00 Lunch  
2.00

Panel 3

Climate science, art and activism
  • Dr Eileen Hutton, Artist and Head of Art & Ecology at Burren College of Art
  • AlanJames Burns, Artist, curator and festival maker  
  • Dr Cathy Fitzgerald, Ecological Artist, Ecoliteracy & Earth Charter - ESD Educator at Haumea Ecoversity
  • Rebecca Wilson, Science Week Lead at Research Ireland
  • Dr Trish Morgan, Assistant Professor, DCU School of Communications

Chair: Dr Pádraig Murphy, Associate Professor, DCU School of Communications 
3.00

Panel 4

Reporting from the climate front lines
  • Marcus Stewart, Documentary filmmaker and Managing Director, Earth Horizon Productions, Producer of RTÉ's Rising Tides and Ecoeye
  • Hannah McCarthy, Lawyer and award-winning foreign correspondent based in Beirut
  • Eamon Timmins, Media Relations Manager, Concern Worldwide
  • Priyanka Borpujari, Award-winning international journalist and PhD candidate, DCU School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies

Chair: Dr David Robbins, Former journalist, Institute Co-Director and Associate Professor, DCU School of Communications
4.00 Closing reflection