14 May: SDG8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

The eighth seminar in our series on the UN Sustainable Development Goals takes place at 13.00 on 14 May at the UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy. 

The seminars are open to all – whether you’re a researcher, a student or are just interested in learning more about the research that is helping to address the SDGs. 

Our speakers

Elish Kelly will talk about her research on the quality of new jobs created since the Great Recession in Ireland. Elish is  a Senior Research Officer at the Economic and Social Research Institute in the Economic Analysis Division. She received her Bachelor and Doctorate degrees in Economics from Trinity College Dublin. Her main research interest is in labour economics, with a particular focus on unemployment and active labour market programmes, migration, and wages and pay bargaining institutions. Elish has also undertaken research on equality and on education issues, along with participation in sport and physical activity.

Micheál Collins will talk about emerging trends in job insecurity. Micheál is Assistant Professor of Social Policy at the UCD School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice. Prior to that, he was a Senior Economist at the Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI). His main research interests and publications are in the areas of income distribution, taxation, redistribution, economic evaluation and public policy. He was a member of the Commission on Taxation (2008-2009) and the Government’s Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (2011-2014). He is a former chair of the Irish Social Policy Association (ISPA) and the Regional Studies Association (RSA) of Ireland. He is currently a member of the National Competitiveness Council, the TCD Pensions Policy Research Group and the Living Wage Technical Group. Micheál is a native of Ennis in Co. Clare and a graduate of NUI Galway, UCC and the University of Dublin, Trinity College.

Roland Erne contribution is titled “SDGs and their implementation: The tension between labour policy and politics”.  Roland Erne is Jean Monnet Chair of European Integration and Employment Relations. He has been teaching international and comparative employment relations at UCD since 2003. In 2017, Erne was awarded an European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant for a research project entitled Labour Politics and the EU’s New Economic Governance Regime (European Unions), which aims to explore the challenges and possibilities that the EU’s new governance regime poses to labour movements and the methodological nationalism in the field.

Chair: Philip O’Connell is Director of The Geary Institute for Public Policy and Professor of Applied Social Science at UCD. He has a long-held belief in the importance of evidence for policy making, having spent two decades at the ESRI before coming to UCD.  He has served as a consultant to the European Commission and the OECD, and was appointed to the Irish Labour Market Council. His research focusses on immigration and the labour market and he is National Coordinator of the European Social Survey in Ireland. 

Does your research relate to SDG8?

SDG collaboration and funding workshop

Directly after the Seminar Justin Synnott form UCD Research and Innovation will chair a workshop for researchers to discuss potential collaborations and funding opportunities that relate to SDG8. Join us to discuss how your work aligns with the SDGs and upcoming funding calls.