The humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, gender-based violence in Malawi, and the role of music in the lives of children in direct provision are amongst the research topics being funded by the Irish Research Council this year under its New Foundations programme. Details of the programme – which supports research on civic society and public policy issues – were announced today (23.03.16). In total, the Irish Research Council is providing €1 million to researchers across Ireland, on a range of projects involving collaboration between higher education researchers and NGOs.

One of the projects is being led at NUI Galway by Dr John Morrissey, Senior Lecturer in Geography and Associate Director of the Moore Institute for Humanities. John’s project was initially developed during a recent research fellowship at the University of Cambridge. Entitled ‘Haven’, it is focused on the biggest humanitarian crisis in Europe since the Second World War, the Mediterranean refugee crisis, and has two core aims:

1. to develop a collaborative body of research that addresses the root causes of the crisis and progressively offers an alternative envisioning of Western interventionism via the UN concept of ‘human security’; and 
2. to initiate a series of public events where these vital perspectives can be constructively disseminated to key stakeholders, including the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Irish Naval Services and Irish Aid.
   
   For further information, please see the Haven Project’s website:https://havenprojectblog.wordpress.com