Research in the humanities is "more important than ever" in a rapidly evolving and changing society, the president of NUI Galway, Dr Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh, has said.
Study of social sciences allows us "to understand not only our own culture, but also our responsibilities as citizens of the global village". Dr Ó Muircheartaigh was speaking at last night's opening of NUI Galway's Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and Social Studies.
The institute has already secured €6 million in research grants since its initiation, according to its academic director, Prof Nicholas Canny. The institute has formed a strategic alliance with the Long Room Hub at Trinity College Dublin. One of the alliance's new research funding bids will involve editing, translating and digitisation of texts and manuscripts using advanced technologies.
The Moore family, after whom the institute is named, were Catholics and Protestants, republicans and imperialists, landlords and victims, writers and racehorse owners, immigrants and emigrants, according to Geraldine Kennedy, the editor of The Irish Times.
They represented the "tangled web of Irish political and cultural history" from the late 18th to the mid 20th century. In a speech to mark the institute's opening, which was delivered on her behalf by Lorna Siggins, Irish Times western and marine correspondent, Ms Kennedy noted that journalism is sometimes said to be a "first draft of history".
Ms Kennedy was unable to attend the event as a result of an injury sustained in a fall at the weekend.
Although she was aware of the "low opinion many academics have of those of us who work in the media", Ms Kennedy noted that journalists and academic researchers had much in common, including sharing in the excitement of discovery.
"There are other things we do not share, like, for example, our occasional unwillingness to reveal our sources," she added.
Prof Kevin Barry, the institute's academic research co-ordinator and project leader, said it was especially appropriate "that newspaper people should initiate a research institute in the humanities and social studies. Both a newspaper of record and a research institute, such as this, work to transform a knowledge society into a civic society."