Objectives

Goals and Objectives

• To become advocates for the Humanities in the public sphere.

• To move beyond the island campus in order to foster public service and civic engagement.

• To develop, through on-going research and publication, a forum for critical discourse and commentary about the practice of the Humanities in Ireland.

• To become a platform for participation in the formulation of public policy and to address the challenges facing Higher Education today.

• To engage creatively with communities in order to explore and articulate issues of local significance.

• To welcome and promote new and innovative ways of uniting scholarly research with cultural practice, including teaching and workshop provision.

• To highlight the benefits of artistic/academic collaboration.

The Hunt Report acknowledged the valuable role of the Arts and Humanities
(The National Strategy for Higher Education 2030)

To create a community research environment that transcends University and Institute boundarieWhile most discussion of research focuses on the hard sciences, it is the arts, humanities and social sciences that have consistently attracted the largest numbers of students, and these are the domains in which Ireland has made a real global impact. This can be seen in the achievements of Irish people in literature, music, and the arts, and in the extent to which Ireland benefits from its reputation in these areas. There are also very compelling social and economic reasons to develop our capabilities in these areas, including advancement of our understanding of the very rapid changes taking place in the Irish economy and society, better-informed public policy-making, and development of the creative and analytical skills that will be valuable in a global economy that is increasingly dominated by knowledge-based services. [p. 38]
In the advancement of human knowledge and understanding, Ireland has its own distinctive contribution to make. As an island of scholarship, scientific discovery, creative arts and innovation, Ireland attracts independent thinkers and entrepreneurs from around the globe.The Irish language, culture and the creative arts are primary sources of our distinctiveness and we should deepen our understanding of these and capitalise on their inherent cultural value and on the cultural and literary qualities that make us distinctive and interesting internationally. [p. 51]