Billed as an academic cross between ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and ‘Dragons’ Den’, the UL50 Citizens’ Assembly will bring together 100 community stakeholders and citizens from Limerick city and county on Thursday, May 25. They will select four projects from University of Limerick that they feel will best contribute to building a sustainable future for Limerick city and county.
Each selected project will receive a €10,000 funding award to make their idea happen.
The Assembly is a collaboration between the University, Limerick City and County Council, Limerick Public Participation Network (PPN) and Limerick Comhairle na nÓg, supported by the Limerick Community Education Network (LCEN). It is designed to provide a platform for further engagement between UL and community.
From microplastics to ethical investing to singing your way to health as you get older, project proposals were drawn from across the University and selected according to their capacity to address an identified UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). They had to show in detail their plans to engage with the people of Limerick and their projects potential for positive impact in the city and county.
Professor Nigel Healey, VP Global and Community Engagement, UL said: “As part of UL’s fiftieth anniversary year, we were anxious to do something that would engage with the wider Limerick community and, perhaps, reverberate beyond next May when our Jubilee concludes. An event that would provide an opportunity for academics to develop their public engagement skills and experience and where citizens would gain insight into who we are and what we do, seemed like the answer.”
Lorraine Broderick, Planning Group, Limerick PPN Resource Worker said: “As PPN Limerick’s Resource Worker I am always keen to source opportunities for our member groups to contribute to and engage with meaningfully. With its focus on the Sustainable Development Goals and significant funding available for projects in Limerick, the Citizens Assembly fits into our core ethos of collaborative consultation and working together for a better Limerick.”
With Limerick’s own Mike Finn acting as the Master of Ceremonies, this all-day event at the Engine, Cecil St, Limerick will comprise of six presentations in the morning and six in the afternoon. Teams will be given 10 minutes each to tell the Assembly about their proposed project. There will be a strong emphasis on making the presentations as interesting, educational, and entertaining as possible so expect music, video and plenty of interaction.
For more information, see: www.ulcitizensassembly.ie