University of Galway Research Repository
Open access to publications, including peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, working papers, reports, and other scholarly communications by University of Galway researchers.
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Publication The displaced, deferred or was it abandoned middle? Another look at the idiographic-nomothetic distinction in the German social sciences(Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems, and Civilizations, 1997)[No abstract available]Publication The mechanics of biological growth: A study through the vertex model(University of Galway, 2025-06-20)This doctoral thesis investigates the mechanics of growth and remodeling in biological tissues through a discrete framework known as the vertex model. While this model has been extensively used for numerical simulations in biological contexts, the present work focuses on a fundamental aspect: the generation of elastic stresses in vertex-based systems. This study introduces the concept of incompatibility in such tissues, a well-established source of residual stresses in continuous mechanics in the absence of external loads. A key contribution of this thesis is the identification and characterization of two distinct types of incompatibility in the vertex model. The first, termed internal incompatibility, arises when the target area and perimeter of individual cells violate the isometric inequality. Internal incompatibility is recognized as a regulator of the critical transition between fluid-like and solid-like cell behavior, which plays a crucial role in processes such as cancer cell migration. The second, termed external incompatibility, pertains to the manner in which cells are interconnected to form specific tissue morphologies. Both types of incompatibility act as sources of residual stresses in tissues described through the vertex model. The second part of this work explores the consequences of elastic stress accumulation on the possibility of inelastic tissue evolution. Specifically, the study examines phase transitions, including T1, T2, and T3 transitions, as well as cell division, analyzing how such non-elastic processes enable the system to evolve toward a minimal energy configuration. This evolution represents a potential pathway for growth in biological tissues. The analysis, implemented using a MATLAB code, further investigates the influence of parameters such as area stiffness, perimeter stiffness, and line tension on growth progression, to single out the conditions leading to the instabilization of initially flat or regular surfaces. Preliminary results suggest that incompatibilities and stiffness parameters significantly contribute to the onset of corrugations at the interface between domains with differing control parameters. These findings open the door to explore connections with tumor growth, particularly in the context of metastasis spreading into healthy tissues.Publication Assembling a co-produced urban lab: The case of Nuns’ island(Elsevier, 2022-09-07)This paper details the contextual and conceptual elements involved in setting up an Urban Lab in the city of Galway, Ireland. The paper specifies the set-up of a lab in the post-industrial area of Nuns' Island, through a detailed reading of pertinent ‘lab-centred’ literatures. It contributes to this literature by (1) analysing a lab in the explicit context of an urban regeneration project and (2) exploring ways in which co-production may be put into practice. Urban Lab Galway is anticipated initially to play a major role supporting the urban regeneration of an area adjacent to a major university, which also owns substantial buildings and land on the site, and is thus not surprisingly supported by the local university in question. The paper motivates and details the reasons supporting co-produced initiatives, critically exploring the potential and difficulties attaching to such practices. The paper ends in a sustained engagement with the concept of ‘creative destruction’ in the context of lab-based engagements.Publication What exactly does “Kiel 1969” remind us of?(Copernicus Publications, 2020-07-16)The Geographers' Day in Kiel in 1969 was a milestone in locating German academic human geography within the interplay of scientific practice, theoretical propositions, and everyday teaching. To commemorate the place and the debates 50 years ago, Kiel again became a place of reflection in 2019. This article, in a deliberately personal way, attempts to locate the impulses emanating from "Kiel 1969" in the everyday academic life of the Geographical Institute of the Technical University of Munich in the 1980s, thereby putting them into perspective. This creates a differentiated picture of groundbreaking changes and persistent structures that, interwoven, characterized Munich's social geography, which was nationally renowned at the time – and were significant for German-speaking human geography beyond the specific conditions in Munich.Publication It’s less the destination and more the getting there: urban development, emergence and co-production in Galway, Ireland(Liverpool University Press, 2023-07-27)This article presents the case for a reconceptualised form of engagement around development at a local scale within a medium-sized city. Deploying ideas gleaned from literature on emergence, the article explores how a non-teleological form of development might engage with stakeholders in an urban regeneration area. Focusing on three distinct social practices – co-production, activism and policy – the article sets out to unfold the example of Nuns’ Island in Galway, Ireland to chart a participatory form of development in the absence of previously defined goals. Honing in on ‘storytelling’ as a key cultural strategy in this process, the article concludes with a view from Europe’s West towards locally embedded urban development practices.
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