News & Events

We are delighted to launch ARISE, a new project funded under the UCD Sustainability Seed Funding Programme. 

ARISE - Art & Research in Sustainability and Environment is an interdisciplinary project led by UCD Parity Studios in partnership with the Earth Institute, the WaterLANDS project and IMMA - Irish Museum of Modern Art.

The project aims to bring academic research and art practice into dialogue around sustainability and environment challenges, which are multiple, interlinked and urgent and require large-scale transformation. Academic research can investigate problems and identify solutions but big changes to society require sensitive engagement, creativity and collaboration. Art has unique capacities to leverage deep meanings for this change in the context of entrenched problems and positions. It can play a pivotal role in reframing world views towards a sustainable and healthy future for all. 

UCD Parity Studios has been instrumental in developing a positive culture for art and academic collaborations across UCD and sustainability has been a key feature of many of these collaborations. UCD Earth Institute has hosted two previous artists in residence and many institute members have active collaborations with artists. The WaterLANDS project hosts six four-year artistic residencies across Europe aligned to wetland restoration sites.

ARISE will  produce a range of resources to support art-research collaborations in sustainability, including research findings, a toolkit for best practice and new structures within the UCD Parity Studios residency programme. These resources will enable researchers to collaborate in a reciprocal and fair way with artists and will open up new avenues to share and communicate research with diverse audiences. On a national level the project aims to create connections across Ireland in this area. 

We will be announcing open calls for artists and researchers in the coming weeks and look forward to working in partnership with IMMA to bring you workshops and talks in 2025. We will also be reaching out to researchers across UCD who have worked with artists or who are interested in these collaborations. If you are interested in being part of the project or finding out more, please email caitriona.devery@ucd.ie.

ARISE is led by Emer O’Boyle, Creative Director and Co-Founder of UCD Parity Studios, in partnership with Caitríona Devery and Will Fitzmaurice from UCD Earth Institute, Dr Shane McGuinness from the WaterLANDS project and Sheena Barrett Head of Research and Learning at IMMA - Irish Museum of Modern Art. 

The UCD Sustainability Seed Funding Programme is supported by Performance Funding from the Higher Education Authority (HEA).