CORA
Cork Open Research Archive (CORA) is UCC’s Open Access institutional repository which enables UCC researchers to make their research outputs freely available and accessible.
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Recent Submissions
A substantive view of social enterprises as neo-endogenous rural development actors
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2022-01-20) Olmedo, Lucas; O’Shaughnessy, Mary; H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Social enterprises are recognised as relevant rural development actors. The specific features of social enterprises operating within rural areas (i.e. their relational, socially innovative and multi-stakeholder character and their focus on integrated development) concur with the principles of the neo-endogenous approach to rural development, which stress the potential role of third sector organisations as development actors within governance frameworks. In order to study this phenomenon, that links social enterprises and rural development, we propose a conceptual and methodological framework drawing from Polanyi’s socio-economic theory, complemented with the concepts of place, spatial scale and corporate agency. Through the proposed framework, we advocate for a plural vision of the economy, socio-spatial and geopolitical sensitive concepts and overcoming methodological individualism for the study of an increasingly relevant phenomenon such as the participation of third sector organisations like social enterprises in the (neo-endogenous) development of rural areas.
Acorn School Completion Programme - SCP Operational Framework from practice-based research
(Maynooth University, 2025-09) Crean, Tom; Crean, Mags; Hyland, Áine
The School Completion Programme (SCP) was introduced in Ireland in the early 2000s to support children and young people at risk of early school leaving and educational disadvantage. There are currently 121 SCPs in Ireland but there is no currently agreed framework model that explains how they operate. The operational framework suggested in this document has been developed by SCP Coordinator, Tom Crean, in collaboration with two researchers, Mags Crean and Áine Hyland and is being shared and disseminated as an example of good practice.
The critical contribution of Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs) to the global governance paradigm
(Brill Nijhoff, 2025-12-03) McIntyre, Owen
For several decades, the environmental and social safeguard policies adopted by International financial institutions (IFIs), along with the related accountability frameworks provided by the Independent accountability mechanisms (IAMs) established by each, have been at the very forefront of a global movement to extend good environmental and social governance values to international development finance. The standards of institutional conduct required under the safeguard policies of Multilateral development bank (MDBs) in the assessment and implementation of the projects or activities they fund exemplifies the variety of transnational environmental and social regulatory activity which has proliferated in recent years. These regulations comprises an almost endless assortment of codes, standards, and assessment and certification processes, many of which are non-State-led and essentially voluntary, though they generally tend to reflect the values enshrined in more formal national and international legal frameworks.
Why is HPAT used to select students for medical courses in Irish universities?
(National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, 2025) Hyland, Áine
The Health Professions Admission Test (HPAT), an aptitude test for applicants to University Medical courses, was introduced in Ireland in 2009. The test was developed and administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) which provided assurances that the test could not be "gamed" or studied for. Experience over the past 15 years has shown that students can and do improve their scores by coaching and by grinds. A decision has recently been taken to reduce HPAT's influence on entry to Medical schools. This article asks why HPAT continues to be used, given the evidence that it contributes to inequality..