The Health of the Nation

In this discussion, recorded in July, a distinguished panel of experts join Professor Emma Flynn to look at the wider ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic for our health care systems.

On the panel: Professor Mark Lawler, leading international cancer researcher and Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor at Queen’s; Dr Tom Walker, Senior Lecturer in Ethics at Queen’s, whose work looks at the ethics of health interventions and resource distribution; Professor Mary Horgan, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland; and Professor Richard Sullivan, WHO advisor and Professor of Cancer and Global Health at King’s College London.

Covid-19 and the Arts

In this programme, Prof Emma Flynn and her panel of expert guests look at the effect of COVID-19 on the Arts sector in Northern Ireland.

How has the pandemic affected performing artists? How will the film and TV industry respond to COVID-19? Is it possible to plot a socially distanced course to recovery?

On the panel: Dr Kurt Taroff and Dr Ali FitzGibbon of the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen’s; Stephen Beggs, actor and Chair of the Equity NI National Committee; and Margaret Henry, CEO Thrive, and Member of Arts Collaboration Network.

Are we really all in this together?

Is Inequality the primary driver of Covid-19? How can we best address the existing inequalities it has highlighted?

Joining Prof Flynn to discuss these issues are: Dr Kathryn Higgins and Dr Gemma Catney, both of Queen’s; Professor Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford, who has spent his career studying inequality; Fionntán Hargey, Project Worker in the Market Development Association, a community group in South Belfast; and Anne-Marie McClure, Chief Executive of Start360, a leading provider of support services to young people, adult offenders and families in the community.

Putting Bread on the Table

This programme looks at the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Northern Ireland’s hugely significant food sector.

Joining Professor Emma Flynn are: Professor Chris Elliott, Director of Queen’s University’s Institute for Global Food Security; Stephane Durand, Director of Agri-Food QUEST, an industry-led Innovation Centre for agri-food businesses in Northern Ireland; Ursula Lavery, Technical Director at Moy Park, one of the UK’s biggest food companies; and Nick Whelan, CEO of Dale Farm, Northern Ireland’s leading dairy company.

Just how close did we come to seeing the food supply chain collapse? What will the medium and long-term effects be on food production? Tune in to find out.

Looking out for Big Brother

Is sharing our personal data now a societal duty or an intrusion too far?

Professor Frank Kee, who directs the UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health Research (NI) and is Deputy Director for the Centre for Public Health in Queen's, first shares his thoughts on how the NHS is managing to set up the necessary infrastructure around ‘track and trace’ efforts, to safeguard public health and data security.

Professor Flynn is joined by Jayne Brady, Belfast’s Digital and Innovation Commissioner, by Professor Máire O’Neill, and by Dr Stephen Farrell of TCD, in a discussion of the current state of play in the era of ‘big data’, from the risks of fraud posed by criminal activity to the opportunities presented by the unprecedented power of today’s data networks.