School of Business hosts public lecture series (Oct/Nov)

GMIT School of Business is hosting a public lecture series on the Irish Economy and economics topics during October and November; Professor John Fitzgerald of the ESRI will deliver the first lecture, titled ‘The Irish Economy; An overview’ on Thursday 17 October in the main Galway campus (Theatre 1000) at 4.30pm.

Professor Fitzgerald is President of the Association d’Instituts Européens de Conjuncture Économique and a former president of the Irish Economic Association. He is currently a member of the Commission of the Central Bank of Ireland. A member of the ESRI, he has published in a number of different fields. In collaboration with John Bradley and other colleagues in the ESRI he helped develop the ESRI's macro-economic modelling programme.

The second talk in the series is by a graduate of the GMIT School of Business, Cathal Flanagan, who has been working as a trader with QuantRes since 2009. He is an experienced multi asset trader in the global financial, commodity and equity markets.  His talk ‘Trading strategies in the current economic environment’ will take place on Tuesday 29 October, 10am (room 1041, Galway campus).

The third public talk is by another graduate, Mark Boyle, known internationally as ‘The Moneyless man’ which takes place on Monday 4 November, 2pm, (room 994, Galway campus); Mark graduated from GMIT in 2002 with an honours Bachelor of Business degree. He has lived completely without money for almost three years, an experience which formed the basis for his first book, The Moneyless Man.  

His second book, The Moneyless Manifesto, explores in-depth the philosophy and praxis of a non-monetary economy. He is also founder of Freeconomy, an alternative economy with local groups across 174 countries. He gives talks internationally and writes intermittently for various international newspapers and magazines, such as the UK’s Guardian newspaper, and regularly contributes to RTÉ and BBC.  He has just returned to live in Co Galway where he is creating a permaculture & gift economy based smallholding on three acres, where he aims to meet all of his needs from the land under his feet.

The final talk in the series is by Cormac Keating, an economist with The Competition Authority, who will speak about ‘Competition policy in Ireland with particular focus on the merger enforcement regime’ . It takes place in Theatre 1000 on Friday 29 November, from 12 noon.

The lectures are primarily aimed at fourth year students within the School of Business but all GMIT students are welcome to attend, as well as members of the public.

GMIT Economics lecturer Marie Finnegan, lecture series co-ordinator, says that Professor John Fitzgerald’s talk is particularly timely given budget day today (Tuesday 16 October). Cathal Flanagan and Mark Boyle, two GMIT graduates, will give almost opposite views on strategizing in a fluctuating financial climate. Finally, rebuilding our competitiveness is key to embedding our recovery and Cormac Keating will talk about this from the viewpoint of merger enforcement.

Admission to these public lectures is free and booking is advisable. Please email marie.finnegan@gmit.ie