Dr. Kat Austen in conversation with Fiona McGarry, introduction by Dr. Paul O’Neill
AI data centres are being built at an accelerating rate around the globe, their demands for water and energy raising concern. At the same time, AI agents are becoming embedded in search engines, operating systems, software and even in the infrastructure for critical services. Through long-term artistic research, Kat Austen explores the systemic impact of AI expansion, both on and offline. Since 2025, Austen has worked with Paul O’Neill to explore global perspectives on AI data centre expansions. In conversation with Fiona McGarry (Journalism & Media), Austen will present research into the landscape changes at a data centre construction site in Asia, and the resonances that this shares with similar sites around the world.
Dr. Kat Austen is a recipient of the Visiting Fellowship Scheme at University of Galway’s College of Arts, Social Sciences, & Celtic Studies, in collaboration with Dr. Paul O’Neill (Huston School of Film & Digital Media).
European Research Infra for Heritage Science (E-RIHS) – introductory webinar
Monday, 14 September, from 11:00 to 12:00 CEST.
If you are considering requesting access to E-RIHS services but still have questions about the process, or if you know colleagues who might be interested, we warmly encourage you to join the webinar and share the invitation with them.
During the webinar, we will introduce the E-RIHS Catalogue of Services, explain the proposal selection process, and leave plenty of time for a Q&A session, during which the Helpdesk team will be happy to answer your questions directly.
According to Richard Dawkins, “There’s real poetry in the real world. Science is the poetry of reality”. So why are art and science sometimes considered as two separate fields, rather than two different sides of the same coin? And who says that scientists, engineers, and medical researchers take interest only in matters within the boundaries of the laboratories and hospitals? How might the perspective of art provide fresh avenues for understanding and contribute significantly to the enrichment of scientific knowledge? For poets, writers, and artists there are no such boundaries, for there is poetic wisdom in scientific knowledge, beauty in anatomy, and concepts worth celebrating in writing. And for biographers and memoirists, the medical humanities offer experiences that are worth preserving in prose. Our forthcoming conference seeks to deconstruct the common divide between two seemingly distinct disciplines of art and science, building bridges instead of boundaries, and showing the importance of creatively contemplating, cherishing, and preserving the beauty of what we learn and experience.
This conference, therefore, aims to bring together scholars, creatives, and other arts-based researchers from different disciplines working on topics related to transdisciplinarity, with a focus on the bridging of science with the arts. You may be a scientist or a medical practitioner who writes poems and stories or takes on another art (such as music, sculpture, the visual arts, etc.) or alternatively, you may be a creative inspired by science, or a practioner in a field that utilises creative approaches for scientific purposes—so the intertwining of your thoughts, ideas, and creativity are welcome, and we can’t wait to hear about your work that combines your creativity with science!
Send us your proposals by August 31st. Presenters can either share academic papers and/or creative work (poetry, prose, photography, music, painting, etc.), as we highly encourage arts-based research. We welcome proposals from scholars (of all disciplines), creatives, graduate students, practitioners and professionals.
So whether you are working on research bridging art with creativity, or you have a piece containing astronomical images, eco-poetry, aesthetic reflections on chemicals and substances, lunar photography, artistic depictions of the human body, alchemical musings, art and arithmetic, psychological fiction (or non-fiction), an ode to omicron, or any other creative pieces arising from “scientific” inspiration, please share them with us!
We welcome 15-minute presentations on topics related (but certainly not limited to) the following fields:
Fiction as a mode for knowledge
Transdisciplinarity in its various forms
Music-based practices
A/r/tography
Physics as an inspiration in literature
Chemistry and the culinary, literary or visual arts
Astrophotography
Alchemy as an art and science
Psychology and the arts
Symbolic healing
Ecopoetics
Anatomy in painting
The medical humanities
Poetry and medicine
Photography and medical technology
Ruminations based on scientific theories
Space poetry
Art therapy
Music and mathematical formulas
Viruses and philosophy
The human body
Mental illness and the arts
Quantum physics and artistic expression
Technological advancements and their impact on artistic creation
Mathematical patterns in visual arts
Neuroscience and creativity
Climate change and environmental art
Data visualization as an art form
Ethical considerations in scientific art collaborations
Evolutionary biology and literature
Augmented reality and immersive storytelling
Artificial intelligence and its role in creative processes
Bioart and biotechnology in artistic practice
Intersection of robotics and performance art
Astronomy and music composition
Psychology of color in visual arts
Medical imaging techniques and artistic interpretation
Intersection of archaeology and art history
Cognitive science and theater/performance studies
Genetics and contemporary art practices
Philosophy of science and its influence on artistic discourse
Ecological activism through artistic interventions
Anthropology and the representation of cultures in art
Social sciences and documentary photography
Nanotechnology and its implications for artistic materials
Ethnomusicology and cultural expressions of scientific knowledge
Copyright and Licensing with Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI)
The DRI is pleased to present a series of online talks entitled ‘Meet the Experts’ designed to de-mystify the day-to-day work of a digital repository. For the first talk in the series on Wednesday, 9 September at 11:00am, DRI Digital Archivist Kevin Long will discuss current issues in copyright and licensing for digital data.
The DRI ‘Meet the Experts’ series features short talks, with opportunity for discussion with staff and invited experts, on various topics related to DRI’s work.
In this session, DRI Digital Archivist Kevin Long will discuss current issues in copyright and licensing for digital data. Participants will leave with a better understanding of how licences available in the Repository affect the reusability of collections and objects.
DARIAH-CH Training Series 2026–2027: Building Digital Skills for the Arts and Humanities
DARIAH-CH and its national partners are pleased to announce the DARIAH-CH Training Series 2026–2027, a new programme of online training sessions designed to introduce researchers to the methods, tools, and good practices that are shaping digital scholarship in the arts and humanities.
The series is aimed primarily at early-career researchers, doctoral candidates, master’s students, and anyone new to Digital Humanities who wishes to develop practical digital research skills. No prior technical knowledge is required.
Over eleven sessions, participants will explore fundamental topics in arts and digital humanities. The programme combines conceptual foundations with practical demonstrations and hands-on examples, enabling participants to understand both the underlying principles and their application to humanities research.
Each 90-minute online session consists of:
40 minutes of theoretical introduction,
30 minutes of practical demonstrations or hands-on activities,
20 minutes of questions and discussion.
To support continued learning, all sessions will be accompanied by Open Educational Resources (OER) that participants can consult after the training.
Register
To take part in the series, register here and you’ll receive all the Zoom connection details by email.
![THIRST: the societal and environmental costs of AI data centre expansion [18 Sept, Galway, in-person]](https://dariah.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/cropped-cropped-Picture-1-scaled-1.png)
