Dr Áine Ní Léime

Assistant Professor in Ethics, Business and Society, Management

J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway

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Dr Áine Ní Léime

Áine's recent and current research and teaching are in the areas of employment, gender and ageing, decent work, business and diversity, ethics and corporate responsibility. She has conducted research into decent work funded by European funding agencies and by SFI. She has organised policy roundtables and events at which policy recommendations were presented to NGOs, government officials, employers, trade unions and Members of the European Parliament. Her teaching focuses on ethics and corporate responsibility, sustainability, diversity and inclusion to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She uses case studies and draws on guest lecturers from the NGO sector, academia and business to introduce students in a very direct way to current ethical dilemmas faced by businesses.

Áine's work contributes to these SDGs

SDG 8,10,3,17

Áine has conducted a comparative study as part of a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship on gender, older workers and the lifecourse in Ireland and the US (2015-2018) (SDGs 1, 3, 5 and 8). She was Principal Investigator (PI) for the Irish strand of a five-country, EU-funded study of Dynamics of Accumulated Inequalities for Seniors in Employment (DAISIE) (2018-2021) (SDGs 3, 5, 8 and 10). She was Chair of a COST Action Research Network on Gender and Health Implications of Extended Working Life Policies (2015-2019). She was awarded an SFI Public Service Fellowship for a study on the Costs of Discrimination and the Benefits of Diversity for Business in Ireland focusing on persons with disabilities and migrants (2020-2022) (SDGs 5 and 10). Currently (2023-2024) she is co-PI for a study on Carers in Ireland, funded by the Low Pay Commission (SDGs 5, 8, and 10).

Key Target: 8.5 Full employment and decent work with equal pay

SDG 8

Teaching

Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable Business is a final-year BComm module that focuses on analysing how businesses can behave ethically and sustainably. It draws on a combination of guest speakers from industry and non-governmental organisations and case study analysis. It introduces students to discussion of issues such as corruption, globalisation, human rights and labour rights of workers and responsible investment.

Supporting Targets: 8.5 Full employment and decent work with equal pay, 8.1 Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and eliminate child labour; 16.B Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development

Business and Society module in the Master's in HRM, International Management. This module introduces MSc students to contemporary case study analysis. It addresses issues such as whistleblowing, corporate governance, sustainable and ethical production and consumption, fair working conditions in the supply chain and location decisions by Multi-National Enterprises from ethical perspectives. Guest speakers from NGOs, industry and academia contribute to the course (SDG 4).

Focusing on Target: 8.5 Full employment and decent work with equal pay

Engagement

Áine is policy adviser, Management Committee member and Stakeholder Coordinator for Ireland on the COST Action Network CA21107, a Research Network that aims to overcome critical gaps in conceptual innovation on the influence of digitalisation on work inequalities in later life, in order to address the researchpolicy disconnect and tackle work inequalities in later life that have been redefined by digitalisation.

The Action Network will enhance scientific knowledge by integrating the different disciplines and schools of thought and developing collaborations with public policy officials, international policy bodies, non-academic professionals, civil society NGOs, trade unions, management of organisations and older workers themselves (SDG 17).

Marie-Sklodowska Curie Research Fellow at Case Western Reserve University.

Direct impact SDG Targets

1.2 - Reduce poverty by at least 50%

1.3 - Implement social protection systems

1.B - Create pro-poor and gender-sensitive policy frameworks

4.7 - Education for sustainable development and global citizenship

5.1 - End discrimination against women and girls

5.4 - Value unpaid care and promote shared domestic responsibilities

5.5 - Ensure full participation in leadership and decision-making

5.C - Adopt and strengthen policies and enforceable legislation for gender equality

8.5 - Full employment and decent work with equal pay

8.8 - Protect labour rights and promote safe working environments

10.2 - Promote universal social, economic and political inclusion

Indirect

1.1 - Eradicate extreme poverty

1.5 - Build resilience to environmental, economic and social disasters

1.A - Mobilize resources to implement policies to end poverty

2.1 - Universal access to safe and nutritious food

3.4 - Reduce mortality from non-communicable diseases and promote mental health

3.9 - Reduce illnesses and death from hazardous chemicals and pollution

5.2 - End all violence against and exploitation of women and girls

7.A - Promote access to research, technology and investments in clean energy

8.1 - Sustainable economic growth

8.4 - Improve resource efficiency in consumption and production

8.7 - End modern slavery, trafficking and child labour

9.2 - Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization

9.C - Universal access to information and communications technology

10.5 - Improved regulation of global financial markets and institutions

12.2 - Sustainable management and use of natural resources

12.6 - Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and sustainability reporting

16.5 - Substantially reduce corruption and bribery

16.7 - Ensure responsive, inclusive and representative decision-making

16.8 - Strengthen the participation in global governance

17.17 - Encourage effective partnerships

SDG wheel

Research

a city square with flowers and a clock tower in the background

Photo by Daniel Zbroja on Unsplash

Photo by Daniel Zbroja on Unsplash

Featured Publications

References

SDGs

Ní Léime, Á. and Street, D. (2023). Gender, transitions and turning points: The life course and older workers’ trajectories in different US occupations. Life Course Research and Social Policies, 1419-1444.

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O'Neill, M. and Ní Léime, Á. (2023). In a hospital bed or ... out doing Indiana Jones: Older Irish men's negotiations of cultural representations of ageing. Ageing and Society, 43(11), 2721-2744.

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Addabbo, T., Carney, P., Ní Léime, Á. and 2 more (...) (eds.) (2022). Well-being and extended working life: A gender perspective. Taylor & Francis.

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Addabbo, T., Carney, P., Ní Léime, Á. and 2 more (...) eds. (2022). Introduction to well-being and extended working life: A gender perspective. In Well-being and extended working life: A gender perspective, 1-13.

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Ní Léime, Á., O'Neill, M., Schrage-Früh, M. and 1 more (...) (2022). Wedded to the land? Representations of rural ageing masculinities in Irish culture and society. Journal of Aging Studies, 63.

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O’Neill, M. and Ní Léime, A. (2022). Changing the picture: Older men’s responses to media representations of ageing in an Irish context. In Ageing Masculinities in Irish Literature and Visual Culture, 234-247.

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Ní Léime, Á. and O’Neill, M. (2021). The impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic on the working lives and retirement timing of older nurses in Ireland. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(19).

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Street, D. and Ní Léime, Á. (2021). Social policies for older workers. In Life-Course Implications of US Public Policy, 124-136.

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Ní Léime, Á., Wijeratne, D. and Duvvury, N. (2020). Ireland. In Extended Working Life Policies: International Gender and Health Perspectives, 297-307.

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Street, D. and Ní Léime, Á. (2020). Problems and prospects for current policies to extend working lives. In Extended Working Life Policies: International Gender and Health Perspectives, 85-113.

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Ní Léime, Á., Ogg, J., Rašticová, M. and 4 more (...) (2020). Preface. In Extended Working Life Policies: International Gender and Health Perspectives, vii-viii.

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Ní Léime, Á., Ogg, J., Rašticová, M. and 4 more (...) eds. (2020). Extended Working Life Policies: International Gender and Health Perspectives.

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Ní Léime, A. and Street, D. (2019). Working later in the USA and Ireland: Implications for precariously and securely employed women. Ageing and Society, 39(10), 2194-2218.

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Ní Léime, A. and Ogg, J. (2019). Gendered impacts of extended working life on the health and economic wellbeing of older workers. Ageing and Society, 39(10), 2163-2169.

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Duvvury, N., Ní Léime, Á. and Callan, A. (2018). Erosion of pension rights: Experiences of older women in Ireland. European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, 5(3), 266-294.

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