Ms Shona Linehan
Lecturer in Human Resource Management
J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway
The focus of Shona's research is organisational transformation in the public sector. She has worked within executive education for seven years having previously overseen the introduction of a new HRIS at a large public sector organisation. Shona also works on the coordination of a European Commission-funded project on the introduction of AI into European law-enforcement agencies.
Shona's work contributes to these SDGs
All of Shona's teaching efforts have an underlying philosophy of teaching students more than current best practice and state-of-the-art research. The aim is always to combine this with teaching students how to become life-long learners, how to question information and how to consider the impact of all decisions made. This teaching philosophy therefore works towards SDG 4 in developing learners for life.
Key Target 8.5 Full employment and decent work with equal pay
Teaching
Human Resource Management in Practice
As part of Human Resource Management in Practice students get the opportunity to develop key skills related to core HR practices. Students are required to consider how each question they ask, policy they develop and practice they implement will impact on various stakeholders. The focus here is to work towards SDG Target 8.5 where all employee perspectives are taken into account regardless of their individual demographics. The future HR leaders being developed will bring a more ethical and inclusive approach to work in the future, ensuring decent work for all.
Contributing to Target: 8.5 Full employment and decent work with equal pay
Digital Business and People Analytics
With Digital Business and People Analytics students not only get the chance to develop key technological skills but also to debate and consider the impact of the technology. This impact is considered from a variety of perspectives ensuring ethical implementation and use going forward.
Contributing to Targets: 8.2 Diversify, innovate and upgrade for economic productivity, 8.5 Full employment and decent work with equal pay
Engagement
Shona is Project Manager on EMPOWER, which is a Digital Europe Deployment Pilot that examines the application of AI methods to Big Data. It heralds a new era in Law Enforcement, increasing the operational capabilities of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in fighting and predicting crime in a wide number of investigative domains, including the fight against Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), Terrorism and Cybercrime, and the protection of Public Spaces. Building on previous and ongoing R&I projects (AIDA, DANTE, GRACE, STARLIGHT), the overall goal of EMPOWER is to foster the uptake of innovative solutions based upon AI-powered tools allowing Law Enforcement Agencies to increase their capabilities in such investigative fields.
EMPOWER will pilot test a total of eight investigative tools in the fields of Image/Video, Voice/Text and Federated Learning, in a concerted effort carried out by a consortium of ten partners from five Member States (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain), representatives of the Security and Law Enforcement R&I community.
Direct impact SDG Targets
1.2 - Reduce poverty by at least 50%
8.6 - Promote youth employment, education and training
Indirect
1.1 - Eradicate extreme poverty
1.A - Mobilize resources to implement policies to end poverty
1.B - Create pro-poor and gender-sensitive policy frameworks
4.3 - Equal access to affordable technical, vocational and higher education
4.4 - Increase the number of people with relevant skills for financial success
4.5 - Eliminate all discrimination in education
4.6 - Universal literacy and numeracy
4.7 - Education for sustainable development and global citizenship
5.1 - End discrimination against women and girls
5.5 - Ensure full participation in leadership and decision-making
8.3 - Promote policies to support job creation and growing enterprises
8.5 - Full employment and decent work with equal pay
8.8 - Protect labour rights and promote safe working environments
9.5 - Enhance research and upgrade industrial technologies
10.3 - Ensure equal opportunities and end discrimination
10.4 - Adopt fiscal and social policies that promotes equality
11.7 - Provide access to safe and inclusive green and public spaces
12.6 - Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and sustainability reporting
16.2 - Protect children from abuse, exploitation, trafficking and violence
16.3 - Promote the rule of law and ensure equal access to justice
16.6 - Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions
16.7 - Ensure responsive, inclusive and representative decision-making
16.A - Strengthen national institutions to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime
17.6 - Knowledge sharing and cooperation for access to science, technology and innovation
17.18 - Enhance availability of reliable data
Research
Featured Publications
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References |
SDGs |
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Mullins, M., Himly, M., Llopis, I. R., Furxhi, I., Hofer, S., Hofstätter, N., Wick, P., Romeo, D., Küehnel, D., Siivola, K., Catalán, J., Hund-Rinke, K., Xiarchos, I., Linehan, S., Schuurbiers, D., Bilbao, A. G., Barruetabeña, L., Drobne, D. (2023) (Re)Conceptualizing decision-making tools in a risk governance framework for emerging technologies—the case of nanomaterials, Environment Systems and Decisions, 43(1), 3-15. |
9.5; 16.3 |
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Avgerinos, N., Mertis, P., Tsagaris, M., Desipris, N., Lyberopoulos, G., Theodoropoulou, E., Filis, K., Sarajlić, J., Pastor, M., Chatzakou, D. and Kalpakis, G., Tsatsou, D., Demertzis, S., Leskovsky, P., Mendes, C., Linehan, S., Mulcahy, J., Karvelas, I., Fernandez, M. A., and Alegria, A. 2024, June. Innovative Digital Forensic and Investigation Tools for Law Enforcement: The EMPOWER & TRACY Approach. In IFIP International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Applications and Innovations (pp. 80-93). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. |