Design Talk (dot IE)

Our hosts for this episode are William Mugan and Grace Gunne from the BSc UCD Economics and Finance class.Today, we are very pleased to welcome Jane Antova from IBM Consulting and colleagues Angela Stakelum and Bernadette Keating.First, Jane, can you share a little of your own story and starting out in IBM?So, what does a day in the life look like? These days, do you find yourself needing more, or less interaction with technology specialists to get the job done? Can you talk about typical sources of information and scale or size of datasets?Can you talk about the tools used for modelling, economic simulations, machine learning, and use of AI?Do you think that programming skills necessary or nice-to-have?We have some time for questions from the audience…Before we finish, is there anything further you'd like to add? (favourite pods, blogs, channels, books)Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your thoughts with us today.Notes, extra questions, and further reading:IBM Skills Build - https://skillsbuild.org (free learning courses and resources)PL/I – Programming Language OneAcknowledgementsMusic Title: First TakeArtist: Debajyoti Biswas and Michael O'NeillSource:  mis.aup3License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Cover Art Title: Complex collageArtist: Allen HigginsSource: JaneAntova-IBM.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our hosts are Tara O’Reilly and Jack Kavanagh. Welcome to the Economics and Finance class.Today, we are very pleased to welcome Raul Afonso, Chartered Financial Analyst and Chief Economist at MFW (Multi Family Wealth). MFW is an investment firm providing investment services on managed accounts and investment funds. Thank you for coming in to speak to us Raul. Can you share a little of your own story, how you came to Ireland and talk about the tools you use in your role as Economist and Financial Analyst?[Raul opens with self-introduction and present some slides e.g. asset allocation, fund management, showcase doing analysis on output from Bloomberg]I have a question; would you say that programming skills are necessary or just nice-to-have? Could you share some key information sources you think we as Economics and Finance students should know about and follow?With the time left we’d like to open it to questions from the audience…(question from audience)(question from audience)Before we finish, is there anything further you'd like to add?Well, this has been an informative talk. Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your thoughts and experience with us today. Notes, extra questions, and further reading:Key books mentioned?Key pods, articles mentioned?Other links…Multi Family Wealth – the investment management company - https://mfw.iehttps://yardeni.com/charts/feds-stock-valuation-model/https://www.ft.com/alphavillehttps://www.zerohedge.com – the most famous blog in finance.https://www.cfasociety.org/portugal/homeAcknowledgementsMusic Title: First TakeArtist: Debajyoti Biswas and Michael O'NeillSource:  mis.aup3License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Cover Art Title: Class vignetteArtist: Allen HigginsSource: RaulAfonso.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s hosts are Isabelle Howard and Adam Golden. We are very pleased to welcome Dan Evison, Founder and CEO of Manakau, a Financial Services Delivery and Consulting company based in Ireland.Thank you for coming in to speak to us today Dan. Can you tell us a little about yourself and the story behind starting Manakau?·       You’ve spent your career working in finance.  Could you tell us about the types of financial markets and activities you’ve been involved with? ·       Now let’s get to the premise for this series of talks: For a career in financial markets, can you make a case for the value of knowing a bit about programming (e.g. python)? ·       I want to become a quantitative analyst; What 3 technologies do you consider must-have?·       How is AI going to affect careers in financial services? ·       What advice would you have for a student who wants to work at one of the top financial firms, whether in Dublin, London, Tokyo or New York?   Followed by questions from the audience… Notes, extra questions, and further reading:Manakau - https://www.manakau.comDisciplined Entrepreneurship by Bill Aulet - https://www.d-eship.comSimon Willison’s blog is a long-running, practical, technical, openly documented experiments with all the AIs and up to the minute-of-the-day review of new GenAI developments -  https://simonwillison.net Getting started on prompt engineering: O’Reilly’s “Prompt Engineering for Generative AI” book by James Phoenix and Michael Taylor AcknowledgementsMusic Title: First TakeArtist: Debajyoti Biswas and Michael O'NeillSource:  mis.aup3License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Cover Art Title: Complex collageArtist: Allen HigginsSource: DanManakau.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Design Talk. This episode resurrects a recording from the College of Business Intercultural Forum bite-sized workshop series, session 7. A conversation with Jacob Eisenberg and Allen Higgins on “adapting experiential learning to the digital classroom”. The talk was hosted by Kathleen O’Reilly and Linda Yang.Key takeaways:Students benefit from being in control of at least some of the settings within which learning experiences unfold so, consider using multiple apps rather than integrated systems, for example, separate the video presence experience (e.g. Zoom or Teams) from the digital whiteboard from the shared document.We should encourage experimentation with tools, old and new alike.Experiment with multiple means of engagement like polls, MCQs, discussion boards but feel free to drop a tool if you feel it doesn’t work well.Always be seeking copious feedback from learners all the time. The difficulties or challenges they encounter may be intrinsic to the learning process rather than problems to solve but just knowing where they are in the learning process is valuable; for example, are they stuck, is there a shared misunderstanding or misconception, or knowing who has made progress so they might act as a catalyst for the wider group.Use breakout rooms tactically to scale up and scale down groups to sizes appropriate to the activity.AcknowledgementsMusic Title: Monologue Lu-Fugi octave climb with extra notes with wa wa with other tweaksArtist: Allen HigginsSource:  introoutroLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0  License note: Includes derivative work from KORG Monologue/Sound presets by KORG Inc. permitted under Terms of Use (https://korg.shop/terms-of-use) Section 2: “Derivative works and their authors benefit in turn from the full protection of copyright without prejudicing the rights of the original work's author”.Cover Art Title: Complex collageArtist: Allen HigginsSource: vignette_version.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast.AcknowledgementsMusic Title: Monologue Lu-Fugi octave climb with extra notes with wa wa with other tweaksArtist: Allen HigginsSource:  introoutroLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0  License note: Includes derivative work from KORG Monologue/Sound presets by KORG Inc. permitted under Terms of Use (https://korg.shop/terms-of-use) Section 2: “Derivative works and their authors benefit in turn from the full protection of copyright without prejudicing the rights of the original work's author”.Cover Art Title: Complex collageArtist: Allen HigginsSource: vignette_version.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part, you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted by Christina Philips and Anabela Da Silva Filipe Soares.Welcome to today’s seminar by Stefan Helfrich.In this session Stefan talks about the education paths on offer for data analytics and the need for balance between learning concepts versus hands-on experiences with tools. Stefan makes the case for the value of visual workflow approaches for teaching and implementing analytics.How do we do that? KNIME implements a well-documented, comprehensive and capable software environment that enables users to design and operate data analytics workflows visually using the following objects:·       Nodes perform tasks on data. Nodes have inputs and outputs. Nodes have status/indicators. Nodes are natively implemented in Java. Python scripts may also be used as code nodes.·       Connectors link nodes. Connectors indicate data flows. Connectors send data from one node to another. Connectors have direction. Nodes plus connectors enable you to create workflows.·       Workflows are designed aggregates of nodes linked using connectors ·       Components/Metanodes encapsulate discrete sub-workflows. Component/metanodes can be used like nodes.·       A large library of pre-build nodes and metanodes are offered for common tasks like cleaning up data, visualization, plug into Tableau and PowerBI.·       Supports all types of data.·       Further reading, sources, mentions and acknowledgements.Stefan Helfrich -- https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanhelfrich/  KNIME – https://www.knime.com/See the KNIME Educators Alliance and the Teaching Materials Repository.References:Berthold, M. R. (2019). What Does It Take to be a Successful Data Scientist? Harvard Data Science Review, 1(2)Further reading:For examples, additional teaching materials, sample curriculum, see “The Data Science Guide” – www.datascienceguide.orgUnless otherwise noted, the teaching materials (including workflow examples, code examples, and slides) are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0).Music Title: Guitar HouseArtist: josh pan (2020)Source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL-LId8ZWBMLicense: License CC BY 3.0Cover Art Title: We need You! Visual AnalyticsArtist: Nuno Machado and Allen HigginsSource: vignette_version.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Design Talk.In this episode I give a short talk titled “Doshite Nippon?” for Naonori sensei’s 'Gateways to Japan' discovery module at University College Dublin. The talk was recorded on April 1st 2025.Kodate sensei is founding Director of the UCD Centre for Japanese Studies and Director of the Public Policy Programme in UCD.Why Japan? I contend that it is good to experience the ordinary strangeness of a culture that is quite different to one’s own. My starting point is to consider the classic images of Japan after which I strive to give a flavour of what it is like to live and work there.NotesNaonori – https://people.ucd.ie/naonori.kodateAllen – https://people.ucd.ie/allen.higginsGateways to Japan (DSCY10080)JET – The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (see JET Ireland), established in 1987 and still running, invites third level graduates from overseas to participate in international exchange and foreign language education throughout Japan. interac –Japan’s largest provider of ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) https://interacnetwork.comJapan Digital Nomad Association – https://japandigitalnomad.com/en/Images:四季と酒shi ki to o-sakeThese are: the four distinct seasons.Haru (春) Springtime cherry blossoms. Natsu (夏) The lush greenery of summer holidays, flowers, fruit and heat.Aki (秋) Autumn when the leaves turn red and orange and gold.Fuyu(冬) Winter cold (really cold), snow, and cosy indoors.Add to this Japan’s visually striking architecture: Buddist temples (tera/-ji), Shinto shrines (jinja), Torii (gateways), and Castles (shiro/-jo) – former seats of power from the medieval period.And not to forget – sake!AcknowledgementsMusic Title: Check Them InArtist: Ema GraceSource:  https://bit.ly/2tJ6BndLicense:  CC BY 4.0Artist notes: Ema Grace is an AI vocaloid produced by Ryoma MAEDA (@Ryoma_Maeda). Styled as virtual Singer&Idol 架空のバーチャルアイドル & シンガー、それがEma Grace. Cover Art Title: Japan Digital NomadsCredit: Japan Digital Nomads AssociationSource: https://japandigitalnomad.com License: Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to today’s seminar by Marios Kremantzis.In this session Marios presents current work related to two highly quantitative classes that have adopted a Chatbot as a teaching assistant. Two classes: Prescriptive Analytics” for the MSc Business Analytics programme and “Mathematics for Economists”, for the BSc Economics programmeHosted by Christina Philips and Anabela Da Silva Filipe Soares.Further reading, sources, mentions and acknowledgements.‘AI Tutor Chatbots & Student Engagement’ Evaluating the Impact of AI Chatbots on Student Support and Engagement in UK Higher EducationAcknowledgementsMusic Title: Guitar HouseArtist: josh pan (2020)Source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL-LId8ZWBMLicense: License CC BY 3.0Cover Art Title: Complex collaboration for BAEFArtist: Nuno Machado and Allen HigginsSource: vignette_version.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we’re talking with Roland Tritsch, about software engineering, the increasing relevance of functional programming, and his thoughts on the implications of using genAI in the development process. Our student hosts are: Lora, Noah, Mynah, Austen, Fionn, and Sergio, with Lucas on sound, and our audience is the class of 2025 studying the Contemporary Software Development module taught by Mel Ó Cinnéide.First, Roland, can you set the context and explain what it means to be a software craftsman?What value there is in functional programming both technically and from a business perspective? Are coverage tools widely used in practice, what value do they bring and what is the state of the Scoverage project?If you were assessing a code base for quality, what are the main aspects you would look for in the code?Talk about some of the non-technical factors at play in refactoring and code reviews.If you had to strip it back to the basics; what aspects of Agile are key for any successful software development process?In your view, what impact will GenAI have on software development and is now a good time to be graduating with a CS degree? NotesRoland’s website and blog: https://tedn.life/Roland is one of the committers on `scoverage` (together with Chris Kipp) - https://github.com/scoverageAnd, as ‘the Augmented Software Engineer’ Roland is the host for a series of meetups dealing with the impact and implications of genAI upon the practice and profession of software engineering.https://www.meetup.com/the-augmented-software-engineer/ Further readingJošt et al “The Impact of Large Language Models on Programming Education and Student Learning Outcomes” (2024) - linkBecker et al, “Programming Is Hard – Or at Least It Used to Be”, (2023) - linkKaraci Deniz et al, “Unleashing Developer Productivity with generative-AI”, McKinsey & Company, (2023) - linkAcknowledgementsMusic Title: Faceplant with UK GarageArtist: Allen HigginsSource:  a-Wed23Oct2024License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Includes samples from Ableton Live by Ableton AG and by KORG Inc.Cover Art Title: Complex collageArtist: Allen HigginsSource: vignette_version.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part, you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[this one is for Séamas who kept asking if there was a recording of the talk I did for our Faculty Teaching and Learning Insights series...]A short talk by me (Allen Higgins) A Socratic questioning style for teaching/learning using a simple three-part structure: introduction, a series of questions, and closing comments.The hard part, or the art, is in asking good questions.Questioning 'story', or more specifically, 'storytelling' for teaching and learning.There is no set formula for creating a story, let alone a good story, but there is structure you can employ to help the process. For my own practice, when discussing ideas, I look for sequence, connections and flow.·       Sequence: the classic, beginning middle and end.·       Connections: call forwards, call backs, links to other sources, ideally, other related material you have written/recorded.·       Flow: a natural logic or order of conversation.Notes and further reading:A link to the YouTube video version (link)William Labov’s analysis of structure in oral narratives (link).Freytag’s Pyramid - the stages of a narrative arc with rising and falling action (link).Christopher Brooks seven basic plots.Andrew Reagan’s illustration of six emotional arcs of narrative structure (link)Joseph Campbell’s classic analysis of mythic narrative structure, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)John Van Maanen’s Tales of the Field: On Writing Ethnography (1988)On visual storytelling or storytelling with data.Edward Tufte’s “The visual display of quantitative information” (1983).Edward Tufte’s “Visual explanations: images quantities evidence and narrative” (1997).The “Carte Figurative des pertes successives en hommes de’l’Armée Français dans la campagne de Russie 1812-1813” (link)John Snow’s Broad Street epidemiology map (link)Andy Kirk’s (2019) CHRT(S) taxonomy for thinking about what kind of chart is best for your kind of data.AcknowledgementsMusicTitle: Vinyl Static Quantized UK Garage Slow C Min 130 bpm 80s Beat 90 bpmArtist: Allen Higgins and Includes samples from Ableton Live by Ableton AG and by KORG Inc. and vinyl_record_needle_static_01.wav by joedeshon -- https://freesound.org/s/140295/ -- License: Attribution CC BY 4.0License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Cover Art Title: Thumbnails of IllustrationsArtist: Allen HigginsSource: AllenStorytelling.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosts: Leo, Danny and BronaPreambleBrona Russell: The theme for today’s conversation is Good Corporate Governance.To help us dig into this topic we are delighted to be joined by UCD Professor Niamh Brennan. Niamh is the Michael MacCormac Professor of Management at University College Dublin and the Founder and Academic Director of the UCD Centre for Corporate Governance. To start, Niamh, can you tell us a little about yourself and how you came to specialise in Corporate Governance?Question bank<> Corporate behaviour and governance came into sharp focus at the time of the Global financial crisis of 2008. I presume it has improved since then?<> What does it mean to be accountable?<> Corporate culture is complex. Is it sufficient to set the ‘tone from the top’? <> What are the main challenges to establishing and maintaining good corporate behaviour?<> As future BSc Economics & Finance graduates, what should we look for, in the organisations we join, in terms of good corporate governance?<> What systems and indicators should we expect to see and have access to in our own organisations? <> Can you share some thoughts on how GenAI technology will impact corporate governance?<> We’d like to open now to questions from the audience.<> Niamh, you have any thoughts you’d like to add before we wrap up?<> Well, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions and share your thoughts with us today.Notes:Niamh Brennan’s research profile at UCD (link) and Google Scholar page (link)The verb ‘govern’ from the Latin gubernare and the Greek kubernan ‘to steer, rule’. Defined as the act or manner of governing an organisation. ‘Good Governance’ - is dependent on how people behave according to a system of rules, practices and processes that encourage or discourage specific behaviours.Additional reading:Brennan, N., Conroy, J., 2013. Executive hubris: the case of a bank CEO. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal (ISSN: 0951-3574)AcknowledgementsMusicTitle: Vinyl Static Quantized UK Garage Slow C Min 130 bpm 80s Beat 90 bpmArtist: Allen Higgins and Includes samples from Ableton Live by Ableton AG and by KORG Inc. and vinyl_record_needle_static_01.wav by joedeshon -- https://freesound.org/s/140295/ -- License: Attribution CC BY 4.0License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Cover Art Title: Speakers and audienceArtist: Allen HigginsSource: NiamhAndClass.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.