Robert D. Putnam is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard, where he teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses. He is also Visiting Professor and Director of the Manchester Graduate Summer Programme in Social Change, University of Manchester (UK). There are a total of 5 videos on YouTube from a lecture he gave in Manchester... if you are interested... check out the other 3.... I think he has some very useful things to say.
http://www.bowlingalone.com
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/robert-putnam

Institute for Social Change
http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/socialchange/aboutus/index.html

The woman introducing Professor Putnam is Cathy Garner, Chief Executive of Manchester Knowledge Capital.
http://www.sabip.org.uk/home/about/about-who/about-who-board/about-who-board-...

Dr Marie-Jeanne Da Col Richert from the University of Strasbourg has carried out research into  "Irish Women's Changing Role in Society" below is her presentation which she delivered at Kerry County Library in Tralee on Wednesday 9th March 2011 as part of our 25th anniversary celebrations. Dr Da Col Richert was awarded a PhD in 1999 for her research on "Feminist Groups and Organisations in The Republic of Ireland from 1968 to 1995. She is a widely published author, conference Chair and presenter. She has been coming to Ireland on research trips for 20 years, her main area of interest is in Irish Women and the changes affecting our role in Irish Society. The audio is 17 mins long. Dr Marie-Jeanne Da Col Richert is introduced by Noreen White a member of TWRC board of management.

Dr Da Col Richert presented a paper on "The European Dimension of the Irish Women's Movement during the Second Wave of Feminism: Interactions and Influences" at the EFACIS Conference in Vienna in 2009 and more recently presented at the CRINI Conference in Nantes, France in March 2010 on a similar theme. She is currently in Ireland doing research on the effects of the downturn on Irish women in the post Celtic Tiger era.

If you would like to participate in her research please download the MS Word document below, fill it in and return it to her.