Mapping the Virus

Ireland’s interactive Covid-19 Data Hub was co-developed by AIRO at Maynooth University as the official source of public information on the spread of the virus

Justin Gleeson, Director of AIRO at MU

It is a reflection of our times that ‘Ireland’s Covid-19 Data Hub’ is one of the most tapped websites for its trusted statistics, information and data on the spread of the virus.

Every day the latest figures are analysed across social media platforms, carried in hourly news bulletins and shared in WhatsApp groups of friends and families. It’s all there in one place on the Covid-19 Data Hub: National incidence rates, age and gender, ICU and hospital cases, testing and positivity rates, county figures, modes of transmission and clusters, healthcare worker cases. So too, is the 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population by local electoral area, and sadly, the daily death rate. It’s a sobering read but integral to the work of NPHET and the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, chaired by Prof Philip Nolan, President of MU. In a time of facts and ‘alternative facts,’ it’s the undisputed official source of information on the trajectory of the virus. The Covid-19 data-hub project was spearheaded last March by a team at the All-Island Observatory (AIRO) in Maynooth University, led by its Director, Justin Gleeson, and its strategic partners at both the Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI) and the Central Statistics Office (CSO). This group worked closely with key data providers such as the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), and the Health Intelligence Unit (HIU) at the Health Service Executive (HSE). The primary objective was to make the data hub freely available online and since then the team has worked rapidly to further develop and refine its capabilities, push all of its data out in an open-data format and regularly add new components to a more detailed internal Covid data hub that supports the work of a range of public health officials, the CMO, the Department of Health and NPHET. The Covid-19 Data Hub with its expanded interactive tools, including a 14-day analysis of local electoral area trends, officially went live in June, sourcing its data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) and Health Service Executive (HSE). The public data hub acts as the official source of Covid data in Ireland and importantly enables a wide range of reporting, analysis and data visualisation by journalists, social scientists, economists across the country by making all data points accessible through Data.Gov.ie Justin Gleeson, Director of AIRO, said the Covid-19 Data Hub showed the power of collaboration. “It has been great for the team at AIRO to be involved in creating this public health, expert-driven

information tool. To see the outputs of the Hub shaping the endless debate on the direction of Covid related policy has certainly been interesting,” he said. “During this difficult time, we have seen the power of statistics and how working collaboratively can aid those tasked with difficult decisions. Our domain expertise in data management and visualisation combined with the dissemination power of the OSI GeoHive data infrastructure has worked really well. Having the CSO on board to take the lead on data governance was an important element in building early trust with data owners across the HSE.” AIRO has worked on other important national projects, including the National Planning Framework (NPF) and the recent Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies. Their national census mapping tools, in collaboration with the CSO, are aimed at improving evidence informed planning and used by government (central and local), educational institutions, private consultancies and the general public. Environmental projects include a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) analysis tool for the EPA and a new Local Authority Renewable Energy Strategy (LARES) tool for the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. AIRO is also working on a range of data and mapping infrastructure projects within Maynooth University with the Admissions Office, the Access Office and the Office for Equality and Diversity.

1976 Steve Shaughnessy

1976 BSc

In 1973, Steve Shaughnessy, a teenager from a Boston, Massachusetts suburb, had a chance encounter with an Irish University Professor visiting his school, Boston College High School, on a recruiting trip. That professor happened to be from the NUI. He found and encouraged an adventurous trio of American students who chose the road seldom taken by their peers, and embarked upon a transatlantic journey to university. For Steve (BA, 1976), who was one of these three, the decision set forth a spiral of events that has led him to a life today that still spans the Atlantic. He’s worked in both the US and the UK, where he lives today in Adlington, Cheshire; and he often returns to Ireland, including for the Maynooth Alumni Reunion in 2019.

So what made the young teenager take the plunge to cross the pond? Steve was a talented young sailor, a member of the US Sailing Team in fact, and had befriended some Irish sailors during a European competition. That encounter made the decision a bit less daunting, he said. Steve lived on a farm outside Maynooth during the first year of his studies and has great memories of the Song Contest, Planxty & Horslips concerts in the Aula Max; Geography field trips; Rag Week; dedicated, inspiring academic staff and making lifelong friendships that he maintains to this day. Steve graduated with a joint-honours degree in Geography & Modern History and went on to do his Master’s in Environmental Planning at the University of Nottingham. He launched a successful career in the trade of construction equipment, a field he’s officially retired from today. Still, he keeps busy volunteering on the board of the East Cheshire Housing Consortium, a charity which provides supported housing and training opportunities for individuals with mental health problems. He is a keen competitive runner who coaches senior athletes and has completed a number of marathons including the Dublin, London and 2013 Boston Marathon, which was the target of a terrorist bomb attack. He’s survived cancer and has been a generous supporter of MU students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including those who have experienced financial challenges as a result of the pandemic.