Covid-19 Conversations Series
Professor Brian Lucey, Dean of Research at Trinity Business School, hosts a series of online conversations with our experts sharing insights on the global business impact of COVID-19, the challenges organisations and students are facing, and recommendations on how they can respond.

Episode 1: The Financial Perspective
Professor Brian Lucey, Director of Research at Trinity Business School, talks to Professor Aleksander Sevic, Director of MSc in Finance, about how markets have responded to the pandemic. Global financial and economic prospects are extraordinary bleak and complex right now but there are reasons to be optimistic, based on learning from the global financial crisis. They also discuss the repercussions for financial education and research. Watch it here.

Episode 2: Corporate Dilemmas
Professor Brian Lucey, Director of Research at Trinity Business School, chats to Dr. Kenneth Silver, Assistant Professor in Business Ethics about the moral dilemmas Covid-19 presents for businesses. Business ethics is throwing a sharp light on many of the corporate dilemmas that emerge from the pandemic. What and how companies can do to survive and remain ethically informed is often a dilemma without an easy solution. Watch it here.

Episode 3: Managing Staff During Crisis
In episode 3 of our Covid-19 conversation series, Professor Brian Lucey, Director of Research at Trinity Business School, chats to Professor Paul Coughlan, Professor in Operations Management about how do universities manage and motivate staff during a crisis. This question is analysable through a process innovation lens, which suggests that there are significant opportunities to be grasped. Watch it here.

Episode 4: The Future of Work is Here
In episode 4 of our Covid-19 conversation series, Professor Brian Lucey, Director of Research at Trinity Business School, chats to Dr. Na Fu, Associate Professor in Human Resource Management and Director of our MSc in Human Resource Management programme. Companies and workers have been transported into the future of work, all at once and without preparation. They key tasks facing HR managers now are how to embed the learning and flexibility we have all shown, but also to embed kindness and mindfulness. Watch it here.

Episode 5: The Academic Response
In episode 5 of our Covid-19 conversation series, Professor Brian Lucey, Director of Research at Trinity Business School, chats to Dr. Samuel Vigne, Associate Professor in Finance. Academia publishing has responded quite quickly to the pandemic. From the perspective of an editor, being open and fast while also ensuring the basic science is correct is a challenge. Watch it here.

Episode 6: The Importance of Business Analytics
In the next episode of our Covid-19 conversation series, Professor Brian Lucey, Director of Research at Trinity Business School, chats to Dr. Ashish Kumar Jha, Associate Professor in Data Analytics. The pandemic is throwing big data and its uses and abuses into sharper light more than ever. We discuss how business analytics can aid companies and organizations as they emerge from the lockdown. Watch it here.

Episode 7: Irish Policy-Making
Professor Brian Lucey speaks with Dr. Charles Larkin, Research Associate and Adjunct Lecturer at Trinity Business School. Policy making is a complex business and as much about national culture as a is about national capacity. Brian and Charles discuss how Ireland is actually quite well placed to make informed decisions and where the gaps are and can be filled. Watch it here.

Episode 8: How Social Entrepreneurship Can Assist Societies
Professor Brian Lucey speaks with Dr. Sheila Cannon, Assistant Professor in Social Entrepreneurship. They discuss how digital social entrepreneurship and innovation assist societies in the pandemic? What can we learn from failed social entrepreneurship projects? Watch it here.

Episode 9: The Value of Gold
Professor Brian Lucey speaks with Dr. Fergal OConnor, lecturer in finance and economics at University College Cork (UCC). Gold always plays a part in the asset allocation process. The pandemic is one moment in history and Brian and Fergal discuss what gold has done in other periods of financial and social stress, and what its prospects might be. Watch it here.

Episode 10: Wicked Problems for Organisations
Professor Brian Lucey speaks with Dr. Maximilian Schormair, Assistant Professor in Business Ethics, about the issue of wicked problems in relation to the challenges posed to organisations from the pandemic, and how deliberative democracy can assist in both overcoming these and building resilience for the future. Watch it here.

Episode 11: Debt Mutualisation
Professor Brian Lucey speaks with Dr. Samuel Vigne, Associate Professor in Finance. Debt mutualisation and helicopter money are nice ideas in principle but what are the barriers to them, and would they be effective? And how do countries pay for the massive debts incurred in the pandemic? Watch it here.

Episode 12: Globalization
Professor Brian Lucey speaks with Professor Louis Brennan about the challenges to globalization which have been thrown into sharp relief via the pandemic and they suggest a move to a society which is both more globalized and more regionalized is possible. Globalisation is not always a one way street and deeper faster globalization is not always a given.
Watch it here.

Episode 13: Self-Employment
Professor Brian Lucey speaks with Dr. Martha O Hagan-Luff, Assistant Professor in Finance. Financial precariousness is not always a feature of low paid workers. Many self-employed are in very precarious situations, and we discuss both how this arises, what can be done to address it in the pandemic and what policy lessons arise.
Watch it here.

Episode 14: The Response of Chinese Marketeers
Professor Brian Lucey speaks with Dr Xiaoning Liang, Assistant Professor in Marketing. They discuss the experience of Chinese Chief Marketing Officers in dealing with the pandemic, and what can/cannot be taken from that experience into the Irish context.
Watch it here.

Episode 15: Brand Retention and Extension
Professor Brian Lucey speaks with Dr. Radu Dimitriu, Associate Professor in Marketing. They talk about brand extensions and retention in crisis situations, the nature of digital marketing when everyone is doing it, and how companies can pivot towards digital marketing.
Watch it here.

Episode 16: Debt, EU Integration, Firm Policy Responses, & Surviving Shocks
Professor Brian Lucey speaks with Professor Frank Barry, Chair of International Business & Economic Development. They speak about the long perspective of how companies and industries survive "exogenous" shocks, and the nature of policy responses at the firm level in these circumstances. They also address the issue of macroeconomic "hangovers" from increased debt.
Watch it here.

Episode 17: Enhancing Digital Footprint, Role of HR in Digital, Digital Business
Professor Brian Lucey speaks with Dr Sinead Monaghan, Assistant Professor in International Business. They speak about about born digital companies, born global companies and how even SMEs can and should enhance their digital footprint. In addition they discuss the role of the HR function in digital and network form companies and the way many companies are already structured as so.
Watch it here.

Episode 18: Crowdfunding, Success Rates, Investors
Professor Brian Lucey speaks with Dr. Francesca Di Pietro, Assistant Professor in Business Strategy. They speak about some preliminary and very interesting analyses of how crowdfunding has changed over the pandemic, with clear evidence of volumes holding up but success rates falling as investors seek a flight to quality.
Watch it here.