Latest news with #Rowan
South Wales Argus
6 days ago
- Business
- South Wales Argus
Archbishop Rowan Williams extension link to house sales
Funding for the extension of Archbishop Rowan Williams Church in Wales Primary School, which has been close to capacity for at least the past two years, is linked to money promised to Monmouthshire County Council by housing developers. The councillor in charge of education, Labour's Laura Wright, said a timeframe for when a planned classroom extension for the Portskewett school can be built is dependant on the housing developments. She said the council has invoiced the developers for 'some of' the money it is owed under a Section 106 legal agreement which governs payments for community benefits linked to planning permissions. It has requested the cash as Cllr Wright said the 'relevant number of houses have either been sold or occupied'. She said: 'However the amount isn't immediately sufficient to develop a classroom extension as envisioned as being needed. When the remaining funds are received from the developer it will be feasible to undertake the work. 'A timeframe for this is as yet undefined and will be dependent on how quickly the houses can be built and sold. This approach isn't unusual in the circumstances but I appreciate it is probably frustrating. We do remain committed to the development and extension of Archbishop Rowan Williams Church in Wales Primary.' Conservative councillor for Portskewett, Lisa Dymock, said all connected with the school were 'eagerly awaiting clarity on the promised funding especially given the pressures on space and rising pupil numbers.' Two years ago there was a row between the Conservatives and the ruling Labour group over a decision to allocate more than £400,000 paid to the council, from earlier housing developments, to a primary school in Caldicot rather than Archbishop Rowan Williams. At the time Cllr Dymock, and the Conservatives, claimed some of the cash should have gone to the Portskewett school which was just four places short of its 210 pupil capacity. But the council cabinet said the money wouldn't have covered the work required at the school but its expansion could be funded from an expected £1.1m due from the other local housing developments.
RTÉ News
22-07-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
1-in-4 businesses yet to take action to prepare for pension auto-enrolment
One-in-four businesses in Ireland have yet to take any action to prepare for the introduction of pension auto-enrolment ahead of its launch on 1 January 2026, according to a new survey. The research from professional services firm Aon found that only 7% of organisations have fully updated their internal systems and legal documents ahead of the launch, while just 4% have reached the stage of communicating to employees around the implementation of auto-enrolment. In May this year, Aon conducted an analysis of 202 client occupational pension schemes to assess organisational preparedness for auto-enrolment and the steps being taken in response. The pension auto-enrolment scheme is called "My Future Fund" and is designed to help over 800,000 workers to begin saving for their retirement. All employees not already in an occupational pension scheme, aged between 23 and 60 and earning over €20,000 across all of their employments, will be automatically enrolled in the new scheme. The research from Aon shows that 85% of organisations in Ireland have concerns about the introduction of pension auto-enrolment, with the additional costs the main worry for more than half of respondents. According to the study, 59% of surveyed organisations have developed a strategic roadmap for pension auto-enrolment, while 62% are planning to enrol applicable employees in an existing pension scheme. This can help to avoid the complexity of running both an occupational scheme and the auto-enrolment scheme in parallel. "It's clear from our analysis that organisations in Ireland are largely making positive progress on their auto-enrolment journey and look set to reap the rewards in the coming months," said Caroline Rowan, Head of Retirement Consulting at Aon Ireland. "However, it is concerning to see a sizable minority of businesses yet to take any action to prepare for the scheme," she said. "Given the major transformation required across payroll, people and processes, these businesses will need to urgently accelerate their preparations over the coming months," Ms Rowan said.
Irish Post
21-07-2025
- Science
- Irish Post
Irish scientist appointed to UN panel examining nuclear war
AN IRISH scientist has been appointed to a UN panel studying the effects of nuclear war. Dr Neil Rowan, of the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, will sit on the newly established United Nations Scientific Panel on the Effects of Nuclear War. 'I am humbled to contribute to the assembled panel of internationally-leading scientists where we will advise on the effects of nuclear war for the United Nations,' the Athlone native said of his selection. 'These duties are quite profound given that we will investigate the physical and societal consequences of nuclear war on a local, regional, and global scale encompassing examining climatic, environmental, radiological, public health, and socioeconomic impacts.' He added: 'Additionally, it reflects a unified global commitment to garner and share key knowledge on what is a critical topic for humanity.' Dr Rowan is one of 21 scientists from around the world appointed to the panel, which was established following a resolution led by Ireland and New Zealand at the UN General Assembly in 2024. Recognised in Stanford University's list of World Top 2% of Scientists in 2023, Dr Rowan has over three decades' experience in the field of applied microbiology. Tánaiste Simon Harris has welcomed his appointment. 'I am delighted that, once again, Irish people are front and centre of global efforts to achieve a world free from the threat of nuclear weapons,' he said. 'Recent events demonstrate the increasing level of nuclear risk the world faces,' he added. 'The work of Dr Rowan and his fellow panellists will be an invaluable contribution to our evidence-based understanding of the catastrophic effects of a nuclear war.' The 21-member panel will work until 2027 when it will publish a report based on the latest science. Dr Rowan, who is from Westlodge in Athlone, studied at the University of Galway.
Business Insider
19-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A recent Gen Z grad with $25,000 in student debt says his job search has made him accept he may never work in his dream field: 'I know that life isn't fair'
Solomon Jones thought earning two college degrees would open doors. Instead, he's living at home and struggling to find work. Jones earned his bachelor's degree in sports communication with a minor in psychology this May. However, he's still looking for a full-time job and said he's received "hundreds of rejection emails." Jones, who has about $25,000 in student debt, is living with his parents in New Jersey while he looks for work. "The goal is to obviously get a job in the sports industry, but realistically, I know that life isn't fair," he said. "So at this point, I'm just trying to find a job, period." Jones is among the recent college graduates struggling to find work. As of March, 5.8% of recent college graduates ages 22 to 27 were unemployed — the highest it's been since 2013, aside from the pandemic-related spike and its recovery over the next year. These challenges are tied to a hiring slowdown across the economy. Amid tariff uncertainty and the early effects of AI adoption, US companies are now hiring at nearly the slowest pace since 2014. Jones started his higher education journey in 2017, enrolling at Rowan College of South Jersey, a community college. He initially pursued an education major before switching to liberal arts and graduated with an associate degree in 2020. He planned to enroll at Rowan University that fall to pursue his bachelor's, but he didn't receive enough financial aid to cover his tuition. Classes had also shifted online due to the pandemic, and he didn't want to pay for a college experience that didn't include in-person learning. So he waited. Over the next few years, Jones worked a string of jobs, including as a substitute teacher and teacher's aide — roles he was able to land without a bachelor's degree — and drove for Uber and DoorDash. "It's not something I wanted to do with my career, but it was something to pay the bills in the meantime," said the 26-year-old. "I was doing whatever I could to make some money." In 2023, Jones finally secured enough financial aid to pursue his bachelor's degree at Rowan, which he concluded in May before beginning his current job hunt. While layoffs remain low by historical standards, Americans who don't have a job and want one are in a tough spot. This has left many young college grads like Jones — new to the workforce and without roles to fall back on — particularly vulnerable. We want to hear from job seekers and people who've recently landed a job. If you're open to sharing your story, please fill out one or more of the linked Google Forms. Waiting for the college education to pay off Jones said he began applying for jobs shortly after starting at Rowan in 2023, hoping to secure work post-graduation. But starting early didn't give him the edge he hoped for. In recent months, he's broadened his job search, applying to everything from AI content editing to social media management roles. However, he's focused more on writing positions outside the sports world, as well as coaching and teaching jobs. He said he'd like to avoid returning to teaching, in part because it's something he was doing before earning his bachelor's degree. "I don't want to go that route because I don't want to go backward," he said. Jones said some freelance writing gigs have provided pay that helps cover bills, but are too inconsistent and not enough to rely on. Some of the sportswriting roles he's landed pay based on the number of page views his articles receive, making steady income hard to come by. "If people aren't viewing your articles, then you're not going to get paid much," he said. Jones said he's had a hard time finding opportunities in the sports communications world and that some of the listings he does come across attract over 1,000 applicants. "It's a very brutal industry," he said. "A lot of us are struggling to find a job." Looking ahead, Jones said his goal is to move out of his parents' home by the end of the year. He still hopes to find a fulfilling job that complements his degree — and makes the student debt he took on feel worthwhile — but he knows this is far from a guarantee. "I want a job that is fulfilling — that I feel like I earned after going to college and taking on debt," he said. "But it's just been a struggle all around."
Techday NZ
11-07-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Exclusive: Oracle's Meredith Rowan on embracing AI agents to boost productivity
Finance teams across Australasia are undergoing a seismic shift as AI agents become embedded in daily operations, automating transactional tasks and enabling finance professionals to play a more strategic role. This transformation is "redefining the CFO's job" and positioning finance as a core driver of enterprise decision-making. "We're in unprecedented times for CFOs," explained Meredith Rowan, Group Vice President for Applications at Oracle ANZ and ASEAN. "We've cut all the costs that can be cut. Productivity growth in Australia is at its lowest rate in sixty years at just 0.9 percent. Yet finance teams are under enormous pressure to deliver more. The only path forward is leveraging technology, particularly agentic AI, to unlock productivity and insight," she said during a recent interview. According to Rowan, the urgency for change is growing. Finance leaders are contending with increasingly complex regulations, economic volatility, and rising expectations from their organisations. Traditional cost-cutting strategies have reached their limits, and manual processes like reconciliations, variance analysis, and data integration are undermining the impact of skilled finance teams. "Many finance executives and their teams are bogged down in manual work, pulling data from multiple, often tricky sources," said Rowan. "Automating that work with AI agents saves time, improves accuracy, and critically enables real-time insights that generate future value." Unlike older automation tools that focused on single-task bots, Oracle's approach uses a network of AI agents working in tandem to orchestrate entire workflows. In Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite, more than 50 embedded agents operate collaboratively to support a variety of real-world use cases across finance, HR, supply chain and more. "For example, a document AI agent can process a photo of a sales quotation, generate a requisition, fix data errors, and hand it over to a ledger agent for review, all in one seamless flow," Rowan explained. This system does more than automate. It augments the capabilities of finance professionals. "With these systems handling the heavy transactional lifting, finance professionals can focus on delivering strategic, predictive insights," she said. "Finance is moving from being a back-office function to becoming the engine room for decision-making and growth." Organisations are already seeing the impact. Rowan cited the case of a major New Zealand company whose CFO, newly promoted to CEO, made AI transformation a board-level priority. "He pulled us into a meeting with the board to ask how to use AI to do things differently, move faster, and align with business goals," she said. "The companies that lean into AI are outpacing their competitors. They're operationalising AI to create real market differentiation." Local use cases back this up. A2 Milk ran both manual and AI-driven forecasts for several quarters, and the AI forecasts were consistently more accurate. Additionally, using the AI-based Dynamic Discounting feature in Oracle Cloud ERP Hearst Corporation optimised its working capital by taking advantage of early pay discounts across 40,000 vendors. The fully automated capability helped it save hundreds of thousands of dollars and improved relationships with suppliers. "This is time that can now be reinvested into work that adds real value," said Rowan. The shift is also redefining the expectations placed on finance leaders. "CFOs are no longer just responsible for the numbers," Rowan said. "They are stepping into CEO roles, taking on market strategy, and managing risk. If we equip them with intelligent tools, they become a strategic force within the organisation." However, scaling these changes is not without challenges. Many teams are still transitioning from familiar on-premise systems to cloud-based platforms. This transition can be daunting. "Change management is a critical issue," Rowan warned. "Moving operations to the cloud and trusting an external provider to manage it well requires a leap of faith." Oracle aims to support that leap. The company invests 9 billion US dollars in research and development annually, serves governments and leading banks, and collects insights from SaaS customers worldwide. Feedback from customer councils helps Oracle refine its AI stack to reflect real-world needs. "We see it as our responsibility to educate, to lead with best practice, and to challenge customers when complexity can be replaced with proven, standardised processes," Rowan said. For organisations just beginning their AI journey, Rowan's advice is to start small. "It can be overwhelming, and the risk is getting stuck weighing too many options," she said. "Start now. Identify a repetitive process and let an AI agent take it on. Learn from the experience and bring your people along with you. It's essential to engage the workforce at every stage." As AI adoption accelerates, finance is shifting from a backward-looking discipline to a forward-focused, strategic powerhouse. "CFOs are evolving from being transactional, reporting on last year's numbers, to being transformative," said Rowan. "They are using predictive analytics and real-time data as a guide for what comes next."
