Ben Heskin https://benh7702.github.io/ Recent content on Ben Heskin Hugo -- 0.147.9 en-us Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Renting on the Island of Ireland https://benh7702.github.io/articles/it/housing/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://benh7702.github.io/articles/it/housing/ <p>This research, commissioned by Threshold and Housing Rights, examines the lived reality of renting across the island of Ireland, aiming to equip decision-makers, advocates and practitioners with robust evidence to support effective action.</p> <p>By combining statistical findings with qualitative testimonies, the research reveals a lived experience of renters, grounded in data and hard evidence.</p> <p>We conducted two large representative public opinion polls of renters in the private rental sector. One of those was in the Republic of Ireland (ROI), and the other was in Northern Ireland (NI), combined with in-depth qualitative interviews to produce a comparative study of renting in ROI and NI.</p> Students Divided Over Opt-In Union Membership https://benh7702.github.io/articles/tn/su/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://benh7702.github.io/articles/tn/su/ A February 2025 poll of students reveals 36.7 % favour an optional TCDSU with an undecided quarter leaving support for the union in the balance. Of The Small Amount Listening, Not Enough Were Persuaded. https://benh7702.github.io/articles/it/debate/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://benh7702.github.io/articles/it/debate/ <p>Around four in ten voters (41%) did not watch the final televised debate of the presidential election, which aired during Prime Time&rsquo;s 9:35pm slot on RTÉ One last Tuesday. According to 40% of voters, Catherine Connolly enjoyed the best performance, compared to 11% for Humphreys and 9% who were unsure.</p> <p>Strikingly, every intended Connolly voter that watched the just over hour-long showdown said that she won the debate. Connolly supporters were also the most engaged overall – reporting the highest rates of viewership among all other voting groups. This kind of unwavering and disciplined engagement points to a higher propensity among this group to have turned out on polling day.</p> Poll: Social Democrats maintain huge lead as most popular party among Trinity students https://benh7702.github.io/articles/tn/ge/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://benh7702.github.io/articles/tn/ge/ The party have been most popular for five years according to polling by Trinity News Poll projects RON result in TCDSU presidential election https://benh7702.github.io/articles/tn/ron/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://benh7702.github.io/articles/tn/ron/ A poll conducted by Trinity News found that the vote for RON may be twice as high as any other candidate Poll: RON campaign sees major upward momentum even as O’Leary leads https://benh7702.github.io/articles/tn/main_poll/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://benh7702.github.io/articles/tn/main_poll/ John Garvey leads the race for welfare officer, while Ents remains too close to call Using Copulas to Model Prepayment and Default in Competing Risks Analysis https://benh7702.github.io/projects/copulas/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://benh7702.github.io/projects/copulas/ As part of a group project, we produced a report evaluating how effectively copulas model competing risks in loan data. An Extended Mixture of Experts Model for Rank Data: Insights from Irish Elections https://benh7702.github.io/projects/capstone/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://benh7702.github.io/projects/capstone/ Capstone Project (Thesis) for undergraduate degree Sampling Plackett-Luce Distributions to Study Condorcet Paradoxes in Ranked-Choice Voting https://benh7702.github.io/projects/hamilton/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://benh7702.github.io/projects/hamilton/ The report from my research internship that I completed Summer 2024