News Archive: Jan - June 2025
Congratulations to Dr Catherine Elliot O'Dare and Dr Joe Whelan who were awarded Research Ireland 'New Foundation's' Funding
Huge Congratulations to Dr Catherine Elliot O'Dare and Dr Joe Whelan who were awarded Research Ireland 'New Foundation's' Funding
Here are short summaries from Research Ireland on each of the projects
1. Dr Joe Whelan - ‘The flats are coming down. Yup the flats! “A sociological exploration of life in the Dolphin House flat complex using arts-based creative method
Dolphin House and Park is a strong, neighbourly and proud community in Dublin’s South Inner City. Built in 1957, the complex is made up of 392 flats in 6 blocks. It remains Dublin's largest public housing flat complex while also remaining one of Dublin’s most deprived areas. Generations of families live there and now, through the slow process of regeneration, people are being ‘de- tenanted’, and the flats are coming down. While Dolphin House yet remains standing, this project will seek to understand how regeneration is being experienced and to document life in the flats using arts based creative techniques.
2. Dr Catherine Elliot O'Dare - Understanding self- directed ageism:. A qualitative study with older people in Ireland.
Self-directed ageism, whereby older people internalise negative stereotyping, viewing themselves through a negative and ageist lens is particularly harmful form of ageism, leading to a shorter lifespan, life limiting behaviours, poor health, and social isolation (Age Action, 2022: Ishikawa, 2023). Qualitative interviews with older people aged 50 and over in Ireland will provide valuable empirical insights into how older people understand, and experience self-directed ageism. Research findings will promote a wider understanding of self-directed ageism, and will be of interest to advocacy organisations, policy makers and older persons themselves, as they work to tackle and eliminate ageism in contemporary society.
Details of all TCD recipients can be found here
May 8, 2025
Congratulations to Blaithín O’Brien, a Trinity Sociology and Social Policy graduate (2023), who has published an article in the Irish Journal of Sociology
Congratulations to Blaithín O’Brien, a Trinity Sociology and Social Policy graduate (2023), who has published the article “Periods, technology and identity: The experience of period-tracking app users” in the Irish Journal of Sociology. The article is based on Blaithín’s final year Sociology and Social Policy dissertation, which explored the experiences of Irish users of period tracking apps. Blaithín was supervised by Dr. Edurne García Iriarte. The article is available to read here
May 8, 2025
Social Policy Careers Night - 28th April 2025
We were delighted to welcome back members of our Social Policy alumni community to share their career pathways after graduation with this years’ third and fourth year Social Policy students. Students found the testimonies of winding and diverse pathways and destinations surprising and inspiring with key messages emphasising letting your values guide you, the high level of transferability of skills a social policy graduate has and the presence of policy roles in all sectors – public, voluntary and private.
The generosity and continued goodwill of our Alumni to our School was a pleasure to witness and students and alumni happily networked and chatted together for the rest of the evening in the Pav. We look forward to many more networking events and to having the class of 2025 return to us to share their pathways in the future.
Thanks to all of our wonderful Alumni below and in the picture for contributing to this event:
Mairead Finn 2005 and went on to study a Masters in Economic Science, European and Economic Affairs from UCD and PhD in Social Policy from Trinity. Mairead currently works for the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland and based in Brussels as a Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU/Attaché in area of Police Cooperation, Justice and Home Affairs.
Robert Kiernan 2016 and went on to study a Master’s in Public Policy in UCD as well as qualifications in project management, financial regulation, and public relations. Robert has worked in the public policy sector for a little under eight years, and is currently the Director of the Irish Beverage Council at IBEC.
Josephine Greene 2019 and went on to study a Master’s in Applied Social Research in the School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin. Jo is currently a 3rd year HRB funded research scholar on the SPHeRE programme, Ireland’s national PhD research training programme for population health, policy and health services research attached to Maynooth.
Laura Bambrick 2004 went on to study a Masters in Comparative Social Policy and a DPhil at Oxford University. Laura is currently Senior Policy Officer at Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
Eoin Carroll 2004 went on to study an MSc. Social Policy at LSE, MBS Business at UCC as well as Dip. Corporate Governance, and Dip. Community Development. Eoin is currently Director of Corporate Services in Cooperative Housing Ireland
Fiachra McCabe 2005 went on to study a Masters in Social Work in UCD. Fiachra currently works as a Senior Social Worker in Mental Health at Tallaght Hospital.
Niall Costello 2019 went on to study an MSc in Applied Social Research. Niall is currently a PhD Candidate and IRC Scholar with The School of Psychology, UCD.
April 30, 2025
Congratulations to Dr Simone McCaughren who presented her report entitled 'the operation of the in camera rule in irish family law' to the Minister for Justice
The Minister for Justice attended a report launch with Dr Simone McCaughren and her colleagues Dr Aisling Parkes and Dr Kenneth Burns UCC. They presented findings from their report into The Operation of the In Camera Rule in Irish Family Law at the Family Justice Forum event in the Department of Justice. The full report will be published very shortly.
Coverage of the event can be viewed here:
April 29, 2025
Congratulations to our M.Sc. in Applied Social Research class of 2024 who graduated today.
Warm congratulations to everyone who graduated today. We hope you have a wonderful day celebrating your success and we wish you the very best for the future.
April 16, 2025
Professor Emeritus Robbie Gilligan recently made a presentation on 'Leaving Care - What Next?
Professor Emeritus Robbie Gilligan recently made a presentation on 'Leaving Care - What Next?' at the European Parliament. He was an invited presenter to the joint hearing of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament. This joint hearing which was entitled the “Protection and promotion of the rights of children placed in alternative care” was held on March 18th. A video clip of the presentation is available at the following link: https://shorturl.at/48QeT
April 07, 2025
The misconstrued woman: A research and documentary film launch
On Wednesday 26th of March, The School of Social Work and Social Policy was proud to host the launch of The Misconstrued Woman, a research project conducted by Laidlaw Scholar and BSS student, Frøya Mostue-Thomas under the supervision of Dr Joe Whelan. The launch event included a display of the collages made by research participants, an overview of the research and the premier of a documentary film that viscerally explores lived experiences of women's homelessness.
The event was huge success with a packed Robert Emmett Theatre giving a standing ovation to Frøya as film director. After a Q&A session, the event was closed with some thought-provoking words from Head of the School of Social Work and Social Policy, Dr Catherine Conlon.
April 01, 2025
Marian Lynch Medal Winners
Congratulations to our most recent Marian Lynch medal winners who were presented with their medals by course director, Joe Whelan.
This award was commissioned in 2006 by classmates of Marian Lynch, a Junior Sophister BSS student who died in May of that year. Marian greatly enjoyed her course, in particular the Community Work module which reflected her deep affection for and commitment to her own community, the Liberties. Each year, the medal is awarded to each member of the group who achieve the highest mark in the Senior Fresh Community Work project .
Pictured left to right; Lynsey Boylan , Adefunke Agbabiaka, Joe Whelan (Course Director) and James Carey.
Well done!
March 27, 2025
First-year PhD Student Danielle Young awarded a grant from the European Society of Contraception and Reproductive Health
First-year PhD Student Danielle Young, supervised by Dr. Louise Caffrey and Dr. Catherine Conlon, has been awarded a grant from the European Society of Contraception and Reproductive Health. This grant will be used to develop a data collection infrastructure for GP administered early medical abortion in Ireland. This work is part of ongoing work of Catherine Conlon in partnership with the Southern Task-Force on Abortion a Reproductive Topics (START), a GP-led group of abortion providers in Ireland, to improve and monitor abortion service delivery.
March 25, 2025
Lived Experiences of Foster Care:Messages from Research for Practice
Join us for the next TRiCC seminar online (Zoom) on Monday 28th April at 1pm. Chaired by Dr Yekaterina Chzhen and presented by Sinéad Tobin and Dr Sinéad Whiting, the seminar will focus on children’s lived experience of foster care.
Register here: https://tcd-ie.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_G247js9ITSSx41PUDpR2dQ
Sinéad Tobin’s presentation will draw on findings from two research projects relating to foster care placement breakdown. In contrast to the dominant quantitative knowledge base on this topic, Sinéad’s presentation will focus on children and young people’s lived experiences of placement breakdown. The presentation will conclude with offering key messages for practice.
Dr. Sinéad Whiting’s presentation will explore findings from a qualitative study involving 22 young adults who grew up in foster care with permanence in Ireland. The presentation will focus on the participants' descriptions of their relationships with their foster carers and the various ways they developed a sense of permanence throughout their time in long-term foster care. It will highlight the co-creation of permanence between the young adults and their foster carers, offering insights into the dynamics that contributed to their sense of stability and belonging.
March 24, 2025
14th European Conference for Social Work Research (ECSWR)
Associate Professor Susan Flynn, Assistant Professors Erna O'Connor, Sinéad Whiting and Sinéad Tobin and Kevin Ryan, Senior Social Work Practitioner, St James’ Hospital, Dublin and external contributor to the BSS and MSW programmes, participated in the 14th European Conference for Social Work Research (ECSWR) which took place from 12-14 March 2025, at the Katholische Stiftungshochschule, Munich, Germany. The ECSWR is the biggest annual social work research event in Europe. This year's conference theme was "Embracing Democracy in Social Work Practice and Research"
Presentations from the School of SWSP were as follows:
A policy content analysis of 'Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children' (2017) examining the utility and relevance of Children First for disabled children.
Dr Susan Flynn, School of Social Work & Social Policy, Trinity College, Dublin.
Mr Haocheng Shi, School of Social Work & Social Policy, Trinity College, Dublin.
Experiences of a tutor-led, pilot placement programme in a healthcare context, through a Communities of Practice lens.
Dr Erna O’Connor & Dr Sinead Whiting, School of Social Work & Social Policy, Trinity College, Dublin.
Ms Paula Markey & Mr Kevin Ryan, Social Work Service, St James’ Hospital, Dublin.
Ms Jo Greene, PhD Research Scholar, the SPHeRE Programme
Permanence Display : Evidence of the co-creation of permanence in long-term foster care
Dr Sinéad Whiting, School of Social Work & Social Policy, Trinity College, Dublin.
Opening the Doors: a practitioner in academia and an academic in practice
Ms Sinead Tobin, School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin & Principal Social Worker, Office of Chief Social Worker, Tusla Child and Family Agency.
March 24, 2025
Congratulations to SWSP PhD students
Congratulations to SWSP PhD students, Wenyu Li and Jianing Zhu who presented on their research at the I-ARoA (Ireland's Network on Research on Ageing in Asia) seminar on 14 February 2025 at the UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy. Both presentations were very well received by the attendees from across multiple academic disciplines and NGO’s. Ireland's Network of Research on Ageing in Asia (I-ARoA) was founded in 2023 by Dr Catherine Elliott O’Dare, School of Social Work and Social Policy TCD and Dr Naonori Kodate, School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, UCD. The aims of I-ARoA are to connect PhD scholars in Ireland researching ageing in Asia and their supervisors, provide a supportive and collaborative network for members, and provide opportunities for members to share expertise, knowledge, and experience. It achieves these aims through regular network meetings and organising research-focused events. TCD, UCD and Maynooth University comprise current membership. New members are welcome, please contact Catherine at elliot@tcd.ie if you are interested in joining the network.
March 21, 2025
Prosperity without Growth - Public Lecture and Discussion
The School of Social Work & Social Policy is delighted to host Professor Mario Pansera who will deliver a public lecture entitled Prosperity with Growth. This is a free event and full details and tickets can be found here
March 19, 2025
Sherie de Burgh commemorative seminar jointly hosted by One Family and the School of Social Work and Social Policy
The theme for this year’s Sherie de Burgh commemorative seminar jointly hosted by One Family and the School of Social Work and Social Policy in Trinity College Dublin was ‘Contact with Children Following Separation: Practice to Policy NGO–TCD Research Collaborations’.
Dr Simone McCaughren led the One Family commissioned research project which formed the focus for this year's commemoration lecture. This research resulted in the publication of an interdisciplinary report and Guidance on Contact Time for Infants and Young Children in Separated Families. Together with Professor Stephanie Holt, Dr Aisling Parkes (School of Law, UCC) and Soma Gregory (Research Assistant), this ground-breaking piece of work provided a cross disciplinary perspective spanning social work/policy, law and psychology of the considerations for very young children in family law proceedings in Ireland. This ambitious research study was empirical in nature and engaged with various dimensions of the legal system, which has been untouched by research to date.
Chaired by the Head of School, Dr Catherine Conlon, speakers included: Dr Simone McCaughren (Principal Investigator of Research Report: Contact time for infants and young children in separated families); Geraldine Kelly, One Family’s Director of Parenting and Professional Development Services; Andrew Munro – Head of Policy and Legislation for Civil Justice, Assistant Secretary General in the Department of Justice overseeing the development of the Family Justice Reform; His Honour Judge Geoffrey Shannon – Former Law Society director and current Circuit Court judge, Dr Shannon was Special Rapporteur on Child Protection for the Irish Government 2006-19 and is the author independent report into historical child sex-abuse allegations in St John Ambulance 2023. The full research team joined a panel discussion chaired by Prof Stephanie Holt and the event was closed by Karen Kiernan, CEO of One Family.
Sherie was a person of infinite compassion particular for anyone encountering bumps in life’s path which remains the core of One Family’s work who are at the coalface of practice working with children and families navigating very complex systems, and oftentimes experiencing social injustice. One Family understand that knowledge production is a shared endeavour, and that building knowledge is not just a one-way flow, it is a collaborative iterative process and is intended to build new knowledge for the purpose of taking social action. Most importantly, One Family, respect the voices of those with lived experiences and see them as an essential and fundamental part of the research process – where experiences are recognised and valued.
And so this research grew from the ground up. It attempted to gain a bird’s eye view of how and in what ways, contact arrangements for infants and young children in the 0-6 years are navigated where parents are parenting separately. In addition, it sought to understand how those arrangement are managed and how the perspectives of this young children can be listened to. The School of Social Work and Social Policy at TCD who collaborate with One Family commemorating Sherie annually were delighted this year to showcase a research partnership between the School and One Family. The large attendance and deep interest on the evening, combined with the policy and justice imperative of progressing this issue demonstrated by Andrew Monro talking from a Department of Justice perspective and Judge Geoffrey Shannon, talking from a judicial perspective highlighted to us the value of forums to discuss and debate this topic and we expect to come back to it in our Schools seminar series again soon. Watch this space!
March 4, 2025
Sixth Annual Sherie de Burgh Commemorative Event
The theme for this year’s event is: Contact with Children Following Separation: Practice to Policy NGO–TCD Research Collaborations.
The sixth annual Sherie de Burgh commemorative seminar jointly hosted by One Family and the School of Social Work and Social Policy in Trinity College Dublin will explore the experiences of one-parent families in Ireland and reflect on their joint research, which illustrates a practice-to-policy approach and can be accessed here:
Guidance on Contact Time for Infants and Young Children in Separated Families
Event Details
If you wish to attend this event in person on the day, please find the event details and registration form below.
Date: Thursday, 13 February 2025
Time: 5.30pm – 7pm
Programme
Registration will take place between 5pm – 5.30pm. Please come early to register your details and attendance in person only if have not pre-registered online using the form below.
Seminar: 5.30pm – 7pm
Reception: from 7pm
Location
Trinity Research in Social Sciences (TRiSS)
TRiSS Seminar Room
6th Floor, Sutherland Centre
Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin
Streaming link: on the day, the event will be available to watch on YouTube here .
Summer school opportunity to travel to Germany and learn about disability and child welfare!
Summer school opportunity to travel to Germany and learn about disability and child welfare! Limited spaces available, see here for more information and to apply by 1st of February.
Jan 16, 2025
Head of School and Associate Prof Catherine Conlon, together with Prof Virpi Timonen, University of Helsinki and Dr Geraldine Foley, School of Medicine, Trinity College have authored a new paper for the Qualitative Research Journal entitled 'Quality in qualitative research:a relational process
Head of School and Associate Prof Catherine Conlon, together with Prof Virpi Timonen, University of Helsinki and Dr Geraldine Foley, School of Medicine, Trinity College have a paper just out in Qualitative Research Journal entitled 'Quality in qualitative research: a relational process' available on Open Access here
The paper argues that quality in qualitative research cannot be ensured with the help of checklists alone. We assert that quality in qualitative research is a set of relationships, threaded through the entire research process, between the researcher and the researched topic, participants, data, data analysis and audience. It sets out how the foundations of qualitative inquiry, across all paradigms, demand an engaged, committed researcher attending iteratively and with care – relationally – to every stage of the research process in pursuit of quality. The key novel contribution of this paper is its argument that adopting a relational ethic of commitment to quality at each stage of the research process is conducive towards high-quality qualitative research. The paper will be useful for established qualitative researchers, doctoral students, postgraduate and undergraduate students engaging in qualitative social research, in particular for its elaboration of parsimonious quality criteria specific to qualitative research.
Jan 14, 2025
Joe Whelan publishes a new textbook with Policy Press!
Joe Whelan's latest book 'Critical Theory for Social Work' is published and available. The books aims to introduce interested readers to Critical Theory in an accessible and interesting way. The companion website for the book is also live and includes a full lesson plan, a full and adaptable slide deck and a set of short explanatory video clips. The materials available on the companion website are designed for instructors to make the text easy to adopt as a core text for teaching social work students about critical social theory. The book and accompanying materials are designed to be accessible and to be used across jurisdictions, so please feel free to share widely and get in touch with Joe if you have any questions.
The book is published by Policy Press. To access materials and find out more about the book, see links below:
https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/critical-theory-for-social-work
https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/critical-theory-for-social-work/online-resources
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP899GzKi9xV8JAUUrDqmCvHWlq89g3hD
Jan 8, 2025