News Archive: July - December 2014
Congratulations to PhD student Eavan Brady on recent publications
Eavan Brady has had two recent publications. The first, 'The Bookworm Club: Implementing and evaluating a pilot literacy program for children in out-of-home care', was published in the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies Journal. This paper, co-authored with Julia Busch, draws on work done while Eavan was employed by Practice and Research Together (PART) in Canada. The second is based on Eavan’s final year Master’s Dissertation for her MSW (supervised by Gloria Kirwan, School of Social Work & Social Policy) and is entitled 'Child protection social workers’ engagement in continuing professional development: An exploratory study'. It was published earlier this year in Social Work Education: The International Journal. Eavan is in Year 1 of her PhD studies and is supervised by Professor Robbie Gilligan. Her PhD research is exploring the educational pathways of adult care leavers.
References for publications
- Brady. E. (2014). Child protection social workers’ engagement in continuing professional development: An exploratory study. Social Work Education: The International Journal, 33(6), 819-834. DOI:10.1080/02615479.2013.869316.
- Brady, E. & Busch, J. (2014). The Bookworm Club: Implementing and evaluating a pilot literacy program for children in out-of-home care. Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies Journal, 58, 26-33.
23rd December 2014
Professor Robbie Gilligan writes foreword for major new book on therapeutic residential child care
Professor Robbie Gilligan has contributed the foreword to a new book ‘Therapeutic Residential Care For Children and Youth - Developing Evidence-Based International Practice’. The book has a range of international contributors and is edited by James K. Whittaker, Jorge F. del Valle and Lisa Holmes. It is published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London.
2nd December 2014
Professor Gilligan and Professor O'Sullivan contribute to new book on Children, Childhood and Irish Society
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Congratulations to Professor Robert Gilligan and Professor Eoin O'Sullivan who each contributed a chapter to the recently published book 'Children, Childhood and Irish Society'. The book is edited by Maria Luddy and James M. Smith. Professor Gilligan's chapter is entitled 'The 'public child’ and the reluctant state?' while Professor O'Sullivan chapter is entitled 'Child welfare services, 1970–80: from the Kennedy Committee to the task force'. The book is published by Four Courts Press.
27th November 2014
Book Launch: Young People, Homelessness and Housing Exclusion
Congratulations to Dr. Paula Mayock, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work and Social Policy & Children's Research Centre, Sarah Parker, Research Assistant, Children’s Research Centre, and Andrew Murphy, Research Assistant, Children’s Research Centre on the publication of their book, ‘Young People, Homelessness and Housing Exclusion”. The book documents the ‘life stories’ of homeless young people and charts their experiences from early childhood. It focuses specifically on their paths or routes to homelessness, their service interactions, family relationships, and experiences of seeking stable housing. Funded by Focus Ireland, this research was launched by Ms Sylda Langford, former Director of the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, in Buswells Hotel on November 17th, 2014. Speaking at the launch, Sylda Langford said, “This is the type of research that the Government, relevant departments and statutory bodies like Tusla must take note of and ensure it is fully taken account of when developing policy and services response to (and prevention of) youth homelessness.”
18th November 2014
Formal launch in Addis Ababa for new PhD study in School
Ireland's Ambassador to Ethiopia Mr Aidan O'Hara hosted the formal launch today of the plan for a new PhD study in the School. Irish Research Council PhD Scholar Louise Yorke will undertake a study of the challenges and opportunities facing rural girls in Ethiopia who move to urban areas in search of secondary education. Her study will be supervised by Professor Robbie Gilligan who was also present at the event in the Irish Embassy in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia. A range of representatives from the policy, research and programme provider fields were also in attendance.
14th November 2014
Dovile Vildaite, PhD student, presents findings from her PhD study at the VI European Congress of Methodology
Dovile Vildaite, an Irish Research Council scholar and PhD student in the School, presented findings from her PhD study at the VI European Congress of Methodology in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in July. In her presentation entitled “Methodological and ethical challenges in research with migrant youth” Dovile discussed the key methodological and ethical issues that emerged during her qualitative PhD research with Lithuanian migrant youth in Ireland. Dovile also delivered a presentation at the international migration conference ‘Crisis, Mobility and New Forms of Migration’ (2-4th September) at the UCC, Cork. Dovile’s presentation outlined some preliminary findings from her PhD study on young migrants’ experiences of intergenerational relationships in transnational families.
Over the summer, Dovile also presented at various graduate / PhD conferences and summer schools (at the University of Sussex, University College London, the Goethe University Frankfurt). During these events, Dovile delivered presentations on young Lithuanian migrants’ perceptions of ‘home’ and ‘belonging’ as well as emotional costs of migration as perceived by the family members remaining in the country of origin.
Dovile is currently a 4th year PhD student on the Structured PhD programme in Child and Youth Research, supervised by Professor Robbie Gilligan.
20th October 2014
Congratulations to Derina Johnson, PhD student, who recently presented a paper at the 8th International Burma Studies Conference
Ms Derina Johnson, PhD student, recently presented a paper “Discovering the lived experiences, logic and navigations of marginalised young people: A case study from Mae Sot, Thailand-Burma border” at the 8th International Burma Studies Conference. This biennial conference was held in Singapore 1st – 3rd August, and was hosted by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and National University of Singapore. The overall conference theme was “Envisioning Myanmar: Issues, Images, Identities”, and brought together scholars, politicians, activists and other stakeholders including, for the first time, members of the Myanmar Government. Derina’s PhD study is being supervised by Professor Robbie Gilligan.
20th October 2014
Congratulations to Catherine O’Dare, PhD student, who has been awarded the Dr. John Fleetwood Medal
Catherine O’Dare, a first year PhD student in the School, has been awarded the inaugural Dr. John Fleetwood Medal. The Irish Gerontological Society announced the award at their 62nd Annual and Scientific Meeting 2014 held in Galway 9th-11th October. Catherine’s abstract and platform presentation at the meeting related to her undergraduate dissertation titled “Words open windows”: Older Women’s Experiences of Adult Literacy Services. The thesis explored the motivations, experiences and outcomes among older women who were former literacy students. The dissertation was supervised by Professor Virpi Timonen.
20th October 2014
Congratulations to Evelyn Mahon and Anthony McCashin on their Retirement
The Retirement of Evelyn Mahon and Anthony McCashin was celebrated last Thursday evening, 16th of October, in the New Common Room , T.C.D. Both Evelyn and Tony joined Trinity College in the early 1990's. The School would like to extend its best wishes to both Evelyn and Tony.
20th October 2014
Professor Virpi Timonen contributes to the discussion of elder care policies and reform in Nordic Countries
Professor Virpi Timonen delivered a presentation under the auspices of the Icelandic Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in Reykjavik on the 3rd of October. Professor Timonen also delivered a presentation on the 6th of October in the Parliament of Finland, in a seminar entitled 'Public and private care of the ageing population – Lessons from Europe', organised by the Kalevi Sorsa foundation and the Federation of Finnish Financial Services.
8th October 2014
The three degrees: ground rules and grandparents the ‘middle generation’ are gatekeepers to a very special relationship
This interesting article published by The Irish Times references the work of Professor Virpi Timonen and can viewed here.
2nd October 2014
Professor Virpi Timonen - elected the new President of the Research Committee on Ageing (RC11) of the International Sociological Association (ISA)
Professor Virpi Timonen was elected the new President of the Research Committee on Ageing (RC11) of the International Sociological Association (ISA) in Yokohama, Japan, in July. The committee and its meetings constitute the largest group of sociologists engaged with the sociology of ageing globally. The immediate past presidents of the organisation are Professor Anne Martin-Matthews of the University of British Columbia and Professor Sara Arber of the University of Surrey. The next meetings of RC11 will take place in Syracuse in 2015, Vienna in 2016 and Toronto in 2017.
30th September 2014
'The Pregnant Box' - Dr. Catherine Conlon
‘The Pregnant Box’ is a new series of mini-operas about secrets and judgements, about how and why we conceal our natures from each other, and what the act of judgement does to those we condemn.
This collaboration between Dr Catherine Conlon (School of Social Work and Social Policy) and Dr Evangelia Rigaki (School of Drama, Film & Music) translates a woman’s narrative of concealing pregnancy into a piece of musical theatre. The text was generated as part of a Crisis Pregnancy Agency (now HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme) commissioned research project.
26th September 2014
Congratulations to Dr Geraldine Foley who graduated with a PhD this summer
Dr Geraldine Foley has just taken up an Assistant Professorship in the Discipline of Occupational Therapy, in Trinity College Dublin’s School of Medicine. Best wishes in your new role!
16th Sept 2014
The MSc in Disability Studies at TCD is pleased to announce
the next Public Lecture:
Disability Equality in Europe?: Policy challenges
by Prof. Mark Priestley
25th September, 4.30 pm
Trinity College Dublin
To book a place, please RSVP to Fiona Clarke at clarkef@tcd.ie.
Please indicate any access accommodations you require when you RSVP.
3rd Sept 2014
'Key thinkers in childhood studies' by Carmel Smith
'Key thinkers in childhood studies' by Carmel Smith and Sheila Greene was published in June by Policy Press in the UK and Chicago University Press in the USA. Carmel is a Research Associate of the CRC based in Carlow College. Sheila Greene is the former Professor of Childhood Research and co-founder of the Centre.
01st Aug 2014
Children’s Research Centre hosts International Summer School in Child and Youth Welfare
Photo caption: Students and staff attending the TACHYwe Summer School at Trinity College Dublin 7-11 July 2014.
The Children’s Research Centre (CRC) hosted 27 students and staff from Israel, Russia, Ireland and Germany at a week-long Summer School as part of the EU Tempus Project: Transnational Academic Careers in Child and Youth Welfare or ‘TACHYwe’.
TACHYwe, led at Trinity by Dr Michelle Share, Senior Research Fellow, CRC, is a transnational collaborative learning and working environment that aims to develop and implement postgraduate courses on international child and youth welfare. It has been grant funded (€970,000 over three years) by the EU Tempus IV programme.
Prior to attending the Summer School, students participated in a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) developed at the CRC with Trinity’s Centre for Academic Practice and Student Learning (CAPSL). Students viewed online lectures from staff at the University of Hildesheim, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Don State Technical University and Trinity, and completed blogs and discussion activities.
At the Summer School students’ VLE activities were developed through a cross-national comparative project on institutional care. They attended lectures and seminars on youth mental health, youth homelessness and undocumented migrants. A highlight was a visit to the Ombudsman’s for Children’s Office for an interactive seminar presented by EPIC (Empowering Young People Living in Care).
The Summer School concluded on a light-hearted but informative note as the students presented photographs and artefacts, music, stories and games that represented growing up in Israel, Russia, Ireland and Germany.
Dr Share, director of the Summer School, commented:
We set ourselves quite a challenge by developing a VLE for the Summer School but it certainly paid off. As the students were from diverse higher educational institutions and countries it was important that they came with some shared foundational knowledge. Instead of students just attending a series of lectures, they could develop their VLE educational experience and interrogate the Summer School theme collaboratively and cross-nationally. The Summer School and VLE have given participants the opportunity to explore commonalities and differences between institutional care in Ireland, Israel, Germany and Russia. They can now critically assess institutional care issues across these countries to inform research, policy and practice in the field of child and youth welfare. Students considered the Summer School to be both an enriching and challenging experience.
24th July 2014
Gloria Kirwan, Asst Professor of Social Work, delivers a paper at the annual conference of the IASW's New Social Workers Special Interest Group"
Gloria Kirwan, Asst Professor of Social Work, delivered a paper entitled 'Social Work and Social Media' at the annual conference of the IASW's New Social Workers Special Interest Group which was held on 11 July 2014. In her paper, Gloria outlined the far-reaching importance for social work offered by the many advances in technological communication but also considered the ethical issues which are emerging in relation to social media usage by social workers.
15th July 2014
Congratulations to Nicole Byrne, Master in Social Work graduate, on the publication of her article ‘Roadrunners’, an Exploratory Study of an Activity Programme for Young Offenders in North Dublin
Congratulations to Nicole Byrne, Master in Social Work graduate, on the publication of her article ‘Roadrunners’, an Exploratory Study of an Activity Programme for Young Offenders in North Dublin in the Journal of Postgraduate Research, Volume XIII, 2014 pp.39-57. This multidisciplinary research journal is published annually by Trinity’s Graduate Students’ Union and is a showcase of the excellent research being carried out by postgraduate students throughout the college. Nicole’s article drew on research conducted for her dissertation as part of the Master in Social Work course, which she successfully completed in June 2013.
02nd July 2014