Vivian Rath
Vivian Rath
Vivian Rath is a Research Fellow at the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities (TCPID) within the School of Education at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Vivian holds a PhD from Trinity College Dublin, a BSc in Pharmacology and Masters in Management from University College Dublin. He has a background and expertise in student leadership, success and in creating inclusive environments where everyone has the opportunity to belong.
Vivian believes in research for impact and works with stakeholders to bring about change. Following on from his PhD on the Social Engagement Experiences of Disabled Students in Higher Education in Ireland, he went on to establish two disabled persons organisations (DPO). The Trinity College Dublin Forum for Disabled Staff and Postgraduate Students and the National Disabled Postgraduate Advisory Committee. This work has led him to collaborate with disabled people and AHEAD to secure HEA funding for a three-year national project, LaunchPAD, focusing on the under-representation of disabled people at postgraduate level. Previous to working in TCD, he worked in University College Dublin in the Office of the Vice President where he coordinated the undergraduate orientation programme among other student experience projects.
Following a competitive appointment process, he was appointed by the Minister to the Board of the National Disability Authority, and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Disability Advisory Committee. An award-winning equality and civil rights advocate he has spoken in the EU Parliment.
Research Tags
#Belonging #DisabilityRights #DisabledLeadership #StudentSuccess #PoliticalParticipation #Equality #HumanRights #UNCRPD
Research Projects
Project Title: Student Success and Belonging: Exploring the Experiences of TCPID Graduates with Intellectual Disabilities.
Summary This research aims to engage with graduates with intellectual disabilities of the Certificate in Arts, Science and Inclusive Applied Practice, TCPID, to explore their experiences of engaging in higher education in order to develop an understanding of what student success and belonging means to them. The research will utilise inclusive methodologies to understand graduates with IDs experiences of success and belonging whilst in HE, and how understandings of these concepts might be used to enrich and inform the HE environment for students with ID. Funding Agency Trinity College Dublin Principal InvestigatorProject Title: Experiences of Multi-Marginalised Disabled Candidates in the Local and EU Elections 2024
Summary There is currently no research in the Irish context on the impact of these intersecting identities on the political participation of those within the disabled community. The aim of this research is to hear the lived experience of disabled people with multiple marginalised identities, wishing to engage in political candidature or hold elected office. The overarching methodological framework that will guide this research is the human rights-based disability research methodology (Arstein-Kerslake et al., 2020). The methodology builds on emancipatory, participatory, and inclusive methodologies that have emerged over the past decades and that have had significant influence on disability studies. It draws on the UNCRPD to provide something that previous methodologies could not in using research as a tool for advocacy and social change in compliance with a legally binding human rights instrument. Funding Agency National Disability Authority Research Promotion Scheme Co-Principal Investigator Collaboration with the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, University of GalwayProject Title 2024-2027 LaunchPAD
LaunchPAD is a three-year project collaboration between AHEAD and the National Disabled Postgraduate Advisory Committee to create a community and increase representation of disabled people at postgraduate level in higher education in Ireland. A key element of the project is to, over the three years of the project, to undertake a policy mapping exercise of the policy landscape relating to disabled postgraduate education, to hear the voice of the community and produce a set of recommendations to increase the representation of disabled people at postgraduate level. Funding Agency Higher Education Authority AHEAD / National Disabled Postgraduate Advisory Committee Chair of NDPAC / Research Officer AHEAD
Project Title 2022 Reasonable Accommodations on Professional Placement Project
Summary
The Reasonable Accommodation and Professional Placement (RAPP) project is a joint research project between AHEAD and DAWN and supported by the HEA. The research project outputs were released in December 2022. Funding Agency Higher Education Authority AHEAD Research Officer
Representations
Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Disability Advisory Committee 2019 To date
National Disability Authority Board Member 2023 To date
National Student Engagement, Belonging and Wellbeing Project Advisory Group 2023 2024
The Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) disability adviser 2023 2024
SETU Governing Authority EDI Board, Provosts Eternal Nominee 2022 To date
Trinity College Dublin Board People and Culture Committee 2023 2024
EURODOC Equality Committee 2020 2023
National Disability Authority Expert Adviser on the National Social Wellbeing Survey 2021/2022
National Forum Students Success in Higher Education Project Advisor 2018 2020
National Disability Stakeholders Group 2018 2022
UCD Students’ Union Vice-President 2007 2008
UCD Governing Authority 2007 2008
Membership of Professional Institutions, Associations, Societies
Member of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland 2022 To date
Chair National Disabled Postgraduate Advisory Committee 2021 To date
Chair Trinity College Dublin Forum for Disabled Staff & Postgraduates 2021 To date
Publications and Other Research Outputs
Peer Reviewed
McCarthy, P., Loughrey, D, Rath, V., Leeson, L, Treanor,.(forthcoming). Transforming the EDI Agenda: Including Disability as an Intersectional Consideration. In; Transforming Gender Equality and Inclusion Within Higher Education in Ireland. Edt by: Leeson, L, Mcllrath, Connolly, M, Lesson, L, & Maher H. Palgrave MacMillan.
Rath, V., Healy, R. (forthcoming). Belonging in Educational Professional Placements. In; Contemporary Issues in the Psychology of Education. Edt by: Lynam, A., McGuckin, C. IGI Global.
Rath, V. (2024). Embracing the Disruptive Voice. In; Including Voices: Respecting the Experiences of People from Marginalised Communities. Edt by: Rose. R & Shevlin,M. Palgrave MacMillan.
Rath, V. (2023). The National Disabled Postgraduate Advisory Committee: Working for Change in Higher Education. Irelands Education Yearbook. Rath, V. (2022). Social engagement: Hearing the experiences of disabled students in higher education in Ireland. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 7, p. 895392). Frontiers Media SA.
Rath, V. (2021). Social Engagement Experiences of Disabled Students in Higher Education in Ireland. Ph.D. thesis. Dublin: Trinity College Dublin.
Rath, V. (2020). Social Engagement Experiences of Disabled Students in Higher Education. Irelands Education Yearbook.
Reports
HEA. (2023). Experiences of and Challenges Faced by Disabled Postgraduate Students. Higher Education Authority. Dublin. https://hea.ie/assets/uploads/2023/12/ONLINE-v2-NDPAC-2.pdf
AHEAD. (2022). Students with Disabilities on Placement Report: Guidance on the Provision or Reasonable Accommodations on Practice-based Professional Placements. AHEAD University Press.
Rath, V., McCarthy, P. (2022). Ableism in Academia in Ireland: Experiences of Disabled Academics & Recommendations for the Future. Forum for Disabled Staff and Postgraduate Students. Trinity College Dublin. http://hdl.handle.net/2262/108575
Rath, V., McCarthy, P., Loughrey, D., Sharp, M., Smyth, F. & Kift, S. (2022). Shifting Sands: Disability and Reasonable Accommodation in the Covid/Post Covid Higher Education Environment, Trinity College Dublin Forum for Disabled Staff and Postgraduate Students. http://hdl.handle.net/2262/108576
Qualifications Ireland. (2022). Institutional Review Report 2022 Technological University Dublin. QQI Press.
Wexford Public Participation Network. (2021). Let’s Talk About Disability in County Wexford: Engagement, Participation and Representation. Wexford Public Participation Network.