TRiCC Visiting Researchers

Vanesa Pastor Cerezo

 

Visiting researcher from Universidad de Alcalá, Spain

Vanesa Pastor Cerezo has a primary degree in Primary School Education and a masters degree in Psychopedagogy, both from the Universidad de Alcalá. Presently, she works at the university teaching Educational and Developmental Psychology in the Educational Sciences Department. She is also carrying out her PhD in Education here, on the speciality of Human Development. 

Vanesa's research focuses on child sexual abuse (CSA), particularly on how attachment issues in adulthood are a possible long-term consequence of early trauma; besides she is looking into some Eriksonian crisis to see if they are or not affected by the victimization.  She is using both quantitative and qualitative methods in her research, including structural equation modelling (SEM). She wants to give a different gender perspective to her investigation as male victims in this topic are less looked out and many times forgotten. 

Vanesa is visiting the Trinity Research in Childhood Centre throughout April and May 2024 working with Prof. Lorraine Swords: "Lori has been an excellent supervisor at Trinity College, I feel really grateful I found her to do my university placement. She and another researcher Nicole Maiorano gave a hand so quickly and easily, and offered a huge opportunity to participate in their research which combines both of our specialities. We are working on two different publications that I'm sure will be really interesting for the scientific community. I hope we can continue working together as it has a been an incredible honor to work with them".

Summer 2022 Visiting Researcher

Maria has several degrees in Education and Psychology.  She is also PhD in Medicine in the area of Public Health and Epidemiology.

She works in Institute for Culture and Society of University of Navarra, a highly interdisciplinary research centre in humanities and social sciences. She is lecturer in different Schools and teaches “Education for Health in the Childhood and Adolescence” in the School of Education and Psychology at University of Navarra.

Her research interest includes topics such as childhood, adolescence, marriage and family, couple therapy and affective development. Her research focuses in different settings:

• The study of adolescent´s lifestyles and their impact on their affectivity and sexuality.
• Influence of school variables on the character and development processes during the childhood and adolescence.
• The evaluation of psychotherapeutic and psychoeducational processes.
• Studies on efficacy of Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples (Sue Johnson).
• The affective maturation processes in adults in order to promote processes of maturation in adults by integrating cognition and emotion through applications that could be applied some in psychotherapeutic settings, others in educations settings.
• Bonds and emotional wounds: the impact of childhood trauma and maltreatment.

Maria specializes in quantitative research methods, mostly multivariate analyses both longitudinal and cross-sectional data (e.g., regressions, structural equation modelling (SEM), etc.). She also includes cultural aspects and a gender perspective in her work.

María visited the Trinity Research in Childhood Centre from September 2021to June 2022 working with Prof. Trevor Spratt and Prof. Lorraine Swords. " I am very grateful to Trevor, Lory and my colleague Carey for the opportunity to participate in several ongoing research projects at the Centre. The learning experience has been wonderful. From the beginning, I was warmly and closely welcomed. My visit to this group will lead to several joint publications, and I hope that we may maintain a relationship in the future that will allow us to continue collaborating”.

Contact Maria at mcalatrava@unav.es

Link to Maria's university profile here.

Summer 2022 Visiting Researcher

 

Visiting PhD student from Nankai University, China

Cong obtained national psychological counselor Certification in 2016 and national social work Certification in 2019. As a social worker, his practice experience, include the Tencent Public Welfare Foundation, Special Education School of Taiwan, Primary School and Social Work Service Center of Zhejiang Province.

Having received his master’s degree in Social Work in 2018, Cong enrolled as a PhD student in the department of social work and social policy of Nankai University. He received a scholarship from China Scholarship Council to study at TCD, having previously had visiting and training experience in Peking University, Tung Hai University and Hongkong Baptist University.

His research interest includes child protection, youth development, school social work and social work professional development. To be specific, his research focuses on the following areas:
-Social workers’ reporting behaviors and intentions with respect to child abuse.
-Cultural differences in child abuse identification and localization of child abuse measurement tools.
-Research on social work interventions for school bullying.
-The development and application of the theory of Positive Youth Development.
-Empowerment and social supports for children in poverty and difficult circumstances.
-Occupational environment, job burnout and mental health of social workers.
-The localization of social work cultural competence in China, including the introduction of concepts, the development of frameworks, and the localization of measurement tools related education and training.

He has experience in the use of qualitative, quantitative research methods and mixed research methods. He enjoys carrying out scientific research cooperation or practical exploration with professionals in the fields related to child protection and youth development.

Cong is based at the Trinity Research in Childhood Centre from October 2021 to October 2022, working, with Prof. Trevor Spratt. “It is a wonderful study experience in my life! Professor Trevor gives me great help and suggestions in scientific research and daily life. I am very touched by his enthusiasm and patience! The research cooperation with Maria and Trevor is also a very pleasant experience and I learned a lot from it! I will cherish my remaining time here and look forward to future collaborating! ”

Contact Cong at fucong95@hotmail.com

Spring 2020 Visiting Researcher

 

Visiting PhD student from the University of Padova, Italy

Elif is a PhD fellow in Social Sciences: Interaction, Communication, Cultural Construction at the University of Padova in Italy. Her research interests include childhood studies, children’s geographies, ethnographic research with children, parental surveillance and children’s media uses, and social construction of privacy.

Her research problematizes the privacy of children within families and aims to explore the negotiations around the social construction of privacy at home in everyday family lives in Turkey. Built on ethnographic fieldwork with 33 families with children aged 11 to 13, it discusses children's strategies of constructing boundaries around their privacy both in their uses of domestic spaces and new media technologies.

Elif is visiting the Trinity Research in Childhood Centre from February to June 2020 and works with Prof. Trevor Spratt. She welcomes approaches for further discussions on her research.

"Being exposed to the research culture here at TRICC is an excellent opportunity to improve my research skills. Prof. Trevor Spratt, co-Director of TRiCC, is keen to help me make the most of my time here. I feel privileged to work with him, he inspires research with his social policy perspective and generously shares his expertise. While at TRiCC, I look forward to discussing my research on digital childhoods and cross generational negotiations on children’s privacy within families, while continuing to analyse data and write up the key outcomes of my thesis. It is wonderful to be involved in this stimulating research platform with the childhood researchers from diverse experiential backgrounds"

Contact Elif at hamideelif.uzumcu@phd.unipd.it

Regitze Anne Saurbrey Pals

Regitze has a Master’s degree in Public Health and is currently a PhD student at Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen and the University of Copenhagen. Her research interests include sociology of health and illness and qualitative research approaches.

Her PhD research explores what pre-teenagers (9-12 year olds) with type 1 diabetes, and their families, associate with care and support when the pre-teenagers transition to adolescence. The study will inspire the development of an intervention. Regitze is visiting TRiCC from Sept-Dec 2019, collaborating with Professor Imelda Coyne.

"While at TRiCC, I will focus my attention on pre-teenagers’ participation in diabetes care and support. The research stay is a unique opportunity for me to discuss methodological, theoretical and ethical issues related to involving children and families in research, chronic illness in a family context, and transition phases in children with chronic illness. My collaborator during the research stay is Professor Imelda Coyne, who has extensive experience with research exploring and promoting children’s participation in matters that affect their lives. In particular, I am inspired by the PACE study, which aims to encourage young people with type 1 diabetes to be more actively involved in interactions with health professionals."

"During my stay at TRiCC, I plan to work on data analysis and draft two articles based on family workshops and individual interviews with pre-teenagers, respectively. I am very excited to be here and look forward to engaging with leading childhood researchers with diverse professional backgrounds. "

Contact Regitze at RPAL0009@regionh.dk

Deirdre Donohue

Deirdre is entering the third year of her bachelor’s degree in psychology in Trinity College Dublin. Her primary research interests lie in developmental psychology, particularly in children’s mental health and immigrant children’s wellbeing. She has received funding through the Laidlaw Research and Leadership Programme to conduct ten weeks of research in her area of interest, under the supervision of Dr Lorraine Swords.

Her research project is entitled: Moving to, and Growing Up in, Ireland: Immigrant children’s experience of early life stress, supportive relationships, and long-term psychological wellbeing. The research contains both quantitative and qualitative elements, with an initial analysis of Growing Up in Ireland data, followed by a structured interview phase.

"Conducting my research in TRiCC is an amazing opportunity to work with some of the leading childhood researchers from different disciplines and backgrounds. The collaborative and energetic environment stimulates the generation of new ideas and an increased awareness of different view points, which in turn, leads to more original and well-developed research. I look forward to being both supported and challenged here in TRiCC, as I conduct the first independent research project of my academic career"

Contact Deirdre at ddonohue@tcd.ie

Dr Heidi Siller

Heidi Siller is a psychologist, clinical and health psychologist and researcher. She is working at the Gender Medicine Unit, Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria

Her research focuses on violence in different settings:

• Interpersonal violence: how medical and health professionals deal with women affected by domestic, interpersonal and intimate partner violence, how to best include training on interpersonal violence in medical and health profession education (focus on midwifery students)
• Mistreatment of medical students: how students perceive mistreatment during medical education, how they can be supported to respond to such mistreatment (e.g. strengthening resilience)
• Toxic academic workplaces: power constructions, discrimination and inequality in academia

Her second research focus explores career progression, inequality in career pursuit and discrimination in careers, with particular focus on medical careers.

Heidi specializes in qualitative research methods, mostly applying an intersectional framework to deconstruct intersecting aspects (e.g. social characteristics) that contribute to power structures, discrimination and inequality. She also includes gender aspects and influence of gender constructions in her work.

"I am very excited to be here and to work with midwives and leading researchers in midwifery on supporting women affected by domestic violence. TRiCC offers me the unique opportunity to collaborate across disciplines, to exchange and share ideas and perspectives with colleagues coming from diverse professional backgrounds and experiences. TRiCC provides the space to expand and deepen my research network, consequently promoting our (research) efforts in fighting domestic violence and violence against women."

Post-Visit UPDATE!

Heidi wrote about her visit with TRiCC for the Eurolife website:

TRiCC has a fantastic work culture and offered collaboration, discussion and reflection on research findings and project ideas with inspirational researchers across various disciplines... Prof Trevor Spratt, Director of TRiCC, and Siobán O’Brien Green, expert in DV and pregnancy, were my closest collaborators during this research stay. Thanks to them, I had the unique opportunity to share and discuss research on domestic violence with outstanding and inspirational researchers and stakeholders in numerous meetings. These meetings strengthened my own research network but also resulted in future research collaborations. Besides exchanging research ideas and findings, Siobàn and I presented our research findings on DV, IPV and pregnancy in the Irish and Austrian context to health care professionals at the Centre for Midwifery Education (CME), Dublin. Additionally, we collated our research findings in this area and drafted a guide on DV in pregnancy. In this guide, the most important steps when screening for DV and IPV are presented, including self-care of staff. In the future this guide can be used as mnemonic after being pilot tested in Austria.

Read more on the Eurolife website

Contact Heidi at heidi.siller@i-med.ac.at

Link to Heidi's university profile

Sara Serrate Gonzalez

Sara holds a PhD in Education, is a graduate of Social Education and has a bachelor’s degree in Psycho-pedagogy. She has considerable expertise in the areas of education and prevention of gender-based violence. Currently Sara is an Assistant Professor in the University of Salamanca in the Faculties of Social Sciences and Education. She teaches on the degrees of Social Education and Social Work, as well as the Master's Degree in Advanced Studies in Education and Interdisciplinary Gender Studies modules and the specialised Diploma on Vulnerable Children in Society: intervention, inclusion and participation, all in the University of Salamanca. Her core areas of work are socio-educational intervention in childhood and youth, social pedagogy and education for equality in the family and in school.

Sara is a member of a recognised Research Group within the University of Salamanca: "Processes, spaces and educational practices". The focus of much of her research is socio-educational intervention with children, families, women and the elderly. She has participated in research studies with other university research groups and institutions and social and educational organisations such as: child protection centres, youth clubs, family support centres and education settings for older people. Sara is especially interested in the resolution of situations that require preventive or re-education processes with participants who are at risk of social exclusion. Her key current interest is in the practice of socio-educational agents as social educators in schools and the preventive processes or the interventions that they perform in situations of need or problems of integration.

"I arrived on June 14 and I will be until September 14, for 3 months. I choose TRiCC because, at the University of Salamanca, we are starting new projects such as my research group, a new postgraduate degree in vulnerable childhood, and a new social laboratory. We want to learn about other teaching and research methods and how TRiCC is organized in the investigation of children and young people, especially minors in social protection and disadvantage.

I am working directly with Trevor Spratt as well as on new joint projects with Conor McGuckin and Stephen Minton of the School of Education. On the subject of gender equality and prevention of violence, I am working with Sioban O'Brien Green."

Read more about Sara's publications and projects