National Children's Strategy Research Scholarship Programme
Abstracts for each scholarship awarded to date
Presentations of the findings of completed research are also attached
2011
PhD research
The relationship between state inputs, family processes and child well-being: an analysis of data from Ireland and Denmark.
This study seeks to explore the relationship between family processes, state inputs and child well-being in two countries with differing family policies; Ireland and Denmark. This will be achieved by analysing data from the Growing up in Ireland study and the Danish Longitudinal Survey of Children.
Start date: January 2012
Contact person: Patricia Keilthy
E-mail:patricia.keilthy@ucd.ie
PhD Research
Sound and the Social Organisation of Space: The Soundscape of youth
The focus of this research is on how sound plays an important role in young people’s relationship to space. Through qualitative methodologies, newly developed for this project, the research will reveal how the soundscape, or sonic environment of public spaces influences the choices teenagers make when engaging with or moving through public spaces.
Start date:September 2009
Contact person:Linda O’Keefe
E-mail:Linda.OKeeffe_cons_1030@nuim.ie
PhD Research
An Ecological Systems Theory approach to understanding childhood overweight and obesity in Ireland: Findings from Growing Up in Ireland
This research investigates the causes of childhood obesity from an Ecological Systems Theory perspective. The study is informed by data collected from nine-year-old children in the Growing Up in Ireland study. Multi-level analysis and Structural Equation Modelling are employed to account for the multi-faceted nature of this growing public health concern
Start date:October 2010
Contact person:Mark Ward
E-mail:wardm2@tcd.ie
2010
PhD Research
A critical social analysis of Irish youth crime prevention with a special focus on the Garda Youth Diversion Projects
This study investigates how the broader Irish youth crime prevention agenda is reflected in the micro-politics of the Garda Youth Diversion Projects, focusing particularly on the implications for participating young people. In-depth interviews with stakeholders will be analysed through Critical Discourse Analysis within a post-structuralist theoretical framework.
Start date:October 2008
Contact person:Katharina Swirak
E-mail:kswirak@gmx.net
PhD Research
Where do I fit in here? Investigating children's experiences of transitions in early childhood care and education settings.
The aim of this research is to investigate the experiences of preschool children graduating to new classrooms in early childhood care and education settings. This research employs a quasi-experimental design to examine how child and environmental characteristics influence children's stress and adjustment patterns following moves to new classrooms.
Start date: September 2007
Contact person: Christine O’Farrelly
E-mail: christine.ofarrelly@ucd.ie
Phd Research
DEIS in the Dock: Can our lads get a good Leaving Cert?
The study examines policy and practice in one DEIS 1 Boys' primary school. Employing a case study method of the period 2000 – 2010 it assesses the efficacy of 'disadvantaged initiatives' and measures outcomes in order to explore what progress is being made towards increasing the number who achieve at Leaving Certificate level.
Start date: October 2009
Contact person: Mark Candon
Email: markcandon@larriers.ie
Phd Research
Sounds from within: exploring children's musical cultures in Ireland
This study will focus on an exploration of children's musical cultures in Ireland. Through ethnographic fieldwork, the research aims to reveal the contemporary musical culture of children. It aims to facilitate and incorporate the voices and thoughts of the children so that their views can be brought forward and presented in the context of the development of music education in Ireland.
Start date: October 1st 2010
Contact person: Michelle Finnerty
E-mail: m.finnerty@ucc.ie
2009
Phd Research
Diversity, Identity and Belonging: The critical role of the Home-School relationship in the inclusion of Migrant Children in Irish Primary Schools.
This qualitative study is concerned with the home-school relationship as it impacts on identity and belonging in the inclusion of migrant children in primary school settings. With the voices of the children, parents and teachers, key dimensions within the home-school relationship will be identified which impact on the well-being and everyday life of migrant children leading to improved policies and practices.
Start date: January 2009
Contact person: Frieda McGovern
E-mail: friedamcgovern@gmail.com
Phd Research
Feeling heard and validated: _Children and Adolescents Experiences of Self Harm and Suicidal Behaviour within the framework of their Life Stories
The purpose of this study is to illuminate the real life stories of children and adolescents who engage in self harming and suicidal behaviour using unstructured methods of narrative inquiry. The researcher proposes to establish an Advisory Group involving children who have presented for medical attention due to self harm and suicidal behaviour to guide the planning and development of the study.
Start date: October 2008
Contact person: Eilis Hayes
E-mail: eilishayes2004@yahoo.co.uk
Phd Research
The influence of the body in migrant and local boys' interactions within the masculine hierarchy of four inner city schools.
This research aims to understand the effect of embodiment through physical competence in sport and visible difference in skin colour in the facilitation or impediment of integration between boys of primary school age. This qualitative grounded research will analyze interviews from 150 children and 64hrs of observation gathered from 4 inner-city schools.
Start date: October 2007
Contact person: Lindsey Garratt
E-mail: garratlb@tcd.ie
2008
Phd Research
A Study of Social Inclusion and Children's Perspectives on the Organisation of their Learning in Irish Primary School
This mixed methodological study investigates practices at national and local level in relation to within-class ability grouping in Irish primary schools and the impact on children's learning identities. Of fundamental concern is children's own perspectives of such practices and how these mediate their academic self-image and patterns of interaction with their teachers and peers
Scholarship Awarded 2008
Contact person: Deirdre McGillicuddy
E-mail: deirdre.mcgillicuddy@ucdconnect.ie
Phd Research
Toward an understanding of the Information Seeking Behaviour and Knowledge Utilization of Social Workers
Concerns with regard to the limited assimilation of research findings and best practice by social workers are extensively documented. This two stage, mixed method study addresses the information seeking behaviour and knowledge utilization of Irish social workers, drawing on the principles of applied behaviour analysis. Such a functional analysis of the process of research and knowledge utilization by social workers will inform a model for utilization and dissemination in social work practice with children.
Scholarship Awarded 2008
Contact person:Niamh Flanagan
E-mail: niamh.flanagan@ucd.ie
Masters Research
Child first, sibling second: The experience of children with a chronically ill brother or sister
The aim of this research is to investigate, in a child-centred manner, the experience of children (aged eight to 17 years old) who have a brother/sister diagnosed with congenital heart disease, while also taking account of the family context. The research utilises an embedded qualitative design and both child and parent report are collected.
Scholarship Awarded 2008
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Ruth Davidson
E-mail:ruth.davidson@ucdconnect.ie
Masters Research
Teaching Autistic Children Through Interactive Communication; An Educational Design Solution
This project will focus on the design, investigation of crucial impacting factors and implementation of an adaptable interactive multimedia programme to educate low functioning autistic children in everyday social situations in relation to their localised setting. Control groups based in schools across Ireland will assess the benefits of this programme design.
Scholarship Awarded 2008
Contact person: Nicola Duffy
E-mail:Nicola.duffy@lyit.ie
2007
Phd Research
Why do young people wear condoms: an exploration of positive sexual health behaviours using participative methodologies to create a workable resource for schools.
Aim: to create a workable resource for sexual health promotion.
Using participative methodologies to examine why some young people wear condoms. With this knowledge working in out-of- school and school settings with young people and teachers to create an Irish resource for schools.
Scholarship Awarded 2007
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Siobhan O'Higgins
E-mail: siobhan.ohiggins@nuigalway.ie
Phd Research
Children and Contact in the Private Family Law Setting: An Examination of Domestic and International Law".
The principal aim of this project is to explore the most effective ways of ensuring contact for children with their parents following relationship breakdown through an analysis of Irish law, policy and practice in the light of Ireland's international obligations. A comparative study with England and Wales, as well as with Germany, forms the very core of this project.
Scholarship Awarded 2007
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Elaine O'Callaghan
Address: Faculty of Law,
University College Cork,
Cork.
E-mail: elaineocallaghan@hotmail.com
Masters Research
Fostering Resilience: A child centred evaluation of the Irish foster care system.
This research aims to explore the concept of 'resilience led practice'. The research will be child centered in order to develop a child centered approach to models of best practice in foster care where methods of enhancing a child's resilience will be promoted. A mixed method methodology will be utilized.
Scholarship Awarded 2007
Contact person: Danielle Coady
E-mail: daniellecoady@hotmail.com
2006
Phd Research
Mainstreaming of Deaf Education in Ireland: An International Comparative Study of Policy and Practice.
This project examines policy and practice of primary level deaf education in mainstream schools in Ireland. It will assess the legislative and practical aspects of deaf education through policy analysis, interviews with stakeholders, and case study observations. International best practice will also be assessed, using the United States and Sweden as case studies.
Scholdarship Awarded 2006.
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Elizabeth S. Mathews
E-mail: esmathews@yahoo.ie
Masters Research
Promoting Learning Strategies and Problem Solving Behaviours in Children with ICTs.
This research sets out to determine how ICTs can be used to promote intellectual development and problem solving behaviours in children and how children can develop technological fluency in order to acquire the skills of effectively using these tools. A course in MicroWorlds will be delivered to selected children in order to assess the benefits of this software.
Scholarship Awarded: 2006
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Ursula Hearne
E-mail: hearneu@tcd.ie
Phd Research
Qualitative Methods of Research with Children - An Exploration of the Researcher- Child Relationship.
This project aims to explore the researcher-child relationship from the researcher side of the equation. Researchers will be asked to reflect upon the extent to which the researcher's emotional literacy and self-awareness shapes the way in which they engage and work with children in the research context
Scholarship Awarded: 2006
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Carmel Smith
Address: Children's Research Centre
Trinity College
Dublin 2
E-mail: smithc4@tcd.ie
2005
Phd Research
Education, language and disadvantage: The Role of Drama in Education in the acquisition and development of pupils' language skills.
This action research project aims to investigate the role of a structured drama in education intervention in second class pupils' language use in a designated disadvantaged setting. The specific objective of this project is to extend and develop pupils' sensitivity to, awareness and language use in accordance with context, role and setting.
Scholarship Awarded: 2005
Contact person: Louise Heeran Flynn
E-mail: heeranl@tcd.ie
Phd Research
Who am I? Evaluating children's drawings and self-esteem scales as methodologies for accessing children's self-concept.
This study aims: to evaluate drawings (analysed for content) and standardised self-esteem scales as methods of accessing self-concept in children, 9-13 years; and to explore relationships between self-concept and self-esteem. A mixed methods approach will use children's drawings and comments about themselves in specific domains; scales (Harter, 1985; Marsh, 1988; Bracken, 1992); and follow-up qualitative methods.
Scholarship Awarded 2005
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Mimi Tatlow
E-mail: mimi.tatlow@ucd.ie
Phd Research
The Information Worlds of Ethnic Minority Adolescents in Ireland.
This project aims to discover ways in which the public library can develop meaningful services for ethnic minority adolescents and how it can more effectively co-ordinate with education and social services to facilitate the social integration and inclusion of these youths. This multiple case study uses both quantitative and qualitative instruments to study ethnic minority adolescents' information behaviour.
Scholarship Awarded 2005
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Jean Henefer
E-mail: jean.henefer@oceanfree.net
2004
Phd Research
Children and Citizenship in Ireland.
This study examines the influence of discourse on the development of policy in relation to children in Ireland, and the implications for children's status as young citizens. Documentary research methods were utilized to trace the underlying 'constructions' of childhood, which underpin legislation and policy and these were examined in relation to the four dimensions of citizenship, rights, responsibilities, identity and participation.
Scholarship Awarded 2004
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Karen Smith
E-mail: smythkm@hotmail.com
Phd Research
Children on Location – What Children Can Tell Us About Their Neighbourhood.
This research project aims to understand how children growing up in the social and built environment of a social housing neighbourhood in a contemporary Irish city "perceive, use and value their neighbourhood spaces. The research methodology will be qualitative and child centred using methods, materials and techniques, which place the child's experience at the core of the study.
Scholarship Awarded 2004
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Margaret Rogers
E-mail: rogersma@tcd.ie
Phd Research
Food, Fat and Family - Childhood Obesity in Ireland.
This research project explores the food-consumption and weight-monitoring practices of Irish primary-school children of different body weights. Qualitative methods (interviews, food diaries) were used to develop an in-depth understanding of the relationship between professional and lay approaches to eating practices and weight maintenance among families of a Dublin suburb.
Scholarship Awarded 2004
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Suzanne Harkins
E-mail: harkinss@tcd.ie
Phd Research
Place, Teenagers and Urban Identities - A New Social Geography of Young People in Cork.
This study explores how teenagers use spaces and give value and meaning to specific places in their communities and in the city, in order understand their patterns of recreation and query their senses of self and place in the world. The research will be undertaken against a background in which Irish society and cities are changing, and teenagers face ongoing challenges in negotiating their access to resources and sites in the city.
Scholarship Awarded: 2004
Contact person: Fiona Kelleher
E-mail: fionakelleher@hotmail.com
Masters Research
The Evaluation of a Teen Parent Support Programme.
This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a parenting support programme for teenage mothers and their children. The research utilizes a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures to assess changes in self-perception, maternal identity, parental stress, social support and the mother and child relationship during participation in the programme.
Scholarship Awarded 2004
Contact person: Eimear Mc Mahon
E-mail: eimear.mcmahon@ucd.ie
2003
Phd Research
Children and Young People's Experience of Hospitalisation.
This study explored children and young people's experience of hospitalisation in order to advance the goals of the National Children's Strategy.A case study approach with multiple data collection sources (informal chats, observations, drawing, writing, photographs) was employed. This study took place in a hospital setting with a general paediatric population.
Scholarship Awarded 2003
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Veronica Lambert
E-mail: lamberv@tcd.ie
Phd Research
Children's Experiences of Outdoor Play Within Early Childhood Education Settings In Urban Environments.
The project seeks to develop a conceptualisation of children's outdoor environments in early childhood education settings that 'work for' and are meaningful for children, their families, early childhood education staff and local communities. The voice of the young child is positioned alongside the voice of the adult in a joint collaborative experience of development, learning and socialisation outdoors.
Scholarship Awarded 2003
Contact person: Margaret Kernan
E-mail: kernan@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Phd Research
The Mobile Phone and Children in Contemporary Ireland.
This research is concerned with understanding the lives of young people through examining their use of the mobile phone. In particular ideas about family and peer relationships, consumption and leisure, and gender and self-identity will be explored. Both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (focus group interviews) will be employed within the target population of 12-18 year olds.
Scholarship Awarded 2003
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Morgan O'Brien
E-mail: morgan.p.obrien@may.ie
Masters Research
Understanding Children's Experiences of Bullying - A Child-Centred Project.
This study provides schools with an appropriate tool to measure bullying using a child-centred approach. Focus-groups were carried out among children in 5th and 6th class in primary, and 1st and 2nd year in post-primary education. The information gathered has been used to construct a questionnaire appropriate for use in all Irish schools, in the above classes.
Scholarship Awarded 2003
Contact person: Deirdre Sharkey
E-mail: sharkeydeirdre@hotmail.com
2002
Post Doctoral Research
Children's Experiences of GP Consultation:A Child-Centered Perspective.
The aim of this research is to explore the experiences of children during GP consultations and to understand
Scholarship Awarded 2002
Contact Person Dr Caroline Heary
Email: hearyc@tcd.ie
Phd Research
The Experiences of Separated Young People Seeking Asylum in Ireland.
The research examines the way in which separated young people live in interaction with two "worlds", or ways of life: the worlds, associated with their country of origin and the worlds associated with Ireland. This research is a qualitative ethnographic study in which the researcher is employing the methods of participant observation and in depth interviewing.
Scholarship Awarded 2002
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Muireann Ní Raghallaigh
E-mail: niraghm@tcd.ie
Phd Research
The Projection of the Self among Adolescents.
This research investigates the process by which Irish adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 arrive at a self-project which mediates a desirable identity. In-depth interviews and diary keeping methods are used to compile a coherent qualitative picture of the issues which motivate adolescents into a process of personal, physical and social self-definition and redefinition.
Scholarship Awarded: 2002
Research completed - Click here to view presentation of findings
Contact person: Majella McSharry
E-mail: majellamcsharry@hotmail.com
Phd Research
The Scope of Article 12 Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Extent to which it has been Implemented Under International Law.
This research involves a comparative and critical analysis of the ways in which a selected number of countries worldwide have implemented Article 12 (which guarantees the child the right to be heard in all matters affecting him/ her in accordance with his/ her age and maturity) of the CRC with a view to providing recommendations for reform.
Scholarship Awarded 2002
Research completed - Click here for presentation of findings
Contact person: Aisling Parkes
E-mail: aislingparkes@hotmail.com, aislingmparkes@eircom.net
2001
Masters Research
Children's Experiences of Break-time in a Primary School in Ireland.
Recent research indicates that break-times are under threat in that schools are reducing the amount of time allocated for break and restricting the types of activities permitted. This study was designed to address the challenge faced by school as they attempt to protect children from harm in the playground and provide positive play opportunities at break-time. Obtaining the views of teachers, gathering descriptive data on children's activities at break-time and exploring children's perceptions of their break-time experiences.
Scholarship Awarded 2001
Contact person: Paula Manners
Address: Children's Research Centre
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin 1
Telephone: 353 1608 2901
Phd Research
Acculturation, Adolescent Mental Health & Youth Suicide in Modern Ireland.
Marking a departure from previous investigations, this research specifically took a contextualized, culturally embedded approach to the issue of youth suicide. The research included the development of the measure Trinity Inventory of Precursors to Suicide (TIPS), (Smyth et al, 2004) to facilitate an examination of life circumstances and contextual factors which predisposed positive attitudes towards suicide.
Scholarship awarded: 2001
Contact person: Dr. Caroline Smyth
Address- RehabCare
24 Heather Grove
Ballybane
Galway
Telephone
