Sociology News 2014-2015

Prof Layte was one of five Trinity researchers to showcase their work at a special event in Boston titled Fusion. The Provost and Minister for Education and Skills were joined by Trinity’s collaborators in research, industry, education and alumni at the event.

The Department of Sociology is delighted to extend its congratulations to Mariam Ahmad (Sociology and Social Policy), Patrick Lavelle (PPES) and Matt Murtagh-White (PPES) who were announced as new Scholars of Trinity College. They were among the 67 Scholars announced by the Provost on Trinity Monday, 13 April.

The Department of Sociology is pleased to welcome a new book by Dr David Ralph from Palgrave on the lives of Euro-commuters. In it, Dr Ralph examines the day-to-day reality Euro-commuters face living between two EU countries and looks at the impact this mobility has on left behind family members. The book was launched by Dr Caitríona Ni Laoire (UCC) and Dr Mary Gilmartin (NUIM).

David Cichon, a first year Sociology PhD student, wins first Dean of Research Award at the Postgraduate Student Showcase. David’s research examines labour activism and trade union organising in the global garment industry. In particular, he is interested in the recent wave of minimum wage campaigning across Cambodian garment factories.

On 12 February 2015, the IRC funded New Irish Families project (Principal Investigator: Antje Röder) hosted a workshop on ‘Quantitative Data in Irish Migration Research’ attended by several speakers and over 30 attendees. Panels focused on opportunities as well as challenges encountered in using existing data sources and new approaches for collecting survey data, as well as discussing ways forward in Irish migration research.

On 25 February 2015, the ESRI and the Department of Sociology (Prof Richard Layte) together with Maynooth University will host a conference on mortality patterns in Ireland over time and place. The event will be opened by the Minister for Health, Dr Leo Varadkar T.D. The keynote speaker is Professor Johan Mackenbach, University Medical Centre Rotterdam.

The ‘Maternal Health Behaviours and Child Growth In Infancy’ report, co-authored by Prof Richard Layte from the Department of Sociology, provides evidence of the profound influence of early life environment on children’s subsequent health and identifies implications for policy-makers. The study was launched by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr James Reilly.

An interdisciplinary team including researchers from the Department of Sociology (Prof. Richard Layte) and the TILDA Study (Dr Ann Hever) have been awarded € 6 million from the European Commission for the LIFEPATH project. The study aims to understand the determinants of diverging ageing pathways among individuals belonging to different socioeconomic groups.

The Department of Sociology hosted a book launch in collaboration with the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies at Trinity College Dublin. Gender Roles in Ireland: Three Decades of Attitude Change by Dr Margret Fine-Davis documents changing attitudes toward the role of women in Ireland from 1975 to 2005, and was introduced by former Fine Gael TD Monica Barnes.

The Department of Sociology will host a discussion between US author Jane McAlevey about her book Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell) and Siobhan O'Donoghue, Director of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland. The symposium will take place on Monday 17th November 2014 at 7pm in the Thomas Davis Theatre at Trinity College Dublin.

Professors Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett gave a successful public lecture on 'Why Income Inequality Damages Us All: The causal processes' in the TCD/UCD Sociology Public Lecture Series on 11 November 2014. The talk focused on evidence that larger income differences between rich and poor are major causes of the social damage associated with them.

Dr Camilla Devitt is TCD partner in the Paradox of Health State Futures (HEALTHDOX) project which involves a team of scholars from seven European universities. It aims to explore future trajectories of European health politics and policies through an investigation of the impact of recent health reforms on health inequalities, health expenditures, and public attitudes towards both the health system and the welfare state.

Dr Antje Roeder, Department of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin, will give a public lecture on ‘Ten years of Polish post-accession migration to Ireland’, organised by Forum Polonia. The event takes place on Thursday 30 October at 6:30pm in the Long Room Hub at Trinity College Dublin, and is part of a series of events organised to celebrate ten years since Polish EU accession.