Our Research
The Department of Sociology maintains an active programme of policy-relevant and theory- and method-pluralistic research in relation to Ireland and in collaboration with international partners. The department specialises in migration, conflict and social movements, employment and work in Europe and digital lives, social networks and popular culture. These themes link to Trinity College's key area of 'European and International Integration'.
Migration
The Department of Sociology is an internationally known hub of research on migration and staff members are currently involved in various research projects on migration to Ireland and Europe. This includes the NORFACE funded 'SCIP - Causes and Consequences of Early Socio-Cultural Integration Processes among New Immigrants in Europe' project in collaboration with partners in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK (Dr Peter Mühlau and Dr Francis McGinnity, ESRI); the 'LAB-MIG-GOV - Labour Migration Governance in Contemporary Europe' project supported by the 'Europe and Global Challenges' programme (Dr Camilla Devitt); and the IRC funded 'Learning from Poland - The implications of Polish migration to Ireland for contemporary Irish emigration' project (Prof James Wickham).
Two department staff were founding members of the Trinity Immigration Initiative which funded three research projects: 'Migrant Careers and Aspirations' (Prof James Wickham), 'Migrant Networks Facilitating Migrant Integration' (Dr Ronit Lentin) and 'Parallel Societies or Overlapping Identities' (Dr Peter Mühlau).
Past projects include 'Polonia in Dublin' funded by IRCHSS (Dr Peter Mühlau), and 'CiviTurn: Civic Integration in Northwest European Migration Societies', funded by the Aarhus University Faculty of Social Sciences Globalisation Initiative (Dr Daniel Faas). In relation to education and its links to migration, the Department was a member of 'The Europeanization of Intercultural Education: Politics, Policymaking and Challenges' project funded by the Research Promotion Foundation of Cyprus and the European Regional Development Fund (Dr Daniel Faas).
One third of our doctoral students are currently researching different aspects of migration, and the teaching programme offered by the department include a range of modules in migration and related fields.
Staff:
- Dr Daniel Faas
- Dr Camilla Devitt
- Dr Ronit Lentin
- Dr Elaine Moriarty
- Dr Peter Mühlau
- Dr Antje Röder
- Prof James Wickham
Conflict and Social Movements
Together with colleagues from Law, the Irish School of Ecumenics and History, Sociology staff are founder members of the Centre for Post-Conflict Justice. The Centre links to longstanding research by department staff: Dr Ronit Lentin and Dr David Landy on Israel/Palestine, Dr Andrew Finlay on the Good Friday Agreement and other consociational models, and Dr Anne Holohan's on Kosovo. Dr David Landy focuses on solidarity and distant issue social movements, while Dr Ronit Lentin and Dr Andrew Finlay research state formation in conflict and post conflict situations. Several doctoral students are researching in this area, and this research theme is strongly integrated into the MPhil in Race, Ethnicity, Conflict offered by the department.
Staff:
Back to topEmployment and Work in Europe
The department conducts policy-relevant research and contributes to international understandings of Irish and European social change in relation to employment, business organisation and labour markets. The Employment Research Centre directed by Prof James Wickham, has hosted a wide range of projects within Ireland and Europe, with current research focusing on the relationship between employment and mobility, including the 'Cars, debts, and public transport: urban mobility in the crisis' project, which investigates whether economic collapse has created new forms of social exclusion through case studies of different housing areas.
Staff:
Digital Lives, Social Networks and Popular Culture
Dr Barbara Bradby researches popular music and society. Recent projects have encompassed digital ethnography of Peruvian communities' musical presence on the Web; an interactionist approach to live concerts; and ongoing writing on women, gender and popular music. Dr Anne Holohan researches networks, both from an organizational perspective and in digital form. She has used ethnography to investigate the workings of the network organizational form in post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction in Kosovo. Her forthcoming book looks at the achievement of online collaboration through competition, with a specific focus on Distributed Computing projects.