Congratulations to Dr Rachel Hoare, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, and Director of the Trinity Centre for Forced Migration Studies, on securing funding for four PhD scholarships for her project entitled: ‘Refugee-Thrive: Building trauma-informed refugee resilience to strengthen inclusive societies’. The funding is awarded by the 2025-26 Trinity Research Doctorate Award Group Based Projects scheme.

Dr Hoare said: "I am delighted that Trinity College, as a University of Sanctuary, has recognised the critical importance of this work through funding these four PhD scholarships. This support will enable us to develop much-needed research that centres refugee voices and experiences while identifying meaningful approaches to resilience. What makes this project particularly exciting is its interdisciplinary approach which brings together experts from across Trinity alongside refugees as true research partners to address the complex challenges faced by refugees in Ireland. Our goal isn't just to produce academic knowledge, but to create tangible tools and recommendations that can transform how we approach refugee integration. By working directly with refugee communities, we hope to challenge problem-focused narratives and showcase the tremendous strength, resilience, and contributions refugees bring to Irish society."

Dr Hoare is leading a team of seven colleagues from the following Schools for this interdisciplinary initiative:

  • English
  • Law
  • Linguistics, Speech and Communication Studies
  • Medicine
  • Nursing and Midwifery
  • Religion, Theology and Peace Studies
  • Social Sciences and Philosophy

Through this multi- and inter-disciplinary approach, Refugee-Thrive aims to transform refugee integration across four key projects:

  1. Examining how refugee children from different backgrounds build resilience in Irish schools, comparing the experiences of Ukrainian children arriving under EU temporary protection with those from other refugee backgrounds.
  2. Investigating how refugees contribute to peacebuilding by overcoming systemic barriers to challenge populist narratives and foster social cohesion.
  3. Exploring how trauma-informed informal language learning and story-telling practices can build resilience in both refugee and host communities, developing multilingual resources for inclusive community building.
  4. Reimagining Ireland's international protection framework through an ethical-legal lens, working with refugees to redefine concepts of harm and recognise their roles as resilient contributors to society.

The research identifies and strengthens multiple pathways to refugee resilience through education, peace building, community engagement and legal frameworks. It aims to build more inclusive societies that support refugee agency while fostering meaningful social connections, providing practical solutions for policymakers and communities working to support sustainable refugee integration.

This research directly advances multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals by promoting quality education (SDG4), gender equality (SDG5), reduced inequalities (SDG10), and peaceful societies (SDG16). The programme ensures social impact by actively involving refugee communities throughout the research process, from design to dissemination. Outputs will include academic publications, evidence-based policy recommendations across education, health, housing and justice sectors, media engagement, multilingual resources, community workshops and a major conference uniting refugee communities, policymakers and service providers.

The Trinity Centre for Forced Migration Studies, set up by Dr Hoare, aims to foster inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary research, and develop teaching and training in relation to forced migration. The Centre bridges scholarship, teaching, policy and practice through the development of a collaborative community of researchers, practitioners, and experts by experience, in order to seek funding opportunities, develop teaching and training modules and programmes, disseminate research findings and promote networking initiatives.

Image of Dr Rachel Hoare TCD

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