Dr. Vivian Rath

Research Fellow, Education

Biography

Vivian Rath is a Research Fellow at the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities (TCPID) within the School of Education at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Vivian holds a PhD from Trinity College Dublin, a Masters in Management and a BSc in Pharmacology from University College Dublin. He has a background and expertise in student leadership, success and in creating inclusive environments where everyone has the opportunity to belong. He is an award winning human rights champion, a TCD Disability Leader, and Chair and founder of the TCD Disabled Staff & Postgraduate representative group.

Vivian believes in research for impact and works with stakeholders to bring about change in communities. Following on from his PhD on the Social Engagement Experiences of Disabled Students in Higher Education in Ireland, he went on to establish two disabled persons organisations (DPO). The Trinity College Dublin Forum for Disabled Staff and Postgraduate Students and the National Disabled Postgraduate Advisory Committee. This work has led him to collaborate with disabled people and AHEAD to secure HEA funding for a three-year national project, LaunchPAD, focusing on the under-representation of disabled people at postgraduate level. Previous to working in TCD, he worked in University College Dublin in the Office of the Vice President where he coordinated the undergraduate orientation programme among other student experience projects.

Following a competitive appointment process, he was appointed by the Minister to the Board of the National Disability Authority, and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Disability Advisory Committee. An award-winning equality and civil rights advocate he has spoken in the EU Parliment.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Rath, V., McCarthy, P., Loughrey, D., Sharp, M., Smyth, F. & Kift, S., Shifting Sands: Disability and Reasonable Accommodation in the Covid/Post Covid Higher Education Environment, Trinity College Dublin Forum for Disabled Staff and Postgraduate Students, 2022, p1 - 16Report, 2022, TARA - Full Text
Rath, Vivian and McCarthy, Patricia, Ableism in Academia in Ireland: Experiences of Disabled Academics & Recommedations for the Future, Trinity College Dublin Forum for Disabled Staff & Postgraduate Sttudents, 2021, p1 - 23Report, 2021, TARA - Full Text
Creating Inclusive University Experiences: A Bio-Ecological Perspective in, editor(s)C. Rogers-Shaw, T. Williams Park, K. Mohney, & K. Sheward , Fostering a Community of Success for Neurodivergent Collegiate Students, Hershey, PA, IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 2025, pp151 - 186, [Aoife Mary Lynam, Conor McGuckin, Jennifer M. Banks, Marie Devitt, Michael Shevlin, Des Aston, Barbara Ringwood, Emer Murphy, Sadbh Feehan, Owen Barden, Vivian Rath, John Kubiak, Angela Mazzocco, Jill Woodnutt]Book Chapter, 2025, URL

2024/5 Project Title: Student Success and Belonging: Exploring the Experiences of TCPID Graduates with Intellectual Disabilities in Higher Education

Summary
This research aims to engage with graduates with intellectual disabilities of the Certificate in Arts, Science and Inclusive Applied Practice, TCPID, to explore their experiences of engaging in higher education in order to develop an understanding of what student success and belonging means to them. The research will utilise inclusive methodologies to understand graduates with IDs experiences of success and belonging whilst in HE, and how understandings of these concepts might be used to enrich and inform the HE environment for students with ID. Funding Agency Trinity College Dublin Principal Investigator.

2024/5 Project Title: Disability, Diversity and Identity in Irelands Local and EU Elections in 2024

https://nda.ie/publications/disability-diversity-and-identity-in-irelands-local-and-european-elections-2024

Funder: National Disability Authority Research Promotion Scheme

This research sought to explore the experiences of disabled candidates who identified as holding intersecting identities and who stood in the Irish local and European elections in 2024. It was conducted by researchers in University of Galway and Trinity College Dublin.

Co-Principal Investigator

Collaboration between TCD and the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, University of Galway, Dr Eilinoir Flynn and Dr Aoife Price

2024/5 Project Title: LaunchPAD - Ongoing

LaunchPAD is a three-year project collaboration between AHEAD and the National Disabled Postgraduate Advisory Committee of which I am founder and Chair. The aim is to create a community and increase representation of disabled people at postgraduate level in higher education in Ireland. A key element of the project is to, over the three years of the project, to undertake a policy mapping exercise of the policy landscape relating to disabled postgraduate education, to hear the voice of the community and produce a set of recommendations to increase the representation of disabled people at postgraduate level. Funding Agency Higher Education Authority AHEAD / National Disabled Postgraduate Advisory Committee Chair of NDPAC / Research Officer AHEAD

2022/23 Project Title: Reasonable Accommodations on Professional Placement Project
AHEAD
https://www.ahead.ie/rapp-project

Summary

The Reasonable Accommodation and Professional Placement (RAPP) project is a joint research project between AHEAD and DAWN and supported by the HEA. The research project outputs were released in December 2022. Funding Agency Higher Education Authority AHEAD Research Officer

Disability Studies, People with disability, Special education and disability,