TCD Academic Chairs First All Ireland Children’s Research Network

Posted on: 11 January 2011

A new Children’s Research Network for Ireland and Northern Ireland will bring together professionals who produce or use research on children and families across the island of Ireland.  Chaired by Professor Catherine Comiskey, Director of Research at Trinity College Dublin’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, the Network aims to support a wide range of research, practice and policy professionals to better understand and improve the lives of children and young people.  The Children’s Research Network will be inclusive, independent, and non-profit and will provide opportunities for its members to share their work and learn from one another.

Speaking about the new initiative at the recent launch Professor Catherine Comiskey said: “We believe that this is a unique and innovative initiative that will bring together researchers who are working in the children’s field with practitioners providing services, and policy makers who want to use research evidence to make change for children.  The Network will focus on developing structures to encourage the sharing of information and to promote better working together across sectors and disciplinary boundaries.”

Professor Comiskey continued: “The Network is an important and much needed development because there is no existing group of its kind in either Ireland or Northern Ireland.  Existing networks are either more general or more specialised.  It is hoped the Network will create new spaces for substantive developments in the field by providing and maintaining a structure that allows a wide range of stakeholders to meet, network and learn together on a regular basis.  Membership is now open to anyone who has an interest in research to better understand and improve the lives of children and young people.”