Grattan Research Internship Programme

About the Programme

This Programme will offer undergraduate students the opportunity to work as paid Research Assistants alongside College faculty on Departmental projects over the summer. The Programme has been made available through the generosity of School and Departmental donors with the assistance of Trinity Development & Alumni.

Each Department will designate one or two projects and appoint one or two interns. The projects will be coordinated at Department level by a designated project coordinator (or coordinators). The internship(s) will be available to undergraduate students entering their Senior Sophister year. The intern(s) will be expected to work 30 hours per week over a six-week period (for one intern) or a three-week period (for two interns). The intern(s) will receive a paid stipend of €500/week. 

Available Projects for the Department of Sociology

1. Contentious Politics and Asylum Accommodation in Ireland

Project Coordinator: Dr Larissa Meier

Email address: MEIERL@tcd.ie

Protests related to international protection seekers and migrants in the Republic of Ireland have become increasingly frequent in recent years. While many protests seek to prevent the establishment of asylum accommodation, local communities have also mobilised to welcome refugees or to counter anti-asylum protests. This project investigates the contentious dynamics surrounding asylum accommodation in Ireland. 

The research focuses on three main questions: 

• Actor constellations: Who initiates protests? What roles do existing far-right groups and political parties play? Are institutional actors involved, and if so, in what capacity? Is there evidence of counter-mobilisation? 

• Tactics and frames: What strategies and frames do different actors employ to advance their positions? 

• Protest outcomes: How effective are these protests in achieving their goals? How do they shape local forms of exclusion and belonging? 

During the internship, the successful candidate will support three interrelated tasks: 

• Identification of protest episodes using Ireland's major newspapers. 

• Coding of protest events within each episode, based on collected materials and a detailed codebook provided by the project. 

• Collection of supplementary data on identified episodes, including local newspaper reports, press statements, social media content, and protest materials such as leaflets. 

Preference will be given to candidates with prior experience in qualitative coding or qualitative data analysis. 

2. Black and Irish-Born: Race and Migration in the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World

Project Coordinator: Dr Phil Mullen

Email address: MPMULLEN@tcd.ie 

This project examines people born in Ireland who were identified as Black and later emigrated to the United States from the mid-nineteenth century onward. It draws on US census records that identify individuals as both 'Black and Irish-born', and links named individuals across different census years to examine how racial classification was recorded and changed over time. 

The internship will involve helping to trace individuals across historical records, including: 

• Census returns (US and Irish) 

• Civil registration records 

• Parish registers 

• Shipping manifests

The aim is to build documented life histories that illuminate the intersection of race, migration, and identity in the nineteenth-century Atlantic world. 

An interest in family history or genealogical research would be an advantage. 

How to Apply

Interested students should submit an application including: 

• A 500-word statement of academic background, research interests, and relevant skills, indicating which project they are applying for and why. 

• A current academic transcript (or permission for the project coordinator to access their academic record). 

Applications should be emailed to the project coordinator with the subject line ‘Grattan Research Internship application’. The deadline for applications is Monday April 13 at 17:00. Successful applicants will be shortlisted for interview. Informal enquiries may be made to project coordinators for additional details.