Sociology News 2018-2019

Dr Gracia will be leading the 5 year international project in Ireland which has received 3.4 million from the European Commission. The project will provide new scientific and policy tools to understand how digitalisation is affecting child well-being in contemporary societies.

Together with international colleagues, Dr Jan Skopek has published an annual review article on the role of early childhood education and care (ECEC) for social in equality of educational opportunity. By taking on a cross-national perspective and linking child development and intervention research with sociological social stratification perspectives, the article discusses ECEC as a policy strategy for equalization in early childhood.

Dr Pablo Gracia together with international colleagues, has published a new study at the Journal of Marriage and Family that examines how children’s and adolescent daily activities differ across national contexts. Using rich time-diary data from Finland, Spain and the UK, the study shows very strong variations in children’s daily routines across policy and cultural contexts.

Professor Daniel Faas and Dr Kat Chzhen have been awarded the 2019 Provosts PhD Awards. Faas will lead a research project on multi-Ethnic Communities and Religion How Accommodating are Irish Primary Schools?Chzhens project examines the links between exposure to poverty and children’s education, health and life satisfaction in Ireland, Scotland and Australia during the period before, during and after the latest global economic crisis. The awards fund PhD students for 4 years and will be advertised internationally in early 2020.

The article published at the Irish Times covers the results of Cadhla McDonnells new study on the well-being of fathers and mothers, using American time-diary data.

Dr Yekaterina Chzhen joins the Department from UNICEF Office of Research. Kat works on poverty across the life course focusing on material well-being, education, health and life satisfaction.

Professor Richard Layte, Department of Sociology chairs sessions at Social Isolation, Loneliness Health and Policies Conference at Trinity College Dublin. The event examined research on the relationship between social isolation, loneliness and health and the policy implications of this.

Professor Daniel Faas,together with Dr Rachel Fionda (UCD), has published a chapter on Ireland discussing the main research traditions that have emerged in Ireland over the past four decades. This literature synthesis and analysis is part of the second edition of a Palgrave Handbook.

On the 21st October 2019, Department of Sociology and TILDA with the Institute of Public Health will examine research on the relationship between social isolation, loneliness and health and the policy implications of this. The event will be chaired by Professor Richard Layte and Professor Anne Kenny.

Trinity sociologist Daniel Faas, with Per Mouritsen (Aarhus) and Nasar Meer (University of Edinburgh), has published the paper titled “Leitkultur Debates as Civic Integration in North-Western Europe”. It forms part of a special issue theorizing the civic turn in European integration policies.

The project ("Researching and Promoting Positive Adult and Child Mental Health and Wellbeing in Lone-Parent Families") is a collaboration be tween Sociology TCD and the NGO One Family. The project will combine cohort longitudinal data with an intervention study, using objective indicators of parent and child stress and mental well-being, to better understanding and promoting the well-being of single parents and their children.

Cadhla McDonnell, joins the Department of Sociology from Pennslyvania State University. As a post-doctoral researcher at Sociology TCD, Cadhla McDonnell will be working with Dr Gracia studying family form, well being & mental health.

The research led by Prof Layte,found that children from primary educated backgrounds were more likely to be overweight or obese at any age, compared with children whose mothers had a tertiary-level education.

The study led by Dr Gracia, reveals the impact of parental separation on children’s daily activities, emphasising the observed differences between girls and boys.

Daniel Faas, Associate Professor in Sociology, has secured funding from the Irish Research Council. The consortium, which includes researchers at Trinity, NUIG and QUB, will focus on "Examining European Cultural Identity through Interdisciplinary Methods."

The report authored by Richard Layte and Elizabeth Nixon, seeks to understand how the economic recession affected experiences of economic strain and stress within families and how this, in turn, was associated with parenting and the socio-emotional and behavioural adjustment of 3-year-olds.

The study led by Dr Gracia, reveals that Spanish children increase substantially their daily screen time and become less involved in educational activities when their mothers work evenings, but this only affects less-educated families.

Dr Jan Skopek, Department of Sociology and Work Package leader of the H2020 project ISOTIS, and Dr Giampiero Passaretta (post-doctoral researcher in ISOTIS), have published a comprehensive edited report on roots and development of social and migration-related educational inequality.

Is trust in political institutions declining? How much does media bias affect electoral outcomes? And how can we re-establish trust where it has been lost? These are just some of the questions explored by economics, philosophy, political science and sociology academics.

The striking findings of a study published on Scientific Reports by researchers of the Lifepath project reveals that socioeconomic disadvantage may trigger chronic inflammation, leading to health inequalities.

Professor Anne Holohan, Sociology Department PI of Gaming for Peace, hosts 2 day international conference which launched a new 2-D role playing to train police, military and civilian peacekeepers in conflict zones

The Department of Sociology is delighted to announce the publication of Dr Niall Gilmartin’s book which examines the conflict transition experiences of women within the Provisional republican movement.’,

GAP offers Conflict Prevention and Peace Building personnel a digital role playing game to improve their peacekeeping relevant soft skills. The conference takes place on Jan 10–11, 2019. GAP´s Principal Investigator Anne Holohan is Associate Professor in Sociology at Trinity College Dublin.

Did the Great Recession in Ireland Harm Children’s Mental Health? Prof.Layte Publishes a Paper in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Layte, R. and McCrory, C. (2018) Fiscal Crises and Personal Troubles: The Great Recession in Ireland and Family Processes, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 53(9), pp987-1001.