Research Centres

Children's Research Centre

The Children's Research Centre serves as a multi-disciplinary university based centre, in the service of Irish children, particularly those who are disadvantaged, by contributing to higher standards in professional and research practice, scholarship and policy formation. To this end the Centre will harness the intellectual energy and international contacts of the university community and work in close collaboration with practitioners and policy makers.

The Centre was set up by Trinity College in 1995 as a joint initiative of the Department of Psychology and the Department of Social Studies and draws on the College's further expertise in the social, legal and health sciences. The Centre is committed to working in partnership with statutory, voluntary and community bodies concerned with children. It is also committed to forming partnerships with similar centres and bodies in other jurisdictions.

Social Policy and Ageing Research Centre

The Social Policy and Ageing Research Centre was established in 2005 with the view to analysing the social policy ramifications of population ageing in Ireland and in the comparative perspective. Fundamental to the Centre's work is the belief that research has a central role to play in making Ireland a better place to grow old in.

Social Policy Research Group

This group has an active research programme on contemporary social policy issues in Ireland. A central aspect of this research is the changing nature of the voluntary / community sector in Ireland and its implications for social policy. Recent funded research has included:

a detailed analysis of the voluntary sector in the mixed economy of welfare in Ireland
a study of local partnership in local authority housing refurbishment
a survey of the services and attitudes of members of a national voluntary organisation

The School also has work underway and completed in the area of housing and homelessness.