TRiCC Academic Researchers

Department of Economics, School of Social Sciences and Philosophy

• Gaia NarcisoAssociate Professor Research Interests: Development economics, migration, political economy, trade. TRiCC Management Board Member
• Carol NewmanProfessor Research Interests: Development Economics, Agricultural Economics, Applied Microeconometrics, Household/Individual Behaviour, Firm Behaviour

School of Education

Research undertaken by staff in the School of Education demonstrates a great diversity of scholarship with impact on policy and practice locally, nationally and internationally. This is illustrated by our current ranking of 88th in the QS world rankings for education. Staff at the School of Education conduct high quality research with children and young people on their learning, wellbeing and lived experiences. We have a track record of leading and participating in national and international research with projects funded by the EU, the IRC, the NCSE, the NCCA, the DES and DCYA among others.

The work of staff associated with TRiCC spans the formal and informal education sectors from early years to higher education and investigates a range of topics and curricular areas including the arts, languages and STEM education, inclusion, bullying and ICT in education. We work with children, parents, teachers, principals and policy-makers in order to have a positive impact on the educational experiences of children and young people in Ireland and beyond.

• Ann DevittAssistant Professor Research Interests: Language teaching and learning; computational, corpus and network science methods to explore computational and cognitive models of language processing and learning. TRiCC Management Board Member
• Nóirín HayesVisiting Professor Nóirín Hayes is Visiting Professor at the School of Education and Professor Emerita, Centre for Social and Educational Research, Dublin Institute of Technology. Working within a bio-ecological framework of development and through a child rights lens she researches in early childhood education and care (ECEC) with a particular focus on early learning, curriculum and pedagogy and ECEC policy.
• Keith JohnstonAssistant Professor Research Interests: Computer Education/Literacy; Teacher Education
• Marita KerinAssistant Professor Research Interests: Creative music education, innovation in learning, performance practice
• Andrew LoxleyAssociate Professor Research Interests: Social inclusion and exclusion; education and social policy with a current interest in higher education; all things methodological but with an emphasis on image based approaches and semiotics.
• Conor McGuckinAssistant Professor Research Interests: Educational policy and processes, educational psychology, bully/victim problems among children and adults, special educational needs, and the scientific study of religiosity.
• Stephen MintonAssistant Professor Research Interests: Social psychology of aggression; the social psychology of processes of inclusion and exclusion in education and society, especially regarding so-called ’minorities’; psychological approaches in education
• Colette MurphyAssociate Professor Research Interests: The life and work of Lev Semenovich Vygotsky: the Mozart of psychology, Sociocultural issues in science education, co-teaching and co-generative dialogue in science learning and teaching . Children’s rights-based research methodologies
• Noel Ó MurchadhaAssistant Professor Research Interests: Applied Linguistics; Celtic Linguistics; Folk Linguistics; Sociolinguistics; Sociology of Language
• Carmel O’SullivanAssociate Professor Research Interests: Early childhood education; Social Drama with children with autism spectrum disorder; arts education
• Erika PiazzoliAssistant Professor Research Interests: Aesthetics; Arts Education; classroom second language learning/acquisition ; Drama and theatre in education; Educational Psychology; Neuroscience; Teacher Education

School of English

• Jane Suzanne CarrollUssher Assistant Professor Research Interests: Children’s literature and role of landscape and place in fiction. TRiCC Management Board Member
• Pádraic WhyteAssociate Professor in Children’s Literature Research Interests: Representations of childhood and youth in Irish writing for adults and children; the National Collection of Children’s Books; gender and sexuality; queer children’s literature; New York City and children’s literature; theatre and film for children.

School of Law

• Patricia BrazilAveril Deverell Assistant Professor Research Interests: Family and child law, domestic immigration and asylum law and criminal law. TRiCC Management Board Member

School of Linguistics, Speech and Communication Sciences

• Francesca La MorgiaAssistant Professor, Clinical Speech & Language Studies Research Interests: Child language development; child bilingualism; experimental psycholinguistics
• Yvonne LynchAssistant Professor, Clinical Speech & Language Studies Research Project: Identifying Appropriate Symbol Communication Aids for children who are non-speaking: enhancing clinical decision making.
  TRiCC Management Board Member
• Sarah SheridanAssistant Professor, Centre for Language & Communication Studies Research Interests: Deaf Studies; Intercultural Studies; Irish Sign Language; Second language acquisition; sign language interpreting; Signed language teaching and learning; Sociolinguistics.
• Martine SmithAssociate Professor, Clinical Speech & Language Studies Research Interests: Deaf Studies; Intercultural Studies; Irish Sign Language; Second language acquisition; sign language interpreting; Signed language teaching and learning; Sociolinguistics.

School of Medicine

• Louise GallagherProfessor Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Research Interests: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); Autism; Child Mental Health; Genetics of Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Catherine HayesAssociate Professor/Specialist in Public Health, Public Health & Primary Care Research Interests: Development and implementation of interventions based on epidemiological research to address risk factors in the prevention of chronic diseases such as obesity, nutrition and smoking across the life course and transferring this to practice via the emerging discipline of implementation science
• Elizabeth (Eleisa) HeronAssistant Professor Research Interests: Bayesian Inference; Bioinformatics; Biostatistical methods; Genetics; Mathematical modelling; Statistics
• Cathal McCrorySenior Research Fellow, Centre For Medical Gerontology Research Interests: The processes, pathways and mechanisms through which socially mediated variations in risk exposures come to influence health and mortality across the life-course
• Professor Eleanor MolloyProfessor of Paediatrics & Child Health and Co-Director of TRiCC Research Interests: Perinatal and early neonatal inflammatory responses in health and disease
• Lina ZgagaAssociate Professor, Public Health & Primary Care Research Interests: 25-Dihydroxyvitamin-D; 25-Hydroxyvitamin-D Concentrations; Cancer Susceptibility Gene; Colorectal Cancer; Cortisol; Psychological Stress; Survival Analysis; Vitamin D; Vitamin-D Deficiency; Vitamin-D Status; Vitamin-D Supplementation

School of Nursing and Midwifery

The School of Nursing and Midwifery in Trinity College opened in 1996 and has established itself as a leading force in national and international healthcare research. It is now ranked first in Ireland and 36th in the QS WU rankings by subject. As part of one of the world's leading research-intensive universities, researchers have an established track record in successful bids for large-scale research from national and international agencies – including the HRB and EU.

Staff at the School of Nursing and Midwifery support high quality research with children on their health, wellbeing and lived experiences. Staff associated with TRiCC apply their expertise using quantitative, qualitative and participatory research methodologies to investigate a wide range of topics such as shared decision-making, psychosocial care for childhood cancer, mental health service provision, transition to adult health services, healthy schools evaluation, needs of children of drug users, sexual health in adolescence, public health nursing and parenting support, palliative care services for children, medication adherence, chronic illness management, and management of children with complex care needs at the acute/community interface.

• Professor Imelda CoyneProfessor of Children’s Nursing and Director of TRiCC Research Interests: Child participation rights, shared decision-making, child and family centred care, technological interventions for chronic illness management and transition from child to adult services.
• Thelma BegleyAssistant Professor / Head of Children’s Nursing Research Interests: Health and wellbeing of children and adolescents, adolescent health promotion; sexuality and sexual health
• Catherine ComiskeyProfessor Research Interests: Implementation, modelling of treatment and intervention outcomes with a special interest in substance misuse, infectious diseases and children.
• Louise DoyleAssociate Professor Research Interests: Adolescent help-seeking behaviour; mental health ; mental health interventions; mental health care; self-harm; suicide and suicidal behaviour
• Sinead HanafinVisiting Research Fellow Research Interests: Qualitative and quantitative methods, child and family health, children’s wellbeing, community nursing and primary health care service delivery.
• Eleanor HollywoodAssistant Professor/Head of Children’s Nursing Research Interests: The family, obesity, childhood well-being, research with children, neonatal nursing, children’s rights and nursing education.
• Mary HughesAssociate Professor Research Interests: Health and wellbeing in chronic illness; adolescent health, asthma and chronic childhood illness.
• Helen MaloneResearch Assistant Professor Research Interests: 22q11 deletion syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis, Health care shared decision making for children and young adults, Transition to adulthood health services. Information needs of families caring for children with complex conditions.

School of Psychology

The School of Psychology has long supported high quality, original research with children on their development and lived experiences. In 1995, along with the School of Social Work and Social Policy, it supported the establishment of the Children’s Research Centre, the predecessor of TRiCC, under the directorship of Psychology Professor Sheila Greene.

Today, staff at the School of Psychology associated with TRiCC apply their expertise using quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to investigate a wide range of topics such as early first language acquisition, child and adolescent health and wellbeing, peer relationships, the family as a context for children's development, clinical anxiety and physiological reactivity in children with Autism Spectrum Conditions, and the impact of early life experience on brain function, behaviour, and long-term mental health outcomes.

• Maeve BrackenAssistant Professor/Course Director Research Interests: Autism; Behavior Modification; Behavioral/Experimental Psychology; Behaviour; Child centred research questions, study design, data analysis; Children, health and disability; Educational disadvantage in children; Special Education
• Ruth ByrneProfessor of Cognitive Science Research Interests: Cognitive science of human thinking, including experimental and computational investigations of reasoning and imaginative thought.
• Rhodri CusackThomas Mitchell Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience Research Interests: Brain development of infants in their first year, perinatal brain injury, neuroimaging methods
• Olive HealyAssistant Professor in ABA Research Interests: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Developmental Disabilities, Inclusion.
• Clare KellyUssher Assistant Professor Research Interests: Brain function, cognition, and behaviour in typical and atypical development; neurocognitive correlates of mental health across development.
• Mark MorganProfessor Emeritus, Visiting Professor, Psychology Research Interests: Motivation, literacy, evaluation of prevention programmes, and educational disadvantage
• Fiona NewellProfessor of Experimental Psychology Research Interests: Multisensory perception; Synaesthesia; Object recognition; Scene recognition; Face perception and facial attractiveness; Perception in visual impaired individuals; Dynamic object recognition; Visual, haptic and auditory perception; Perception of crowds; Perception of emotion; Ageing and multisensory perception.
• Elizabeth NixonAssistant Professor Research Interests: Parenting and family as a context for children’s development.
• Redmond O’ConnellAssociate Professor in Social Neuroscience Research Interests: Ageing, memory and other cognitive processes; Neurophysiology; Neuropsychology; Vision
• Jean QuigleyAssistant Professor Research Interests: Language development, with particular reference to early first language acquisition and to neurodevelopmental disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorders.
• Lorraine SwordsAssistant Professor Research Interests: Child health and well-being, peer interactions in the context of physical or mental health conditions in childhood and adolescence, help-seeking, help-giving and stigmatising responses. TRiCC Management Board Member
• Charlotte WilsonAssistant Professor in Clinical Psychology Research Interests: Adolescent Psychology; Aetiology of mental illness; Allied Health Education; Anxiety; At-Risk Children/Youth; Behavioral/Experimental Psychology; Child and Adolescent Mental Health; Child Psychology/Development; Childhood and mental health; Children’s worry; Clinical Psychology; etc.

School of Social Work and Social Policy

The School of Social Work and Social Policy has long supported high quality, original research with children, including the policies and professional practices designed to improve their lives. In 1995, along with the School of Psychology, it supported the establishment of the Children's Research Centre, the predecessor of TRiCC.

Today, staff at the School of Social Work and Social Policy associated with TRiCC are involved in number of innovative research projects, including the study of the impact of early adversity on later health and social circumstances, and the identification of resilience factors, so as to better inform early interventions. Work on specific social issues such as young people leaving state care, the impact of domestic violence, and youth homeless sit alongside studies seeking to better understand childrens lived experience in the context of interfamilial and intergenerational relationships.

• Eavan BradyAssistant Professor, Social Studies Research Interests: Children and young people in care, care leavers, educational disadvantage, child welfare, biographical and life history methodologies, the life course perspective, research utilisation in social work practice
• Catherine ConlonAssistant Professor, Social Studies Research Interests: Women’s fertile bodies; socio-cultural surveillance of women’s sexual and reproductive bodies and intergenerational relations
• Robbie GilliganProfessor, Social Studies Research Interests: Children and young people in challenging circumstances or with challenged status (public care, migration, ethnic diversity, disability, refugees etc); Sources of resilience and support; Experiences of key transitions and turning points; Children and youth policy issues in international development
• Stephanie HoltAssociate Professor, Social Studies Research Interests: Child welfare and domestic violence, the impact on exposure to domestic abuse on children; the impact of domestic abuse on fathering and mothering; post separation contact; intimate partner homicide.
• Paula MayockAssistant Professor in Youth Research, Social Studies Research Interests: Biographical and qualitative longitudinal research methods; lives and experiences of marginalised youth, including homelessness, drug use and drug problems, sexuality, risk behaviour, and mental health
• Professor Trevor SprattAIB Professor in Childhood Research and Director of TRiCC Research Interests: Social work practice with children and families, including, decision making by professionals, how policy objectives are translated into professional practises, the development of child protection systems internationally, and the impact of early adversities in childhood as realised across the life-course
• Virpi TimonenProfessor, Social Work & Social Policy Research Interests: Intergenerational solidarity, experiences of and roles in old age, policy pertaining to older adults; life course and intergenerational family relations

Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences and Philosophy

• Pablo GraciaAssistant Professor of Sociology Research Interests: Parenting values and practices; child development; children’s and adolescents’ aspirations and expectations; social stratification; family life; work-family balance; time use, cross-national research
• Richard LayteProfessor of Sociology Research Interests: The processes which influence the distribution of health and well-being in societies and how these are shaped by political economy and the structure and functioning of health care systems. TRiCC Management Board Member
• Giampiero PassarettaPostdoctoral Research Fellow Research Interests: Education inequalities, labour market inequalities, comparative sociology, life-course research, quantitative methods of data analysis
• Jan SkopekAssistant Professor of Sociology Research Interests: Family and social stratification, sociology of child development, social demography, life course research, cross-national comparison, and quantitative methodology

TRiCC Collaborators and Associates

• Professor Cecily L Betz, USA Collaborating with Professor Imelda Coyne on the development of a textbook
• Mairéad FinnPhD, Trinity International Development Institute (TIDI) Coordinator Research Interests: Migration, integration, social policy, qualitative research methodologies. Cooperating with Professors Trevor Spratt and Carol Newman on the project "Challenges facing girls with disabilities in West Africa"
• Professor Inger Kristensson Hallström, Sweden Collaborating with Professor Imelda Coyne on the project, "How is the child’s best interest expressed during their stay in hospital?"
• Dr Riikka Korkiamaki, University of Tampere, Finland Collaborating with Professor Robbie Gilligan on their joint research project ‘Working with Young People Facing Marginalisation’.
• Dr Malin Rising Holmström, Sweden Collaborating with Professor Imelda Coyne on the project, "Diabetes in school – support for teens with type 1 diabetes and parents."
• Professor Betsy Sleath, USA Collaborating with Professor Imelda Coyne on the project, "Your Opinion Counts: How to Make the Most out of Talking to Health Care Providers"