News archive Training Europe’s Next Generation of Disability Rights Researchers

A new European-wide training network for early stage researchers in the field of disability rights has received €4.1m in funding from the European Commission’s Marie Curie programme. This network is known as the DARE Project (Disability Advocacy and Research for Europe) and will be co-ordinated by the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the National University of Ireland, Galway, with the collaboration of 7 partner institutions: the Institute for Social and Political Sciences (Portugal) , Maastricht University (Netherlands), University of Leeds (UK), the European Disability Forum, the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities, the University of Iceland and Swiss Paraplegic Research.

Dr. Eilionóir Flynn, Principal Investigator at NUI Galway said “The primary aim of DARE is to equip a new generation of researchers to respond to global challenges facing persons with disabilities and policy makers. Its goal is to give legitimacy, through research, to the lived experience of persons with disabilities, as a basis for law reform.”

Fifteen Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) will be recruited across the network on a full-time basis over three years starting in September 2019 and will explore and develop recommendations for disability law and policy reform in light of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. All of the researchers will also have the opportunity to gain invaluable and funded work experience with leading civil society and public service organisations such as JUSTICE (UK), AGE Platform Europe (Belgium), the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Switzerland), the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (USA), the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (Belgium), Pi Consultancy (Netherlands), University of Limerick (Ireland), Lumos (UK), Christian Blind Mission (Ireland), European Social Network (Belgium), European Association of Palliative Care (Belgium), Pi Consultancy (Netherlands) and Vision Sense (UK).