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Achieving Research Impact for Better Outcomes: Science, Society and Transformations to Educational Landscapes Event

Achieving Research Impact for Better Outcomes: Science, Society and Transformations to Educational Landscapes Event

B08, Business School, Technological University of the Shannon, Athlone Campus

Dr Rosemary Crosse presented on Understanding, negotiating and navigating the politicisation of evidence-based policy research: the case of Irish research on lone parent labour market activation policy.

Abstract

Publication Authors: Professor Michelle Millar, Dr Rosemary Crosse, Professor John Canavan, UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, University of Galway.

Our research impact in recent years stems from our research into Irish Lone Parents and their families. Our most recent research in this area investigated best practice and innovative approaches to the labour market activation of lone-parents in Ireland and internationally, with a focus on approaches with the potential to create good outcomes for lone-parents and their children in terms of achieving financial independence and social well-being. The evidence is then grounded in its application to the Irish context, giving due consideration to the profile of Irish lone-parents and the barriers to paid employment they experience. The research was carried out during significant policy change in relation to lone-parents which involved labour market activation of those lone-parents in receipt of social protection and culminated in our IRC funded report Lone Parents and Activation, What Works and Why: A Review of the International Evidence in the Irish Context. (Millar and Crosse, 2016).

Our research caused policymakers to acknowledge that many lone-parents were financially worse off in paid employment as a result of activation policies. Furthermore, it has had an impact in ensuring policymakers monitor and report on the impact of the policy change on lone-parents. It has resulted in the acknowledgement by policymakers of the particular challenges faced by lone-parents in Ireland in their daily lives, and challenges faced in making the move from welfare to work.