2018

 _{Prof. Pat Dolan, Dr Aileen Shaw and Ms Grace O'Shea}

The UCFRC is a partner in a grant by The Atlantic Philanthropies to the Lumos Foundation in the UK to support the development of a series of knowledge-transfer activities to apply the learning from Ireland’s Prevention and Early Intervention programmes and their advocacy investments for the benefit of practitioners and policymakers in Eastern Europe and the LAC region.  These activities are undertaken to support the Lumos Foundation’s effort to accelerate the process of ending institutionalisation of children globally.  The objective is to harness the skills, knowledge and networks of each partner to establish the crucial evidence and practice base needed to support far-reaching changes in child care and protection systems that will dramatically reduce the numbers of children in institutions, or at risk of institutionalisation, worldwide.

Activities include:

Professional exchanges and training programmes:

Practitioners, managers and young people involved in The Atlantic Philanthropies funded programmes, will work closely with Lumos teams on the ground in the European and LAC regions to develop bespoke training programmes and study exchange visits for practitioners. This will include:

Study exchange visits to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland for key practitioners and policy makers

Deployment of practitioners to at least 10 countries across Europe, the LAC region, and potentially beyond, to provide training and exchange of experience

Peer to peer exchanges between young people

The expansion of Lumos’ ‘virtual study visit’ programme, where services are filmed and used as training materials in order to reach a much wider audience than is feasible in the study exchange programme.

Knowledge portal: An on-line knowledge portal will be developed to ensure even greater dissemination of the knowledge and tools developed by The Atlantic Philanthropies programmes in Ireland, as well as learning from this project itself.

International experts’ meetings and conferences: Leveraging the opportunities brought by the partners to share expertise beyond the European and LAC regions, the project will include a series of international gatherings of experts and global level policy-makers.

_{Dr Bernadine Brady / Dr John Canavan / Dr Anne Cassidy / Dr Rosemary Crosse/ Dr Carmel Devaney / Prof. Pat Dolan / Ms. Eileen Flannery / Dr Cormac Forkan / Dr Danielle Kennan / Dr Patrick Malone / Prof. Caroline McGregor/ Ms. Emily O'Donnell / Ms. Iwona O’Donoghue / Dr Leonor Rodriguez / Dr Aileen Shaw / Ms. Edel Tierney.}

The UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, NUI Galway provides research, evaluation and technical support to the Tusla Development and Mainstreaming Programme for Prevention, Partnership and Family Support (PPFS). This is a new programme of action being undertaken by Tulsa, the Child and Family Agency, as part of its National Service Delivery Framework. The programme seeks to transform child and family services in Ireland by embedding prevention and early intervention into the culture and operation of Tusla. Our research and evaluation study focuses on the implementation and outcomes of Tusla’s work. Its overarching research question is “whether the organisational culture and practice at Tusla and its services are integrated, preventative, evidence-informed and inclusive of children and parents and if so, is this contributing to improved outcomes for children and their families”.

Please visit our Development and Mainstreaming Section here.

 ‌ ‌

‌

‌

Vist full list of Publications here.

_{Dr Carmel Devaney (PI),  Dr Cliona Rooney}

The UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre has also recently been awarded €50,000 in funding to carry out a research study to consider the feasibility of conducting a longitudinal study on children in care or children leaving care within the Irish context. The funding bid was led by Dr Carmel Devaney and was awarded following a response to an open call from the Irish Research Council.  As part of the IRC Research for Policy and Society the study is implementing the DCYA’s Ryan Report Recommendation regarding a longitudinal study.

This project is funded by the 'Irish Research Council, Tulsa, the Child and Family Agency and the Department of Children & Youth Affairs. The research will focus on the methodology, technical considerations and value for money elements of conducting such a study. Learning from similar studies with this cohort and with the general population in other jurisdictions will be included. The policy and practice context in which such studies are located will also be considered. A post-doctoral researcher will be employed from April 2017 for 12 months to undertake this research.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 Final Report

_{Professor Caroline McGregor (PI),  Professor Pat Dolan (Mentor),  Professor Rob Chaskin, University  of Chicago (Researcher),  Dr Bernadine Brady (Collaborator)}

This research is focused on disadvantaged youth in urban environments who often experience marginalization and  disenfranchisement that can lead to disastrous consequences for them, their families, and the wider society. Such disenfranchisement is reinforced by negative media portrayals and punitive policies that treat certain urban youth as threats to be controlled rather than as young people with the agency and potential to contribute effectively to society. At the same time, it is also well known that successfully engaging young men and women in the Institutions, communities, and contexts in which they live and building their capacity as social actors can be a critical factor in their positive development as individuals, enhance their future role as citizens, and promote their current positive contribution to these same contexts and institutions. Effectively engaging disadvantaged urban youth, however, can be challenging, and the factors that contribute to these challenges are complex and multi-layered.

It is expected this research will have a direct impact on the participating stakeholders by providing tangible and accessible research findings that improves understanding and provides some policy and practice guidance. It will also impact significantly in the field of urban youth studies by offering a comparative framework applicable to other urban contexts in Europe and globally.    

 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under the Marie –Sklodowska Curie Grant Agreement No 661541

• Chaskin, R.J., McGregor, C., and Brady, B. (2018) Engaging Urban Youth: Community, Citizenship, and Democracy. Galway: UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, National University of Ireland Galway.
• UNESCO Policy Brief on Youth Civic Engamanent.‌ Supporting Youth Civic and Political Engagement: Supranational and National Policy Frameworks. Comparative Perspectives.‌
• Chaskin, R.J., McGregor, C. and Brady, B. (2018) Supporting Youth Civic and Political Engagement: Supranational and National Policy Frameworks in Comparative Perspective. Galway: UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, National University of Ireland Galway.‌