Bio

Clair Marie Butler is a classically trained Mezzo Soprano and Ethnomusicologist with a Bachelor of Music and a Masters in Ethnomusicology from University College Cork.  Having received an Excellence Scholarship from UCC’s College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences Clair is currently undergoing an Ethnomusicology PhD.  Clair’s research focuses primarily on the music of Aboriginal Australia, with studies such as “The Female Didgeridoo Player: Towards a womanist Perspective” (Ma. Thesis) and “Identity in Composition: The Garma of Indigenous Australia’s High-Art Music” (PhD Thesis).  Clair has also received a grade 8 in voice from the CIT Cork School of Music.

Research Proposal

Although Australia is home to a host of indigenous classically trained vocalists and composers there has been little research carried-out on the subject. Through the course of my Doctoral research I hope to explore the works of Indigenous Australian Artists and composers.        My research will focus primarily on the Ngarra-Burria First Peoples Composer initiative.  This, a project established by Aboriginal composer and Dharug language teacher Christopher Sainsbury, consists of a two year programme which supports the development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander composers.  The Initiative is carried-out through a partnership with a number of institutions; Moogahlin Performing Arts, The Australian Music Centre Anu School of Music, Ensemble Offspring and The Royal Australian Navy Band.  The Dharug name garra-burria translates as to hear to sing.  This Title is representative of the purpose of the project, to build connections between indidginous and white high art musics.  I suggest that this is reflective of Yongu band Yothu Yindi’s idea of Garma; the meeting of waters/the bringing together of white and indidginous Australian’s.  I propose to follow and engage with a number of Artists undergoing the two year Ngarra-burria first people’s composer initiative programme and the concept of Garma within their works.

Progress Report Summer 2021

When I begun my research last October, I done so under the impression that I would be studying the relationship between the music of Indigenous Australian high art music composers and the works of white Australian composers.  I had planned to explore the music of past and present composers involved in Dr. Christopher Sainsbury’s Ngarra-Burria First Peoples Composer Initiative as a means of establishing a relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian Western art music composers.  Since then I have developed a greater understanding of the Ngarra-Burria programme and its composers and performers. Through email conversations with composers involved in the initiative I have come to find that the work of said composers not only fosters connections between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian composers, but helps to build bridges between the wider Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian populations. .I have also found that Indigenous Australian musical composition can act as  a reconnective process through which Indigenous composers may reestablish their relationship with ‘Language’, ‘country’ and ‘ancestry’. Through a close reading of post-colonial texts such as Edward Said’s Orientalism and Kofi Agawu’s Representing African Music, I have gained a greater knowledge of the ways through which stereotypes are created; the stereotypical ‘Aborigine’ Western populations  expect Aboriginal people to play and compose music  which is typically considered Aboriginal.  Western art music does not fit this stereotype and yet it has been a part of Aboriginal life for almost 250 years.  One can   no longer be separated from the other   western art music now also belongs to Aboriginal people.   In light of these discoveries I have modified my research questions.

1. Do contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander composers find that their music helps them to re-connect “with country”?

1. Does Indigenous Australian musical composition act as a mode for the transition of ancestral knowledge?
2. Is it possible for contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander composers to create a greater awareness of their shared history with non-Indigenous Australians?
3. Can contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander composers help to build bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations?

 To answer these questions, I hope to conduct interviews with past and present composers involved in the Ngarra-Burria First Peoples Composer Initiative, along with creating     audio/video recordings of rehearsals/performances. I also hope to conduct interviews with audience members.  This will involve audience members attending concerts, recitals and performances given by past and present composers involved in the Ngarra-Burria First Peoples Composer Initiative. While my research is based on the above hypotheses I hope that my work may be in some way beneficial  to the composers involved. I therefore plan to organise a concert of said composers works here in Ireland. The concert will serve a double purpose firstly to showcase the works of those Indigenous composers involved in my research and secondly as an effort to raise funds for young and upcoming Indigenous Australian composers.  I am currently in the process of contacting musicians with regards to participation.

Bio

Maria has a Degree in English and French from UCC and a Masters in Library and Information Science from UCD. Her Masters’ Capstone Project, Librarian or Psychologist – Bibliotherapy for Teenagers in Irish Public Libraries introduced to Ireland the concept of developmental bibliotherapy for use with teenagers in public libraries. It won the UCD Public Libraries Prize, 2013. She worked as a school librarian in Carlow and a law library assistant in a leading Irish law firm before returning to UCC as the university prospect researcher. She is the co-creator of Phenomná, a podcast highlighting women who are overlooked in mainstream Irish history.

Research

Maria’s research is being conducted in partnership with the National Library of Ireland. It is an interdisciplinary analysis of the work of Marian Keyes, incorporating digital techniques and technologies alongside feminist literary-critical approaches and close textual analysis. It analyses Keyes’ published works alongside the born digital artefacts in the National Library’s Marian Keyes’ Digital Archive to explore how extensively her writing mirrors recent societal and attitudinal changes.

Keyes is one of Ireland’s most successful commercial novelists. To date, she has published 14 novels with combined sales of over 30 million. First published in 1995, her writing coincides with a period of radical change in Irish society. Her novels explore contemporary social issues such as homelessness, addiction and abortion. This project aims to broaden the scope of Irish literary criticism by using innovative methods to analyse the work of a commercially successful but critically neglected author.

This is an interdisciplinary analysis using a combination of close reading via feminist literary-critical approaches and digital humanities methods for distant reading such as collocation analysis, topic modeling and stylometry. It assesses her position in and contribution to the Irish social and cultural landscape by including explorations of thematic consistencies between her writing, her Twitter posts and other materials within her wider digital archive.

Progress Report Summer 2021

For the first semester I focused on applying for IRC funding. Although time consuming, I did find it helpful as a means of structuring my project and deciding where to start my research.  My primary research activities this year were: a literature review, data preparation and data analysis.

Literature Review

I have examined natural language processing (NLP) studies using literary corpuses, with a particular focus on studies related to gender and/ or genre. I also examined the current literature on Marian Keyes and extended this research to consider analyses of chick lit, genre and popular culture. Finally, I have touched upon research pertaining to postfeminism, modern Irish social and cultural history, and popular fiction in the Celtic Tiger and post Celtic Tiger eras.

Data Preparation

To prepare for research on the socio-historic context of best-selling Irish novelist, Marian Keyes, I have dedicated a significant amount of time to preparing my dataset for digital analysis, resulting in the creation of a clean dataset consisting of Keyes’ novels. The completion of this task ensures the feasibility of my project.

Data analysis

I conducted a data analysis of the data set mentioned above. The analysis included the creation of a comprehensive list of characters in Keyes’ corpus, of which, across 14 texts, there are almost two thousand. It is my intention to use this list of names to create a stopword list to facilitate topic modelling and collocation analysis. The removal of these names facilitates a more thorough digital analysis of the themes within her writings. Early attempts at these forms of analysis were hampered by the volume of character names present in the corpus. Unlike the dataset of novels, which cannot be shared for copyright reasons, the stopword list can be made available to other researchers using the FAIR principles of data sharing to encourage further digital analysis of Keyes’ writings. I am currently writing up my methodology and results for this round of data analysis.

Skills training

• Completed Epigeum: Research Integrity (UK/INT version) Research Integrity - Arts and Humanities.
• Completed PG7049: The PhD Journey: Research Skills for Doctoral Researchers. This module helped me to navigate the daily challenges associated with starting a PhD, create a research plan and familiarised me with the ethical considerations of conducting PhD research.
• Completed PG7044: Researching through a gender lens. This module explored different avenues of gender-based research and corresponding theories with a particular focus on women’s studies. It was extremely helpful.
• Audited DH6033 Conceptual Introduction to the Digital Humanities. This module furthered my knowledge in a variety of topics concerning contemporary digital arts and humanities practice. These topics cover historic, contemporary and cutting-edge research questions.
• Attended NLI sponsored AURA workshop on the "issue of access to born-digital archives". The AURA network is an interdisciplinary project dedicated to “unlock[ing] cultural assets held in “dark” digital archives currently closed to users” (About).

Bio

I am a native of Blackrock. I am currently Principal at South Lee Educate Together National School, a new school which opened in 2019. Prior to this I was Principal at Sundays Well Boys National School since 2015, having taught there since 2009. I hold a BA in Economics and Geography and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Economics from UCC. Also a Postgraduate Diploma in Primary School Education and a Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Leadership. I am a Director of the Young Knocknaheeny Area Based Childhood Programme where I first became interested in the area of Wellbeing and social and emotional regulation which are major themes in my research.

Research Topic

My research is a sequential exploratory mixed methods study which aims to reconceptualise wellbeing in the Irish Primary school system to encompass 4 domains. Drawing on Ontario’s Ministry of Educations’ depiction of wellbeing, I feel that in a primary school, the four domains of wellbeing should include:Social and Emotional Wellbeing, Physical Wellbeing and Cognitive Wellbeing (Hargreaves et al, 2018, p.40).  Digital Wellbeing. Also to develop a culturally relevant Irish primary school ecological framework using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory as a guide.

My thesis will contain three distinct stages of research.

1. It analyses policy documents prepared in the development of the published wellbeing strategy as well as investigating the strategy itself.
2. Local data will be gathered to support existing policy and research on Wellbeing in Primary Schools. This will entail qualitative data collection through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with students, parents, teachers and school principals. This is intended to reflect: (a)The Student Voice. (b)The Teacher Voice. (c) The Parent Voice. (d) The Views of School Leaders.
3. Based on Data collected, an ecological model for wellbeing will be developed for the Irish Primary School context. I will then pilot this model across 3 Irish Primary Schools and evaluate it to generate my conclusions.

Progress Report Summer 2021

Year 1 has been a busy year where there have been a number of key milestones achieved.

A background literature review has allowed me to evaluate the current research in the area which in turn has helped me identify a research gap. At this point, the background literature review is more than 50% complete. Further foreground literature review has also been completed as well as methodology planning. Furthermore, I have developed each of my data gathering instruments. This has allowed me to complete and submit my SREC ethics submission for each of the five stages of my research.

Other key milestones for year 1 include:

• Conference presentation at the UCC CACSSS Post-graduate conference titled Reconceptualising Wellbeing: An Ecological Framework For New Irish Primary Schools.
• Conference presentation accepted for the ECER Conference 2021, “Education and Society: expectations, prescriptions, reconciliations” with paper titled Reconceptualising Wellbeing: An Ecological Framework For New Irish Primary Schools.
• Completed 10 credit module PG7049: The PhD Journey: Research skills for doctoral researchers

Bio

Max Darby is a Data Scientist with Musgrave. Max’s primary area of research relates to the intersection of artificial intelligence and human value-systems. Following his BA in Digital Humanities, in which he used artificial neural networks to explore philosophical theories, Max continued his interdisciplinary research in his Masters by proposing an evolutionary account for how artificially intelligent systems will develop in the same way that religions did, using similar behavioural, biological and cultural mechanisms. He is a proponent of responsible AI in industry and academia, and works primarily to ensure AI systems reflect the values of the people that use them.

Research Topic

Max’s research topic addresses two related issues in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Firstly, he aims to address what (if any) value systems that AI systems endorse, if not specifically optimised toward particular objectives. This will analyse how prescribed action from an AI system could potentially shape human behaviour (and subsequently, culture), if not aligned to existing human values.  Secondly, he aims to research how to quantify and evaluate the value system that an algorithm has adopted, by examining the algorithm itself, not the results it generates. In this sense his research will explore grounds on which a human could refuse moral advice from a (potentially) super-intelligent system, answering the question: ‘Could it become impossible/culturally unacceptable to refuse moral advice from a system with superior intelligence?’. These two aims will contribute to an overall objective of creating AI systems that are configurable to human-interpretable value systems, which will provide a practical and conceptual framework for human/AI value-alignment.

Progress Report Summer 2021

Over the past year I have been working with the analytics team in Musgrave to progress their usage of machine learning in internal decision-making, and concurrently researching how to ensure that the employees that use these tools and methods are able to openly understand and discuss them. Additionally, I am currently focusing on a piece of research that will inform an internal educational programme. This educational programme will play a significant role within a broader organisational data-transformation. It will aim to increase citizen data-literacy and foster a fundamental understanding of the realistic capabilities (and limitations) of artificially intelligent systems, as Musgrave further integrates advanced data practices into their decision-making processes.

My next year of research will focus on how to ensure these artificially intelligent systems can be aligned with the company’s corporate values and to make them transparently auditable – from a technical point of view. That framework will lead into another piece of work that will seek to audit artificially intelligent systems where the raw code is not accessible or intentionally hidden in an opaque black-box system.

Broadly speaking, my ongoing research aims to ensure that Musgrave can securely incorporate data analytics and data science into their existing systems and processes, without losing human-level intelligibility, autonomy, or resourcefulness, while also maintaining alignment with their clear corporate values. What this work aims to avoid is a scenario where decision-making is outsourced to an algorithmic system which cannot be transparently audited, or at very least whose reasoning cannot be understood in a human-intelligible way.

Bio

Tadhg Dennehy is a PhD student in Film and Screen Media. Tadhg holds an MA in Creative Documentary from the University of Edinburgh and a BA in English and Sociology from UCC.

Proposal

Tadhg’s current research, under the supervision of Dr. Barry Monahan, is focused on cinematic representations of the Northern Irish conflict. Central to this research is the assertion that visual media are the primary mechanisms for the transmission, construction, revision and, ultimately, the shaping of history. Cinema offers the basis for an alternative history; a space to discover a reality that is not immediately visible to the geographically removed spectator. The reality of the Northern Irish conflict was announced to the world with the broadcasting of images from Derry of police brutality at a civil rights march on the 5th of October, 1968. At this time and subsequently, images were carefully managed, censored and propagandised with mechanisms that became familiar (and sometimes unique) tropes, codes and conventions of the representations of that conflict. This research will consider the peculiarities of fiction cinema, documentary and news reportage in creating a specific audio-visual lexicon in the historical reconstructions of the Northern Irish narrative. It is not my aim to argue for the existence of one true mediation of the conflict on screen. Rather my research will involve the close analysis of a number of inter-related cinematic representations dialectically against one another.

Progress Report Summer 2021

1: The number of conference papers delivered. I delivered a paper on historical cinema at the CACSSS Postgraduate Conference in January which was held virtually via Microsoft Teams. This paper was essentially a general overview of my work throughout my first semester, which was primarily focused on theories surrounding historical cinema and Irish national cinema.

10: The number of credits completed. In my first semester I completed a ten-credit module, PG7049 The PhD Journey: Research Skills for Doctoral Researchers. This module was an excellent way to begin my research journey as it introduced me to some key research skills, helped me to engage with my research through appropriate planning, methodological training and various research frameworks. Areas covered throughout this module included general research skills, planning your research, conducting literature reviews and personal/professional development. Another key area was the development of communication skills and disseminating your research for both general and expert audiences. I would highly recommend this module to any incoming PhD students.

2: The number of Covid-19 Lockdowns endured. Three weeks after my PhD officially kicked off, at the beginning of October 2020, Ireland entered its second Covid-19 lockdown which lasted until December. Ireland’s third (and my PhD’s second) was announced a number of weeks later during Christmas. Navigating my first year of self-directed research (what is already a rather solitary pursuit) in the midst of lockdowns of this nature proved difficult. I feel I missed the comradery of fellow PhD students on this same research journey, and perhaps more importantly I missed the opportunity to vent, to blow off some steam down the pub; something essential in keeping your head in the game when conducting research at this level. Hopefully the number of lockdowns I will experience throughout my PhD will remain at just the two.

5318: The number of words submitted to my supervisor for review. While I have written a lot more than 5318 words throughout the last year, I was recently set the task by my supervisor to write a piece bringing together all the work I had done up to that point concerning my theoretical approach, to serve as a touchstone of sorts for chapters to come. My research is essentially a study into patterns of representation across related cinematic texts concerning the conflict in Northern Ireland of the latter half of the 20th century. My interest primarily lies in cinema that goes against established forms of shorthand cinematic coding and dominant trends in narrative and aesthetics. My research touches on areas of historical cinema, historiography and historiographic metafiction, as well as on theories of national cinema and the history of the representation of Ireland in cinema and in the media.

40000: The number of characters required of me for a journal article. I recently had an abstract accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed online journal Research in Film and History, published by the University of Bremen. This article will draw on Linda Hutcheon’s theory of historiographic metafiction to analyse the 1983 film Acceptable Levels and its direct interrogation with the formation of the history it represents. The film’s focus is on the way in which the media reports, constructs, and interacts with significant news events through its questioning the formation of cultural hegemony. I am very excited to be going through this process of having my research published for the first time.

Bio

Daniel Fraser is a writer and researcher from Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire. He holds a BA (hons) Philosophy from University of Leeds and MA in Modern European Philosophy from the CRMEP Kingston, University of London. His principal research interests are: European literature and poetry, the failure of language, Marx/Marxist philosophy, and cinema. His poems, essays, and fiction have won prizes and been published widely in print and online including: London Magazine, New World Writing , LA Review of Books, Aeon, Mute, Dublin Review of Books, and Radical Philosophy. His poetry pamphlet 'Lung Iron' is published by the Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre.

Research Proposal

My research examines traumatic temporality and crisis in post-1945 European Literature through an encounter with contemporary philosophy, with particular focus on: Paul Celan, Marguerite Duras, and Samuel Beckett. Primarily a work of critical theory, the project seeks to interpret the broken, fragmentary forms of literature which emerged after the events of the Second World War, in the shadow of the Holocaust and nuclear atrocities in Japan, through a philosophical concept of trauma as a temporal register of untimeliness. In doing so, the project relates the crisis of artistic expression, a crisis of language, and crisis of historical experience, a crisis of capitalism, drawing on Marx, and the critical theory/philosophy of time in the work of Peter Osborne, Theodor Adorno, and Catherine Malabou. At its core the research investigates to how literature negotiates these dual crises, what kinds of historical experience are precipitated by such writing, and to what extent they might open up ways of thinking other modes of being, and opportunities for 'working through the past'. The research builds on the trauma studies work of Ulrich Baer, Cathy Caruth, and Rebecca Comay, re-asserting the productivity of an interdisciplinary philosophical perspective for cultural interpretation and for understanding questions of trauma/history.

Progress Report Summer 2021

In these months my focus has been on reading the primary materials of the two major subjects of my research: Paul Celan and Marguerite Duras. I have also been working to finalise the structure of the project, and I have worked to outline three of the proposed chapters:

• An introductory chapter which seeks to expound the problem through close analysis of certain literary ‘precursors’, showing the integration of disjointed temporality, capital’s social reality, and trauma: incl. a fragment from Timon of Athens, one of Schlegel’s Romantic fragments, and a passage from Mann’s Doctor Faustus
• The chapter on Paul Celan, close reading several poems, Du Liegst being one of the principal selections
• The chapter on Duras, working through texts chosen from different parts of her oeuvre: The Sea Wall and Whole Days in the Trees; The Malady of Death. I have largely concentrated on her works of fiction but as the project develops may examine certain works of cinema or theatre

I have read widely in trauma studies: reading books by Cathy Caruth, Ruth Leys, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht and Rebecca Comay; as well as deepening my background knowledge of Romantic literature. I have also been re-examining the relevant essays on trauma in Freud; the psychoanalytic bedrock form which the temporal, philosophical concept will be drawn.

I have produced a short summary article on two recent translations of Paul Celan that is due to appear in PN Review and a review of a new Marguerite Duras translation ‘The Darkroom’ that will be appearing in Full Stop Magazine. In addition, I have presented some early findings of my research at two international conferences: UCC German’s own Hölderlin anniversary webinar, and the Concordia University graduate studies conference on Philosophy and Literature. I have also submitted two pieces of writing, totalling around 3500 words, to my supervisors for assessment. Dr Hofmann and I have met for supervision meetings twice in this period to discuss the structure of the project as a whole and the philosophical approach I intend to develop. Dr Mary Noonan and I have also met twice to discuss Duras and her work, as well as to go through the writing I submitted: a short piece that examines the relationship between trauma, memory, and capital in Duras’ novella Whole Days on the Trees.

Bio 

Sara Kelleher is a Social Work Ph.D. student in the School of Applied Social Studies at University College Cork. After receiving her Master of Social Work (MSW) from New York University, Sara earned her clinical social work license in the U.S. specializing in mental health and worked in the field for thirteen years. She is interested in the effects repeated exposure to trauma can have on those in helping professions, and in studying effective ways to support these workers. Her current research focuses on Secondary Traumatic Stress among Irish mental health social workers and testing interventions that may prevent or mitigate its effects. Sara is registered with CORU. 

Proposal 

Mental health providers who treat victims of trauma are frequently exposed to intense and powerful accounts of traumatic experiences. There is a growing awareness that such repeated vicarious exposure to trauma may lead providers to develop a cluster of psychological symptoms commonly referred to as Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS). STS can cause a variety of short- and long-term disorders in providers, impacting worker well-being and increasing the likelihood that providers will leave the field prematurely. Social workers involved in front-line mental health care are particularly vulnerable to developing STS. For my Ph.D. project, I will conduct a critical, comprehensive review of existing literature on STS theory, research and interventions, examining our current understanding of the nature and causes of STS and exploring how organizational and individual factors may influence practitioners’ vulnerability to developing STS and their resilience in recovery. My research will also explore factors that insulate practitioners from developing STS and possible prevention interventions. This study of Irish mental health social workers and STS will measure the prevalence of STS and its impact upon this group, including potential predictors and protective factors. Finally, guided by the results of the literature review, I will choose and test an intervention that may prevent or mitigate the effects of STS. 

Progress Report Summer 2021

I began my PhD in Social Work in January 2021, my first term coinciding with Ireland’s third pandemic lockdown. This has been challenging, but my PhD supervisors, lecturers, and UCC staff have been incredibly supportive and helpful, making my first term as smooth as possible under very difficult circumstances.

During this time period, I have been working with my PhD supervisors to become acclimated to life as a PhD student. This has included discussions about timelines, task lists, and administrative activities, as well as taking on the planning of a literature review that will be comprehensive and meaningful. We have discussed a broad range of subjects, ranging from theoretical areas such as research methodology to practical issues such as how use UCC’s library resources. Already, I have benefitted greatly from the tremendous guidance, experience, and encouragement of my PhD supervisors, and I look forward our continued work together.

I also had the privilege of completing two modules that gave me a great introduction to crucial issues for doctoral study. The first module, entitled “An Introduction to Research Integrity, Ethics and Open Science,” provided a comprehensive view of the challenges involved in performing research to the highest possible standards. Using both theoretical inquiries and pragmatic resources, this module tackled topics such as the UCC Code of Research, ethical approval processes, FAIR Data principles, working with human subjects, data privacy and sharing, and data management plans. I am so grateful to have taken this module at the start of my PhD, so that I can keep these principles and requirements in mind as I move forward and begin incorporating them into my research from the earliest planning stages.   

The second module, “Qualitative Research Inquiry,” took an in-depth look at philosophy and methodology in the area of qualitative research, which is the type of research I will be doing. It was fascinating to learn about the different schools of thought and various approaches to this type of research, and how clarity in regard to the theoretical underpinnings are crucial to the quality of the research and its outcomes. I also appreciated the opportunity to explore reflexivity and the importance of self-reflection, not only at this early stage in the process, but throughout my research journey.

Finally, I was able to earn the UCC Digital Badge in the Responsible Conduct of Research. The course material included fascinating presentations by researchers in many different areas, discussing issues related to integrity and responsibility, as well as a high-level look at FAIR principles and data management. This was a great opportunity learn how to embed best practices and focus on creating high quality, reproducible research.

Moving forward, I will continue to work on the literature review for my project. Thanks to the academic experiences of my first term, I will take on this task in the context of much valuable learning, with an eye toward planning a project that will meet the highest possible standards for quality research.

Bio

I have worked in the field of Intellectual Disability for over 15 years; across a range of frontline, Management and Senior Management Roles within Irish Section 38 Disability Providers. Currently, I work in a Senior Management Quality & Development post within the Brothers of Charity Services Ireland- Southern Region.

As an avid believer in lifelong learning and an advocate for quality improvement, I have continued to enhance my education across my career. To date I have achieved a BA in Psychology, a MA by Research, a PG Diploma in Positive Approaches to Challenging Behaviour and a Higher Certificate in Applied Management for Human Services.

Research Topic

The title of my research is: Preserving Quality of Life for Irish Adults with Mild to Moderate Intellectual Disabilities during and Post COVID 19 Using a Participatory Action Research Approach: A Longitudinal Review of Experiences throughout Crisis and Recovery.  

This Employment Based PHD programme enables a unique opportunity to overlap my primary working role and strategic interest with an extremely topical academic focus; which can significantly build my expertise in rights based theory and allow for shared learning across the Intellectual Disability (ID) sector (leading to quality enhancement for those availing of services). The unprecedented phenomenon of Covid 19 has sparked a rich platform to collect data on the experiences of intellectually disabled people; as great momentum prior to the pandemic has been driving a rights based approach marked by normalised community engagement, as is the vision of a social model. All of which has been challenged by public health restrictions aimed at supressing the virus.   As such, my proposed longitudinal research aims to explore the current, medium and longer-term impacts of COVID 19 on the quality of life of mild to moderate adults with ID availing of services from Disability Providers in the Republic of Ireland.

Progress Report Summer 2021

Over the course of the past year, I have gained rich learning guided by the expertise of my UCC Supervisors (Dr Máire Leane & Ms Nicola Maxwell), which has culminated in an upgraded re-orientation of the research focus to ensure it may lead to the most beneficial impact for the Disability Sector. Having over 17 years of frontline, specialist, management and senior administrative experience, this employment based PHD has begun to allow me to philosophically reflect deeper and to critically connect more academically with the underpinning theories, layered ideologies, concepts and tensions involved within contemporary Disability policy, law and provision. This in itself has been extremely critical as oftentimes this reflective space does not naturally exist in the fast day to day pace of the existing model and it is pivotal to be in a position to research, critique systems for continuous quality improvement and to analyse ways of potentially enhancing practice-for the ultimate benefit of those availing of services/ supports. As such,  I remain invested and enthusiastic about lifelong learning and look forward to the years ahead navigating the PHD Journey. Again, I wish to thank the UCC’s CACSSS, my UCC Supervisors and internal employment based supervisor for this learning opportunity which remains invaluable to my continued progression and development as a leader within the Disability Sector.  

Bio

Doris Murphy completed her MA in Women’s Studies in University College Cork. Her thesis investigated the experiences of reproductive rights campaigners during the recent campaign to legalise abortion in Ireland, and underlying structures supporting feminist activism. Doris was the co-founder of Pro-Choice Wexford, a regional group which campaigned for abortion rights. She is an ardent supporter of the decriminalisation of sex work. Doris supports the abolition of Direct Provision, and advocates for full rights and appropriate healthcare for trans people. She provides space for marginalised people to tell their own stories, and is open to collaboration on projects in this area.

Research Proposal

I am researching the lived experiences of sex workers in Ireland. A key focus for this research is ‘care’ within sex work. My research will investigate the interplay between care and sex work using participatory methods and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory to consider caring relationships that sex workers experience in various systems. The context for this research shifted immeasurably with the Covid-19 pandemic, when it became immediately apparent that sex workers have little or no recourse to care. Sex worker-led advocacy groups have been fighting for increased representation in decision-making arenas to inform policies pertaining to their lives. This research will contribute evidence to support this advocacy work. Given the dearth of research on the lived experience of sex workers in Ireland, I aim to address this gap by conducting Participatory Action Research (PAR) with sex workers, that includes walking interviews as a biographical research method (WIBM). PAR is a feminist epistemology which addresses power imbalances in research and is based upon the principles of inclusion, participation, valuing all voices, and action oriented interventions. PAR promotes ‘care-full’ research, which underpins my focus on care within sex work.

Progress Report Summer 2021

September-October 2020: The Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship (IRC) application form was completed during this time. This entailed completing a preliminary literature review, data management plan, and an in-depth explanation of the aims, objectives, and impact of this project. This application was successful.

November-December 2020: I completed the PG7049 module and coursework, which amounts to 10 credits. I wrote and submitted an article (SWAGS) for a special issue of a journal. This was rejected with the option to resubmit by the end of May 2021.

January-March 2021: I submitted an abstract (Walking, talking, imagining) for a special issue of a journal, this abstract was accepted, and the full article is due summer 2021. I completed a pilot interview with one of my collaborators from SWAI, and wrote up the results and my insights.

April-May 2021: I met Aoife Coffey from the Research Support Service to formalise my data management plan and learn about the Data Protection Impact Assessment. I completed my Social Research Ethics Committee application form, and submitted it for approval. I agreed the provisional structure of my thesis with my supervisors, and started to collate all of my reading and writing for my literature review chapters and my progress review.

June-July 2021: I wrote up my first draft of my literature review. I submitted my SWAGS article for a Palgrave edited collection based on the Sex Work Research postgrad conference. I co-authored an event report for the CACSSS Aigne journal. My abstract (Immaterial girl) was accepted for publication in an edited collection by the Sexualities working group of the SAI.

Conference presentations:

• CACSSS Postgraduate Research Conference (20th January, 2021)
• Sociology Association of Ireland Postgraduate Conference (26th February, 2021)
• Penn State Gender Studies Postgraduate Conference (27th February, 2021)
• Sex Work Research Postgrad Conference (26th March, 2021)
• Sociology Association of Ireland Annual Conference (8th May, 2021)
• Sibéal Network Annual Conference (28th May, 2021)

Events/conferences organised:

• Gender PhD Gang round table discussions at the Sociology PG Forum:
• Gender lens in research (3rd December, 2020)
• Angry feminists (12th March, 2021)
• ‘Boundaries, borders, care: Feminist ethics in practice’ (19th-21st May, 2021)
• Sibéal Network Annual Conference ‘Feminist perspectives on marginalisation and crisis’ (28th May, 2021)
• Rebels Reactivate Repeal series (22nd June; 1st July; 21st July 2021)

Scholarships:

• CACSSS Excellence Scholarship

Bio

This year I moved from London to start my PhD in Sociology and Philosophy at UCC. I am researching issues of autonomy and deterritorialisation in relation to stateless peoples. After achieving a first-class degree at Aberystwyth University in International Politics, I obtained a master’s degree in Legal and Political from UCL. I spent the last couple of years working at a legal directory and with Extinction Rebellion in London, before being accepted into this research programme as an Excellence Scholar. 

Research Proposal

My project considers the need for Rohingya people to exercise a model of non-territorial autonomy in order to encourage their leadership in finding solutions to their situation. Through qualitative media, document and interview analysis, I will assess the Rohingya people’s present dissociation from territory, their current lack of autonomy as stateless and displaced people, whilst identifying their coherence as a recognisable people.  Through a perspective of deterritorialisation, as associated with Deleuze, this research will benefit from a dynamic lens, asserting a fluid conception of Rohingya, particularly in relation to land. Whilst recognising present dissociation from territory, this lens aims to account for a dynamic relationship referencing social and contextual developments.  The Rohingya crisis is concurrent with the destabilising rise in statelessness. The continued deterioration of climate and ecological conditions, and increasing prevalence of uninhabitable territory, poses the urgent need for a revised set of rules around territory. It is essential that peoples most affected by these worsening conditions are included in discussions. To avoid a future where only those who presently own territory have a say in this reordering of territorial systems, a framework to enhance the leadership of stateless peoples, such as the Rohingya, ought to be conceived.

Progress Report Summer 2021

I am coming to the end of my first year of research and, although the time has passed very quickly, I am pleased with the progress I have made. This year, I have predominantly focused on reviewing relevant literature and have produced the first draft of a formal review. I aim to have a completed version by September and will then move onto data collection. 

In assessing the literature I have identified a breakdown of topic areas to support inter-disciplinary research. Initially these areas concerned scholarship on the Rohingya, deterritorialisation, post-colonial feminisms, statelessness and territory. However the topics have developed and I’ve managed to establish clear linking pathways between them. 

The review critiques literature on Rohingya as depoliticising and state-centric. I have argued that the literature often fails to centre Rohingya voices and routinely ignores Rohingya as a relation of political activity. My thesis posits that an analysis of deterritorialisation enhances this critique, highlighting the modus of potentiality that affirms in spaces of resistance. Therefore, my literature review also assesses engagement with deterritorialisation and further critiques structures which function to subjugate such an analysis. I pay particular attention to critical analyses of statelessness and territory, which highlight their depoliticising formations in the interest of state power. 

Working on my literature review has helped me to clarify my research aims, methodology and structure. Despite engaging deeply with the literature, my research will be structured in relation to Rohingya activity with a central discussion of Rohingya spaces of becoming; exploring emergent political/social spaces of Rohingya. My methodology builds from a relative deterritorialisation perspective to map emergent spaces which both reinforces the openness of becoming and clears space for subjugated Rohingya political/social relations. I have deepened my understanding of relative deterritorialisation as an analytical tool and related research strategies. Building acute awareness of how my own social positioning may bias the research has been extremely important in this methodological development. Engaging with concepts such as mapping, opacity and emergence has been fruitful in reinforcing my research as critical and open, whilst seeking to produce working knowledge for experimentation. 

This year has also been important for settling into the PhD programme. Despite some immediate setbacks and challenges, I have been able to build a programme of study and a good relationship with my supervisors. I recognise this aspect as hugely important, as a supportive network and a good structure is beneficial to progression, identifying areas for change/improvement and for supporting my own mental health.

Although my priority this year has been to engage with the literature, I have also endeavoured to build relationships with project stakeholders. My research subject is very much alive and so it is essential that my project moves with it. Building relationships with Rohingya activists in particular has been really valuable, especially as I reflect on how the scholarship relates to the ever-changing realities on the ground. I look forward to deepening these relationships and engaging with new people, organisations and networks. 

Bio

Melissa Shiels attended UCC as a mature student and completed her Bachelor of Arts degree (History Major). As an undergraduate, she was awarded a Quercus scholarship, Student of the Year from the School of History, as well as the Mansion House Prize from the NUI, the John A. Murphy Prize for Best BA Dissertation, and the MacCurtain Cullen Essay Prize from the Women's History Association of Ireland  
She is a Heritage Expert on the Heritage in Schools panel, visiting national schools all over Ireland and supporting the national school curriculum by bringing history to life through presenting costumed history demonstrations. 

Research Proposal

This research will expand the converging studies of material culture, Irish cultural expressions, and Irish social and political actors in the wider definitions of Renaissance phenomenon.  Recent scholarship has widened the net to include aspects of material culture as evidence for Irish participation in the Renaissance and the expansion of Irish cultural expressions.  Cultural historians have studied the rise of fashion, the critique and regulation of clothing, and the role of apparel in the formation of the Renaissance theatre of power. Likewise, the study of the elevation of ritualised gift-giving in Renaissance Courts has shed light on the ways in which diplomacy and politics were negotiated.  This research will explore the intersection of clothing and gift-giving for political ends in the Tudor conquest of Ireland.  Crucially, examining formal and informal gift exchange between Irish female political actors and the Crown reveals elite Irish women’s strategies to secure dynastic protection and promotion for their natal and marital dynasties, shedding light on the heretofore overlooked extent of women’s influence and participation in international politics.  Strategically given gifts of apparel in sixteenth century political intrigues are a useful lens through which to examine the competing ideologies of the Crown and Irish political actors.   

Progress Report Summer 2021

My experience of the research journey has gone better than expected, taking into account the limitations of lockdown on accessing sources. I have been able to request individual chapters or articles that have aided my literature review, in the absence of being able to travel to UCC to read the materials in person; while this has not been ideal, it has certainly been better than not accessing the materials at all. I have encountered very helpful people in Archives and Libraries in the UK and Ireland who have assisted me in scanning documents in their collections and emailing them to me, which has expedited my research; in one instance, the lockdown has been an advantage, as I would have been required to visit the institution in person at great expense, had there not been lockdown restrictions. It has sometimes been frustrating waiting for a response, but I have found alternative means of accessing said documents while waiting for restrictions to be lifted.

Data collection has been relatively steady. In the first few months I encountered an abundance of primary source evidence for my thesis every day. I spent the first three months systematically searching through the Calendars of State Papers of Ireland, the Calendar of Carew Manuscripts, and similar sources to find evidence of gift exchange during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. I typed keywords into the search function and began the first round of looking for evidence of political gift exchange, trying various spellings, and documenting each instance or reference to gift exchange that I found, as well as corollary topics. At times my advisor has directed me to look into lesser known primary sources, which has introduced elements to my research that have gone unexplored by other researchers into this topic. When waiting for material to be sent to me, I read secondary literature to aid my literature review and to find new sources. Finding new sources has slowed somewhat, but the sources I now find have not been studied before. 

To date I have discovered some new evidence of gift exchange in a colonial context including:

• Gifts of food given to the Lord Deputy of Ireland from Anglo-Irish and Gaelic political actors, including several women, during the highly divisive cess controversy of the 1570s;
• Gifts of horses given to the Lord Deputy of Ireland upon his arrival in Ireland from would-be suitors - English, Gaelic, and Anglo-Irish - to further their suits;
• Gift of clothing given to Shane O’Neill upon his visit to the court of Queen Elizabeth, and inventory of his goods after his death; also evidence of Shane’s gifting practices after his visit to Court that shows he was well aware of contemporary wider European gifting practices and their ability to affect political outcomes. 
• Evidence of Anglo-Irish women making and gifting specifically Gaelic clothing to an Anglo-Irish nobleman during his escape from Ireland;
• A range of gifts given by an Irish Countess to Crown officials during her long life and at key moments of political crisis.

Bio

Maeve holds a BA in Archaeology and History and an MA in Archaeology from UCC. She joined the National Museum of Ireland in 2001 as a curatorial researcher on the Unpublished Burials Project. Since 2004, as Assistant Keeper in the Irish Antiquities Division, she has engaged in a wide range of curatorial tasks including fieldwork and excavation, lecturing and outreach. Maeve was appointed Keeper of Irish Antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland in July 2017, taking responsibility for the Museum’s archaeological collections. Maeve’s interests are in the early medieval and Viking collections and in the archaeology of death and burial in Ireland.

Research Topic

The study for which the Scholarship was awarded will focus on the archaeological evidence for the practices of feasting and dining in early medieval Ireland through an analysis of a range of vessel types. The corpus to be examined includes copper-alloy bowls and basins, decorative wooden pails, ladles, strainers and drinking horns. While there have been studies of individual artefacts within this group, this will be the first time that this body of material has been examined collectively. This thesis will primarily focus on the function and use of these high status vessels in a secular context by the wealthier classes in Ireland. The use of these vessels in a liturgical context will also be examined, given the fact that some have been found on, or close to, ecclesiastical sites, such as Derrynaflan, Co. Tipperary. The third main aspect of the thesis will be a discussion of the occurrence of these vessels in Viking-age graves in both Ireland and Britain and in Scandinavia, principally Norway. This study will result in the first catalogue of an important category of early medieval objects and will provide the first comprehensive account of feasting material culture in early medieval Ireland.

Progress Report Summer 2021

I am eight months into the employment-based PhD programme as a part-time student and have found these months to be challenging but very rewarding. In the first semester I took the online module PG7049 – the PhD Journey: Research Skills for Doctoral Researchers which proved to be both stimulating and very useful. The practical nature of the module mean that I have produced a learning agreement and research/learning plan, documents which I will use as guides throughout the PhD. I have been meeting regularly with my supervisor and to date I have completed my literature review, have created a schedule of over 200 artefacts for study, and I am currently refining my methodology, aims and objectives. I completed the first annual review in the Archaeology Department in January 2021 and I have also delivered a research seminar to staff and students as part of the UCC Archaeology Department’s Research Seminar Series. I am looking forward to getting started on the analysis of the artefacts, which form the basis of my study. None of what I am doing would have been possible without the structure of the employment-based PhD programme and without the funding I was granted as part of this scholarship from the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences and I am very grateful for this support.