Annie Cummins holds a  PhD in Sociology from UCC. Her thesis was funded by the IRC and looked at children’s experience of play in after-schools in Ireland. Using a variety of qualitative methods, her research put children’s ‘voice’ at the heart of the methodology.  

Annie is a postdoctoral researcher on the SOAR project in the School of Applied Social Studies. This inter-institutional project promotes equity of access for under-represented groups in Higher Education. Annie will work on evaluating the initiatives under the workstreams: Travellers in Education; 1916 Bursary Fund; Enabling Transitions; Connecting Communities and Connecting Curriculum; and Partnership for Access. 

Project Outline

The SOAR project is an inter-institutional collaboration between University College Cork, Cork, Institute of Technology, Waterford Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Carlow and Institute of Technology Tralee. Together with community partners, this project strives to deliver initiatives to scaffold equity of access for under-represented groups in Higher Education.   

In 2019, Annie Cummins co-authored a chapter with Dr  Amin Sharifi Isaloo in Brando and Schweiger (eds) book Philosophy and Child Poverty. Their chapter entitled Children in Liminality: Case Studies from Ireland and Iran, addresses the institutionalisation of enforced poverty experienced by children who are seeking asylum in Ireland and Iran.  

In 2019, Annie Cummins co-authored a paper with Belinda Walsh in An Leanbh Óg, the OMEP Ireland Journal of Early Childhood Studies. The paper entitled Land Art as a creative practice that celebrates nature and the outdoors explores the potential Land Art has for cultivating a relationship between children and the environment.