News & Updates
Congratulations to Douglas Matters Research Partnership
NEWS: Our congratulations to the Douglas Matters research partnership - community group, UCC graduates and supervisor on being shortlisted for the Education Award in the Research category at The Education Award Gala in Dublin on Thursday 21st February.
The Education Awards celebrates excellence in the third level education sector on the island of Ireland and is part of the Business River network solution which hosts over 12,000 senior level business professionals at over 30 events with a wider business network of over 25,000 people. The Awards categories highlight key areas that has positively impacted student performances and give an opportunity for educational institutions to have their achievements recognised.
Made it to the @EDUAwardsIRL ... all glam ... great to be here with @DauntJohn @CaraEilisM and Steph Tips #irishresearch pic.twitter.com/7pHylHAGf8
— FiachraOSuilleabhain (@FiachraOS) February 21, 2019
The Douglas Matters project was a research collaboration under the CARL (Community/Academic Research Links) programme in UCC where community groups propose research projects which are then undertaken by students as part of their degrees. Douglas Matters consists of professionals working with young people in Douglas, a Cork south suburb. They looked for research that would give voice to both young people in Douglas as well as various stakeholders who work with them with a view to meet their needs for participation and inclusion in society.
Three Master of Social Work students undertook the project as part of their final year dissertations. The first student, Stephanie Tips, collected views of young people by using Photo-voice (young people photographed various locations in their community and described their feelings of inclusion/exclusion) and doing individual interviews with young people. A second student, John Daunt, asked transition year’s students from three schools in the suburb to give their views on youth services by completing questionnaires. Thirdly, Cara McCarthy, explored the perspectives of six adult stakeholders in Douglas on the social issues arising for young people in the community.
The three projects were supervised by Dr Fiachra Ó Súilleabháin, social work lecturer, and conducted in close partnership with the group through liaison person Louise Murphy, former youth justice worker in the Douglas Garda Youth Diversion Project.
Findings from the three research projects concluded that young people in Douglas feel excluded in many parts of the community, where some adults perceive young people in a negative light.
Recommendations include the establishment of a youth café and a local youth council where young people can have a voice and support the work to make Douglas a better place to grow up in.
Standing room only at The Douglas Matters event with @uccsocialwork @UCCAppSoc @CARL_UCC showcasing the research on the needs of young people in Douglas by Cara McCarthy, Stephanie Tips and John Daunt, Master of Social Work 2018 Graduates, with @FiachraOS! @ucc @CACSSS1 pic.twitter.com/QYbTXObRXe
— @UCCsocialwork (@uccsocialwork) October 18, 2018