DEASPRIA Social Protection Policy Workshops

The UCD Schools of Applied Social Science and Sociology, and the Geary Institute hosted the Summer School on ‘Frontiers in Poverty Research’. The course introduced participants to cutting edge conceptual, methodological and policy debates.

The school was intended for doctoral students, Masters students with previous research and other early career researchers as well as those involved in evaluating and monitoring research on the area of poverty and social inclusion.

Lecturers for the course are leading experts in the field from both Ireland and the UK, including:

• David Gordon (University of Bristol)
• Brian Nolan, David Madden and Christopher T. Whelan (UCD)
• Bertrand Maître and Richard Layte (ESRI)
• Mike Tomlinson and Madeleine Leonard (QUB)
• Alan Barrett (TCD)
• Thomas Scharf (NUIG)

The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Joan Burton, TD, spoke at the School.

University College Cork hosted a Summer School on ‘Conceptualising and Measuring Poverty: Methods for the 21st Century’. The UCC Summer School is intended to promote research, the opportunity to exchange knowledge and network in the area of poverty research.

The Summer School is co-hosted by the Institute for Social Science in the 21st Century (ISS21), the School of Applied Social Studies, and the Department of Food Business and Development, UCC.

The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Joan Burton, TD, opened the School on 18th June 2012.

The programme was targeted fpr all stakeholders with an interest in evaluating and engaging with research in the area of poverty and social inclusion - from the early stage researcher to the expert analyst/practitioner. It contained an array of national and international expert speakers on poverty and social inclusion matters. The days’ activities featured a mix of conceptual debate and lab-based analysis on data sets.

University College Dublin hosted a Social Protection Policy Workshop on ‘Challenges and opportunities for social protection policy in post-recession Ireland’ in September 2014.

The workshop was held to explore in an academic setting, the policy challenges confronting the social protection system in the aftermath of the economic recession, taking into account global and EU developments and national demographic, fiscal and social issues.

The event was opened by Niamh O'Donoghue, the Secretary General of the department.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Joan Burton TD, gave a presentation on the theme of unemployment protection and activation.

The Minister of State with special responsibility for Employment, Community and Social Support, Kevin Humphreys TD, also attended the discussion.

Keynote lecturers presented emerging research on how households are impacted by and respond to welfare policies.

Presentations included those by:

• John McHale (Chair of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council)
• Tom Healy (Director of the Nevin Economic Research Institute)
• Ita Mangan (Chair of the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare)
• Brian Nolan (Professor of Social Policy, Oxford University)