Postgraduate Conference 2017

Host

​Ulster University School of Sociology and Applied Social Studies and the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences were delighted to host the SAI Postgraduate Conference 2017 at their Belfast campus. Sociology and the social sciences have been crucial to understanding the changes in Northern Irish society, and despite the threats to the discipline in 2016 across the region, sociologists are responding robustly to the need for theoretical and empirical work in these challenging times. We were pleased to host the conference in Belfast as part of this response, highlighting the strong links between sociologists across the island, and participants were invited to join with us in strengthening those links further.

Speakers

Keynote Speakers
Dr. Nicola Ingram (Lancaster University) – ​​Working-Class Boys and Educational Success: teenage identities, masculinities and urban schooling

Plenary
Dr David Landy (Trinity College Dublin) – Academic freedom in the Contemporary University

Programme

9.30-10.30
Registration & Coffee

10.30
Parallel Sessions

1.1 Immigration and Racism
Ewa Malczuk (WIT) Accent perception in the integration process of Polish nationals in Ireland.
Paul O’Dwyer (WIT) Institutional Racism and the Irish Workplace: An Exploration.
Philip Ryan (UCD) Joining the everyday nation: A study of naturalisation rates and attitudes towards immigration.

1.2 Children and Young People (Room )
Melaine Labor (TCD) New insights or the same old story? Young people’s understandings of youth suicide.
Marianne O’Kane Boal (IT Sligo) Why have the links between children, food and friendship remained largely unexplored?

Plenary
Dr David Landy (Trinity College Dublin) – Academic freedom

Parallel sessions

2.1 Education
Aoife Gallagher (IT Sligo) Supporting the Bereaved Child within Early Years Settings – is there a need?
Michelle Starr (University of Limerick) The Discourse and Practice of ‘Parent Choice’ in Primary School Patronage in Ireland.
Craig Skerritt (DCU) The code for success? Using a Bernsteinian perspective on sociolinguistics to accentuate working-class students’ underachievement in the Republic of Ireland.

2.2. Neo-liberalism and social policy
Martina McAuley (QUB) Til Debt Do Us Part: Our relationship with debt in the neoliberal era.
Philip Finn and Richard Healy (NUI Maynooth) ‘Methadone or my money’: The competing governmentalities of Irish drug services and welfare activation.
Marta Antonetti (UCD) Gender and Political Suitability in the Irish Dáil. – A Vignette Experiment on the Perception of Legislators’ Suitability for Office.

2.3 Risk and Precarity
Amelie Aidenberger (UCD) The contagiousness of norm violations: A relational approach
Kirsty Doyle (WIT) Precarious Work: Experiences of door supervisors working in the night-time economy.
Artur Pytlarz (DIT) Crime, Risk and Resilience in the Countryside: Context for Research on Rural Security in Ireland.

Keynote Speaker
Dr. Nicola Ingram (Lancaster University) – Working-Class Boys and Educational Success: teenage identities, masculinities and urban schooling

Parallel workshops:
Dr. Lucy Michael: Academic networks and Impact at every stage of the Ph.D.
Dr. Ciaran Burke: Preparing for the viva

Drinks Reception