National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Faculty Member, Department of Sociology

Senior Lecturer

About

My research centres on questions relating to families, households and social change.  I adopt a comparative-historical approach towards increasing our understanding of the changing shape of families and households in modern societies, with a particular emphasis on the Irish case. I have become increasingly interested in the potential of life history approaches for developing explanations of how and why people adopt innovative family life strategies in the context of changing social and economic environments.  Some of my publications may be found in the NUI Maynooth Library e-prints archive (see the link under 'Websites')

I am also the programme leader for the Irish Qualitative Data Archive (IQDA), housed in the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis at NUI Maynooth.  IQDA is the central access point for qualitative social science data in Ireland - interviews, pictures and other non-numerical material.  IQDA is currently funded as part of the Irish Social Science Platform by the Higher Education Authority under the national Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (Cycle 4).  See 'Websites' for a link to the IQDA home page.

Contact Information