Poverty Research Initiative

Thought Leadership, Evidence-Based Thinking, Policy Advice

Combat Poverty is the lead public body for promoting research on poverty in Ireland. It has developed the Poverty Research Initiative to support independent, policy-relevant research, with the twin aims of promoting public understanding of poverty and informing the development of policy frameworks to tackle poverty, especially the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016.  It aims to provide thought leadership, inform evidence-based thinking and offer policy advice for relevant stakeholders.

Call for Proposals 2008

Proposals were invited from qualified individuals and organisations under four funding strands: Research Awards, Research Internships, Research Fellowships and Research Promotion Events. See below for details of each strand.

Research Themes 2008

Specific research priorities under the 2008 call for proposals were:

• Using EU SILC data to analyse and measure specific aspects of poverty, or the prevalence of poverty among social groups
• Exploring the links between atypical/low-paid work and poverty
• Exploring the links between educational disadvantage and poverty, particularly the role of investment in quality services and its impact, or the costs of education at primary and secondary level
• Identifying and clarifying the role of new forms of rights-based ‘activation’ (e.g. active citizenship) to address poverty and related concerns
• Exploring the public perceptions of and attitudes to poverty in the current Irish economic and social context
• Exploring the links between poverty and the social determinants of health, particularly in terms of poor health outcomes
• Exploring the rural dimensions of poverty, especially to identify gaps in understanding and inform policy developments.

Proposals were also welcome if they contributed to the evidence-base and/or informing policy development in relation to:

• New and emerging forms of poverty, especially those relating to consumption
• Policy and/or service delivery aspects of developmental welfare state and life cycle approaches
• And/or effectiveness of anti-poverty and social inclusion policies.    

Research Awards

These awards are provided for new research on poverty undertaken by established researchers in third-level institutions, not-for profit research bodies and non-governmental organisations.  The funding provides research resources to gather and analyse data relating to poverty and policy.  There are two categories under this strand: Flagship Research Projects and Specialist Research Projects. 

Information Note:
Application Form:

Closing Date: 18 January 2008. CLOSED: no further applications accepted.

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Research Internships

The internships are provided for postgraduates, post-doctoral social research students and social researchers to contribute to the research programme of Combat Poverty.  There are two categories under this strand:  Postgraduate Internships and Research Fellowships, both based in Combat Poverty's offices in Islandbridge.

Post-Graduate Internship

Two post-graduate internships are offered for post-graduate students qualifying with a research or social policy Masters degree in 2008.  It provides students with an opportunity to apply their academic research skills by contributing to Combat Poverty’s research and policy work through assisting in commissioned and in-house research projects, undertaking qualitative and quantitative research analysis and contributing to policy development.

Information Note:
Application Form:

Research Fellowship

The research fellowship supports qualified social researchers who have some employment experience, post-graduate qualification or are completing / have completed a doctorate.  The focus of the Fellowship is to undertake a 6-month study on an aspect of poverty using the EU Survey of Income and Living Conditions or other national data sources.

Information Note:
Application Form:

Closing Date: 29 February 2008. CLOSED: no further applications accepted.

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Academic Research Fellowships

These fellowships support postgraduate students and individuals in the public sector and non-governmental organisations to undertake individual studies on poverty and policy at third-level institutions.  There are three categories under this strand: PhD Fellowship, Visiting Research Fellowship at the Policy Institute, Trinity College Dublin, and Civil Society Research Scholarship at University College Dublin.

PhD Fellowship

Information Note:
Terms & Conditions:
Application Form:

Closing Date: 29 February 2008. CLOSED: no further applications accepted.

Civil Society Research Scholarship

The Civil Society Research Scholarship is part of the UCD Egalitarian World Initiative (EWI). It is designed to support people based in non-governmental organisations who are actively working for social change on issues relating to poverty, social exclusion and social justice. The EWI civil society research scholarship offers the opportunity to reflect on and write about this work from a research perspective while being part of a university wide network of academics and located in an appropriate centre or school in UCD.

Information Note:
Application Form:

Closing Date: 27 June 2008. CLOSED: no further applications accepted.

Visiting Research Fellowship

The VRF offers the opportunity to pursue a specific piece of policy-oriented poverty research for a four- to six-month period while based in The Policy Institute, Trinity College Dublin.

This scheme supports poverty and policy research which is directly related to Irish public policy and which might not normally be considered for funding by mainstream sources.  Proposals that are of an applied nature or which contain a comparative dimension are welcome.  Studies should be from a social science background, such as economics, sociology, political science, social policy or applied social studies.

Information Note:
Application Form:

Closing Date: 29 February 2008. CLOSED: no further applications accepted.

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Research Promotion Events

Funding is available for research promotion events at a national or regional level. These events provide an opportunity to facilitate the public dissemination of research outputs under the Poverty Research Initiative and foster exchanges of learning. Events can take the form of conferences, roundtables, workshops or other similar formats.

Information Note:
Expression of Interest Form:

Closing Date: 18 January 2008. CLOSED: no further applications accepted.

The outputs of research funded under the Poverty Research Initiative are published online as research working papers: go to the Working Papers section of our publications catalogue to view papers published to date.

Information on previous funding awards under the Poverty Research Initiative is available here:

Download the 2008 Poverty Research Initiative brochure in PDF format:

Queries on the Poverty Research Initiative may be directed to Joanne Mulholland, Research Administrator at research@combatpoverty.ie or telephone 01 602 6633.

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