Maynooth university Research Week

    Research Collaborations

    The Maynooth University Access Programme (MAP) turns 25 in the academic year 2023-24, with an established national reputation for increasing access to Maynooth University from communities furthest from higher education. MAP has also had an enormous impact on the institutional approach to equality, diversity and inclusion over the years. 

    To mark this silver jubilee milestone, MAP has worked with the Research Development Office on commissioning small research projects through the Network & Collaboration Support Fund. We received many collaborative research proposals related to the identified theme of widening participation at Maynooth over 25 years that will generate new knowledge with insights from an academic perspective.

    The review panel has selected 3 research projects that were announced during Maynooth University Research Week on 26 October 2023. 

     

     

    1.

    Dr Etain Quigley, School of Law and Criminology

    Neurodiversity: A Student Lived Experience at Maynooth University Through Images

    This project will generate data that will build upon data already collected in the area. The data from this project will be disseminated through a photo exhibition and will be accompanied with a presentation/workshop of the data from the first phase of the project (qualitative data generated from participatory global café's facilitated by neurodiverse MU students).

    Publications will also result from this project.
     

     

    2.

    Declan Markey, Department of Adult and Community Education

    From LaunchPad to LaunchPods: an exploration of Ukrainian colleges’ process of peer-led student support groups as a model for the MAP Ambassador programme

    This is a participatory action-research (PAR) project working with a collective of current and past MAP Ambassadors alongside the MU Ukrainian students society.

    The primary output of the research will be a proposed pilot programme of the LaunchPod model of student peer support, providing a step-by-step implementation guide for how to initiate and integrate the LaunchPod model into the MAP Ambassador programme for the following academic year.

    A secondary output will be a full report on the workshop process with an in-depth understanding and analysis of the strengths and challenges of the MAP Ambassador programme experience.
     

     

    3. 

    Dr. Joanne C. Masterson, Biology Department

    The lived academic experience of MAP in the Biological Sciences: A student and staff review and gap analysis

    The outcomes of this research will ensure that sufficient data is obtained to enable actions that will improve the lives of MAP students and the staff who work with them in the MU’s Biology Department. Data analysis, Academic Retrospective Review, lived experience questionnaires and focused student comparison.

    The outcomes of this assessment will determine whether recently introduced increases in CA and styles of CA are disadvantageous to any particular student group, including specific MAP groups.