Dr. Caitríona Ní Laoire joined the School of Applied Social Studies in 2012, having previously held positions in UCC in the Institute for Social Sciences in the 21st Century (ISS21) and the Department of Geography.

Caitríona’s research interests lie in the areas of migration, children and young people, rurality, gender, equality and identities and in the use of qualitative research methods such as life narrative and children-centred methods. She has conducted research on child and youth migration and her recent research explores the experiences and identity processes of children who have moved to Ireland with their return migrant parent(s), focusing in particular on family and peer dynamics, negotiations of inclusion/exclusion and identities, and on relationships with place. She has also conducted research on contemporary rural social change and rural gendered identities in the Irish context. Caitríona has a particular interest in issues of equality in academic labour markets and is involved in GENOVATE, a new FP7-funded European project on gender equality in research and innovation.

Caitríona completed a PhD on migration and life-path formation among Irish rural youth at the University of Liverpool in 1997, and after that she held academic and research positions at Edge Hill College (Lancashire), Queens University Belfast and NUI Maynooth and joined UCC in 2003.