St. Michael’s House and UCD celebrate ten year partnership

Issued 6 December 2019

UCD 2019

The partnership is dedicated to developing teaching and research in disability studies

 

UCD 2019St. Michael’s House and University College Dublin (UCD) have today celebrated a ten year partnership dedicated to research and teaching in disability studies. The partnership, formalised by a Memorandum of Understanding in 2009, marked the first time in Ireland that a disability service provider and a University formally agreed to take a

collaborative approach toward disability research.UCD 2019

 

 

To coincide with International Disability Day, the milestone was celebrated at the 'Improvement through Partnership: Promoting collaborative research in community intellectual disability services' seminar in UCD. Over the past ten years, the partnership has allowed for cost effective, practical improvements in service provision in St. Michael’s House and supports UCD’s wider research agenda.

Research is overseen by  multidisciplinary groups  from University College Dublin and  St. Michael’s House.UCD 2019

 

 

 

 

 

Commenting on the partnership with UCD, David Dunne, Interim CEO of St. Michael’s House said:

“We are delighted to celebrate ten years in partnership with UCD . Over the past decade, the partnership has yielded excellent results and has enabled us to bridge the gap between research and practice. The partnership has allowed for service providers and users to be involved in research to ensure that services are fit for purpose and meets the needs of the organisation. We look forward to continuing this partnership with UCD in the future and collaborating on larger projects to continue to improve our services.”

 Key milestones from the ten year collaboration

  • Annual scholarship awarded to a MPsychSc student, resulting in several service evaluations and publications
  • External research funding for large scale projects
  • Introduction and evaluation of new models of service within St. Michael’s House e.g. Key-working in Children & Young People’s services
  • Bi-annual internal research seminars that showcase impactful research projects
  • 13 research projects were presented at the 2019 World Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD) in Glasgow

 

The collaboration was led by Dr. Philip Dodd, Director of Research at St. Michael’s House and Dr. Suzanne Guerin, Deputy Director of the UCD Centre for Disability Studies.