About the research awards

This project aims to describe and analyse the shifting norms and forms of gay male sexuality in Ireland today.

The project will involve ethnographic fieldwork with a cross section of persons inhabiting the contemporary sexual world of gay men in Ireland, including participant observation, open ended interviewing and consultation. Grounded theory will be used to identify sociocultural forms in observational and interview data.

The project will be initiated on 1st April 2019 with an anticipated duration of 15 months.

This project aims to examine the preparation of primary and post-primary teachers to teach Relationships and Sexuality Education RSE.

TEACH-RSE seeks to investigate current perspectives on the development of teachers’ expertise, skills and competencies pertaining to Relationships and Sexuality Education at Initial Teacher Education and will make recommendations for improved practice.

A mixed methods approach including a review of literature and international practices; and primary research employing both qualitative and quantitative research approaches will be carried out.

The project will be initiated on 1st April 2019 with an anticipated duration of 15 months.

This project aims to inform gaps in the current HIV/STI surveillance system in Ireland, using a collaborative approach with key stakeholders with a view to building national consensus on the design of a national second generation surveillance system in Ireland.

This project comprises three key elements: an assessment of current surveillance systems; engagement with key stakeholders in national consensus-building; a feasibility study of agreed STI/HIV behavioural indicators.

Read the STI and HIV Behavioural Surveillance Report (PDF, 3.6 MB, 223 pages).

This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the ‘Smart Consent’ workshop intervention in changing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour relevant to consenting and non-consenting sexual activity; and ensure the sustainability of the Smart Consent intervention by developing training materials and working with stakeholders.

This research involved a randomised control trial of the workshops across four third level institutions in the Republic of Ireland.

Outputs from this award can be found here:

• 'Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of the SMART Consent Workshop on Sexual Consent for Third Level Students' (2017).

This project aims to explore the experiences of, and attitudes towards, prescription contraception amongst samples of contraception users, general practitioners (GPs) and pharmacists.

This project comprised a quantitative and a qualitative study. The quantitative aspect analysed data from the 2010 Irish Contraception and Crisis Pregnancy study (2012) to identify the key determinants of prescription contraception use, including oral contraceptive pills and long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs). The qualitative study included interviews with contraception users, GPs and pharmacists.

Outputs from this award can be found here:

• BMJ Open, 5 (8). (2015). 'Prescription contraception use: a cross-sectional population study of psychosocial determinants'.
• PLOS ONE, 12 (10). (2015). 'A Qualitative Study of Prescription Contraception Use: The Perspectives of Users, General Practitioners and Pharmacists'.

This project aims to systematically analyse sexual health behaviour data collected by the 2010 Irish Health Behaviours in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, which is the first nationally representative and internationally comparable adolescent data in Ireland.

This project comprises of three elements: a systematic analysis of sexual health behaviour data collected by the 2010 Irish Health Behaviours in School-aged Children (HBSC) study; a secondary analysis of the Irish Contraception and Crisis Pregnancy-2010 (ICCP-2010) study, and Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships (ISSHR) datasets; and a comparison of Irish data with international data.

Outputs from this award can be found here:

• BMC Public Health, 18 (362). 'Sexual intercourse, age of initiation and contraception among adolescents in Ireland: findings from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Ireland study'.
• BMC Medical Research Methodology, 16 (169). (2016). 'Sexual Health questions included in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Study: an international methodological pilot investigation'.
• National Institute of Health Sciences Bulletin, 7 (1). (2014). 'Contraceptive Methods Used by Sexually Active Irish Adolescents'.
• National Institute of Health Sciences Bulletin, 7 (2), (2014). 'Consulting stakeholders about dissemination'.

This project aims to identify social factors relating to the trends outlined in the title; highlight areas for future research; and inform future policy and health service development in the areas of sexual health and crisis pregnancy.

The project involved the secondary analysis of three national sexual health datasets: the Irish Contraception and Crisis Pregnancy Study-2003 (2004); the Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships (2006); and the Irish Contraception and Crisis Pregnancy Study-2010 (2012). 

Outputs from this award can be found here:

• Sex Education, 13 (4). (2013). 'Parental involvement in sexuality education: advancing understanding through an analysis of findings from the 2010 Irish Contraception and Crisis Pregnancy Study'.
• Sex education,14 (3). (2014). Sex education, first sex and sexual health outcomes in adulthood: findings from a nationally representative sexual health survey'.
• Reproductive Health, 12 (14). (2015). 'Factors associated with crisis pregnancies in Ireland: findings from three nationally representative sexual health surveys'.
• Royal College of Surgeons Ireland. (2013). 'Sex in Ireland in the last decade: sexual health research and its policy implications'.