Professor Pat Dolan

Professor Pat Dolan is joint founder and Director of the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre and the Higher Diploma/Masters Degree in Family Support Studies, which has now evolved into the MA in Lifecourse Studies.

For over 20 years Professor Dolan has had an active interest as a practitioner, service manager, and academic and has completed an extensive body of research on family issues including longitudinal research on adolescents, their perceived mental health, resilience and social support networks. His additional research interests include Family Support, Reflective Practice and Service Development, Youth Mentoring Models, Adolescents Resilience and Social Networks, Civic Engagement in Children and Youth.

In October 2008, Prof. Pat Dolan was appointed UNESCO Chair in Children, Youth and Civic Engagement at NUI, Galway. The UNESCO Chair, the first to be awarded in the Republic of Ireland, delivers a comprehensive programme of work with the objective of promoting civic engagement and leadership skills among children and youth by providing relevant expertise in research, teaching, policy and good practice.

In September 2011, Prof. Pat Dolan was appointed as a member of a new Government Task Force, named by Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald, TD. The Task Force has been established to advise the Government on the necessary transition programme in establishing a dedicated Child & Family Support Agency. 

Supervision of Research

Ph.D. students

1. Danielle Kennan: Accessing Young People for Participation in Research: An Inclusive Approach.

2. Aileen Shaw: Investing in Youth Civic Engagement: Benefits to Society and the Funding Patterns of Nonprofits.

3. Sheila McArdle: A Youth-Centred Exploration with Rural and Urban Zambian Youth Regarding Their Perceptions of Civic Engagement, Gender and Community.

4. Tereza Brumovská: International Comparative Research on the Big Brothers Big Sisters Youth Mentoring Programme in Ireland and the Czech Republic.

5. Tanja Kovacic: Narratives on Civic Participation and Resilience: Contextual, Cultural and Generational Understanding of the Phenomena in the Republic of Slovenia.

6. Lisa O’Reilly: An Exploration of the Use of Play in Social Work Assessments with Children.

7. Sue Redmond: An Explorative Study to Establish the Association Between Leadership Skills, Resilience and Social Support.

8. Cormac Forkan (completed in July 2010): Building Evidence on How to Support Adolescents through a Comparative Tracking of their Perceived Social Support Outcomes.

9. Concepta Killoran (completed in October 2010) Methodology and Evidence in Evaluation: Lessons from a Randomised Control Trial of a Youth Mentoring Programme in Ireland.

10. Carmel Devaney (completed in July 2011) Family Support as an Approach to Working with Children and Families in Ireland: An Explorative Study of Past and Present Perspectives Among Pioneers and Practitioners.

Prof. Pat Dolan has also supervised over twenty-five Master students in Family Support, Social Work and Community Development postgraduate programmes and in addition students from undergraduate degree programmes since 2003.

Selected Publications

Frost, N. and Dolan, P. (2012) The Theoretical Foundations of Family Support Work in Davies, M. (ed.) Social Work with Children and Families, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 40-49.

Dolan, P. and Brady, B. (2011) A Guide to Youth Mentoring; Providing Effective Social Support. London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Dolan, P. (2011) Travelling through Social Support and Youth Civic Action on a Journey towards Resilience in Ungar, M. (ed.) Social Ecology of Resilience, Springer. 

Dolan, P. Gundara, J. and King, L. (2011) The Role of Research for the Promotion of Rights and Values in Education: A Commemorative Paper - 60 Years into Human Rights Education, in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (ed.) Contemporary Issues in Human Rights Education, Paris, France: UNESCO, pp. 11-27.

Kennan, D. and Dolan, P. (2010) Inclusive Education: Aiminng for No One Less. SangSaeng. (A Publication by the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding under the Auspices of UNESCO). No. 29, Winter 2010.

Dolan, P. (2010) Children’s Rights in Ireland: A Current Perspective on Implementation, from a Past Lens with a View to the Future in O'Connell. D. (ed.) The Irish Human Rights Law Review, Dublin: Clarus Press, pp. 177-191.

Dolan P. (2010) Youth Civic Engagement and Support: Promoting Wellbeing with the Assistance of a UNESCO Agenda in McAuley, C. and Rose, W. (eds.) Child Well-Being; Understanding Children’s Lives, London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, pp.111-126.

Dolan, P. and Holt, S. (2010) Great Expectations: The Tension Between what Service Users Need and what Practitioners Can Deliver. Administration, Vol. 58, No. 2, pp. 99-123.

Featherstone B. and Dolan, P. (2010) Family Support, Highlight no. 255, London: National Children’s Bureau.

Brady, B. and Dolan, P. (2009) Youth Mentoring as a Tool for Community and Civic Engagement: Reflections on Findings of an Irish Research Study. Community Development, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 359-366.

Dolan, P. (2008) Social Support, Social Justice, and Social Capital: A Tentative Theoretical Triad for Community Development. Community Development, Vol 39, No. 1, pp. 112- 119.

Click here for a full list of publications

Selected Conferences

Dolan, P. (2011) The Family in Ireland 2011. Challenge or Opportunity?. BPW National Conference, Meyrick Hotel, Galway, 22 September 2011.

Dolan, P. (2011) Improving Children’s Lives: Outcomes, Partnership and Planning. Children's Lives Centre for Effective Education, School of Education, Queen’s University Belfast, 14 September 2011.

Dolan, P. (2011) Keynote address Reflective Practice in Personal Reality. Critical Perspectives on Professional Learning. Fifth Annual Conference. The University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, 13 June 2011.

Dolan, P. (2011) Lessons Learnt from Existing Approaches to Promote Dialogue and Understanding and Enhance Youth Involvement. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Dialogue and Mutual Understanding across Generations, Doha, Qatar, 8-9 March 2011.

Dolan, P. (2011) Family Parnership. The National Federation of Voluntary Bodies
"Family Leadership & Partnership-Supporting and Empowering People", Tullamore Court Hotel, 19 January 2011. 

Dolan, P. (2010) IPRT - Shifting Focus: From Criminal Justice to Social Justice. Building Better and Safer Communities. Irish Penal Reform Trust Conference 2010, Dublin, 23 September 2010.

Dolan, P. (2010) Overview: A Youth-Centred Exploratory Study with Rural and Urban Zambian Youth Regarding their Perceptions of Civic Engagement, Gender and Community. Pathways to Resilience II: The Social Ecology of Resilience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 7–10 June 2010.