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Dr. Louise Caffrey

Assistant Professor in Social Policy (Social Studies)

 LOUISE.CAFFREY@tcd.ie

 


Biography

Louise is an Assistant Professor in Social Policy in the School of Social Work and Social Policy at Trinity College Dublin. She holds a PhD in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where she was awarded an LSE PhD Scholarship to undertake her research. Louise also holds a Full Post-Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching (PGCHE) from the LSE, an MSc in Applied Social Research from Trinity College Dublin and a BA (International) in Political Science and History from University College Dublin (UCD). Immediately prior to joining Trinity College Louise worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Division of Health and Social Care, King's College London, and prior to entering academia she worked as a research consultant, delivering numerous reports for government and NGO clients in Ireland and the UK. Louise is coordinator of the (online) PGDip in Social Policy & Practice where she also teaches 'Contemporary Social Policy Debates & Analysis'. She teaches 'Evaluation Research' on the MSc in Applied Social Research and 'Critical Analysis & Argument Development' on the BA Sociology & Social Policy & BA Social Studies. Externally, Louise (with Dr. Edurne Garcia Iriarte) teaches evaluation methods to United Nations staff.

Research Projects

 Realist Synthesis of Signs of Safety

Representations

Details Date
Louise is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Authority. Further information at: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/individuals/fellowship Since 2013
Louise is an Associate on the K4U Horizon 2020 Study, led by Prof. Nancy Cartwright at Durham University. K4U's aim is to construct a radically new picture of how to use social science to build better policies. Further information: https://www.dur.ac.uk/k4u/ . March 2016 to present
UNICEF Reference Group for Review of Child Protection Systems in Four Countries in South Asia. I am providing guidance to the project on the use of a systems approach. February 2017 to November 2017
Caffrey, Louise, How everyone's business can become no one's business: a systems study of interprofessional referral to child contact centres , Journal of Children & Youth Services Review , 109, 2020, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  URL
Caffrey, Louise, Ferlie, Ewan, McKevitt, Christopher, The strange resilience of new public management: the case of medical research in the UK's national health service, Public Management Review, 2018, p1-22 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI
Weinrot, M., Caffrey, L., McKevitt, C., Patient-initiated recruitment for clinical research: evaluation of an out-patient letter research statement, Health Expectations, 2017, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Caffrey, L & Munro, E, A Systems Approach to Policy Evaluation, Evaluation, 23, (4), 2017, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  URL
Love, S., Brown, S., Weir ,C., Harbron, C., Yap, C., Gaschler-Markefski, B., Matcham, J., Caffrey, L., McKevitt, C., Clive, S., Craddock, C., Spicer, J., & Cornelius, V., Embracing model-based designs for dose-finding trials, British Journal of Cancer, 2017, p332 - 339, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Caffrey, L., Wyatt, D., Fudge, N., Mattingley, H., Williamson, C. & McKevitt, C. , Gender Equity Programmes in Academic Medicine: a realist evaluation approach to Athena SWAN processes, BMJ OPEN, 6, (9), 2016, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI  URL
Caffrey, L., McKevitt, C., & Wolfe, C. , Embedding Research in Health Systems: lessons from complexity theory, Health Research Policy and Systems, 14, (54), 2016, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  URL
Caffrey, L. (2016) , The BMJ's stance on qualitative research is epistemologically naïve, BMJ, 352, 2016, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Caffrey, L. , The Importance of Perceived Organisational Goals: A Systems Thinking Approach to Understanding Child Safeguarding in the Context of Domestic Abuse, Child Abuse Review, 2015, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  URL
Adams, M., Caffrey. L. & McKevitt, C. , Barriers and opportunities for enhancing patient recruitment and retention in clinical research: findings from an interview study in an NHS academic health science centre, Health Research Policy and Systems, 13, (8), 2015, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
  

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Awards and Honours

Award Date
LSE PhD Scholarship 2010-2014
UCD Entrance Scholarship 2002

Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

Louise's research interests centre on substantive areas of social policy as well as questions of research methodology. Substantively, Louise's research focuses on the challenges organisational complexity presents for policy implementation and organisational safety; theorising service-user engagement; and investigating the intended and unintended consequences of public management approaches. Louise's research has investigated these issues in both child & family services and health services. Louise has published in the areas of child protection, child contact, inter-professional working, domestic violence, health research systems, welfare to work policy, public management and gender equity initiatives. Methodologically Louise specialize in conceptual frameworks that seek to address organizational complexity, including systems approaches and Realist Evaluation.