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Dr. Catherine Conlon

Associate Professor (Social Studies)
Head Of School (Sch Office - Social Work & Social Policy)
      
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Dr. Catherine Conlon

Associate Professor (Social Studies)

 conlonce@tcd.ie

 

Head Of School (Sch Office - Social Work & Social Policy)


I am Associate Professor Social Policy and currenly PI of HEA North South Research Programme funded project exploring Reproductive Citizenship on the island of Ireland post Repeal in the Republic and decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland, entitled ReproCit for short. My research focuses on reproduction policy and the social politics of reproduction and its effects on positionality and the gendered ordering of roles and relations and engages qualitative methodologies informed by critical, post-humanist perspectives. I publish on abortion seeking, concealing pregnancy, care and intergenerational relations and methodologies. I was PI (2019-2022) of the Unplanned Pregnancy and Abortion Care (UnPAC) study, designated the service user data strand informing the statutory review of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. I also served as expert academic adviser to the Independent Chair of the Review and appeared twice before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health considering the Review. I currently hold the HEA North South Research Project Award ReproCit researching how differing pathways to legalising abortion on the island of Ireland 2018-19 are shaping empirical formations of reproductive citizenship, being carried out with Dr Kate Antosik-Parsons in TCD and Dr Fiona Bloomer and Dr Emma Campbell at University of Ulster. I am highly engaged by debates and developments in methodologies for knowing the social world and qualitative methodologies in particular and my practice includes Constructivist Grounded Theory, Voice Centred Relational Methods, What's the Problem Representation (WPR) and post-humanist/post-qualitative informed creative inquiry. I was invited by Prof Kathy Charmaz to contribute exemplars of my work for the second edition of her best-selling textbook. My commitment to trans disciplinary and creative research practice saw me forge a collaboration with the wonderful Prof Evangelia Rigaki in the School of Music to translate material from my PhD research concerning women concealing pregnancy into an Opera Performance The Pregnant Box for Trinity College Dublin Discover Research Night 2014 (see Conlon and Rigaki, 2024). My peer reviewed publications comprise journal articles, book chapters, co-edited book and policy reports. My outputs feature across top ranking social science and inter-disciplinary journals e.g., Gender & Society, Qualitative Health Research, BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health and Qualitative Research indicative of their broad intellectual scope and appeal. My book chapters are published by Bloomsbury, Sage and Cork University Press. I am Sole/Senior author on 11 policy commissioned reports for: Crisis Pregnancy Agency/HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme, the Department of Health, the Equality Authority, the Women's Health Council and the Combat Poverty Agency. I teach across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and supervise Masters and PhD students. Core module curricula I have designed and taught include: Regulating Reproductive Bodies (from 24/25); Introduction to Social Policy; Principles of Social Policy; Families and Society; Ageing and Intergenerational Relations; Research Design and Research Methodologies for Practitioners. I welcome inquiries and applications from PhD applicants in the areas of reproduction policy, sexual and reproductive politics, policy and rights and inter-generational relations.
Project Title
 Research with Parents
From
December 2013
To
April 2015
Summary
Commissioned by the Health Service Executive (HSE) Crisis Pregnancy Programme, this project explores how parents of children aged 4-9 communicate with their children regarding the body, relationships and sexuality. The project employs Constructivist Grounded Theory principles using focus group interviews in a project intended to inform the commissioning body in developing policies and initiatives promoting positive sexual health and well-being.
Funding Agency
Health Service Executive (HSE) Crisis Pregnancy Programme
Project Type
Applied Policy Research
Project Title
 Changing Generations
From
July 2011
To
July 2013
Summary
Postdoctoral Research Fellow on Changing Generations research project. Atlantic Philanthropies funded inter-Institutional project involving Social Policy and Ageing Research Centre, School of Social Work and Social Policy, TCD (Prof Virpi Timonen (PI) and Dr Catherine Conlon) and Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, NUI Galway (Prof Tom Scharf (PI) and Dr Gemma Carney). The project explored intergenerational solidarity in Ireland through Constructivist Grounded Theory methods using 100 qualitative interviews with women and men aged 18-102. Prof Kathy Charmaz who pioneered the method was International Adviser to the project. I lead authored three of the six peer reviewed publications generated by this project to date.
Funding Agency
Atlantic Philanthropies

Details Date From Date To
International Federation of Abortion and Contraception Professionals (FIAPAC) June 2022 Ongoing
British Sociological Association 2005 Ongoing
Sociological Association of Ireland 2005 Ongoing
Áine B. Mannion and Catherine Conlon, The vagina problem: a step too far in parent"child sex communication with young children, Sex Education, 25, (3), 2025, p1 - 14, p376-389 , Notes: [https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2024.2342880], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  URL
Petautschnig C., Timonen V., Elliott O'Dare C., Conlon C., "I'm Going to Put on Bright Clothes now" The Process and Social Dimensions of Resilience Among Older Adults, Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 2025, p1 - 25, p1-25 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Conlon C., Antosik-Parsons K., Butler E., Experiences of the Irish model of community medical abortion: adherence to self-managed, people-centred abortion care, Irish Political Studies, 40, (1), 2025, p6 - 28, p6-28 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Timonen V, Foley G, Conlon C., Quality in qualitative research: a relational process, Qualitative Research Journal, 2025, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Flynn, S.,Caffrey, L.,Antosik-Parsons, K.,Whiting, S., Byrne, J. and Conlon, C., New-Materialist Bricolage: Presenting an Ontological Position for Qualitative Internet-Based Research, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 28, (2), 2025, p179 - 192, Notes: [DOI: 10.1080/13645579.2024.2329430], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  URL
What is the Future of Institutional Aged Care in China? A Systematic Review of the Attitudes of Chinese People toward Institutional Aged Care in, editor(s)Wu, J and Liupp, C , Aged Care in Context and Across Disciplines: China and Nordic Regions in Focus, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024, pp16 - 32, [Wenyu Li, Catherine Elliott O"Dare and Catherine Conlon], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Variants of abortion exceptionalism: mapping adherence to healthcare standards in high-income countries in, editor(s)Zagel, H. , Reproduction Policy in the Twenty-First Century, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2024, pp86 - 101, pp86-101 , [Conlon C.], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  DOI
Pregnant Box: What Happens When Opera Enacts an Embodied Analysis of Concealing Pregnancy in, editor(s)Helen Kara , The Bloomsbury Handbook of Creative Research Methods, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2023, [Catherine Conlon and Evangelia Rigaki], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text
Greene Jo, Butler Éadaoin, Conlon Catherine, Antosik-Parsons Kate, Gomperts Rebecca, Seeking online telemedicine abortion outside the jurisdiction from Ireland following implementation of telemedicine provision locally, BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health, 48, (4), 2022, p259 - 266, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI
Spillane, A., Taylor, M., Henchion, C., Venables, R. and Conlon, C. , Early abortion care during the COVID-19 public health emergency in Ireland: Implications for law, policy, and service delivery. , International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 154, 2021, p379 - 384, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
  

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Conlon, Catherine, Unplanned Pregnancy and Abortion Care (UnPAC) Study, Health Service Executive, Dublin, July, 2022, p1 - 298, Report, PUBLISHED
Conlon, C, Supporting Parents Communicating with Children Aged 4-9 Years about Relationships, Sexuality and Growing Up, 27, Dublin, HSE, January, 2018, p1 - 112, Report, PUBLISHED
O'Dare, CE, Timonen, V, Conlon, C, Forum Article Intergenerational Friendship: Challenging the Dominance of Age Homophily in Friendship, Ageing and Society, 2017, p1 - 16, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
The Fragility of Respectability of Lone Mothers in, editor(s)Quilty, A, Kennedy, S, Conlon, C , The Abortion Papers Ireland: Volume 2, Cork, Attic Press, 2015, pp228 - 243, [Conlon, C], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Scharf, T., Timonen, V., Conlon, C. and Carney, G., Changing Generations - Findings from new research on intergenerational relations in Ireland, Dublin and Galway, Trinity College Dublin and National University of Ireland Galway, April, 2013, 20 pp., Report, PUBLISHED
Conlon, C, O'Connor, J and Ni Cathain, S, Attitudes to Fertility, Sexual Health and Motherhood amongst a Sample of Migrant Women Living in Ireland, Dublin, Crisis Pregnancy Agency, 2012, Report, PUBLISHED
Conlon, C, The situation concerning homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in Ireland: Sociological Country Report, Dublin, Publisher European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, March, 2009, Report, PUBLISHED
Walsh, J, Conlon, C, FitzPatrick, B, Hansson, U, Enabling Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Individuals to access their Rights under Equality Law, Belfast, The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland And The Equality Authority, November, 2007, p1 - 193, Report, PUBLISHED
Conlon, C, Concealed Pregnancy: A case-study approach from an Irish setting, Dublin, August, 2006, p1 - 204, Report, PUBLISHED
Barry, U, Conlon, C, Murphy, S, National expert assessment of the gender perspective in the National Report on Strategies for Social Protection and Social Inclusion 2006 - The Irish National Report, 2006, Working Paper, PUBLISHED

  


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Award Date
UCD Ad Astra Doctoral Research Scholarship 2006-2010
Crisis Pregnancy Agency Phd Scholarship 2007-2010
My research focuses on the social politics of reproduction and stands out for advanced application of qualitative methodologies. I am the leading expert on understanding how regulating abortion shapes experiences of seeking and accessing abortion care which I am currently applying to advance the concept of reproductive citizenship. In 2022 I was awarded a HEA North-South Research Programme Project Award to apply my novel conceptualisation of Reproductive Citizenship empirically on a comparative all-Island basis. My articulation of reproductive citizenship earned me an invitation from University of Newcastle to join an international research consortium addressing the place of reproductive justice in the just transition. We are one of nine consortia shortlisted by the British Academy for three Global Convening Programme 2023 awards. My research is strongly impacting national reproductive health policy. The HSE commissioned me to study service user experiences of newly legalised abortion healthcare during 2019-2021 with findings informing service planning and implementation. The Department of Health designated this study the service user data strand informing the 2022 statutory review of legislation regulating abortion. In February 2022 I was appointed Expert Academic Advisor to the Independent Chair of the Review by the Department of Health. My research is generating a steep citations trajectory, high impact publications, competitive research awards, invitations to collaborate in international consortia, translation into policy and media and excellent potential. I have been awarded over €500,000 in grants since entering post in 2015 as well as a Provosts Project Award 2021. My outputs feature across top ranking social science and inter-disciplinary journals e.g., Qualitative Research (IF: 3.14), Qualitative Health Research (IF: 3.0) and Gender & Society (IF: 2.8), indicative of their broad intellectual scope and appeal. My citations are rising steeply: a 5-fold increase on Google Scholar citations between 2017 and 2022 brings my h-index to 14.