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Dr. Owen Barden

Assistant Professor (Education)
      
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Dr. Owen Barden

Assistant Professor (Education)

 bardeno@tcd.ie

 


Owen is Assistant Professor in Intellectual Disability and Inclusive Post Secondary Education at the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities (TCPID) within the School of Education at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). He is the Course Co-ordinator for the highly innovative Level 5 Certificate in Arts, Science and Inclusive Applied Practice offered by TCPID. He is also Director of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning for the School of Education. Owen joined Trinity College Dublin in October 2024 after twelve years at the Centre for Culture and Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University. During that time he taught on a range of undergraduate and Masters programmes relating to disability studies in education and special educational needs. He was also Programme Director for the Professional Doctorate programme, which comprised awards in Education, Social Work, and Health & Social Care. Owen holds a Doctorate in Education awarded by the University of Sheffield in 2011, and this thesis project explored relationships between dyslexia, technology, literacies and learning. It passed without corrections. His most recent work has focussed on cultural histories of learning disability, and devising innovative and participatory methods for researching those histories. Current and future projects are building on this work through developing partnerships with academic researchers and advocacy groups in places like the Open University and the University of Iceland.
  archival research   Disability Inclusion   Education research   Inclusive Education   Inclusive pedagogy for adults with intellectual disabilities   Inclusive research   Learning disabilities   LEARNING DISABILITY   Literacy   Participatory Research Methods   philosophy of education   Qualitative research methods   Research Methods
Project Title
 Learning with Learning Disability
From
To
Summary
In press, with publication due July 2025, this book will make a contribution to the Autocritical Disability Studies series published by Routledge. The book aims to use the concept of "learning disability" to explore what it means to be human. Draws on evidence from disability studies, educational, moral and disability philosophy, cognitive psychology and the medical humanities to show how our understanding of what it means to be human is heavily dependent on our conceptualisations of intellectual disability.
Project Type
Monograph
Project Title
 Inside the History of Learning Difficulties
From
To
Summary
a two-year participatory learning disability history project, unique in combining conventional archival research techniques with participatory methods with learning-disabled researchers
Funding Agency
British Academy / JISC
Programme
Digital Research in the Humanities

Details Date From Date To
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 2013
IASSID Ethics and Intellectual Disability SIG Nov 2025 ongoing
XR in Career Guidance and Learning Dec 2025 ongoing
Centre for Culture and Disability Studies, Liverpool Hope University Sep 2012 ongoing
Social History of Learning Disability Research Centre (Open University, UK) 2017
Inclusive National Higher Education Forum (INHEF) October 2025
Consortium for Inclusion and Opportunity June 2025
Barden, O., Lynam, A., & Mc Guckin, C, Understanding employment and intellectual disability, Edward Elgar Publishing., 2026, Book, IN_PRESS
Participatory Historical Research with People with Learning Disabilities, David Bolt, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Disability Studies, 1st, New York, OUP, 2026, [Owen Barden], Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, IN_PRESS  TARA - Full Text  DOI
Aston, Des, Easler, Rebecca, Choileáin, Méabh Ní, Delaney, Paul, Barden, Owen, Lavan, Rosie, Mc Guckin, Conor, Shevlin, Michael, Lessons From an Irish University Co-Learning Pilot: Creating Mutual Learning in Shared Educational Spaces, Adult Learning, 2026, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Owen Barden, Learning with Learning Disability: what learning disability can teach us about being human, Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge, 2025, 1-166pp, Book, PUBLISHED  URL
Disability and Inclusion in, editor(s)Louis Tay and Beth McCuskey , The Oxford Handbook on Well-being in Higher Education, OUP, 2025, [Sarah Arduin], Book Chapter, IN_PRESS
Creating Inclusive University Experiences in, editor(s)C. Rogers-Shaw, T. Williams Park, K. Mohney, & K. Sheward , Fostering a Community of Success for Neurodivergent Collegiate Students, IGI Global, 2025, pp151 - 186, pp151-186 , [Aoife Lynam, Conor McGuckin, Jennifer Banks, Marie Devitt, Michael Shevlin, Des Aston, Barbara Ringwood, Eileen A. Murphy, Sadbh Feehan, Owen Barden, Vivian Rath, John Kubiak, Angela Mazzocco, Jill Woodnutt], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  DOI
Cultural Histories of Disability, Bennett, G., Goodall, E., Palgrave Encyclopedia of Disability., Cham, SUI, Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, [Owen Barden], Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI  URL
Owen Barden, Rhiannon Currie, Ian Davies, Helena Gunnarsdóttir, Jónína Hjartardóttir, Nathaniel Lawford, Jonathon Lyons, Sólveig Ólafsdóttir, Emily Oldnall, Sarah Oldnall, Guðrún Stefánsdóttir, Amber Tahir, Samantha Taylor, Liz Tilley, Katrín Tryggvadóttir, Steven J. Walden, Heather Watts , Clare Wright and Christine Wright, Emotionally entwined narratives: a polyphonic trialogue on learning disability history research, Frontiers in Sociology, 2025, pdoi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1401521 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI
Des Aston, Rebecca Easler, Méabh Ní Choileáin, Paul Delaney, Owen Barden, Rosie Lavan, Conor Mc Guckin, Michael Shevlin, "The Only Thing to Do": A Report on a Co-learning Pilot at Trinity, Trinity College Dublin, November, 2025, p1 - 48, Notes: [This report offers clear evidence that inclusive higher education is both achievable and beneficial, supporting Ireland"s commitments under the UNCRPD. It shows that students with intellectual disabilities can thrive in mainstream modules when learning is intentionally designed and properly supported, challenging deficit-based assumptions that shape policy. The report also highlights structural barriers, such as timetabling, that require system-level solutions. Overall, it provides a practical model to inform national strategy, funding decisions, and inclusive curriculum standards across the higher education sector.], Report, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI
Social Inclusion, 11, 1, (2023), n/a published onlinep, Ulf R. Hedetoft, [Lead editor, Special Issue "Disability and Social Inclusion: Lessons From the Pandemic"], 3 months, Journal, PUBLISHED
  

Page 1 of 3
Down Syndrome Ireland, Inclusion Ireland, Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities, WALK, A Joint Submission to the National Consultation on Post-Primary Guidance, The Consortium & National Consultation on Guidance, April, 2025, Notes: [The Department of Education wish to invite all stakeholders to participate in this consultation on post-primary guidance. This consultation will inform policy development on whole-school guidance, including the role of the guidance counsellor, in the short and medium term. This research will look at all aspects of whole-school guidance, including the role of the guidance counsellor. In particular, we welcome stakeholder perspectives on: the effectiveness of the guidance-allocation model in post-primary schools the proposed new guidelinesdocument on whole-school guidance], Report, PUBLISHED
Consortium for Inclusion and Opportunity, A Joint Submission to the National Consultation on Pathways to Work 2026-2030, September, 2025, p1 - 22, Report, PUBLISHED
Owen Barden, Review of Learning Disability and Everyday Life by Alex Cockain, Review of Learning Disability and Everyday Life, by Alex Cockain , Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 14, (1), 2025, p238"242 , Review, PUBLISHED
Changing social attitudes toward disability: perspectives from historical, cultural, and educational studies. in, editor(s)Bolt, D. , Dysrationalia: an institutional learning disability?, Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge, 2014, pp142 - 154, [Barden, O], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
McCoy, Selina; Smyth, Emer, Learning to Succeed, 2011, -, Notes: [Irish Examiner, 8 March 2011], Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED

  


Award Date
Liverpool University Press Reviewer of the Year 2024