FUNDING

The Irish Social Sciences Platform was established under the Fourth Cycle of the Irish Government's Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (the PRTLI is funded by the Higher Education Authority under the National Development Plan).  CROLS's programme falls within the "Sustaining Communities" strand of ISSP and focuses on how, inter alia, supportive interaction across social networks helps people deal with challenges in their lives.  The funding supports a programme of research, including four CROLS PhD scholarships [PI: Brian Hughes.  Other contributors: Niamh Higgins, Jack James, Eimear Lee, Lorraine McDonagh, Eanna O'Leary, Todd Morrison, Ian Stewart]. 
  

The Health Research Board currently funds a major research project as well as some additional activities.  The major project is concerned with the effect that amount of sleep has on mood and blood pressure.  In particular, the research seeks to shed light on a long-standing puzzle concerning the effects of sleep duration on heart health.  The grant award supports an extensive programme of research, a Post-doctoral Research Fellow, and a Research Assistant [PI: Jack James; Other contributors: Siobhan Howard, Brian Hughes, Eanna O'Leary].

Through the award of student scholarships, the HRB is also supporting a separate research project examining the impact of psychological factors and social support on heart health and well being in occupational settings [PIs: Siobhan Howard, Brian Hughes, Sinead Lydon, Kevin Marshall].    

The Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences has supported a number of projects on psychological causes, contributors, and consequences of stress.  These included studies of workaholism in occupational settings and aspects of the Type D personality construct [PIs: Siobhan Howard, Brian Hughes]. 
  

The Irish Heart Foundation funded a major two-year laboratory-based study on the impact of positive and negative social interactions on the experience of psychological stress, and its consequent effect on blood pressure [PI: Brian Hughes; other contributor: Siobhan Howard]. 
  

The Department of Health & Children and the Health Services Executive part-funded a conference on Law and Mental Health, in November 2007 [Organiser: Ursula Connolly].  The conference explored a range of topics including social factors that are barriers to having good mental health or barriers to recovery and examined whether law can contribute to removing such barriers. The conference also addressed key issues that impact on mental health, such as respect for human rights, the role of advocacy, workplace issues relating to discrimination and the responsibilities of employers for mental injury at work.  The conference was co-hosted with the Faculty of Law and the Disability Law & Policy Research Unit.

CROLS was part of a consortium of social science and humanities research centres that was awarded a large-item equipment grant by the Higher Education Authority to procure a computer server in support of social science and humanities researchers at NUI Galway.

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