Staff

Brian McGrath

Lecturer

Programme Director, MA in Community Development

PhD (Land Economy) University of Aberdeen
MA (Community Development) NUI Galway
BSc University College Cork

Office: 322 Aras Moyola
Telephone: 353 (0)91 493405
Email: brian.mcgrathnuigalway.ie

Member of the Governance and Sustainable Development Research Cluster and the Children, Youth and Families Research Cluster (the Child and Family Research Centre)

Profile

Brian is the Programme Director for the MA in Community Development. He teaches at undergraduate level on 'Development and Communities' and contributes towards the teaching programme and research supervision of the three taught MAs (Community Development, Social Work and Family Support). His recent research has focused on the social capital dimensions among Brazilian migrant parents in Gort, Co Galway, funded by the Child and Family Research Centre. In addition, as Research Associate with this Centre, he also collaborates with colleagues in the United States on community development, social support, culture and intergenerational relations. He is also a Research Collaborator with the Irish Health Behaviour in School Aged Children (HBSC) research programme with an interest in examining some of the rural and urban dimensions emerging from this data.

Teaching

Undergraduate:
Development and Communities
Social Problems and Policy Issues
1BA SP128-9 Tutorials
SP220-215 Second Year seminar

Postgraduate
Community Development Practice: Issues and debates
Techniques of Policy Research and Analysis/Research Methods
Issues in Community Development Practice
Understanding communities/studies in community

Research Interests

Cultural traditions and development; Migration; Rural Society and Change; Children/Young people and
Social Support; Intergenerational Relationships; and Community Governance.

Selected Publications

McGrath, B. (2010) Social capital in community, family and work lives of Brazilian migrant parents in Ireland, Community, Work & Family, vol. 13, no.4.

The paper examines a recent phenomenon of Brazilian migration to Ireland using social capital as a framework of analysis. The analysis specifically makes use of Portes and Sensenbrenner’s (1993; and Portes, 1998) typology of social capital sources: bounded solidarity, value introjection, reciprocity and enforceable trust.

McGrath, B. and F. Murray (2009) Brazilian migrants in Ireland: Emergent themes from research and practice on the significance of social networks and social capital Translocations: Migration & Social Change, vol. 5. p.1-20. ISSN No.: 2009-0420.

The paper provides detail on six significant substantive themes concerning the recent migration and social networks of Brazilians living in Gort, Co Galway: (i) language competency; (ii) that weak ties can be exploitatively driven; (iii) dense networks can generate exclusion and vulnerability; (iv) money and culture; (v) trustworthy leaders and intermediary groups; and (vi) children’s key role in bridging and linking for adults.

McGrath, B., Brennan, M., Dolan, P. and Barnett, R. (2009) Adolescent well-being and supporting contexts: a comparison of adolescents in rural Ireland and Florida’, Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 19, pp.299-320.[Accepted 26 June 2008] view online in Wiley InterScience (DOI: 10.1002/casp.998);

The purpose of this research was to examine the extent to which social support and wider community perceptions/engagements among adolescents are connected with well-being. We compared adolescents in two different societal contexts, Florida in the United States and County Offaly, in Ireland, and posed the questions: what are the key predictors of subjective well-being from the various sources of support, and to what extent does the impact of social support on well-being vary across these two societies?

B McGrath (2009) School disengagement and ’structural options’: Narrative illustrations on an analytical approach, YOUNG: Nordic Journal of Youth Research, Vol. 17(1): 81–101.Published by Sage Publications.

The purpose of the present paper is to outline and illustrate an analytical approach that accentuates the biographically complex processes inhering within early school leaving transitions. The organising device of ’structural option’ (Stones, 2001) is introduced, which brings into focus the role and interplay of types of ’structures’ (in a structurationist sense) in the decision-making processes underlying school exit.

B McGrath (2009) ’A growing concern: youth, sustainable lifestyle and livelihood in rural Ireland’, in J. McDonagh, T. Varley and S. Shortall (eds) A living countryside: the politics of sustainable development in rural Ireland, Ashgate: Aldershot.

McGrath, B. and NicGabhainn (2007) ’Worldviews Apart? Perceptions of Place among Rural, Farm and Urban Young People in Ireland’, Youth Studies Ireland, Vol. 2, No. 1, 17-31.

In this paper, we report findings from a national survey of 8,316 Irish young people in 2002, which reveals the ways in which socio-spatial context impacts on young people’s perceptions of the places in which they live and their views about the nature of certain ’social capital’ aspects of their local communities.

McGrath, B. and NicGabhainn (2007) ’Friendship patterns among rural, farm and urban children’, Administration, Vol. 55, No. 3, 205-226.

McGrath, B. (2006) ’Everything is different here…: Enhancing capabilities through inclusive education practices and relationships’, International Journal of Inclusive Education, Vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 595-614.

McGrath, B. (2004) ’Broadening the Parameters of Support: Exploring Community Development Perspectives on ’Family Support’ in the West of Ireland’, Administration, Vol. 52, no. 1 (Spring), pp. 69-91.

McGrath, B. (2002) ’Towards the Enablement of 'Unqualified' Rural Youth: A Structurationist Perspective on Socially Inclusive Policy Interventions', Journal of Youth Studies, Vol.5, No.3, September, pp. 291-312.

McGrath, B. (2001) ’A Problem of Resources: Defining Rural Youth Encounters in Education, Work and Housing’, Journal of Rural Studies, Vol. 17, No.4, pp. 481-495.

Supervision of Research

PhD
Anne O’Connor Walshe (co-supervision with Kevin Ryan), 2006-2009
Orla McGarry, commenced 2008
Anne Cassidy, commencing 2009

MLitt
Orla Leyden, 2008

MA (2006-9)
Phillip Vincent
Helen Duffy
Siobhan Mehigan
Emma Kennedy
Paul Dowling
Sheila Garrity
Grainne deStafort

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