Patricia Kennedy

I am a Lecturer in Social Policy in the School of Applied Social Studies at University College Cork. I am a member of the Management Committee of CA23103 - Life, liberty and health: ensuring universal protection of human rights at sea (BlueRights) https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA23103/. I am currently the Principal Investigator on an Irish Research Council of Ireland funded research project: 'Seafarers Support, developing a collaborative response to meeting the health and well-being of seafarers' in partnership with Cork Seafarers Christian Friend Society. My areas of interest include conceptual, theoretical and methodological approaches to social policy, equality, and diversity. I have published ten books which include 'Maternity Policy in an International Context, risk, rights and welfare regimes' (Routledge, 2015); 'Welcoming the Stranger, Irish Emigrant Welfare in Britain since 1957' (Irish Academic Press, 2015); 'Key Themes in Social Policy' (Routledge, 2013); 'Motherhood in Ireland; Creation and Context' (Mercier, 2004) and 'Maternity in Ireland: a Woman-centred Perspective' (Liffey Press, 2002). I co-edited several books in the UCD Press Social Policy Series, including: 'Contemporary Irish Social Policy' (2005 and 1999); 'Irish Social Policy in Context' (1999); 'Theorizing Irish Social Policy' (2004) and 'Ageing and Social Policy' (2008). I am currenlty editing a volume 'Irish Social Policy in the Twenty-first Century' which will be published in 2027. My research has focused on gender, equality, sexual and reproductive health rights, maternity policy and services, criminal justice, migration, gender-based violence and the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, Travellers and Roma.