National Launch of Marie Curie Programme in FP7
21st May 2007, Crowne Plaza Hotel and Conference Centre, Santry, Dublin 9
INCOMING INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP
Dr. Kelly Johnson
National Institute for Learning Disability
Trinity College Dublin
"Doing Disability Research: No longer researching about us without us"
The National Institute for Intellectual Disability (NIID), has three major aims that promote Education, Research and Advocacy relevant to the needs of children and adults with learning disability as well as family members. At the core of the work of the NIID is inclusive research practice and within this context two Marie Curie Actions have been awarded. The first has seen Dr. Kelley Johnson, RMIT University Melbourne, Australia appointed as an Incoming International Fellow (IIF) to lead the project, Nothing about Us Without us. As part of this project people with learning disability are involved in learning about research skills as well as becoming involved in a series of research projects across Ireland. The aims of these projects are of importance to people with learning disability who previously have had research done to them rather that being part of the process. Research topics range from what it is like to be a student with a learning disability within a third level environment; to documenting how people with learning disabilities spend their free time; to evaluating community living within a group situation. Other people with learning disabilities are recording the details of their lives as part of learning about life history research.
To date the value of having a Marie Curie Incoming International Fellow (IIF) has been to raise consciousness not only within Trinity College but across other parts of Ireland to the need for research to focus on what people with learning disability, as well as other marginalised groups, see as relevant to their lives. At the same time inclusive research means people with learning disability having some ownership over the process, such as, being on an advisory committee or engaged as a co-researcher.
The TOK application was successful which will lead over the next four years to a number of international inclusive researchers transferring their knowledge to the NIID research team as well as associate Trinity staff. These researchers will work with the NIID team, inclusive of people with learning disability and family members, as a means of furthering the development of the team’s capacity to implement a series of national projects relevant to the expressed needs of people with the lived experience of disability. The TOK project aims to build a disability research culture where Doing Disability Research means No Longer Doing Research about Us without Us.
