1. ‘Atlantic Stories’: Learning from (large-scale)
evaluation - a researcher’s perspective
Prof. Sinéad McGilloway, Director, Centre for Mental Health
and Community Research, Maynooth University

2. Overview
• Background: our work/my role
• Early intervention and prevention research: Atlantic’s legacy
• Challenges
• Building on our success
• Conclusion

3. Our work
(2007-2013)
• ‘Incredible Years Ireland’ Evaluation (5 yrs)
• Process evaluation of youngballymun (3-4 yrs)
• Healthy Schools evaluation – CDI (3-4 yrs) (PI – Prof Catherine
Comiskey, TCD))
• Total amount of funding ≈ €1.8m
• All interdisciplinary and cross-institutional research (national and
international)

4. • Approx.150-200 peer-reviewed papers, book
chapters, conferences/public
presentations/seminars etc., PhD theses,
research reports, technical reports, summary
reports, briefing papers, protocols, policy briefs
and articles of professional interest
• Aimed at diverse range of national and
international audiences
• Substantial time and effort - some still ongoing
Our outputs
(all 3 projects)

5. Indirect outputs/impacts: some examples
• Two of our IY studies met the criteria for inclusion in (a
widely cited) Cochrane review on parenting interventions for
children with conduct problems aged 3-12 (Furlong et al, 2012)
(HRB Cochrane Fellowship)
- ranked 15th out of 2819 Cochrane reviews in terms of
‘public impact’ (all disciplines)
- >400 citations to date
- AM score of 120 which places it in the 99th percentile
and top 5% of all research outputs (>4.7m) ever tracked
by Altmetric
• These studies also included in two European pooling studies
involving large number of international collaborators (one
ongoing)
• ‘Research and Evaluation in Community, Health and Social
Care Settings’ (Guerin et al, 2018)

6. Creating unique opportunities
for engaged research
• Interdisciplinary research
• Collaborative community engagement/inquiry
aimed at understanding/investigating how best to
intervene early to improve the lives of children and
their families
• A community: service users,
professionals/practitioners, policy makers
civil and civic society organisations,
agencies and actors
• Continuum of engagement: e.g.
research design/planning,
collecting data, and dissemination
/knowledge translation

7. Engaged Research for Better Impact Report

9. Atlantic acknowledged and supported the
value of engaged research…
• BUT – traditionally, a lack of institutional
clarity/understanding about what constitutes best
practice engaged research (ER)
• Uneven/absent practical support across
institutions, disciplines and research areas
• Lack of research support for community
organisations and actors
• Now beginning to change (e.g. Campus Engage)…

10. Key challenges: building effective
engagement and mutual understanding
• Effectively engaging with, and managing the needs and
expectations of community partners and all stakeholders
• Challenges of working with different roles, perspectives,
dynamics/personalities
• Buy-in and ongoing relationship building
-> time!
• Changing service contexts

11. Different cultures of
community-university partners
• “Working in a
community/university
partnership is like trying to
work together with a tractor
and sports car. The
university always want
everything quickly, but the
community operates at a
different pace…I know that
if I push the tractor too
hard, it will blow out - so
I’m always telling the racing
car to slow down. Together
we’ll do a better job but it’s
difficult…”(Alphonse Basogomba,
IDEC, Ireland)
Processes
and
practices
Lang
Time

12. Other macro barriers
• Balancing impact and originality
“The challenge working with academics is that their
currency is publications… they do not want to stay for
longer impact after project and publications, looking
at the demonstration of impact. This is not about
publications alone, but how you develop relations
with the NGO.” (Magnus Conteh, Former Deputy CEO, World Vision
Ireland)

13. Measuring Higher
Education civic and
community engagement: A
Support Framework
Available on campusengage.ie
This new guide will assist Higher Education Institutions
to map, and report on an expanding variety of
engagement activities across engaged research
(as well as community-based teaching and learning,
student and staff volunteering and public engagement).

14. • Contract-related and timing issues
• Recruitment and gatekeeping (ethical issues,
eligibility, sample size,other methodological issues)
• Very tight data collection schedules
§ Baseline assessments
§ Different service delivery cycles
§ Various follow-up time points (6->12->18 ->24mths)
• Reports – and more reports!
• EAC oversight – useful mechanism but lot of prep!
Micro challenges

15. Principles/practices
• Evaluator objectivity and independence -> research integrity
• Changing power relations/dynamics
• Issues of trust
• Perspective taking - all
on a learning curve!
• Got there in the end!

16. Building on philanthropic funding
at the CMHCR
Several leveraged funding successes (>€4m) (2013- )
• ENRICH research programme (5-year HRB-funded
Collaborative Applied Research Grant scheme)
• LinKT project (HRB)
• E-SEE project (NIHR - UK)
• PRIMERA research (HSE)

17. Conclusion: challenging the
status quo
• Transformational change in research on early
intervention and prevention
• Unprecedented funding and levels of research
activity across the HE sector -> much exciting
high quality research -> impact
• Significant shift in ways of working between
universities and community-based organisation -
-> engaged research
• Capacity-building/increased knowledge and
awareness
• Practice & policy change - ongoing…

18. “Universities are both apart from, and a part of, society.
They are apart in the sense that they provide a critically
important space for grasping the world as it is and –
importantly – for re-imagining the world as it ought to be.
The academic freedom to pursue the truth and let the
chips fall where they may, isn’t a luxury…but universities
are also a part of our societies…With the privilege to
pursue knowledge comes the civic responsibility to
engage and put that knowledge to work in the service of
humanity”.
President Michael D. Higgins (2012)

19. Contact/other details
Sinead.McGilloway@mu.ie
www.cmhcr.eu
@ENRICH_Ireland
www.researchgate.net/profile/Sinead_Mcgilloway2
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sinead-mcgilloway-Ireland
www.maynoothuniversity.ie/psychology/our-people/sin-ad-
mcgilloway