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Dr. David Ralph

Assistant Professor (Sociology)

 ralphda@tcd.ie

 


Biography

My main research interests are in the fields of migration studies and family studies. Currently I am researching a form of post-crisis migration in Europe that I term "Euro-commuting". By Euro-commuting I mean EU citizens who live in one EU country, but work in another, and circulate back-and-forth between the two. Also, I am working on a project about return migrants to the Republic of Ireland. This involves re-interviewing return migrants I initially interviewed for my PhD dissertation seven years ago. As such, it is a longitudinal study, and seek to examine how return intentions and re-integration experiences shift (or not) over time.

Research Projects

 Euro-commuters
 Family Rhythms
 Revisiting Return Migration

Representations

Details Date
Trinity representative on the Executive Committee of the Sociological Association of Ireland 1 January 2017

Memberships

Membership of Professional Institutions, Associations, Societies

Details Date From Date To
Sociological Association of Ireland 2014 Ongoing
British Sociological Association 2014 Ongoing
European Sociological Association 2014 Ongoing
David Ralph, `Between a whisper and a shout": repealing the eighth and pro-choice Irish women"s abortion testimonies, Gender, Place and Culture, 2022, p201-221 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
David Ralph, Abortion and Ireland: How the 8th Was Overthrown, 2021, Book, PUBLISHED
David Ralph, "The Unsung Heroes of Ireland": Masculinity, Gender, and Breadwinning among Ireland's "Euro-Commuters", Men and Masculinities, 2020, p702-724 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Jane Gray, Ruth Geraghty, David Ralph, Family Rhythms: The Changing Textures of Family Life in Ireland , Manchester University Press, 2016, Book, PUBLISHED  URL
David Ralph, 'Who should do the caring'? Involved fatherhood and ambivalent gendered moral rationalities among cohabiting/married Irish parents , Community, Work & Family , 19, (1), 2016, p63 - 79, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
David Ralph, Work, Family and Commuting in Europe: The Lives of Euro-commuters , London, Palgrave Macmillan , 2015, 1 - 150pp, Book, PUBLISHED  URL
'One of the best members of the family': Continuity and Change in Young Children's Relationships with their Grandparents in, editor(s)Linda Connolly , The 'Irish' Family , London, Routledge, 2015, [Ruth Geraghty, Jane Gray and David Ralph], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
David Ralph, 'New Orleans, Present Simple', Dublin Review , 2015, -, Fiction and creative prose, PUBLISHED
David Ralph, 'Always on the Move, but Going Nowhere Fast': Motivations for 'Euro-commuting' between the Republic of Ireland and Other EU States, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies , 41, (2), 2015, p176 - 195, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
David Ralph, 'Equally at home on Beacon Hill and Hill 16'? Transnational identities among Irish-born return migrants from the United States, Global Networks, 14, (4), 2014, p477 - 494, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
  

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Commuter Marriages in, Macmillian Encyclopedia of Families, Marriages, and Intimate Relationships, 2019, [David Ralph], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED

  

Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

Broadly, my research interests lie in two main areas: migration studies, and family studies. Specifically, my PhD dissertation examined the re-integration experiences of return migrants to "Celtic Tiger" Ireland. It looked at how returnees understood ideas of home, belonging and identity in the wake of re-settlement. Following this, I worked on the "Family Rhythms" project at Maynooth University. This IRC-funded project examined changes and continuity to the Irish family throughout the 20th century. Next, I moved to University College Cork, where I took up a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship to work on the "Euro-commuters" project. There I examined a novel form of post-crisis migration in Europe, whereby EU citizens live in one EU country but work in another, commuting over and back between the two chronically. Presently, I am developing the various strands of this past research agenda into a new project that will investigate contemporary dilemmas around work, career and family for mobile workers in the burgeoning tech sector across Europe. The common thread running throughout all these projects - which is there in my first publication from 2009 and there in my most recent from 2016 - is how issues around family and migration intersect in often irreconcilable ways in the lives of highly mobile population groups.