Professor Pat Dolan

In North Philadelphia Community Development Volume 51, 2020 - Issue 5 Pp703-720; Professor Pat Dolan holds the prestigious UNESCO Chair in Children, Youth and Civic Engagement, the first to be awarded in the Republic of Ireland. The UNESCO Chair delivers a comprehensive programme of work towards the objective of promoting civic engagement and leadership skills among children and youth. Professor Dolan is Director of the Institute for Lifecourse and Society at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He has completed an extensive body of research on children, youth and family issues including longitudinal research on adolescents and has over 100 peer reviewed academic publications. His research interests include Civic Engagement, Empathy, Family Support, Youth Mentoring Models, and Resilience and Social Support theory. Professor Dolan has extensive practice and policy experience, both nationally and internationally.

Professor Dolan’s latest publications include:

Dolan, P. (forthcoming) Social Support and Empathy as Intersectional Theories for Positive Youth Development, Community Development, USA;

McGregor, C. and Dolan, P. (Forthcoming) Support and Protection Across the Lifecourse: A Practical Approach for Social Workers, Policy Press Bristol University Press;

Frost, N and Dolan P., (2021) Theory, research and practice in child welfare: The current state of the art in social work, Child and Family Social Work on line: DOI: 10.1111/cfs.12824;

Malcom, J., Brennan, M.A., Webster, N and Dolan P. (2021) Beyond Participation: A Case Study of Youth As Researchers and Community Development

Dolan, P. Zegarac., N & Arsic, J. (2020). Family Support as a right of the child. Social Work and Social Sciences Review 21(2) pp.8-26. Social Work & Social Sciences Review. 28. 8-26;

Dolan, P. & McGregor C. (2020) 'Social support, empathy and ecology: a theoretical underpinning for working with young people who have suffered child sexual abuse or exploitation. pp. 173-192' In: J. Pearce Ed. Child Sexual Exploitation: Why Theory Matters? Bristol: Policy Press.

Professor Dolan’s current research projects include:

Commissioned Research: UNESCO - Youth As Researchers (YAR) Global Study on the Impact of COVID-19 (Co-Principal Investigator);

Funded Research: Galway University Foundation/Irish American Partnership;

Activating Social Empathy (ASE) Randomised Control Study Schools Programme – Formative Evaluation - Community Programme;

Funded Research: Health Research board (HRB) / Irish Research Council (IRC) COVID-19 Research Funding - Crisis Coping for Marginalised Youth: Living and Learning through COVID-19;

Funded Research: Rethink Ireland Evaluation Research of Children and Youth Funds;

Research Partnership Project: Fred Rogers Foundation USA; Penn State University;

Fred Rogers Empathy Archives Research and Dissemination Project;

Research Partnership: Foróige Ireland NUI Galway Penn State University;

Youth Social Innovation Laboratory (YSIL) Research and Evaluation Project.