Community Research Topics

Students Learning With Communities recently joined the Living Knowledge Network, which is a network of international 'Science Shops'. 'Science shops' are not shops in the traditional sense, nor are they confined to science subjects, rather they are units that coordinate community-based research in response to concerns expressed by civil society. This is usually but not always linked to higher education institutions, where students conduct the research as part of their curriculum.

Over the last year Students Learning With Communties in DIT has begun to gather a list of research questions from community partners who don't have the resources to do the research themselves. These requests for research cover a wide range of topics. Thus, in the spirit of Science Shops, we are starting to match students (undergraduate and postgraduate) to these real-life research topics that relate to their studies.

If you are a community member with a question, we can help to formulate it into a manageable research topic. If you are a student looking for a topic for a research project (or lecturer looking for a topic for their student) then please refer to the list below (which we will add to regularly) and get in contact with us for more details or to discuss an idea you might have.    

Research Topics divided into DIT College appropriate areas:

College of Arts and Tourism:

  • Visual Communications/PR/Media: Research into and the development of a poster identity for a national non-profit organization in line with their new logo and slogan.
  • Legal: Research into the area of police clearance for recovering drug users, the process and problems, victimisation and marginalisation, difficulties forging a new life and acquiring work, comparative approaches abroad and possible recommendations such as a rehabilitation certification.
  • Social Sciences: Research with groups of older people in a local area of Dublin, leading to a needs analysis, including future ideas for possible community-based learning/community-based research projects
  • Public Relations: Analysing PR material produced by a community partner, assessing its strengths and weaknesses, and making recommendations for improvement.
  • Public Relations: Research on a marketing plan for ethical consumption/social enterprise, including a focus on new media for a start-up not-for-profit company (this company  links designers with fairtrade developing world producers).
  • Marketing: Research into brand awareness, perception of brand, usage of brand, willingness to engage, perceived value of organisation, etc. for a community support service.
  • PR/Media: Research into and the development of a media campaign to publicize the activities and support groups of a national non-profit organization and to re-launch their website.
  • Various disciplines: Road Safety Awareness research (check out project details here),
  • Various disciplines: Urban renewal project research, including health impacts and biodiversity (check out project details here).
  • Various disciplines: Research into the Travelling Community's language (Cant) and culture (storytelling and singing) - someone to collect detailed information about the language with a view to archiving/publishing it as a Cant-English Dictionary.

College of Business:

  • Marketing: Research into brand awareness, perception of brand, usage of brand, willingness to engage, perceived value of organisation, etc. for a community support service.
  • Business/Management: Research and support to assist the process of strategic planning in a community support service (this may build on the result of the marketing/PR research project above).
  • Marketing/Business: Research on a marketing plan for ethical consumption/social enterprise, including a focus on new media for a start-up not-for-profit company (this company  links designers with fairtrade developing world producers).
  • Business Information Systems: Research into and the development of a comprehensive database for mailing purposes for a national non-profit organization.
  • Business Information Systems: Research and development of searchable database of reports and research data, contacts/skills, and images for the Lifeline project. This must include a wiki system for the public to upload their own content into the database.
  • Various disciplines: Road Safety Awareness research (check out project details here)
  • Various disciplines: Urban renewal project research, including health impacts and biodiversity (check out project details here).
  • Various disciplines: Research into the Travelling Community's language (Cant) and culture (storytelling and singing) - someone to collect detailed information about the language with a view to archiving/publishing it as a Cant-English Dictionary.

College of Science and Food:

  • Event Management: Research into and the development of a media campaign to publicize the activities and support groups of a national non-profit organization and to re-launch their website.
  • Mathematics: Analysising statistics for a community partner, identifying critical themes and making recommendations.
  • Risk Management: Researching and advising on any aspect of risk management (to include health and safety, fire safety, food safety or environmental management) for a community partner’s premises and operation.
  • Chemistry/Early Childhood Education/Nutrition/Environmental Health: A piece of research by means of a literature review of peer reviewed studies on possible links between a child's risk of having autism, and its pre-natal or very early childhood exposure to heavy metal toxins (i.e., Mercury, Lead, Cadmium) and 'PCB'-type chemicals.
  • eLearning: Development of eLearning content for an Assistive Technology training programme.
  • Information Technology: Research and development of searchable database of reports and research data, contacts/skills, and images for the Lifeline project. This must include a wiki system for the public to upload their own content into the database.
  • Information Technology: Research and development into the design of a user freindly interactive product for the collection and management of a peer review process for quality standards in drug and alcohol services. This project is innovative across Europe and is to be used by project managers with limited technological expertise. 
  • Information Technology: Research into and the development of a comprehensive database for mailing purposes for a national non-profit organization.
  • Various disciplines: Road Safety Awareness research (check out project details here),
  • Various disciplines: Urban renewal project research, including health impacts and biodiversity (check out project details here).
  • Various disciplines: Research into the Travelling Community's language (Cant) and culture (storytelling and singing) - someone to collect detailed information about the language with a view to archiving/publishing it as a Cant-English Dictionary.

College of Engineering and Built Environment:

  • Environmental/spatial: Auditing the carbon footprint for a community partner and making recommendations for change on a shoestring budget. 
  • Architecture/design/planning: Exploring contemporary architecture in Dublin's North Inner City in collaboration with local Transition Year students.
  • Architecture/interior design/visual communications/social care: How to improve wayfinding in, and the visual environment of, a large Dublin healthcare establishment with a wide variety of users across the age spectrum, including many with special needs.
  • Various disciplines: Road Safety Awareness research (check out project detail here),
  • Various disciplines: Urban renewal project research, including health impacts and biodiversity (check out project details here).
  • Various disciplines: Research into the Travelling Community's language (Cant) and culture (storytelling and singing) - someone to collect detailed information about the language with a view to archiving/publishing it as a Cant-English Dictionary.

 

 

 

 

 

SLWC