Dr
Maria
Feeney
Primary Department
School of Law and Government
Role
Postdoctoral Researcher
N/A
Campus
Glasnevin Campus
Room Number
C204
Academic biography
Maria’s background is in sociology and education. She is a qualified post-primary school teacher. Maria’s interests are in gender, rural studies and vulnerable groups.Her doctoral research, Pain and Distress in Rural Ireland: The Narratives of Men who Engaged in Suicidal Behaviour (2012), employed a sociological analysis to understand the problem of rural male suicidal behaviour which she observed while living in rural Ireland. She was awarded a Teagasc Walsh Fellowship to undertake her research. Maria operationalised a highly complex research methodology and interviewed twenty-six men, aged 19-75 years who were admitted to hospital for serious suicidal behaviour. The findings, launched by Kathleen Lynch – Minister of State at the Department of Health, demonstrated that rural life and society were implicated in men’s decisions to engage in suicidal behaviour. Maria continues to contribute to the field and supports the work of Embrace FARM – Ireland’s farm accident support network.
Maria has taught and supervised across undergraduate and teacher education programmes at the DCU Institute of Education and the Church of Ireland Centre and while there worked on numerous funded research projects. Previously, Maria worked at Maynooth University’s sociology and education departments in a teaching and research capacity. She has also taught at other teacher education institutions. Peter Murray (Maynooth University) and Maria have co-authored Church, State and Social Science in Ireland – Knowledge Institutions and the Rebalancing of Power, 1937-73 (2016). Reviewed here. She has also co-authored with Dr. David Tuohy SJ Come &C Growing in the Image and Likeness of God. A Review of the Discipleship Project and the Five Marks of Mission in the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough (2019).
Maria is a former graduate of St. Patrick's College Maynooth (B.A.Th), the National University of Ireland Maynooth (H.Dip in Ed., M.A.), and UCD (Ph.D).
Publications
Books
Tuohy, D. & Feeney, M. 2019. Come &C Growing in the Image and Likeness of God A Review of the Discipleship Project and the Five Marks of Mission in the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough. Dublin: SPELL Training And Development Messenger Publications.
Murray, P. and Feeney, M. 2017. Church, State and Social Science in Ireland Knowledge Institutions and the Rebalancing of Power, 1937 – 73. Manchester: Manchester University Press. (see attached review)
Journal Article
Murray, P. & Feeney, M. 2011. The Market for Sociological Ideas in the Early 1960s Ireland: Civil Service Departments and the Limerick Rural Survey, 1961-64 in Administration. Vol. 59, No. 1. pp 111-131.
Working Papers
Murray, P. & Feeney, M. November 2010. Muintir na Tire Seeks Funding for Rural Sociology in 1960s Ireland. NIRSA Working Paper Series; No. 63. NIRSA – National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis, Maynooth University. http://www.nuim.ie/nirsa/research/documents/wp63_murray_feeney_muintir_na_tire.pdf
Murray, P. & Feeney, M. December 2009. The Market for Sociological Ideas in the Early 1960s Irela