NGOs, Policymakers and Researchers discuss Intervention Strategies at a One-day Masculinities and Manosphere symposium on 14th May in Europe House, Dublin
On 14th May 2026, DCU Institute for Research on Genders and Sexualities and the Men’s Development Network hosted a symposium in Europe House, Dublin, on ‘Exploring Masculinities: Recent Manosphere Research and How to Engage Boys and Men in Positive Masculinity Work’. The event was designed to facilitate dialogue and knowledge exchange between researchers, NGOs, educators and policy makers about how to prevent and intervene in campaigns by male supremacist influencers and organisations to exploit male vulnerabilities for economic and political gain.
In her opening address, Prof. Debbie Ging alluded to the Exploring Masculinities educational programme for second-level schools that was launched in 2000 by the then Department of Education and Science in Ireland. Ahead of its time, it met with reactionary criticism and achieved limited integration into the SPHE curriculum. Twenty-six years later, a sustained backlash against feminism and the subsequent rise of the manosphere present a new wave of challenges to gender equality, preventing VAWG and supporting the development of healthy, diverse masculinities. The symposium thus set the scene for stakeholders working in this space to coordinate and consolidate their approach to prevention and intervention strategies as we face a rising tide of misogyny in digital, school and other contexts.
Prof. Michael Flood from Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, presented the keynote speech on the findings of an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project in which IRGS is the Irish partner. Titled 'Pathways and Pipelines of Participation in the Manosphere', the project is based on interviews with Irish and Australian men. Prof. Flood identified six main dimensions to men’s participation in the manosphere, ranging from the lure of wealth and physical self-optimisation to engaging in ‘edgy’ discourse and seeking community.
IRGS postdoctoral researchers Dr. Shane Murphy (Research Ireland), Dr. Catherine Baker (Research Ireland) and Dr. Verónica Ferreira (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions) and DCU Anti-Bullying Centre Centre PhD candidate Deniz Çelikoğlu (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions) also presented on their leading-edge manosphere research. In the afternoon, Jane McGarrigle Webwise Ireland, Eoghan Cleary (The SERP Institute (Ireland) and Finian Murphy facilitated excellent workshops on digital, sexual and emotional literacies, exploring challenges and strategies in developing inclusive, co-designed, evidence-based interventions to foster empathy, creativity and critical thinking in boys.
The event attracted attendees from violence prevention charities, men’s health networks, policymaking, youth work, education, research and activism, with several delegates coming from the UK. It is envisaged as the first step in building a national coalition of progressive initiatives and interventions in Ireland that will address the harmful impacts of misogyny and male supremacism.
