Research Projects

Research Ireland Enterprise Fellowship Programme (Partnerships Stream), in partnership with the Men's Development Network

Dr. Shane Murphy (PI), Prof. Debbie Ging (Academic Mentor), Dr. Kenny Doyle, Men's Development Network (Enterprise Mentor)

Duration: 2026 – 2028

Sexual and gender-based violence against women remains a global epidemic, and in Ireland one in four women, and 51% of girls, have experienced sexual abuse. The normalisation of misogynistic abuse has been linked to the rise of masculinity influencers, to far-right rhetoric advocating women's subjugation, and to men's spiralling use of pornography. 'Manfluencers' spread disinformation about consent and rape, and in doing so normalise violence against women. Teenage boys are particularly susceptible to this messaging, as they are intensely invested in identity formation and peer approval, while also being aggressively targeted by recommender algorithms with stereotypically male content. Although evidence from the UK and Australia indicates a link between manosphere consumption and sexist behaviours, there is no empirical research on the Irish context to date. MASC UP addresses this gap. It aims to determine the extent and nature of the impact of masculinity influencers on boys' attitudes to SGBV, to identify the 'push' factors (social isolation, peer pressure, absent role models) and 'pull' factors (screen time, algorithmic recommendation) that predispose boys to male supremacist messaging, and to develop a prototype educational resource to engage boys in SGBV prevention. Because perpetrators of SGBV often start young, and because boys listen to boys, teenage boys are both the critical audience for prevention work and the most effective collaborators in designing it.

The first stage of the project is a comprehensive international review of existing resources for engaging boys on the manosphere and SGBV, undertaken in order to establish best practice and identify knowledge gaps. This is followed by a large-scale anonymous survey (n=1,000) with boys aged 12–17, recruited through schools, youth clubs, and sports teams, and by 20 focus groups, purposively sampled across socio-economic, educational, cultural and urban/rural contexts. The findings of these focus groups will inform six intensive co-design workshops, in which teenage boys work with the research team to develop a prototype resource. This resource is then refined with input from an external Expert Advisory Board of national and international experts in research ethics, online child safety, SGBV, technology in education, and engaging boys and men in gender justice, before being piloted in three schools with students not previously involved in the project. The Men's Development Network will use the pilot findings to develop a full suite of education and intervention programmes, and the resource will form the basis of a national campaign on engaging boys in SGBV prevention. Other outputs include three peer-reviewed articles, a research report, and a launch symposium for policy makers, educators, academics and NGOs.

Funded by the Science Foundation Ireland and Irish Research Council

Dr. Arpita Chakraborty (PI), Fabrizio Leonardo Cuccu (Research Assistant), Carmel Nolan (former doctoral candidate)

Duration: 2022-2026 

This project has created a collaboration of scholars from DCU, Lund University Sweden, Tampere University Finland, and Lucerne. The global rise of domestic violence during COVID-19 pandemic has been shocking: if the lockdown continues for 6 months, 31 million additional gender-based violence cases are expected (UNFPA 2020).

This project will be the first extensive post-COVID study of Ireland’s fast growing South Asian community and the unique challenges to mitigate gendered violence within it. It will be the first of its kind to create a detailed report on the specificities and unique factors such as caste identities and linguistic barriers, which lead to such violence and also prevent survivors from reaching out for help. The project aims to provide policy recommendations for the Irish government on how to address these issues in a manner sensitive to the needs of a minority community.

The project will undertake a mixed method approach, with a policy analysis and quantitative survey followed by qualitative interviews with policy makers, activists, community workers and survivors of domestic violence from the South Asian community. It will explore the factors which lead to cases of gender violence in these communities, how women may be disproportionately affected, the reasons behind their hesitancy to seek help and how the state can make sure these concerns are addressed.

Domestic violence remains one of the most significant challenges to achieving gender equality under the sustainable development goals in Ireland. This project will improve understanding of domestic violence within the South Asian migrant community in Ireland, focusing on the socio-culturally specific forms of exclusion survivors face. The project will propose policy changes as well as create a community space called ASHA where survivors can communicate with each other. This space will put into praxis the suggested changes in an experimental version.

The project's podcast, “ASHA: Crossing Borders, Breaking Silences”, amplifies the powerful narratives of migrant women.

Project webpage

Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme

Dr. Catherine Baker (PI), Prof. Debbie Ging (Mentor)

Duration: 2024 - 2026

The past decade has seen a significant shift in the scale and reach of far-right disinformation across the digital sphere. Previously occupying fringe facets of the online media ecosystem, far-right disinformation has increasingly permeated into mainstream discourse, increasingly influencing the political landscape. This includes the targeting and demonisation of a range of minority groups, including women and LGBTQ+ individuals in addition to immigrants and people of colour. Central to this mainstreaming of far-right disinformation is a shift in the rhetorical and thematic focus of these groups, which have replaced more orthodox and overt far right ideas (such as imperialism or racial superiority) with concepts derived from what is often referred to as ‘salad bar extremism’. This includes but is not limited to anti-feminism, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Globalism, anti-vaccination and various other conspiracy theories Central to many of these rhetorical assemblages, in particular those relating to feminism and LGBTQ rights, is the propagation of biological-essentialist pseudo-science. This draws on cherry-picked and repackaged academic literature, cultural narratives and DIY interpretations, to provide a veneer of legitimacy to far right ideologies, and is often promoted by high-profile influencers. 

While these trends have been highlighted by researchers across a range of subject areas, there has been no systematic, comprehensive research to date which unpacks and interrogates these fake scientific claims, how they are discursively constructed and how they function within far right and gender-critical online ecosystems. The rapid spread and increasing normalization of this pseudo-science calls for urgent analysis if successful interventions are to be developed. The proposed project brings together insights from digital media studies, right-wing studies, and gender studies, and uses sequential mixed qualitative methods to explore precisely how ‘fake science’ - including some academic work in the area of evolutionary psychology and lay theories of biological essentialism - is used by the far right. Specifically, the research approaches this issue through a gender lens, focusing on far right disinformation that targets women and the LGBTQ+ populations, and appears to be aimed at reinforcing heteronormative patriarchal ideals. The results of this research will provide a foundation for digital and educational interventions, as well as for further high-quality research aimed at tackling emerging forms of far right disinformation. 

Australian Research Council Discovery Programme

PI: Dr. Joshua Roose, Deakin University Melbourne Australia, Irish PI: Prof. Debbie Ging

Duration: 2022 - 2026

Women in online environments, particularly those expressing opinions, are increasingly subjected to harassment, threats and sexual violence through electronic means, undermining their participation in democratic exchange and with significant detriment to the economy due to harms caused. This behaviour is encouraged in the ‘manosphere’, a broad coalition of online, largely anonymous anti-women actors who coalesce around their shared antipathy toward women. These actions stand in strong contrast to Australian values including respect for the freedom and dignity of the individual, and equality of men and women. Furthermore, a stated aim of the Federal Office for Women is to ensure that women and their children are safe from violence. This project will identify key pathways and patterns of participation in online anti-women movements, improving scholarly understanding and identifying key intervention points for policy makers and practitioners. This has both a social benefit, protecting democratic exchange for women and girls and economic benefit, given the significant cost of online violence against women.

This project aims to understand the influences shaping men’s attraction to anti-women online movements and patterns of participation within them. The project intends to advance sociological research on the endemic problem of anti-women movements advocating violence against women in online environments. Expected outcomes of this project include practical strategies for preventing and reducing participation by men in online movements responsible for the harassment and abuse of women and girls. By providing an evidence base and identifying key intervention points to inform policy making, this project should benefit women and girls who experience detrimental impacts on their democratic online participation and negative economic impacts.

Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF) 

Dr. Verónica Ferreira (PI), Prof. Debbie Ging (Mentor)

Duration: 2025 –2028

The manosphere and male supremacism are growing (refs). Thanks to the algorithmic affordances of social media, they are having an increasingly problematic impact on boys and young men, in particular thanks to high-profile influencers and life coaches such as Andrew Tate, Rollo Tomasi, etc. In order to develop effective interventions, it is important to understand the socio-economic conditions, psycho-social motivations, online dynamics and technological affordances that are indoctrinating boys and men into anti-woman ideologies. At present, there is a dearth of research in this area. While the groups and characteristics of the manosphere have been well documented and theorised (Ging and Siapera, 2019; Johanssen, 2021, more refs), there is a considerable lack of knowledge about the motivations and pathways by which boys and men become pulled into these online communities (Ging and Murphy, 2021). 

The project investigates the development of male supremacist formations, collectively known as the Manosphere, within the Portuguese and Irish contexts between 2013 and 2023. It explores how, to what extent, and why they resonate with various forms of male disaffection in diverse cultural and socio-economic settings, with a particular focus on the subjectivities of young men. The overarching objective of this research is to devise strategies and public policies aimed at preventing indoctrination into these spaces and providing support to radicalized young men. This support will be informed by collaborative efforts developed during the research process. To achieve it, we will collaborate with the Men’s Development Network to develop a program aimed at promoting healthy internet use among young men who may be susceptible to manosphere ideologies. Research findings will be disseminated through open-access reports and workshops at schools and universities. 

Horizon Europe, HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01-01 - Protest politics and cultures of opposition in democracy

Dr. Paola Rivetti (PI in Ireland)

Dr. Valeria Resta (post doctoral fellow)

Duration: 3/2025-3/2028

The INTERFACED project aims to explore how people have participated in politics since the COVID-19 pandemic, a period marked by declining trust in democracy and science, as well as increasing social divisions and inequalities. The analysis will take place at the intersection of the different dimensions of contextual and long-term marginality, such as gender, class, rural/urban divide, and access or lack of access to citizenship. The project’s main goal is to understand the different ways citizens interact with political institutions and to see how well these interactions allow for genuine citizen participation in decision-making and governance.

The project employs a combination of research methods, including large-scale surveys, experiments, data analysis, and field research, to achieve a comprehensive understanding of political participation. The study focuses on eight European countries and Tunisia, providing a diverse range of political contexts, some of which involve active opposition to authoritarianism.

Project website: https://ecas.org/projects/interfaced/

DCU HSS Faculty Research Scheme

Dr. Paola Rivetti

Mr. Mehrdad Emami (research assistant)

Duration: Jan-Sep 2025

This project examines the role of the Iranian diaspora in the context of the Woman Life Freedom uprising. During a nation-wide uprising, like WLF was in Iran, diasporic groups and activists have a number of positive functions. For example, they may circulate news and updates about ongoing repression and mobilisations, and they can lobby policy-makers and international organisations to take action and support the protesters. This project asks if and how diaspora activism can also play a negative role.