Professor Robbie Gilligan is Head of the School of Social Work and Social Policy at Trinity College Dublin. He is also Associate Director (and co-founder) of the Children's Research Centre and co-ordinator (and founder) of the MSc in Child Protection and Welfare at Trinity College. He has served as a youth worker, social worker, foster carer and board member of various social service organisations. Professionally, his policy and practice focus is in the field of child and family welfare. He has a particular interest in the application of resilience and strength – based perspectives in interventions with children and families experiencing adversity. This interest in resilience also informs his research and publications.
His current research agenda has two streams: (a)children and young people in public care and (b)migration and inter-ethnic relations in the lives of children and young people. His most recent book is Promoting Resilience — Supporting children and young people who are in care, adopted or in need, the second edition of which has recently been published by British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering (2009). His most recent journal article, co-authored with Muireann Ni Raghallaigh, is ’Active survival in the lives of unaccompanied minors: coping strategies, resilience, and the relevance of religion’ in Child and Family Social Work.
He is a member of the editorial boards of the following journals: Child and Family Social Work (Wiley-Blackwell), Child Indicators Research – The Journal of the International Society of Child Indicators (Springer) and European Journal of Social Work (Routledge), and of the advisory boards of the journals Adoption and Fostering and Children and Society.
He has served as an elected board member of Childwatch International Research since 2002, and as Vice–President in the period 2005-2009.