Policy research Advocacy

Anspinc

Hello,

Can anyone offer advice on the best courses for someone wanting to enter the research industry, namely policy research.

TCD have an offer an MSC in Applied Social Research, but any there any other courses which could offer the same level of qualification needed to become a policy or advocacy officer?
Also Masters fees are €10k so any feedback on cheaper costs or other methods of entry to this industry will be greatly received.

Thanks

An Spinc.

Cat Melodeon

I would say that Advocacy and policy research are two quite different jobs. With advocacy, you will be more in a PR/communications role; policy research can be more 'back room'.

Sligo offer a Higher Certificate in Advocacy which is highly rated. It can be done online, not sure about the fees.

I've done the equivalent to the TCD masters in UL (MA Applied Social Research). It was very good and probably more suited to a career in policy than the advocacy qualification. As a stand alone course though I'm not sure of it's value to the career you are after in and of itself - many of the policy related jobs require you to have experience of & an undergrad qualification in the area specialism - health, youth work, community development etc. The MA alone is probably not enough by itself to get you a policy officer job, although it will set you up if you already have the other requirements.

If you do choose to go that route (and I'm not being negative about it at all), depending on your experience/undergrad, I highly recommend doing voluntary work (or paid if you can get it!) in a charity or NGO that ties in to your interests/previous experience/future career plans (eg mental health services like OneLife, Childline, Simon Community, etc) in addition to your studies.

Re costs, always ask for a fee waiver - many universities have a set no of fee waivers to give out each year & surprisingly few people know about them.

Annasopra

The sligo course is more aimed at personal advocacy than policy research e.g. advocating for a disabled persons needs. It's probably not what you are looking for.

All hallows do this
http://www.allhallows.ie/programmes/postgrad/social-justice-a-public-policy.html

UCD have this
http://www.ucd.ie/appsocsc/postgraduateprogrammes/http:/www.ucd.ie/appsocsc/postgraduate/msocsc_the/

UCC
http://143.239.128.67/en/study/postgrad/what/acsss/masters/social-policy/

Maynooth
http://www.mastersportal.eu/students/browse/programme/34566/rights-social-policy-msocsc.html

Turtyturd

I am looking to get into policy research myself once I finish up in college and any of the postgrad courses I have considered have been mentioned with the exception of.

http://www.ucd.ie/graduatestudies/coursefinder/taughtprogrammes/master-public-policy/

Initially Trinity would have been my first choice but it seems that it is more based on general research where as some of the others appear to be more aimed specifically at policy research.

Anspinc

Thank you for all your responses.

Cat Melodeon: Thank you for the tips regarding the fees waiver. It's something I am going to look into. It certainly looks as though the volunteer route is an important option for anyone wishing to progress.

Turtyturd: My own thoughts on a more general research is that it allows you to be more open to various aspects of research and opportunities. I have been informed that the TCD Course enables one to gain "skills transferable", and that is what the employment market is all about these days. I think that the TCD Course can give someone a skill set which they can bring to a number of different but not too dissimilar roles.