UCD School of Applied Social Science

College Lecturer

Dr Michael Rush is a specialist in policy and activist advocacy and has considerable consultancy experience in developing advocacy strategies for a range of NGOs in the social, health and family policy fields. He specialises in comparative international analysis and literature reviews for distinct classifications of canons of literature. Dr Rush¿s research interests include policy advocacy, policy formation and evaluation; he lectures on Influencing Public Policy, Policy Advocacy for Social Workers, and Theories and Concepts of Social Policy.

His published work includes articles on comparative family policy and reproductive work; gender and the welfare state; and social partnership in Ireland. He has been a contributing author to Irish Social Policy in Context (1999, UCD Press) and Theorising Irish Social Policy (2004, UCD Press). His research publications include Including Children: Disability, Diversity and Additional Needs (Waterford County Childcare Committee, 2004) and The Nature and Impact of Joy-riding in Priorswood (Rush, M., Brudell, P & Mulcahy A., Geary Institute, UCD 2005). Journal articles include studies on Fathers and Family Policy and Sport, Public Health and Social Capital. His PhD research is a comparative investigation into the political economy of reproductive work, fatherhood and child well-being in the USA, Sweden and Ireland.