This multidisciplinary research stream focuses on behavioural aspects of health and welfare. Research focuses on the determinants of health behaviours in a wide range of domains (ageing, hospital based research, child health and intergenerational transmission of health are some example. This research also includes methodological issues around measurement issues of health and well-being.

This research strand is currently involved in guiding the design, implementation and evaluation of a variety of social interventions including an early childhood cohort study and a higher education access programme. We also conduct the Irish Universities Study (IUS) — a path breaking study of university experiences from freshman to postdoctoral researcher.

Understanding the ‘micro’ components of labour and other markets plays a fundamental and vital role in decision making by individuals, households, firms and government departments. It has transformed policy research domains such as inequality and poverty, productivity, and regulation/competition. This is true in the context of both the developed and developing world and both are represented in the work agenda of the Institute. The Institute has a concentration of experienced researchers in both microeconometric applications and in the development of econometric methodology for such applications.

This research stream comprises a number of domains. These include the comparative study of public opinion/political culture and the comparative analysis of voter turnout and voter choice in systems of multi level governance; institutional innovation and structural change in the policy environment; structural issues of public policy delivery in developing countries; and the analysis of dynamic behaviour in social networks and group processes.