Meet the Team

Senior Post-Doctoral Researcher

Email: alicja.bobek@tudublin.ie

Alicja is a Senior Post-Doctoral Researcher at RINCE. She recently completed work on the RESISTIRÉ project, which investigated the effects of COVID-19 on inequalities in Europe. Prior to joining TU Dublin, Alicja completed several research projects in the area of work and employment, migration, workplace diversity, and social integration. She also worked as the Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin, where she taught undergraduate and postgraduate modules in research methods, sociology of migration, and European Societies. Alicja has a PhD in Sociology from Trinity College Dublin, an MA in Sociology and an MA in Migration and Ethnic Studies from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

Research Interests  

Social inclusion and equality; employment and working conditions; international migration and migrants’ integration

Select Research Projects 

• AIB Research Centre on Inclusive and Equitable Cultures (RINCE),
  Directorate of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion,
  Technological University Dublin
• Timeframe: 2021-2023 
• Funder: Horizon 2020 , Grant Agreement no. 101015990
• Role: Postdoctoral Researcher

Project: GEOFIN - Western Banks in Eastern Europe: New Geographies of Financialisation (Financialisation of households) 

• Department of Geography, Trinity College Dublin 
• Timeframe: 2018-2021 
• Funder: European Research Council 
• Role: Research Fellow 

Project: Social Implications of Precarious Work 

• TASC: Think-tank for action on social change  
• Timeframe: 2016-2018 
• Funder: FEPS: Foundation for European Progressive Studies 
• Role: Senior Researcher 

Project: Working Conditions in Ireland 

• TASC: Think-tank for action on social change  
• Timeframe: 2015-2016 
• Funder: FEPS: Foundation for European Progressive Studies 
• Role: Researcher 

Project: WORK>INT: Assessing and enhancing integration in workplaces 

• Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin 
• Timeframe: 2014-2015 
• Funder: European Integration Fund 
• Role: Postdoctoral Researcher 

Project: Learning from Poland? The implications of Polish migration to Ireland for contemporary Irish emigration 

• Employment Research Centre, Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin 
• Timeframe: 2012-2013 
• Funder: Irish Research Council 
• Role: Postdoctoral Researcher 

Select Publications 

Bobek, A., Wickham, J. and Pembroke, S. 2020. ‘Living in precarious housing: non-standard employment and housing careers of young professionals in Ireland’, Housing Studies. DOI: 10.1080/02673037.2020.1769037. 

Bobek, A. 2020 ‘Leaving for the money, staying for the quality of life. Case study of young Polish migrants living in Dublin’, Geoforum 109: 24-34. 

Bobek, A. and Wickham, J. 2018. ‘Blurring boundaries: informal practices in formal employment in Ireland’, Industrial Relations Journal, 49(4): 336-351. 

Bobek, A., Wickham, J., Moriarty, E. and Salamonska, J. 2018. ‘Is money always the most important thing? Polish construction workers in Ireland’, Irish Journal of Sociology. 26(2):162-182. 

Bobek, A. and Wickham, J.2017. ‘The ownership of time: Work in the Irish hospitality sector’, Irish Journal of Social Anthropology, 20(2): 17-25. 

Bobek A. and Devitt, C. 2017. ‘Workforce diversity in Irish hospitals: perspectives of Irish and foreign-born professionals and their managers’, Employee Relations, 39(7): 1015-1029. 

Moriarty, E., Wickham, J. Bobek, A. and Daly, S. 2016. ‘Portability of Social Protection in the European Union’, in: A. Amelina, K. Horvath and B. Meeus (eds), An Anthology of Migration and Social Transformation, IMISCOE Research Series. 

Moriarty, E., Bobek, A., Daly, S and Wickham, J. 2015. ‘Graduate Emigration from Ireland: Navigating new pathways in familiar places’, Irish Journal of Sociology, Vol. 23, Issue. 2: 71-92. 

Krings, T., Moriarty, E., Wickham, J., Bobek, A. and Salamonska, J. 2013. New Mobilities in the New Europe. Polish Migration to Ireland Post-2004. Manchester University Press.  

For full list of publications please see: Alicja Bobek Google Scholar Profile 

Select Conferences 

06 September 2021: ‘Routes to precariousness: the expansion of fixed-term contracts in the Irish Higher Education and Early Childcare Education’ (Webinar). 

17-18 September 2020: ‘Precarious work and precarious lives: the role of luck, chance and social connections’, 8^th Annual NERI Labour Market Conference (Webinar).  

11-14 September 2019 : ‘‘Subordinated financialisation’? The role of credit and debt in everyday lives of households in East and Central Europe’. 17^th Polish Sociological Congress: Me? Us? Them? Subjectivity, Identity, Belonging, Wroclaw. 

24-26 April 2019: ‘Precarious professionals at work and beyond: the role of luck and social connections’, 37^th International Labour Process Conference, Vienna. 

27-18 October 2017: ‘What constitutes “work”? Working time and pay in non-standard employment’, 3^rd International Conference Social Boundaries of Work: Methodological and practical problems of research on work and employment in modern societies’, Katowice.  

12 May 2017 : ‘Part-time work, full-time commitment; employment in the Irish hospitality sector’, 5^th NERI Labour Market Conference, Maynooth University. 

4-6 April 2017: ‘Be careful what you wish for: Enforced flexibility and working conditions in Ireland’, 35^th International Labour Process Conference, Sheffield.