Dr Sindy Joyce, who studied in the University of Limerick (UL), this week became Ireland’s first Traveller to graduate with a PhD.
Joyce graduated alongside 1,714 other UL students on Monday, having studied under the Department of Sociology.
The human-rights activist was gowned and received the scroll alongside musician and humanitarian Bob Geldof and best-selling author Marian Keyes, each of which were awarded with honorary doctorates of letters.
Joyce’s thesis examined how young Travellers’ movements, through access to and use of public and commercial urban space, are shaped by their ethnicity and by anti-Traveller racism. Through her analysis, Joyce highlights the barriers that exist for young Travellers in urban spaces and shows how they have developed a variety of tactics to confront these obstacles and the risks associated with overcoming them.
Congratulating Joyce on her historic achievement, Martin Collins, the Co-Director of Pavee Point, told TheJournal.ie that her research “gives important visibility to the Traveller perspective, in this case the perspective of young Travellers in Galway”.
Collins emphasised the significance of the research, saying: “Travellers, down through the years, have often been researched and documented – but usually by people outside our community. It is an important step for Travellers that we have our own academics who can decide what is important from a research point of view – and what is ethical in carrying out this research.”
Describing Joyce as “a great role model and an inspiration” for the community, Collins went on to say that the PhD “compliments her reputation as a committed human rights defender and passionate educationalist, whose community is to the forefront of her focus”.
“Given her ongoing research interests, she is a deserved education ambassador especially for anyone who advocates for equality through the difficult lens of experience”, he said.
This prestigious accolade is one of many for Joyce, who during the course of her studies at UL was also presented with a number of competitive awards, including an Irish Research Council postgraduate scholarship, the UL Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) Dean’s Scholarship and the AHSS Registrar’s Scholarship Award.
