DIT PhD/MPhil Project
Supervisor name & contact details:
Dr Bernadette Quinn
Tel 01 4027557
Email Bernadette.quinn@dit.ie
http://www.dit.ie/hospitalitymanagementtouri
sm/people/staff/staffarticles/staffname,85025,
en.html
Research Centre Name and Website (if
applicable)
School of Hospitality Management and Tourism
http://www.dit.ie/hospitalitymanagementtouri
sm/
Funding Agency
Scholarship Details
Subject Area
Tourism
Title of the Project
Have festivals a role to play in developing
cultural & social capital?
Project Description (max 300 words)
Festivals proliferate in the contemporary era, contributing in a myriad of ways to economy and
society. A burgeoning academic literature conceives of festivals from many angles, most often
through an economic lens. However, festivals have much to offer in social and cultural terms.
This project uses social capital and cultural capital ideas to contribute to our understanding of
how festivals effect social and cultural change within place-based communities. Central to the
project will be an investigation of the structure of relations between social actors and the ways in
which festivals facilitate the actions of the actors within the structure. Equally important will be
an examination of how the long standing existence of festivals in particular places both emerges
from, and feeds into, the development of cultural activities in the locale.
The project will focus on Ireland and a number of festivals representing the diversity in the field
will be selected using a case study approach. Ultimately, the study will generate knowledge about
the social and cultural impacts of festivals on different places. There will be an imperative to
produce applied outcomes and the outputs should provide evidence that both helps individual
festivals to plan for a sustainable future and informs policy development for the expanding
festival sector as a whole.
Please indicate the student requirements for this project
Student to come from a social sciences background e.g. geography, sociology, anthropology,
tourism studies, leisure studies
Deadline to submit applications (only for
funded projects)
Please choose College as appropriate
Arts & Tourism