The Zemiology of Student Housing in Dublin

A Higher Education Authority report, published in 2015, found that there was a serious deficit in
accommodation for students in Ireland (Fitzgerald, 2017), with student accommodation in Dublin in
particular cited as being at 'absolute crisis' levels (McSorely, 2014). Further figures have suggested that
student beds in Dublin cater for only 12.2% of students studying there (Knight Frank, in Comiskey, 2017).
Not only has the Irish student housing market seen a huge under-supply of available housing, there is
enormous demand for that which is affordable, with Dublin the most expensive city for students in
Ireland to live.
Founded upon a study of student housing in Dublin, this research aims to advance student geographies
by utilising a social harm perspective to explore the experiences of students within Dublin's housing
crisis. The research aims to advance the burgeoning field of zemiology, placing students at the heart of
the research, and in doing so arguing for a social harm approach within geographical studies. The
experiences of students often remain unnoticed in favour of other, more prominent voices, such as:
landlords (Munro and Livingston, 2011); local business owners (Chatterton and Hollands, 2003); estate
agents and council workers (Allinson, 2006); university staff (Chatterton, 2000), and non-student local
residents (Hubbard, 2008). It is the neglected student voice, however, which remains the central driver
behind this research. Through in-depth research with students across four universities in Dublin, this
research aims to address the gap in existing literature and produce insights relevant to universities and
higher education institutions, policy makers and property developers alike. The research will sit at the
intersection of a number of interrelated bodies of literature, drawing new connections between work on
student geographies, urban change, housing studies and zemiology.