The Trinity Research Staff Association is the representative staff association for all contract researchers, from early stage postdoctoral researchers to long serving research staff. The TRSA upholds and promotes the interests of research staff at an individual and collective level. The TRSA is a recognised staff association within the College, which is represented on the Research Committee: members of the association also serve as elected members of College Board and University Council.
The TRSA was founded in 2005 to represent a rapidly growing category of staff in third-level institutions, who had previously had no way of making their views known within the university system. Contract research staff have a distinctive status, where employment and career development depend to a great extent on their own ability to secure research funding. The TRSA aims to enhance the employment conditions of research staff; remove traditional barriers restricting the potential of researchers within higher education institutions and integrate researchers fully within the wider academic community