Faculty Members
(opens in a new window)Barbara Dooley (Founding faculty member)
Barbara Dooley is Dean of Graduate Studies and Deputy Registrar and a Professor of Psychology. She was the Principal Investigator for My World Survey 1 (2012) and My World Survey 2 (2019). The (opens in a new window)My World Surveys are a collaboration between the UCD School of Psychology and Jigsaw, studying risk and protective factors in young people aged 12-25 years old. She is a member of the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention Evaluation Advisory Group & Vice-President of the International Association for Youth Mental Health.
(opens in a new window)Amanda Fitzgerald (Founding faculty member)
Amanda is an Associate Professor in UCD School of Psychology. Her research focuses on understanding risk and protective factors of young people's mental health, with a specific interest in the area of early interventions for adolescent mental health and use of e-technologies for improving various psychosocial problems. She is Co-PI on a MoodMovement research network aiming to identify existing and emerging technologies to facilitate help-seeking, stigma reduction and support of young people's mental health.
Twitter @Mood_Movement
(opens in a new window)Eilis Hennessy (Founding faculty member)
Eilis Hennessy is a professor in UCD School of Psychology. Her research addresses stigma, experienced by children and adolescents who have mental health and behavioural problems. Her research with children and young people spans age 8 years to age 24. As part of this research programme she and her colleagues have developed and published questionnaires for measuring mental health stigma, examined the perception of stigma experienced by young people and their families, and worked with mental health charities to reduce stigma in secondary school pupils.
Graduate researchers
Maeve Dwan O’Reilly B.Rel.Ed., H. Dip., MPsychSc. Maeve is a PhD Candidate supervised by Professor Eilis Hennessy (UCD) Dr Caroline Heary (NUIG). Maeve is carrying out her PhD in collaboration with Jigsaw, The National Centre for Youth Mental Health, funded by the Irish Research Council. Maeve is interested in mental health literacy in secondary schools and the role school staff play in supporting student mental health. Maeve is currently working with Jigsaw to explore staff involvement in the whole school mental health literacy initiative One Good School. Maeve is also currently working with M.Psych.Sc. student Laura Walsh to examine teacher confidence around addressing mental health and delivering mental health content. Maeve has a background in teaching having trained as an English and religion secondary school teacher and having worked for many years as an ESL teacher.
Email: (opens in a new window)maeve.dwanoreilly@ucdconnect.ie
Twitter: @MaeveDOR
Clodagh Flinn, B.A., MPsychSc. Ad Astra Fellow PhD Studentship. Clodagh’s research is supervised by Assistant Professor Niki Nearchou. Clodagh joined the Youth Mental Health Lab in 2018.
Clodagh’s previous research focused on sexual health young people. This includes research on partner notification for Sexually Transmitted Infections and online sexual health information seeking in young adults. Her PhD research aims to explore the impact of chronic skin conditions on well-being and quality of life in young people, in addition to identifying and understanding factors associated with resilience. Clodagh is also working on the Your Youth Health Project in the UCD School of Psychology, which aims to explore young peoples’ mental health and well-being during Covid-19.
Nearchou, F., Flinn, C., Niland, R., Subramaniam, S. S., & Hennessy, E. (2020). Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health Outcomes in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(22), 8479.
Email: (opens in a new window)clodagh.flinn@ucdconnect.ie(opens in a new window)
Twitter: @ClodaghFlinn
[New Photo coming}
Aine French BA. MLitt candidate, supervised by Assistant Professor Niki Nearchou. Aine is currently conducting a systematic review on the relationship between sleep and self-harm in young people as part of her M.Litt. studies. She is hoping to continue on to the Ph.D. programme to further explore the nature of this relationship using digital phenotyping.
Email: (opens in a new window)aine.french@ucdconnect.ie
Ciara Mahon PhD is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Youth Mental Health Lab at University College Dublin working with Professor Barbara Dooley and Associate Professor Amanda Fitzgerald. She is currently investigating factors influencing the mental health of 20,000 youths who completed the My World Survey 2: A National Study of Youth Mental Health.
Ciara has a passion for applied, theory driven research and adopts a blend of quantitative and qualitative methods in her own research. Her research interests include youth and adolescent mental health, health behaviours, body image, social media and self-compassion. Her PhD investigated social media's effects on body image and psychological wellbeing of youths and adolescents. It also evaluated the effectiveness of compassion focused approaches to address body dissatisfaction in adolescents.
Email: (opens in a new window)ciara.mahon@ucd.ie
Maria Tibbs, BA (Hons), MSc, PhD Candidate, IRC scholar.
Maria is currently completing her PhD alongside Jigsaw – National Centre for Youth Mental Health and UCD School of Psychology. Her project focuses on Jigsaw’s online chat-based mental health support for young people aged 12-25, Jigsaw Live Chats. Specifically, she is interested in the profile of young people that present to online chat-based services and the processes and mechanisms that might impact therapeutic change. Supervisors: Associate Prof. Amanda Fitzgerald and Dr. Aileen O’Reilly.
Twitter: @MariaTibbs1
Rachel Murphy, BA (Hons), MSc, PhD Candidate, IRC scholar.
Rachel is a PhD candidate and has been amember of the Youth Mental Health Lab since 2021. She is conducting her PhD in collaboration with Jigsaw-The National Centre for Youth Mental Health. Her PhD is supervised by Associate Professor Amanda Fitzgerald.
Rachel’s research focuses on peer support interventions for youth mental health. Specifically, she is examining how these interventions can be implemented within youth mental health services. Her other research interests include student mental health, loneliness during the transition to adulthood, and the development of effective interventions.
Email: (opens in a new window)rachel.murphy12@ucdconnect.ie
Twitter: @RachelMGMurphy
Research Gate: (opens in a new window)https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rachel-Murphy-63/research
Aundria Cameron earned her BSc in Psychology and Masters in Psychological Science from University College Dublin. Her research interests include the links between mental and physical health, and the psychosocial determinants of health, particularly how multisystemic resilience mechanisms underpin positive outcomes for risk-exposed young people, adolescents, and adults.
Aundria works as a research assistant on several projects, collaborating with organizations such as the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) and Barnardos. Aundria is also working as a research assistant with Professor Barbara Dooley on the 3SET project funded by the Higher Education Authority Innovation and Transformation.
Masters students
Hau Nguyen is a student on the Masters in Psychological Science course and is working as a teaching assistant for the School of Psychology. Hau is passionate in working with the underprivileged population of young people which is evidenced via his work with children and adolescents in the inner city Dublin and Dockland area while completing his undergraduate degree at NCI. Hau is carrying out his research examining illness perception and help-seeking intentions in young people.