Faculty Members
(opens in a new window)Amanda Fitzgerald (Founding faculty member)
Amanda is an Associate Professor in UCD School of Psychology and is currently Director of the Youth Mental Health lab.
The lab has collaborations with number of youth organizations in Ireland such as Jigsaw-The National Centre for Youth Mental Health, Spunout.ie, Soar Foundation, and CyberSafeKids.
Amanda’s 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 youth mental health and digital technologies for youth. She is leader of the Youth Engagement working group as part of the EU Cost Action YouthDMH, an interdisciplinary network focused on enhancing research on the use of technology to support young people’s mental health. She leads a programme of research on best practice in youth co-design in digital youth mental health technology.
She is PI on an HRB-funded evaluation of single-session interventions in youth mental health services in conjunction with Jigsaw- The National Centre for Youth Mental Health. She is co-Chief Investigator on a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC, Australia) project, Youth Online Chat Outcome Measurement, collaborating with global leaders to develop outcomes for online mental health services.
(opens in a new window)Barbara Dooley (Founding faculty member)
Adjunct Faculty
Jeff Moore (Adjunct Associate Professor)
Dr Jeff Moore is Director of Research at Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health. He has nearly twenty years’ experience developing and evaluating mental health supports in community and primary care settings and played a key role in shaping Jigsaw’s service and evaluation model. Earlier in his career, Jeff supported the rollout of improved access to psychological therapies at two London sites and contributed to research on migrant social inclusion and primary care mental health.
At Jigsaw, as a member of the executive, Jeff leads the organisation’s research programme. His work focuses on implementation and programme evaluation in youth mental health, and he has published widely in these areas. He also oversees Jigsaw’s data systems, including the introduction of a second gen electronic health record, and ongoing work to develop a digital front door for young people seeking support.
As a member of the Youth Mental Health Lab, Jeff has co-supervised PhD candidates and contributes to teaching on youth mental health research.
He also manages Jigsaw’s research governance processes, including overseeing the research ethics committee. In 2024, he was appointed to Ireland’s National Research Ethics Committee for Clinical Trials (NREC-CT).
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.
Sophie Kathryn is a student on the Masters in Psychological Science course. She is working alongside Associate Professor Amanda Fitzgerald and EU Cost Action group YouthDMH to conduct an international Delphi consensus study exploring the barriers with conducting youth participatory research in the field of digital mental health.
Sophie is passionate about youth mental health and youth participation, working in a youth service in Dun Laoghaire Co. Dublin for the last two years and whilst completing her studies. Sophie volunteers with Jigsaw - the National Centre for Youth Mental Health with the Research & Evaluation team, advocating for youth voice and engagement throughout the processes of research projects. She also works as a Research Associate with Dr Alexis Carey on report writing tenders, often completing government-commissioned reports for the National Youth Assembly of Ireland.
Niall Hogan is a recent graduate of the Masters in Psychological Science program. His masters dissertation examined risk and protective factors for adolescent suicide and deliberate self-harm using an ecological framework drawing on the My World 2 Survey dataset. Niall’s research interests include the psychosocial determinants of adolescent mental health, understanding and enhancing adolescent protective resources through mental health promotion, and the role of schools and school-based interventions in adolescent mental health. Niall is currently working under Professor Barbara Dooley as a research assistant on a project examining student belonging in higher education funded by the Higher Education Authority.