Science Week Group Photo

Science Week 2022 – 1st Psychology Career Paths: A Fireside Panel Discussion with Alumni Event

Written by Dr Stella Vlachou

Assistant Professor in Psychology, School of Psychology

Associate Dean for External Engagement and Internationalisation, Faculty of Science and Health at DCU

November is waving goodbye and a number of events took place during this month as part of Science Week 2022 which ran between the 13th and the 20th of November. This year Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) asked people to explore the infinite possibilities of science.

The DCU Faculty of Science and Health participated in Science Week with a very strong representation of events from the different Schools this year, the first year post pandemic when events could be organised both online and in person.

Science Week was another wonderful opportunity to raise the profile of science at DCU, as well as to link with our Alumni for that purpose. 

As part of Science Week, Dr Stella Vlachou from the School of Psychology organised the 1st Psychology Career Paths: A Fireside Panel Discussion with Alumni event, which took place with the support of the School of Psychology, the Careers Office and Alumni Office at DCU, specifically with support from Sandra Gibney and Jennifer Kwan, Careers Consultants at the DCU Careers Service, as well as Ross Munnelly, Director of Alumni Relations, Qi Jin Tan and Leanne Hanafin, Alumni Officers at the Alumni Office.

The fireside chat saw a number of DCU psychology alumni/-ae returning to campus as panelists at the event, together with professionals in psychology, to share with the attendants their paths, experiences, thoughts and plans that led them to their career stage at this point, with all their successes and obstacles on the way. This was a highly interactive and at points even emotional event, very informative and highly inspirational to the current undergraduate and postgraduate students in psychology, who had the opportunity to discuss options for their psychology career paths after their graduation. This event also gave the chance to alumni to reconnect with DCU and discuss opportunities ahead for them to further engage with DCU, including advisory roles for current students, as well as partnerships for the purpose of INTRA placements and studentship opportunities, all of which of mutual benefit to both alumni and current students.

The panelists and DCU alumni at the event were:

- Michelle de Mattos Franca, BPY Class of 2014

Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Dublin Mind Clinic, Chartered Counselling Psychologist, Fully Accredited Psychotherapist, Board Certified at Neurofeedback

- Dominique Yong, BPY Class of 2014

Client Services Team Lead at TikTok

- Sarah-Louise Tarpey, BPY Class of 2015

Clinical Psychologist, HSE

- Brian Mackey, BPY Class of 2015

Founder at Baskey, former Partner Success Manager at HubSpot

- Stephen Clare, BPY Class of 2019

Second Year of Graduate Entry Medicine at RCSI, Senior Editor of the RCSI Student Medical Journal

- Grainne McDonnell

Educational Psychologist, Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) Accredited Practitioner, National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS)

As Dr Vlachou mentioned, “We would like to thank all panelists and participants for making this evening so special. Based on the feedback received from both panelists and participants following the event, and with the continuous support from the DCU Careers and Alumni Offices, we are hoping to organise more events of this kind in the following months.”