People
Anti-Bullying Centre Team
Prof James O’Higgins Norman is a clinical sociologist with interests in school bullying, cyberbullying and online safety. He is a Professor of Sociology and holds the prestigious UNESCO Chair on Tackling Bullying in Schools and Cyberspace at Dublin City University where he is also Director of DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. James is a co-founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal on Bullying Prevention and in 2019 he was Chair of the World Anti-Bullying Forum. He is widely consulted by the media and Government on educational and social issues and in 2018 he was appointed as a member of the Government of Ireland’s National Advisory Council on Online Safety. He has also led a number of large scale national and international funded research projects on bullying, cyberbullying, and migration.
Research Areas
School Bullying, Cyberbullying, Parents and Cyberbullying, Workplace Bullying
Darran is the Director of Engagement at the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre, where he leads the strategic planning and implementation of outreach, partnership, and knowledge-dissemination initiatives. His role is central to enhancing the Centre’s visibility, fostering meaningful collaborations, translating research into practical impact, and ensuring the Centre’s work remains responsive to societal needs.
In this capacity, Darran has overseen the development of FUSE, an Anti-Bullying and Online Safety programme supported by the Department of Education and Skills and Rethink Ireland. Darran also contributes to Cinéaltas: Action Plan on Bullying 2022 in his capacity as a member of the Bí Cinéalta Working Group. Prior to this, he spent five years with the DCU Access Service, serving as overall coordinator of the Access TY programme and working closely with 20 DEIS schools across North Dublin.
Darran brings more than fifteen years of experience in event and project management, marketing, and public relations. He holds a Master’s in Education and Training Management (eLearning) from DCU, completed in 2012, and qualified as an Executive and Life Coach in 2016. He is currently pursuing a PhD at DCU, examining codesign with young people in the development of anti-bullying interventions.
Darran also serves on the Advisory Board of the SOAR Foundation, where he contributes strategic guidance to support the organisation’s mission of empowering young people through social-emotional education and personal development initiatives.
Research Areas
Project management, eLearning, social media, co-design, education.
Dr. Sinan Aşçı is a postdoctoral researcher at the Anti-Bullying Centre, Dublin City University. He currently works on the Observatory on Cyberbullying, Cyberhate, and Cyberharassment project, examining how emerging technologies influence online harms such as child sexual abuse material (CSAM), radicalisation, and their offline consequences in the Irish context. Since 2023, he has also contributed to the CILTER project, developing parental control technologies to detect cyberbullying, self-harm, and grooming behaviours online.
Previously, Sinan was an assistant professor in the Department of New Media at Bahçeşehir University (Türkiye) and an adjunct professor at the International University SDI München (Germany). He holds a Ph.D. in Media and Communication Studies from Galatasaray University, where his research focused on cyberbullying and youth in Türkiye.
He has participated in multiple EU-funded projects on media education, diversity, and digital literacy, and has taught courses on media and communication across Türkiye, Germany, and South Korea. His broader research interests include youth culture, LGBTIQ+ communities, online harms, social media, and digital literacy. He also serves as a reviewer and editor for leading peer-reviewed journals.
Research areas: Youth culture, online harms, digital culture, digital literacy.
Dr Sayani Basak is a postdoctoral researcher at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre (ABC) working on the Cilter DTIF project which is to develop a parental controls technology to assist with the detection of cyberbullying, self-harm, and grooming behaviours online. She holds a Doctoral Degree in Social Sciences from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Guwahati Campus, India under the supervision of Prof Kalpana Sarathy. Her PhD thesis focussed on LGBTQIA+ lives and their everyday experiences of harassment and coping in online and offline spaces. Earlier to her PhD, she completed her MPhil in Social Sciences from TISS, India. Her MPhil work explored the lived experiences of adult survivors of Child Sexual Abuse and how it impacts their healing process. She has completed her Master's degree in Applied Psychology from the University of Calcutta, India and Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Bethune College, Kolkata, India.
She has worked in diverse research areas like childhood trauma, child sexual abuse, intimate partner violence and online grooming. She has collaborated and been part of different research projects funded by Local NGOs, the University of Georgetown, USA and national organisations. She has also presented her papers at National and International conferences and contributed through her writing in peer-reviewed journals & social media forums.
Research Areas
childhood trauma, online grooming, mental health and LGBT inclusions
Dr Ashling Bourke currently holds a Deans’ Research Fellow at the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. In this role she is conducting research on the role of social dominance orientation and its interaction with cognitive empathy in the perpetration of cyber-bullying.
Ashling is an Associate Professor in Psychology and Human Development at the Institute of Education, DCU. Her research and teaching interests include the processes that impact on child and adolescent wellbeing. She has an active research profile on the intersection of Psychology, Rights, and Education, with a specific interest in children’s rights, relationships and sexuality education, the psychological influences and impacts of climate change, and developmental forensic psychology.
Audrey Bryan is an Associate Professor of Sociology in the School of Human Development, DCU and is a Research Fellow at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. As a sociologist of education, her research is concerned with the role that schools play in creating and sustaining the conditions that produce bullying and with sociological perspectives on bullying more generally. She has a long-standing interest in gender and sexuality-based forms of bullying and has published nationally and internationally on this topic.
Her most recent work interrogates the discursive and material effects of anti-homophobic bullying interventions that depict gender and sexual minority youth in terms of vulnerability and “at riskness.” Collectively, her work seeks to deepen our understanding of how educational settings function as both agents where the structures and practices of schooling serve to define gender and sexuality for teachers and students and as settings where social actors act as critical agents in the production of gender and sexual identities.
audrey.bryan@dcu.ie +353 01 700 9265
Research Areas
Gender, sexuality, anti-homophobic interventions, identity
Sophie Butler is a Research Assistant at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre and is working on the SNAW Erasmus project (Say No To Age Discrimination within the workplace) aimed at promoting age diversity, addressing the need for digital solutions to support workers promoting inclusion in the workforce funded by the European commission.
Equality, Access and inclusion are at the heart of Sophie’s ethos. Sophie is a part time lecturer under the School of Human Development and Policy and Practise delivering various psychology and advanced teaching practice modules. She is currently working directly with autistic children as an educational assistant and has a passion for creating a neuro affirmative, engaging, stimulating and fun learning experience for children. Sophie has vast clinical experience in which she worked as a radiology department assistant (SSC) in MRI working directly with patients, lead radiologists and radiographers (2019).
Sophie has a range of qualifications such as an MSc in psychology PSI accredited (2022) from DCU and a BSc in Education and training (2019). She is currently working on multiple projects involving autistic students in Higher Level education such as “..Fallen through the cracks..”: A Co-Produced Qualitative Exploration of Autistic Student Experiences at an Irish Higher Education Institution funded by the human rights commision and ASIAM Ireland (Publication 2024). Furthermore, she is a key author and part of the April 2024 launch of “Future Expectations: A qualitative research study exploring the perceptions and expectations of Autistic young adults Gheel services IMPACT Programme” funded by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission aiming to explore the perceptions and experiences of Autistic people of the challenges for them when seeking employment.
Edoardo Celeste is an Associate Professor of Law, Technology and Innovation at the School of Law and Government of Dublin City University. He specialises in EU and comparative digital law, focusing in particular on digital rights and constitutionalism, digital sovereignty and sustainability, platform regulation and data protection. Within DCU Anti-Bullying Centre, Edoardo co-supervises PhD student Karolin Rippich’s work on anti-gender movements and the protection of LGBTQI+ children online.
Edoardo is the Programme Chair of the Erasmus Mundus Master in Law, Data and Artificial Intelligence (EMILDAI), the Deputy Director of the Dublin European Law Institute, the coordinator of the DCU Law and Tech Research Cluster, and a founding member of the Digital Constitutionalism Network.
Edoardo won the Irish Research Council Early Career Researcher of Year Award 2022. Edoardo has been involved in numerous competitively won research projects, securing funding both by public and private institutions. He is an investigator of the EU-funded Harness Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network on AI and data-intensive technologies and on the HARD DISC project (Human-centred approach and regulatory dimension in developing an interoperable and secure cyberspace) on online disinformation.
Edoardo is the author of the monographs 'Digital Constitutionalism: The Role of Internet Bills of Rights' (Routledge 2022) and 'The Content Governance Dilemma' (Palgrave 2023). He published his works in leading legal journals and edited the books 'Data Protection Beyond Borders' (Hart 2021), 'Constitutionalising Social Media' (Hart 2022), 'Data Protection and Digital Sovereignty Post-Brexit' (Hart 2023) and 'Digital Sovereignty and the Green Transition' (Hart 2025).
Edoardo is the Deputy Editor of the European Journal of Law and Technology (EJLT) and a member of the Executive Committee of the British and Irish Law, Education and Technology Association (BILETA). He is currently affiliated with the ADAPT Centre and he is a member of the Ethics, Politics, Law and Philosophy Committee of the Royal Irish Academy.
Edoardo holds a PhD from University College Dublin and previously studied law at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, at the University of Paris II ‘Panthéon-Assas’, and at King’s College London.
Dr Irene Connolly is a lecturer in Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology in Co. Dublin and a Research Fellow at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. Irene lectures on the BSc. in Applied Psychology in Developmental and Lifespan Psychology & Educational Psychology. Irene is the Irish representative on the European Federation of Psychologists Associations consultation group ‘Psychology and Internet’; a member of the Coalition to Make the Internet a safer place for Children; chairperson of the organising committee of “Dealing with Cyberbullying: A Practical Approach” conference 2013, and a co-chair of conference “Bullying at School: Sharing Best Practice in Prevention and Intervention” 2011. Her research interests are in the field of educational and developmental psychology, specifically cyberpsychology and bullying as well as dyslexia and learning difficulties, motivation in the classroom, E-Learning, M-Learning.
Research Areas
Cyberpsychology and Bullying
Dr Trudy Corrigan is an Assistant Professor at the DCU School of Policy and Practice and a Research Fellow at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. Trudy has studied for a Professional Doctorate in the School of Education Studies. Her research interests are in adult education and lifelong learning, and include ageism and bullying in learning and workplace environments. The aim of her research is to develop intergenerational learning as a high-quality pedagogical practice in higher education, through exploring the reciprocal benefits of teaching, learning and research between generations through experiential and social learning, and her research has already developed into a successful programme integrated into the DCU and the wider community. Trudy is currently working on creating and developing innovative projects that will be of benefit in educational and/or training contexts in the workplace.
trudy.corrigan@dcu.ie +353 01 700 9251
Research Areas
Ageism and Bullying in Learning and Workplace Environments
Brian is an Assistant Professor and Assistant Head of Teaching Excellence at the School of Computing and RI Funded Investigator at the ADAPT Centre, DCU, where he leads the NLP applications and Irish language technology groups (3 PhD candidates, 1 MSc, 2 RF fellows, 2 Postdocs, 3 RAs, 1 programmer). His research focuses on applying NLP research to practical, real-world scenarios. Brian is the technical advisor for the Irish government at the EC-funded Alliance for Language Technologies (ALT-EDIC), representing Ireland’s interests in building sovereign LLMs for the Irish language, and is an author of the Digital Plan for Irish. He is currently the PI of the eSTÓR project, which is charged with relaying public sector Irish/English parallel data to the European Commission official MT system eTranslation See Full Profile.
Although his original core expertise intersects with Natural Language Processing(NLP) and Ontology Development, he has expanded and diversified his research capacity over the years to opinion mining, and multilingual opinion mining of social media (application in finance, politics and online safety). Philosophically, he is oriented to the practice of language engineering, which aims to bridge the gap between computational linguistics/language processing research and the implementation of practical applications with potential real-world use. Hence, in the context of modern neural NLP, he often focuses on the construction of practical/real-world language processing systems whose costs and outputs are not only measurable and predictable but reusable, controllable and explainable. Since arriving in DCU, he has grown his own NLP research team, which focuses on the following language processing applications i) pipelined neural architectures for building Data2Text Natural Language Generation (NLG) systems ii) applications of NLP to online safety in short noisy texts domains in collaboration with the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre (ABC) located in DCU’s Institute of Education iii) and more recently applications of NLP to low resource languages such as Irish.
Professor Paul Downes is Professor of Psychology of Education, and Director of the Educational Disadvantage Centre, Institute of Education, Dublin City University, Ireland and Affiliate Professor, University of Malta, Centre for Resilience and Socio-Emotional Health. With over 110 peer reviewed publications in areas of education, psychology, sociology, philosophy, law, anthropology and social policy, he has given keynote lectures and invited presentations in 30 countries and for 16 countries’ official ministries. He has been involved in various expert advisory roles for the European Commission, including the Pathways to School Success Working Group, and European Education and Training Expert Panel to support the EU’s post-2020 Strategic Cooperation Framework.
He has led and co-authored a range of monographs published by the EU Commission, including How to tackle bullying and prevent school violence in Europe: Evidence and practices for strategies for inclusive and safe schools (2016) and Strengthening social and emotional education as a core curricular area across the EU (2018). A contributor to Jimerson, SM. Swearer, and DL. Espelage (Eds.), Handbook of Bullying in Schools (Routledge 2009) on relational spaces in school systems, his book Reconstructing Agency in Developmental and Educational Psychology: Inclusive Systems as Concentric Space (Routledge 2020) was nominated for the American Psychological Association’s (APA) William James Book Award.
paul.downes@dcu.ie + 353 1 700 9245
Dr Audrey Doyle is an assistant professor in the School of Policy and Practice at the Institute of Education, DCU. She has spent most of her career as a post-primary teacher and as principal of an all-girls post-primary school in Dublin.
She is currently chairperson of a post-primary school in Dublin. She is secretary of the ESAI SIG on curriculum in Ireland and has attended and presented at many national and international conferences on curriculum reform and the role of the teacher. Her main interests are related to curriculum ideology and pedagogy and how it translates into the educational encounter in the classroom.
Her PhD research mapped how Junior Cycle curriculum reform in lower secondary education in Ireland has begun to emerge through its new purposes, processes and pedagogy.
audrey.doyle@dcu.ie +353-17009234
Research Areas
Education
Dr Maeve Dupont is an Assistant professor in the School of Human Development and a Research Fellow in DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. Maeve lectures in Educational and Developmental psychology across a number of programmes in DCU at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
During the course of her doctoral studies at Cardiff University, Maeve examined prejudice towards Travellers amongst primary school children in Ireland and tested the effectiveness of a psychological intervention (using stories) to improve attitudes towards marginalised groups. Having worked as a primary school teacher in areas of disadvantage, and an educational psychologist in the greater Dublin area, Maeve’s research interests include: inclusion, ethnicity-based bullying, and psychological approaches to reduce prejudice and improve intergroup relations among young people.
Currently, Maeve is part of a DES-funded project investigating bullying towards Traveller and Roma pupils in Ireland.
maeve.dupont@dcu.ie +353 01 700 9263
Research Areas
Traveller and Roma based bullying, inclusion, education, prejudice
Dr Mairéad Foody is an Assistant Professor in Psychology in NUI Galway and Honorary Research Fellow in the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre. She has a PhD in Psychology and several years of international applied and research experience with young people. Dr Foody has published widely in the area of child and adolescent mental health and is particularly interested in the impact of cyberbullying and bullying on psychological development. She holds several prestigious awards for her research such as the Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship, the James Flaherty Scholarship and the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie COFUND Research Fellowship
Research Areas
Cyberbullying, On-line Safety, Sibling Bullying, and Mental Health
Yseult Freeney is a Full Professor of Organisational Psychology in DCU Business School and a Research Fellow in DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. She completed her PhD in Psychology at University College Dublin as a UCD Scholar. Yseult was awarded an IRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in 2009 to continue her work at Trinity College Dublin. Her research agenda is driven by a passionate interest in the well-being of employees and in helping them to thrive at work. More specifically, her research contributes to understanding how organisations can foster sustainable work engagement and work-life enrichment for employees against a backdrop of increasing work intensification, as well as a particular interest in the important role of positive workplace relationships. Yseult has worked with multiple organisations in both a research and training capacity in assisting them with leadership and engagement challenges. In line with her expertise in the area, Yseult serves on the Editorial Board of Human Resource Management Journal. Yseult Freeney’s publications to date include Human Relations, Human Resource Management Journal, International Journal of Nursing Studies, Learning and Individual Differences, Journal of Health Organization and Management and the British Educational Research Journal. She also co-edited the Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Management: Organisational Behaviour with her colleague, Prof. Patrick Flood.
Yseult has won awards for her excellence in teaching, winning the DCU President’s Excellence in Teaching Award while she was awarded a regional teaching fellowship by the Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance. Yseult also acts as one of the Chairing Judges at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition.
Research Areas
Work Engagement , Employee well-being, Work-life interface Workplace relationships, Career and Return-to-Work Transitions, Women at work and Work-Life Enrichment
Debbie Ging is Professor of Digital Media and Gender in the School of Communications at Dublin City University, Ireland. She teaches and researches on gender, sexuality and digital media, with a focus on digital hate, online anti-feminist men’s rights politics, the incel subculture and radicalisation of boys and men into male supremacist ideologies.
Debbie’s research also addresses youth experiences of gender-based and sexual abuse online and educational interventions to tackle this issue. She is co-editor of Gender Hate Online: Understanding the New Anti Feminism (Routledge, 2019) and has published widely on the manosphere, incels and online misogyny. Debbie is Ireland Corresponding Editor of the journal Men and Masculinities and is a member of the editorial boards of New Media and Society and Feminist Media Studies.
debbie.ging@dcu.ie 01 700 7729
Research Areas
Social Media and Cyberbullying & Harassment, LGBT Inclusion & Bullying in Second-Level School
Dr Alan Gorman, BEd, MEd, PhD, is a Research Fellow at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre and is an Assistant Professor in the School of Policy and Practice, DCU Institute of Education. He teaches across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and he is the Area of Professional Focus Leader for Professional Learning and Teacher Education on DCU’s Doctor of Education programme. He was the recipient of the DCU President’s Medal for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in 2022.
Alan has specific expertise in policy analysis and teaches critical policy analysis at doctoral level. He has also published in high-ranking journals in policy analysis, professional learning, and teacher education, alongside supervising doctoral students to completion in these areas. As PI, he has recently completed funded research of early career principals’ identity formation across the island of Ireland.
His work in ABC is specifically around policy analysis, enactment, and impact of anti-bullying policy in schools. With colleagues in the centre, he has made oral submissions to the ‘Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science School Bullying and the Impact on Mental Health’. He has made numerous presentations to the Department of Education around policy development and enactment. Alan has also provided written submissions to the ‘Report on the Review of the 2013 Action Plan on Bullying and the Development of Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying’, published by the Department of Education in late 2023.
He has just completed research on how primary school principals are enacting the ‘Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools’ (DES, 2013). He welcomes international collaborative research opportunities in the areas of anti-bullying policy and/or leadership for anti-bullying.
Research Areas
Policy analysis, enactment, and impact of anti-bullying policy in schools
Anne Marie Kavanagh (PhD, FHEA) is an Assistant Professor of Ethical & Intercultural Education in the School of Human Development, DCU and a Research Fellow at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. A former primary teacher, she supports student teachers at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in developing their pedagogical content knowledge and confidence in the curricular area of Ethical Education.
In 2021, her first co-edited book (with Prof Fionnuala Waldron & Dr Benjamin Mallon) ‘Teaching for Social Justice and Sustainable Development Across the Primary Curriculum’ was published by Routledge. This volume supports educators to teach for social justice and sustainability across a wide range of curricular subjects at primary level. Her second co-edited book ‘Beyond single stories: Changing narratives for a changing world’ (with Dr Amy Allen & Dr Caitríona Ní Cassaithe) is due to be published by Routledge in late 2023.
Dr Seline Keating is an Assistant Professor at the DCU School of Human Development and a Research Fellow at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre.
Since 2015 Seline has been lecturing in Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) and Wellbeing in DCU Institute of Education. Prior to this position, she taught for ten years in a variety of primary school types and settings. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Education with History and specialism in Dance from Mary Immaculate College, Limerick (2006), a Master of Education in Aggression Studies from Trinity College Dublin (2009) and a PhD from Trinity College Dublin (2012).
Seline’s Masters in Aggression Studies focussed on developmental psychology, aggressive/bullying behaviours, bullying prevention/intervention strategies and, formulating and assessing a school’s Anti-bullying policy and Code of Behaviour. Her thesis topic examined the effects of television on aggressive behaviours among primary school children. Seline’s Ph.D research explored child development in the context of mass media specifically that of an electronic nature exploring computer consoles (x-box, PSP), music devices (iPods), the Internet (online gaming & social networking sites like Facebook ) and their effects on a child’s psychosocial development and well-being.
She was awarded The Heffernan Bursary (Trinity College, 2009) and the INTO Bursary (2011) for her Ph.D research. Currently, Seline is the PI of three research projects:
- Exploring the Frixos Sexuality Programme and its relevance to the Irish RSE primary school context (IRC funded).
- Gender Equality Matters (GEM) tackling gender stereotyping, gender-based bullying and gender-based violence in schools (EU funded)
- Nuts + Bolts: An Anti-Bullying Policy Audit Tool (IoE)
Seline was the lead author on the research paper for the Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) review, commissioned by the NCCA. She was also recently appointed to the NCCA SPHE and RSE Development Group.
In addition to teaching on BEd and PME modules and tutoring students on School Placement, Seline is a Research Fellow of the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre (ABC). She also designs and delivers CPD courses for both primary and post-primary school teachers on bullying prevention and intervention.
Seline’s other roles include:- Chairperson of The SPHE Network; Teaching and Learning Convenor for the School of Human Development; Social Personal Health Education (SPHE) and Social Inclusion in Education Thematic Coordinator for the Educational Disadvantage Centre; Steering Committee of the Centre for Human Rights and Citizenship Education; Member of DCU Healthy Committee (Mental Health Working Group); Member and Reviewer for AERA; Member of ESAI; Member of the Irish Childhood Bereavement Network (ICBN); Reviewer for Sexuality Education.
Her research interests include: Wellbeing; Bullying Prevention and Intervention; Media Education; Child Protection; LGBTI inclusivity; Relationships and Sexuality Education; Child Development; Children’s Rights, Equality, Mindfulness; SPHE Policy
+353 01 700 9256
Research Areas
LGBT Inclusion and Bullying in Primary Schools
Neil Kenny is an Assistant Professor in the DCU School of Inclusive and Special Education and a Research Fellow at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre (ABC). Dr. Neil Kenny has a range of qualifications in Education and Psychology, including a B.A. (psych) from U.C.D. (2000) and a PhD. from Maynooth University (2010). In addition, he has over ten years applied experience in special education settings, working directly with families and children with complex learning needs. This experience involved utilizing a range of psychological assessments to design, supervise and deliver evidence-based education programs to individuals ranging in age from early intervention services for young children to adult residential services.
Additionally, Neil has experience in teaching and research across a number of higher education institutions in the domains of Education and Psychology. He has previously held lecturing positions at the Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown (2011-2012), the University of Limerick (2012-2015) and Limerick Institute of Technology. He has a number of qualifications in teaching and learning in higher education, including Dublin Institute of Technology (2011), Waterford Institute of Technology (2012) and a Specialist Diploma from the University of Limerick (2014).
Finally, Neil completed an IRC-funded post-doctoral research project at the University of Limerick (2015 – 2016) and has been principal investigator across a number of other funded collaborative research projects. He has an active research agenda and has published his research across a range of international peer-reviewed journals.
+353 01 700 9071
Research Areas
Autism Spectrum Disorders; SEN School Bullying
Angela Kinahan is the Research Centre Administrator at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre and Executive Assistant to the Centre Director. She has responsibility for the provision of comprehensive administrative, operational and financial related support to the Centre, including its smooth day-to-day functioning and supporting its research, academic and engagement activities.
Angela acts as a key liaison between the Centre, university departments, and external partners, ensuring compliance with university policies and efficient management of Centre resources and database maintenance. She coordinates the hiring and onboarding processes for Centre staff, PhD students and research assistants and is responsible for the planning, logistics and execution of events, workshops, meetings and seminars hosted by the Centre.
Angela provides internal and external communication and outreach support, including assisting in the development of promotional materials and annual reports. She provides administrative support to the Chair of the Centre’s Advisory Board.
Her previous role within the Centre was Education Officer for the FUSE Anti-Bullying and Online Safety Programme available to all primary and post-primary schools nationwide.
Prior to this, Angela worked extensively across a breadth of management roles within the financial services industry, including business and operational administration, governance and risk assurance.
Angela is a graduate of Dublin City University, completing an honours Master of Science degree in Education and Training Management (Leadership).
01 700 9004
Research Areas
Education, Bullying, Leadership
Dr Seffetullah Kuldas is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He is part of the Trondheim Early Secure Study (TESS) team, focusing on longitudinal changes in psychosocial development, mental health, and health behaviours from childhood through adolescence into emerging adulthood. In particular, he examines the relationships between physical activity and sleep over time. Additionally, he holds a temporary researcher position at the Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo, where he conducts cross-national analyses of the EU Kids Online data, investigating the digital transformations of family life across European countries. His main research interests include:
- Inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic bullying and victimization
- Cross-national and cross-ethnic differences in parental mediation of children’s Internet use
- Educational resilience (e.g., against ethnicity-based bullying victimization)
- Self (individualistic vs collectivistic self-construal)
- The unconscious mind
- Motivation and achievement goals
- Cognitive load (working memory capacity)
Isabel Machado Da Silva is Assistant Professor of Sociology in the School of Human Development at DCU & Doctoral Candidate at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. She is part of the Doctoral Network “PARTICIPATE” Project, funded by the Horizon Programme of the European Commission – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). Her research explores how to enhance family-school partnerships in order to reduce and prevent online and associated offline forms of bullying.
Isabel completed an MSc in Education with International and Comparative specialisation at Stockholm University. For her master’s thesis, she conducted a qualitative interview study on students’ sense of belonging while transitioning from middle school to high school during the COVID-19 pandemic. She earned a Bachelor of Laws and Political Sciences from the University Nice Sophia-Antipolis.
Isabel has collaborated with school leaders, students, NGOs and public agents in projects aiming at co-creating inclusive spaces in and out of schools. During her exchange year at Keio University, she was involved in an ethnographical service-learning program in a Japanese part-time high school aiming at empowering pupils to co-create spaces and activities that could enhance their sense of belonging at school.
Research Areas
school bullying, student’s sense of belonging, safe spaces, social stratification, power dynamics
Darragh McCashin is an Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology at DCU, and is interested in digital youth mental health, and clinical/forensic applications of technology. Previously, Darragh was a Marie Curie Fellow/PhD student at UCD, examining technology-enabled youth mental health within the EU H2020-funded TEAM-ITN project, specifically the role of technology-assisted cognitive behavioural therapy for children. A second strand to Darragh’s research is that of forensic/criminal psychology. With an MSc in Applied Forensic Psychology, Darragh has previously worked in the UK on the psychology of internet sexual offending, and is interested in exploring innovative ways to advance prevention efforts.
With respect to policy-making, Darragh is currently the task force leader for Mental Health of Researchers within the Policy Working Group of the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA), and co-founded the researcher mentoring programme Referent. Darragh also sits on two COST Actions: Researcher Mental Health Observatory (CA19117; Working Group Chair), and the European Network for Problematic Usage of the Internet (CA16207; management committee member for Ireland).
01 700 7383
Research Areas
Mental Health, Policy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Dr Sinéad McNally currently holds a Deans’ Research Fellow at the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre and is an Associate Professor in Psychology and Early Childhood Education at the DCU Institute of Education, where she specialises in early child development in inclusive educational contexts. Her externally funded research shows how play, books and early experiences support children’s educational attainment and development. As Principal Investigator of a prestigious IRC COALESCE award, Sinéad leads a national interdisciplinary study of the school experiences of autistic pupils. Sinéad was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the international SAGE journal, Active Learning in Higher Education, and she sits on the editorial boards of the World Organization for Early Childhood Education’s International Journal of Early Childhood and the International Journal of Early Years Education.
Amalee Meehan is Assistant Professor of Religious Education at the Institute of Education,
Dublin City University (DCU), and a Dean's Research Fellow at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre (ABC). Amalee is co-Principal Investigator (PI) on the pan-European interdisciplinary research COST Action 23120 Religious Identity, Bullying and Wellbeing at School: A Transnational Collaboration (ORBIT). Her previous COST experience includes management of Cost Action 18115 Transnational Collaboration on Bullying, Migration and Integration at School Level (TRIBES).
Amalee’s publication profile ranges from theology and spirituality to inclusive education,
religious education and wellbeing. She has co-authored several national reports,
religious education textbooks for Catholic high schools in the United States, and articles in
peer-reviewed journals such as the International Journal of Education Research Open, the Irish
Educational Studies and Religions. Her current research interests are in the intersection of
education, religion and wellbeing and the implications for curriculum, school culture and
practice, inclusive religious education, school ethos and integration.
Amalee holds a PhD in Theology and Education from Boston College, USA.
+353 01 700 9229
Research Areas
Management, School Bullying, Religious Education, Theology
Dr Neil O’Boyle is an Associate Professor in DCU School of Communications and a Research Fellow in DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. He is a communications lecturer who researches the relationship between media, popular culture, and collective identities. Much of his work focuses on insider-outsider relations, representational practices, and group dynamics. Neil was lead researcher on the Irish Research Council-funded project ‘Immigration and Social Change in the Republic of Ireland’ (2008) and Co-PI on the European-funded ‘Media for Diversity and Migrant Integration’ (MEDIVA) project 2011-2012. He has also undertaken studies of immigrant political actors and ‘non-traditional’ students. In addition to this work, Neil has written extensively about popular culture and the media industries, a topic he explored in his 2011 book, New Vocabularies, Old Ideas: Culture, Irishness, and the Advertising Industry. His most recent book is Sport, the Media and Ireland (Cork University Press, 2020), which he co-edited with Marcus Free.
Dr Carol O’Toole works as a Senior Project Manager on the Apps against Abuse project – a cyber safety app, specifically focused on cyberbullying and online safety among adolescents. This is being developed by our partner, the Vodafone Ireland Foundation and uses research and insights from the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. The App, called Tozi, is now available in App Stores – find out more at https://www.to-zi.com.
Carol previously worked in ADAPT, the SFI Research Centre for AI-driven Digital Content Technology, as a Research Integration Coordinator in DCU for 3 years. Prior to that, Carol worked for many years with Microsoft.
Dr Niamh O’Brien is Associate Professor of Social Inclusion and Young People at Anglia Ruskin University (UK) and an Honorary Research Fellow at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. Her interests are in bullying research, and she has studied the effects of bullying in private schools in England. Niamh’s recent publication is the article “I didn’t want to be known as a snitch”: Using PAR to explore bullying in a private day and boarding school” (Childhood Remixed).
Dr. Jane O'Kelly is Head of School of Policy and Practice in the DCU Institute of Education. Her research interests include further education and training, professional practice in teaching adults, learner voice, neurodiversity and Autism. She lectures in Research methodologies and approaches, sociology and professional practice in education. She was the Chair of the BSc in Education and Training from 2018 to 2024 and manages the placement year for students seeking accreditation as tutors in further education and training. Her background includes working in the National Centre for Guidance in Education and Leargas, supporting policy and practice in adult education, vocational education and training (VET) and guidance. She has strong ties to European Commission funded VET programmes through twenty years of administration, management, evaluation and report writing in the Leonardo da Vinci, Lifelong Learning and Erasmus+ programmes. She has a deep interest in Autism and Neurodiversity and has researched the experience of autistic people in education and employment. She is committed to the development of the further education sector in Ireland through research and evaluation on pedagogy, peer support and learner-centred practice, both to support the continuing professional development of educators and trainers, and to improve outcomes for adult returners and older learners. Jane is co-PI on BRIDGE - Building Relationships for Inclusive Digital Growth and Engagement, which is. an EU-funded ERASMUS+ KA220-YOU initiative involving partners from Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Croatia, and Ireland, with DCU as the lead partner.
Research interests
Further education and training (FET), teaching in FET, continuing professional development in FET, reflective practice, neurodiversity and Autism.
Advisory Board
PhD Students
Deniz Celikoglu is a doctoral candidate at the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre, working on the PARTICIPATE project (Parents and Technology in Cyberbullying: Intervention and Prevention for Future Experts), funded by the Horizon Europe Programme of the European Commission - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Horizon Europe Programme.
She holds a B.Sc. in Sociology from Middle East Technical University (2019) and an M.A. in Sociology in European Context from Charles University (2022). Her master’s research explored public perceptions of battered women in Turkey who killed their abusers, drawing on in-depth interviews and media analyses. She focused on the contested agency of these women, examining how it was constructed and challenged both in media framings and in public perceptions.
Her current PhD research examines how parents and young boys perceive, experience, and respond to online male-supremacist content, with a focus on the risks of digital radicalisation. She focuses on the normalisation and mainstreaming of (online) misogyny, and on what makes the ‘extreme’ extreme, looking at the intersection of these with the broader cultural narrative.
Research Areas
Gender, Masculinity, Misogyny, Victimhood, Agency, Cyberbullying
Supervisor(s)
Professor Debbie Ging
Niall is a PhD Candidate with DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. This research topic focuses on LGBTQ+ Teachers and the Everyday Negotiation of Heteronormativity in Irish Post-Primary
Schools. Having a background as a post-primary teacher and member of the LGBTQ+ community, Niall has always been very passionate and interested in inclusion in schools. His Master’s research focused on the creation of LGBTQ+ inclusion workshops aimed at empowering teachers in the inclusion of LGBTQ+ students in their schools. In recent years, he has become increasingly interested in the inclusion of LGBTQ+ teachers and their experiences of navigating the heteronormative educational environment. Therefore, his research aims to explore how LGBTQ+ teachers in post-primary schools navigate heteronormativity as well as the intersection between constructing their personal and professional identities as an LGBTQ+ teacher.
Research Areas: Sexuality, Inclusion in Education, Anti-Homophobic Interventions, School Bullying, Cyberbullying.
Supervisor(s)
Professor James O'Higgins Norman
Dr Ashling Bourke
Isabel Machado Da Silva is a Research Fellow and PhD student at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. She is part of the Doctoral Network “PARTICIPATE” Project, funded by the Horizon Programme of the European Commission – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). Her research explores how to enhance family-school partnerships in order to reduce and prevent online and associated offline forms of bullying.
Isabel completed an MSc in Education with International and Comparative specialisation at Stockholm University. For her master’s thesis she conducted a qualitative interview study on student’s sense of belonging while transitioning from middle school to high school during the COVID-19 pandemic. She earned a Bachelor of Laws and Political Sciences from the University Nice Sophia-Antipolis.
Isabel has collaborated with school leaders, students, NGOs and public agents in projects aiming at co-creating inclusive spaces in and out of schools. During her exchange year at Keio University, she was involved in an ethnographical service-learning program in a Japanese part-time high school aiming at empowering pupils to co-create spaces and activities that could enhance their sense of belonging at school.
Research Areas
school bullying, student’s sense of belonging, safe spaces, social stratification, power dynamics
Supervisor(s)
Dr Audrey Bryan
Órla McGovern is a PhD researcher in the School of Psychology in DCU. Órla’s research is centred in the area of using co-design methods to meaningfully involve young people in the development of supports for navigating mental health content on TikTok to support online help seeking. Órla has completed her BSc Psychology and MSc Psychology and Wellbeing in the School of Psychology DCU and has completed various research projects in social media and mental health including the role of photo-editing on body image and the role of inoculation theory to prevent or reduce the impact of online misinformation about schizophrenia to reduce stigma.
With a passion for supporting youth mental health and online safety, Órla’s current work is positioned at the interface of academia-industry and aims to further goals of online safety research and policy through rights-based youth involvement in research and mental health support development.
orla.mcgovern5@mail.dcu.ie
Research areas:
Co-Design, Youth Mental Health, Social Media, Online Safety, Online Help-Seeking
Supervisor(s):
Dr Darragh McCashin
Prof. Pamela Gallagher
Meghmala Mukherjee is a doctoral research fellow at DCU Anti-bullying Centre, working on the PARTICIPATE project funded by the Horizon Europe Programme of the European Commission – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA). Her research focuses on the role of technology with the support of parental mediation particularly for the females and others who are more vulnerable to victimisation of cyberbullying.
Meghmala completed her MSc in Applied Psychology from the University of Calcutta, India (2018) and received her MPhil degree in Forensic Psychology from National Forensic Sciences University, India in the year 2020. Her MPhil work involved the effect of perceived cyberstalking, internet addiction and cyber awareness on young adults’ well-being.
After her MPhil graduation Meghmala was working as a research assistant under a Department of Science and Technology – Cognitive Science Research Initiative Project which explored the effect of Neurofeedback intervention programme on emotional regulation, impulsivity and aggression in juvenile offenders.
Research Areas
Cyberbullying, Cyber awareness, Wellbeing, Intervention Programme
Supervisor(s)
Professor James O'Higgins Norman
Dr Ashling Bourke
Karolin Rippich is a PhD researcher with DCU Anti-Bullying Centre and DCU Law & Tech Research Cluster, where she investigates children’s online safety and the protection of LGBTQ+ groups. Her research focuses on the influence of anti-gender ideologies on the EU’s child online safety framework, situated within the broader context of digital constitutionalism in the EU.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Science from Fachhochschule der Wirtschaft and an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree (EMJMD) in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies (IMSISS), jointly awarded by the University of Glasgow, Dublin City University and Charles University Prague. Her academic background includes work on social engineering, critical infrastructure and data protection. She contributed to the University of Glasgow’s Games and Gaming Lab on projects such as “Access to Wargaming in Education” and “Tempest”, worked at the IUBH’s incubator on “Young Women in STEM” and explored how transnational feminist advocacy movements and the EU account for gender and sexual diversity within their articulations of digital rights.
In addition to her academic work, Karolin brings experience from roles in IT governance, data protection and cybersecurity. As Communications Manager at the Young Security Conference, she helped facilitate dialogue on European foreign and security policy by connecting emerging scholars with policy experts and high-level decision-makers.
Supervisor(s)
Professor James O'Higgins Norman
Dr Edoardo Celeste
Dr Sinan Asci
Professor Maura Conway
Beatrice Sciacca is a PhD student with DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. She holds a Bachelor's in Psychology of Personality and Interpersonal Relationships and a Master’s in Community Psychology from the University of Padua (Italy). She wrote her Master’s thesis about adolescents’ online behaviour based on her analysis of the data of the Digital Youth Project, completed during her internship at Utrecht University (the Netherlands). She then completed additional research internships at the University of Granada (Spain) and at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. She has worked as a Research Assistant within the ABC, analysing data and writing papers for a number of projects addressing cyberbullying, parental mediation, and sexting. Her current PhD project deals with the experiences of LGBTQ+-parented families in the Irish school system.
Research Areas
LGBTQ+-parented families, homophobic bullying, sexting, positive psychology
Kanishk Verma is the Irish Research Council (IRC) Research Scholar, working on developing a Data-driven Toolkit to tackle Cyberbullying on social media platforms among Teens. He is the Google Online Content Safety Policy scholarship awardee and is currently pursuing his doctoral studies at the School of Computing, DCU, jointly mentored by Dr Brian Davis and Dr Tijana Milosevic at DCU and Dr Rebecca Umbach at Google. Kanishk is also an Associate Researcher in the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre, a member of the UNESCO Chair on Tackling Bullying in Schools and Cyberspace, and a member of ADAPT SFI. Previous to this appointment, Kanishk worked as a Research Assistant on a project funded by Facebook Instagram Content Policy grant to combat cyberbullying by using Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Leaning (ML), Human-computer interaction (HCI) and Social Network Analysis (SNA). He graduated from the School of Computing, DCU with a First Class Honours in Computing with specialization in Data Analytics. His area of interest has been in the amalgamated disciplines of Social Science, ML, NLP, HCI and SNA. Apart from academia, he remotely volunteers to teach underprivileged children in his home country.
Research Areas
Social Science and Bullying
Isobel Walsh is a Research Ireland-Taighe Éireann PhD scholar based in the School of Psychology at Dublin City University. Her PhD work focuses on digital technologies in youth mental health, and is undertaken in partnership with Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health in Ireland. Isobel previously worked as a Research Assistant on an anti-racism project in DCU Anti-Bullying Centre, and continues to engage with the Centre on youth-focused projects. Isobel also worked as a Research Assistant in the DCU School of Psychology, supporting the development of an innovative new postgraduate programme.
Isobel completed her Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin (2021) and received her MSc Psychology from DCU (2023). As part of her Master's degree, Isobel conducted a participatory design research project which explored stakeholder views on problematic gaming and produced co-designed solutions seeking to promote healthy gaming behaviour at individual and organisational levels. Isobel’s ongoing PhD research aims to empower organisations like Jigsaw to harness digital technologies in their services to better meet the needs of young people.
Research Areas
Cyberpsychology, Human-Computer Interaction, Mental Health, Trauma, Sexuality & Gender
Supervisor(s)
Dr Darragh McCashin, Dr Simon Dunne, Dr Johannes Karl, Dr Jeff Moore (Enterprise Mentor)