Tell It Straight

The Competition

The Tell It Straight communications competition challenges research students to communicate their research - and its potential impact - to a non-specialist audience in a concise, dynamic and innovative way.

Finalists are assessed by an expert judging panel on the following criteria:

   1. Content is suitable for a non-specialist audience. Avoidance of jargon. 

   2. Good use of technology/visual aids.

   3. Clear articulation of the value of the research.

   4. A high standard of communication skills e.g. vocal mechanism such as pace, pitch, volume, vocal variety; and the message is effectively communicated to the audience.

   5. Research methods and approach are clearly presented in an accessible manner to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract Submission

Thank you to all research students who raised to the challenge for this year’s Tell It Straight abstract call, and congratulations to the shortlisted finalists. In order to partake, research students were required to submit 250-word abstract of their research for the category of their choice and relevance.

• Category 1: Oral Presenters from Year 1 Only
• Category 2: Oral Presenters from Year 2 Onwards
• Category 3: Video Presenters from All Years

All abstracts were scored by an expert judging panel on the following criteria: a) suitability for a non–specialist audience, b) quality of the writing style, c) clear and meaningful message, and d) clear articulation of the value of the research. 

The 2026 Tell It Straight Finalists were:

Category 1: Oral Presentations (Year 1 only)

Dylan Kelly - School of Theology, Philosophy & Music, ‘Ultima Rerum: A Reappraisal of the Later Career and Music of Gerard Victory (1921-1995)’

Francesca Mastrosimone - School of Biotechnology, ‘Investigating the interplay between morphogens and tissue mechanics during neural tube formation’

Hai Anh Nguyen - DCU Business School, ‘Accounting for the hidden carbon footprint of Artificial Intelligence (AI)’

Sally Owens - School of Biotechnology, ‘SPOT-UM - Screening and Predicting Outcomes in Tumours (Uveal Melanoma)’

Sara Sadr - School of Biotechnology, ‘ACCEPT: Antibody Coated extraCellular vEsicles for imProved Therapy’

Category 2: Oral Presentations (Year 2 onwards)

Ana Guadalupe Rodrigues Armendariz - DCU Business School, ‘Understanding and Countering Online Abuse Through Education in Sports’

Ciara Tobin - School of Chemical Sciences, ‘Electrospun membranes for water filtration with anti-bacterial and anti-biofouling surfaces’

Gráinne McHugh - School of STEM Education, Innovation & Global Studies, ‘Why do primary students struggle with maths questions on measurement and geometry?’

Jane Adkins - School of Computing, ‘Tokenizing Gaeilge: Advancing Natural Language Processing for Irish and Low-Resource Languages’

Seval Kemal - School of Policy & Practice, ‘AI-Assisted vs Traditional Self-Assessment: A Multi-Modal Study of Student Processes, Accuracy, and Cognitive-Emotional Impact’

Category 3: Video Presentations (all years)

Daniel Beveridge - School of History & Geography, ‘Indemnification, reconstruction and recovery': an examination of property compensation claims after the Irish civil war, 1922-35’

Gemma Davis - School of Chemical Sciences, ‘Pollen Monitoring and Modelling in Ireland: Making the Invisible Visible’

Holly O’Grady - School of Theology, Philosophy & Music, ‘Historical sources of children's folk songs in Ireland: a catalogue and case studies’

Kate Caffrey - School of Inclusive & Special Education, ‘Enabling Autistic Inclusion in Social and Emotional Learning: Teachers' Self-Efficacy, Student Experiences, and Policy Discourses’

Lakshika Chandradeva - School of Computing, ‘Standards Based Framework for Healthcare Delivery Organizations (HDO) when Integrating Medical Devices to the Health Information Technology Systems (HITS)’

Congratualations to this year's winners and runner-ups: 

Winner from Category 1: Sara Sadr, 'ACCEPT: Antibody Coated extraCellular vEsicles for imProved Therapy', School of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science & Health

Runner-Up from Category 1: Dylan Kelly, 'Ultima Rerum: A Reappraisal of the Later Career and Music of Gerard Victory (1921-1995)', School of Theology, Philosophy & Music, Institute of Education

Winner from Category 2: Ciara Tobin, 'Electrospun membranes for water filtration with anti-bacterial and anti-biofouling surfaces', School of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science & Health

Runner-Up from Category 2: Gráinne McHugh, 'Why do Primary Students struggle with Maths questions on measurement and geometry', School of STEM Education, Innovation & Global Studies, Institute of Education

Winner from Category 3: Gemma Davis, 'Pollen monitoring and Modelling in Ireland: Making the Invisible Visible', School of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science & Health

Runner-Up from Category 3: Holly O’Grady, 'Historical Sources of children's folk songs in Ireland: a catalogue and case study', School of Theology, Philosophy & Music, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences

This year's Tell It Straight Final took place on 4 March 2026 in SOLAS Room.