International health care advocate and expert Psychologist to address DCU Wellbeing symposium

Two-day event exploring the role of social interaction and networks for health and wellbeing

A DCU symposium will examine the role of social interaction and social networks for health and well-being with a keynote address from an international healthcare advocate and a leading academic expert in the field of Social Networks and Wellbeing.

The Wellbeing Networks Symposium 2019 funded by the Irish Research Council (IRC) and jointly organised by DCU and University College Cork (UCC) will take place at DCU All Hallows, September 2-3.

The two-day event will see leading practitioners, researchers, academics, patient advocates and healthcare professionals gather to examine social interaction and social networks as components in the framework of an environment conducive to positive health and wellbeing.

The symposium will also highlight the importance of building an interdisciplinary research approach for the future of social networks and wellbeing, nationally and internationally. Keynote speakers for the event include international health care advocate Olive O’Connor who will present on the topic of public and patient involvement in the context of social networks and wellbeing. O’Connor is an award-winning innovator, speaker, health advocate and mentor who has spent over two decades promoting and educating healthcare professionals on the importance of collaborating and listening to the voice of the patient.

She is the founder and former CEO of MediStori, the family-centered health record, which was subsequently integrated into the Health Service Executive (HSE) national programmes.

Dr Gertraud Stadler is a social/health psychologist and a Senior Lecturer in Healthy Psychology at the University of Aberdeen whose research is focused on how people change their health behaviours; how they maintain behaviour change in the long run and how others influence that change.

This year’s symposium will include a strong mix of keynote presentations, workshops, and break-out sessions promoting as much interaction as possible.

"There is currently a lot of discussion in academia and the public domain about wellbeing and social networks, but a lot of confusion about what these subjects mean and how they interact with each other.

This event is all about bringing people together to create a conversation about these subjects and foster a vision for improving health and wellbeing, and how social networks can help do this.

The varied and interactive programme will include lots of opportunities for researchers, policy makers, academics, healthcare professionals, patient advocates and the public to discuss these issues in an open forum.

We hope this event will help to create a network of individuals who will be able to collaborate in the future to improve health and well-being on both a national and international level,” commented Dr Simon Dunne, Assistant Professor of Psychology

Other speakers include Dr Aisling Murray, Economic and Social Research Institute Ireland (ESRI) who will discuss the findings from the “Growing Up In Ireland Study”; Dr Liam MacGabhann, DCU School of Nursing and Human Sciences (SNHS), Mental Health Nurse and advocate; Dr MaryRose Sweeney, Nutritionist and DCU SNHS and Dr Mandy C Daly, Irish Neonatal Health Alliance.

For further information on Wellbeing Networks 2019 and to register for the event click here