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DCU PhD Candidate presents research at European Union Forum on the Rights of the Child

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School of Psychology PhD Candidate Órla McGovern presented her research, on the inclusion of young people in co-design of digital mental health interventions, at the event in Brussels earlier this year.

Attending on behalf of the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre and the School of Psychology, McGovern spoke on a panel in the cyberbullying and mental health session. The session also included a youth representative from Better Internet for Kids and another youth co-design researcher working on developing online safety interventions. 

The motto for the forum was “Championing Children’s Rights: Building Fair and Resilient Societies for the EU’s Present and Future”, and aimed to highlight how EU priorities on children’s rights are shaping stronger societies — for today's children and future generations.

As part of the panel, McGovern shared some findings from her recently published systematic review on best-practices when including young people in co-design of digital mental health interventions and highlighted the importance of meaningful youth involvement in online safety decision making and support development. 

More recently, McGovern presented her findings from the systematic review at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center's Trust & Safety Research Conference.

McGovern's project is funded by Research Ireland and her supervisors are Dr Darragh McCashin and Dr Pamela Gallagher.