Academic biography

Dr Áine Travers is an Assistant Professor at the DCU School of Psychology. She is interested in using participatory and interdisciplinary approaches to examine psychological trauma, violence prevention, and the social and structural determinants of mental health.

Áine is currently Principal Investigator (PI) of The ECHO Project, a longitudinal study of experiences and impacts of intimate partner violence in the LGBTQ+ community in Ireland and the UK, funded by the Wellcome Trust. She is also PI of a Research Ireland-funded project examining sexual violence experiences and help-seeking among LGBTQ+ people. Previously, she led a research partnership between DCU and Makerere University in Uganda, exploring drivers of the relationship between armed conflict and intimate partner violence.

Áine's interests also include trauma-informed human rights and humanitarian work. She previously worked as a Research Fellow at the Trinity Centre for Global Health, where she collaborated with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to develop a new model for supportive supervision in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS). She delivers workshops and training on trauma-informed human rights for practitioners and students, including through the Global Campus of Human Rights European Master's Programme for Human Rights and Democratisation, and the Venice School for Human Rights Defenders. She has several years' experience in the non-profit sector, and has been involved with advocacy and activism on areas such as gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, sexual and reproductive health, mental health, and gender-based violence prevention. She is a member of the All-Ireland Network on Sexual Violence Research, the DCU Institute for Research on Genders and Sexualities, and currently serves on the board of the Irish Family Planning Association.

Áine completed her Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD on the relationship between intimate partner violence and trauma in Northern Ireland in 2020. She also holds a BA in Psychology from Trinity College Dublin, and an MA in Human Rights and Democratisation from the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation in Venice, Italy.