Research Projects

Last March (2018) Dublin City University was recognised as the world's first Autism-Friendly University. The announcement at DCU's St Patrick's Campus was attended by the President of Ireland Michael D Higgins.

Over the past year the project led by Dr Mary Rose Sweeney and in collaboration with Prof Teresa Burke from the DCU School of Nursing and Human Sciences along with AsIAm, an Autism advocacy organisation has begun to translate to other HEIs nationally and internationally (UK, EU, USA and Australia). The project has even began translating to other settings such as hospitals and technology companies.

Mary Rose was interviewed by the Anderson Centre for Autism in New York recently. The interview can be heard at the following link.

She also made this short video on the sensory pods at DCU for the journal.ie.

For further details on the project please contact Dr Mary Rose Sweeney .

Project Twitter feed: @DCUautism

A year since its launch the Centre for eIntegrated Care is progressing well with its mission to advance eIntegrated care in order to improve health and wellbeing of citizens.

Our core team has expanded to three individuals and our primary investigator numbers are growing. Activities include; securing funding to conduct feasibility studies on IoT in community services and create pilot studies, research building core infrastructure to support the National Health and Social Care Data Dictionary has evolved, formal and informal training has been conducted in the CeIC ensuring that organisations and their staff have capacity to do the work needed to implement planned digital transformation and change, the CeIC has co-ordinated research proposals for large scale pilot studies across EU member states and PD scholarships have been awarded.

For further details on the project please contact Dr Pamela Hussey

Led by Dr Denise Proudfoot with Dr Liam MacGabhann this project is funded by the HSE with Finglas and Cabra Drug Task Force. It aims to undertake a Participatory Action Research project with the Finglas Addiction Support Team about the community experience of Dual Diagnosis (mental health and substance use problems).

The research was launched at the end of November 2019 . It provides a community insight into the impact of Dual Diagnosis. The study highlights ways to address Dual Diagnosis through a series of interconnecting actions supported by governmental and policy change. Additionally, the findings have implications for the two communities and national policy makers. Notably, this work contributes to the dialogue surrounding the unmet needs of those who experience Dual Diagnosis.

It is available to download here.

For further details on the project please contact Dr Denise Proudfoot.

This is a two year research project, funded by the Health Research Board (HRB) and being done in partnership with Headway and ABI Ireland. Prof Anthony Staines is the Principal Investigator, working alongside Prof Teresa Burke and Dr Catherine Corrigan, and newly appointed research assistants, Andrea Healy and Kate O'Donnell.

This is the first study of its kind, focusing on TBI survivors' path through rehabilitation in Ireland. The goal is to recruit a cohort of patients at various stages following moderate or severe head injury, and to follow them up over a year, looking at short and medium term impacts, and access to and use of health and social care services.

For further details on the project please contact Professor Anthony Staines.

This is a three year HRB and Irish Research Council funded project to support and promote organisational capacity for public and patient involvement (PPI) in DCU health and social care research.

Prof Veronica Lambert is the PI on the project and Dr Lucy Whiston is the Research Fellow. The DCU PPI Ignite team provide support and advice to research teams planning for or including PPI in their research. Contact guidelines are here.

A series of discussion groups bringing members of the public, patients, researchers, clinicians and policy leaders together are currently underway to develop a plan for how we will support PPI in DCU.

For further details on the project please contact Professor Veronica Lambert.

Project Twitter feed: @PPI_Ignite_DCU

The first DCU Ability group is up and running. Students are enjoying the experience of attending classes on the DCU St Pat's campus.

The aim to support this group and others with disabilities to access education and work experience opportunities through a 12 week educational programme, followed by a period of work experience placement.

Two papers have been accepted for oral presentation at the upcoming International Association for the Scientific Study of People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD) World Congress in Glasgow in August 2019. "Developing pathways into education, training and employability for young people with intellectual disabilities: Initial experiences from the DCU Ability Project" will be presented by Dr Deirdre Corby and Dr Carmel (Toff) Andersen. "Person-centred vocational assessment for young people with intellectual disabilities: Experiences from the DCU Ability Project" will be presented by Eilish King and Schira Reddy.

For further details on the project please contact Dr Carmel (Toff) Anderson.

Please visit the Ability Project website here.