Psychology, Health and Medicine UCC

At the end of May this year, SASHLab attended the 13th Annual Psychology, Health and Medicine Conference, which took place on 27 May 2016, at the School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork.

For those who aren’t aware, the conference aims to promote health psychology and while also allowing researchers to share and discuss findings from high quality research on psychology and health.

Previously SASHLab’s own Stephen Gallagher had co-chaired at this conference at the University of Limerick so SASHLab had great interest in this year’s conference and speakers. This year’s conference showcased 3 keynote speakers; Dr. Molly Byrne, Professor Jane Ogden and Professor Ivan Perry, and facilitated over 85 presentations.

During the conference Dr. Stephen Gallagher, Dr. Ann-Marie Creaven and Eoin Brown gave talks exploring different issues and research in relation to stress.

Stephen discussed findings from his Irish Research Council project on unemployment and health, with a focus on precarious employment and the cortisol response. Ann-Marie presented her work on stress and nocturnal blood pressure dipping, supported by a HRB grant to her collaborators at NUI Galway and the University of Reykjavik, and Eoin presented his lab data on loneliness and cardiovascular responses to acute stress, also funded by the Irish Research Council.

Several SASHLab students also presented their research, with Katharina Keogh (BA Psychology and Sociology), Eimear Cleary (BSc Psychology), and incoming PhD student Grace McMahon (BA Psychology and Sociology) disseminating their research in poster presentations.

Katie Connolly of the MA programme also gave an excellent research presentation on her MA thesis work on emotion regulation and stress reactivity, while former SASHLab undergraduate researcher and current UCC BEATS lab member Rebecca O’Brien presented her extended research on ambivalent relationships and ambulatory cardiovascular activity. 

SASHLab would like to extend their thanks and congratulations to Dr. Samantha Dockray, Principal Investigator of the BEATS lab at UCC, and her team for organising an enjoyable and exciting conference this year.

Until next year!