TEAM News, Events & Blog

Last week, I attended the 3rd Suicide and Self-harm Early and Mid-Career Researchers‘ (EMCR) Forum in Glasgow, organized by Dr. Rory O’Connor and the Suicidal Behaviour Research Lab. There, I presented a poster of my ongoing study which aims to explore how technology could support young people who self-harm. While the study site is in Vienna, at my host institution, I now temporarily live in London to do a secondment at the Anna Freud Centre.

The first Digital Child Mental Health (DCMH) conference will take place on the 23rd May 2018, hosted by the Anna Freud Centre and TEAM Innovation Training Network in London, UK.

One of the best things could happen to you is that you develop a positive relationship with your work. I think many people struggle with work because their head is either planning the future or sighing about the past.

As part of my PhD project, I explore design solutions for technology enabled interventions promoting resilience in unaccompanied migrant youth (UMY). During my research, I realized more and more how much political regulations impact the living circumstances and thereby the mental wellbeing of the UMY. 

For my PhD, I am conducting (or at least trying to conduct) a clinical trial. That means I am seeing actual patients. Together with my supervisor, I have set an ambitious goal to gather 400 participants. 400 participants in 3 years, seems fair doesn’t it.  But believe me, there is more to it.

Dublin, March 2018. Waking up knowing that you’re doing what you’re keen about, in a place that you love, with nice colleagues, in a friendly environment, being part of a wonderful European network, with the possibility to travel around the world to discuss your ideas and meet new people that do what you do, and supported by a great supervisor, able to put you in the right direction with constructive criticisms.   Lucky enough!

This is a short overview of my project and what I am currently up to. In later blog posts, I would like to expand how I ended up in this project, what day to day work is like, and where I think things are currently leading. However, this entry only serves as a short primer.  

During this secondment I will continue my work on user studies in the context of games for mental health and engage in collaborative work with other TEAM researchers in London.

My first 6 months in TEAM have been thoroughly engaging and enjoyable. This brief blog is to illustrate how I am progressing. My project is examining the effectiveness of computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT). 

TEAM ITN researchers Claudette Pretorius, Darragh McCashin and Gianluigi Riva raised money for Pieta House by running a 5.5km 'Runamuck' mud-run in Nass, Co. Kildare on Saturday the 10th of March 2018.