About the Project
Applications are sought from candidates interested in pursuing a PhD in Psychology, focused on the design and evaluation of new technology to support mental health interventions for young people. The successful candidate will receive a generous salary and PhD fees will be paid in full for three years. S/he will be registered for the doctoral programme within School of Psychology in University College Dublin.
The programme of research in which the PhD candidate will engage forms part of the TEAM (Technology-Enabled Mental Health for Young People) ITN programme. TEAM is funded by the European Commission through its Marie Sklowdowska Curie programme.
Salary:
The selected PhD student will be paid a gross annual salary of approximately €32,000. They will also be entitled to a mobility allowance of approximately €6,000 per annum and potentially a family allowance where appropriate. The duration of the contract will be 3 years as a fully funded PhD (although the PhD programme can take up to 4 years to complete).
Project description:
A growing body of evidence, including prior research by O’Reilly and Coyle suggests that therapeutic computer games can help to support effective and engaging mental health interventions for young people. This project will extend the use of computer games to support widespread access to structured, evidence-based mental health interventions in school settings, delivered by school councillors or educational psychologists. Supervised by Dr O’Reilly and Dr Coyle and jointly hosted by the of Schools Psychology and Computer Science at UCD, the successful candidate will first undertake a systematic review of the delivery of mental health services in school settings, months 1-6 [M1-6]. S/he will then undertake a 3-month secondment at the National Educational Psychology Services (NEPS) [M7-9] where s/he will shadow educational psychologists during their daily activities, including regular visits to schools, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of the needs of all stakeholders. Building on this understanding s/he will develop preliminary guidelines for the design of technology-enabled mental health for school children [M10-12]. In M13-24, s/he will design and develop a new, integrated therapeutic game and mobile app. It is envisioned that the game will be used to support face-to-face meetings/engagement between young people and healthcare supporters, with the mobile app used by young people between meetings to support learning transfer and therapeutic activities. Both the mobile app and game will emphasis and support mindfulness-based techniques to complement Cognitive Behavioural techniques. Stakeholders who participated in previous activities will act as co-designers in this process (e.g. teachers, NEPS psychologists), which will follow an iterative, prototype driven, and user-centred design methodology. During M25-36 ESR9 will a conduct pilot study of the new computer game and mobile app – e.g. a small-scale randomised study with approximately 20-30 young people receiving the new intervention. The final year will also involve a second 3-month secondment with NEPS [M27-29], to coordinate the final study, but also support knowledge transfer back to project partners and coordinate future application of the technology developed in this project, thus helping to ensure a long-term impact of the research.
Informal Enquiries:
Informal enquiries about these positions may be made to Dr Gary O’Reilly, University College Dublin, Belfield, D4, [Email Address Removed]
Submission Process:
Please send your cv (maximum of 5 pages) along with a covering letter outlining why you think you are suitable for the role and highlighting any relevant strengths or experience (maximum 2 pages). Applications should be sent by email to [Email Address Removed] and include the following text in the subject line “TEAM ESR9 Application”.
Funding Notes
Eligibility Criteria:
- Bachelor’s Degree or Master’s Degree in Psychology.
- Experience (or a keen interest) in computer games or mobile application design and development is desirable.
- Experience (or a keen interest) in health care technology and a commitment to user engagement is desirable.
- Applicants must provide evidence of equivalent competence in English language by achieving the minimum standard in a recognised English language test, as outlined at the following link: http://www.ucd.ie/registry/admissions/elr.html
- Researcher may NOT have resided or worked in Ireland for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the submission deadline date.