Past Conferences

DHP Annual Conference 2010


The Department of Psychology, RCSI, hosted the 7th annual ‘Psychology, Health and Medicine’ conference of the Division of Health Psychology, Psychological Society of Ireland on the 31st of March 2010, a joint venture between the PSI DHP and the Northern Ireland Branch of the British Psychology Society’s Division of Health Psychology. The conference showcases important research in health psychology in Ireland and the UK, and is a key event for people working in the areas of psychology and health in Ireland. Keynote speakers at the conference included Dr. Niall Pender from Beaumont Hospital and President of the Psychological Society of Ireland who gave a talk on “Psychology in the Acute Hospital Environment: Opportunities and Challenges”.   Professor Lucy Yardley from the University of Southampton gave a lecture on “Re-modelling Health-care Interventions for the Internet: Opportunities and Challenges” and Professor Marie Johnston from the University of Aberdeen combined biomedical and behavioural models in health outcomes research in her lecture on “Is it impairments, or thoughts about impairments, that limit functioning?”

The Conference Organising Committee for the 7th annual Psychology, Health and Medicine 2010 were: Anne Hickey, (Chair) Suzanne Allen, Tony Cassidy, Laura Coffey, Deirdre Desmond, Frank Doyle, David Hevey, Karen Morgan, Marie Percival and Sinead Ni Mhurchadha. The 2010 Conference Scientific committee were Tony Cassidy, Deirdre Desmond, Frank Doyle, David Hevey, Anne Hickey, Karen Morgan and Sinead Ni Mhurchadha. PSI has awarded 4 CPD credits for attending the conference

Division of Health Psychology Post Conference 2009 Piece

Please click here

Psychology, Health and Medicine 2008

The 5th annual conference of the Division of Health Psychology, Psychology, Health and Medicine, was hosted by the School of Psychology at the University of Ulster and was organized in collaboration with the Northern Ireland Branch of the British Psychological Society. The conference took place at the City Hotel Derry on March 19th and was attended by more than one hundred delegates. The event was officially opened by PSI President Dr. Mitchel Fleming. In his opening remarks Dr. Fleming noted the tremendous possibilities represented by health psychology, while also acknowledging that health psychology has not yet reached its full potential as a specialist area in Ireland.

The first of three keynote presentations was delivered by Professor Marie Johnston of the University of Aberdeen. Her thought provoking address entitled ‘Measuring, Predicting and Changing Behaviour: A Theory-Based Approach’ described a series of theory-based investigations of measurement, prediction and intervention in the context of activity (limitations) in people with disabling conditions and evidence-based practice in health professionals. In the second keynote presentation, Dr. Kavita Vedhara (University of Bristol) outlined her psychoneuroimmunology research programme examining whether stress has a role to play in disease onset and/or disease progression; whether stress is bad for everyone and what factors influence individual differences, and finally whether interventions aimed at stress reduction can actually produce health benefits. The final keynote speaker, Professor Charles Abraham (University of Sheffield), considered the need for shared terminology and standardised descriptions of intervention techniques arguing that they are necessary to accelerate progress towards a science of behaviour change in his presentation entitled ‘Building a Science of Behaviour Change: Specifying the Content of Behaviour Change Interventions’. The keynote presentations were interspersed with a variety of highly engaging and informative oral and poster presentations delivered by conference delegates. The event was officially closed by Vice Pro Chancellor and Provost of Magee Professor Jim Allen who spoke of the promise and challenges ahead for health psychology both North and South of the border.

The new Division of Health Psychology Committee was elected at the Division AGM which was held on the day of the conference. Sincere thanks were extended to those who served on the 2007-2008 Committee and in particular, to outgoing committee member and affiliate representative, Sinead Conneely. Sinead has been a highly committed and enthusiastic member of the committee for a number of years and the Committee would like to wish her well as she concentrates her attentions on completing her PhD research at NUI Galway. The 2008-2009 committee is as follows: Suzanne Allen (Chair), Patricia White (Secretary), Deirdre Desmond (Treasurer), Molly Byrne, Andrea Gibbons, David Hevey, Anne Hickey, Karen Keogh and Sinead Ni Mhurchadha (Affiliate Representative).

The Division would like to extend thanks to all those who attended the conference, the keynote speakers, session chairs, Dr. Mitchel Fleming, Anne Kerr (NI BPS), Gerry Tosh and Fiona Harkin, Professor Jim Allen, Professor Ronnie Wilson, the scientific committee and conference committee. Sincere thanks also to the NI BPS and School of Psychology at the University of Ulster who generously sponsored the event. The Conference Committee for ‘Psychology, Health and Medicine 2008’ were Tony Cassidy (Chair of Scientific Committee), Deirdre Desmond, Sharon Devine, Edel Ennis, John Hyland, Melanie Giles (Committee Chair), Christopher Lewis, Siobhan McCann, Carol McClenahan, Christine Liddell, Liz Simpson, and Maurice Stringer.

'Psychology, Health, and Medicine 2008', the 5th Annual Conference of the Division of Health Psychology.

'Psychology, Health, and Medicine 2007', the 4th Annual Conference of the Division of Health Psychology was held on April 13th at the National University of Ireland , Maynooth.
Information and photographs from the event may be accessed via the conference website: www.psychology.nuim.ie/PsychHealthMed

'Psychology, Health, and Medicine 2006', the 3rd Annual Conference of the Division of Health Psychology took place on April 3rd, 2006, at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Information and photographs from the event may be accessed via the conference website: http://www.nuigalway.ie/psy/phm2006/

Past Workshops

Motivational Interviewing Workshop May 2009:

Professor Stephen T. Wegener, Director of Rehabilitation Psychology at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, US and visiting Fulbright Fellow (TCD, DCU and NUIM) facilitated a daylong workshop on Motivational Interviewing (MI) which was held in the School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin on May 21st 2009. The workshop aimed to explore the spirit, demonstrate the principles, and practice the strategies of MI. The workshop was well attended and feedback on the event was extremely positive.

Cognitive Behavioural Techniques and Chronic Pain Workshop - Thursday, 25th January 2007 in the Psychology Department, NUI Galway.

Mediation and Moderation Analysis for Health Research a Workshop by Dr. David Hevey and Dr. David French – Friday 17 th November 2006.

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