Gillian is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Psychology at University College Cork. She is a Fulbright Scholar, a Fellow of the Psychonomic Society, and a Funded Investigator at Lero, the Research Ireland Centre for Software. Her research interests are broad, though most often relate back to memory in some way. She enjoys studying how cognition can "fail" in everyday contexts, as well as considering when and how these "failures" can be quite useful. 

Outside of the lab, Gillian is a mother to two young children, whose everyday cognition she loves to observe. 

Gillian's Google Scholar profile

Cian’s research examines the psychology of conspiracy beliefs, with a focus on using critical thinking to teach people how to discern between plausible and implausible conspiracy theories. His post-doc is funded by Lero - the Research Ireland Centre for Software.

Cian's Google Scholar profile

John's research focuses on the societal and personal impact of novel media editing technologies. John’s work specifically examines the development and impacts of deepfake technology from a HCI perspective. His work uses case studies and experimental research to examine the use of deepfakes in misinformation, entertainment, and online abuse and harassment. His work is funded by Lero, the Research Ireland Centre for Software.

John's Google Scholar profile

Didier's research focuses on quantifying the effects of deepfakes on our beliefs, memories, and behaviours. His work examines whether deepfakes are a uniquely potent form of misinformation and attempts to quantify their potential harmfulness. He is currently working on designing educational interventions to effectively teach the public about deepfakes and emerging technologies. He is funded by Lero, the Research Ireland Centre for Software.

Didier's Google Scholar profile

Ella is interested in health misinformation and is working to develop tools to combat it. Health misinformation can be dangerous as it may lead t to harmful decisions and behaviours, such as people delaying or stopping cancer treatment. Ella's PhD project will develop evidence-based digital and non-digital interventions to help patients, the general public, and medical professionals to reduce their susceptibility to cancer misinformation. Ella's work is co-funded by Breakthrough Cancer Research and Lero, the Research Ireland Centre for Software. 

Recovered Memories & Clinical Practice

Co-supervised with Dr Maria Dempsey

Oisin graduated with a Doctorate of Clinical Psychology in November 2025. His research examined recovered memories of abuse in a therapeutic context. He is interested in how therapists approach this in their practice and in developing a toolkit for practitioners to understand memory distortion. Oisin's doctorate was funded by the Irish Prison Service. 

See one of Oisin's doctoral papers here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09658211.2025.2601699 

Teaching Critical Thinking to Combat Unreasonable Conspiracy Theories

Co-supervised with Dr Conor Linehan

Cian's PhD project explored the use of an interactive video game (Nashville PI) as an educational tool to improve people’s ability to critically assess conspiracy theories. His PhD was co-funded by Google and the Irish Research Council. 

Cian's Google Scholar profile