Gillian is a Full Professor in the School of 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

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. 

Eoin's research examines the concept of memory malleability in psychological therapy, and the associated benefits and risks for both clients and clinicians in working therapeutically with memory. He is interested in how clinicians conceive of memory malleability and how naming memory as an important aspect of therapeutic care might improve clinical practice. 

Ruby’s research focuses on how social media shapes understandings of trauma and memory. Her work examines how concepts relating to repressed and recovered traumatic memories are represented in short-form social media content and how these messages may influence beliefs and expectations about mental health and therapy. Her research also explores psychologists’ perspectives on the impact of this content on clinical practice and how professionals respond to clients presenting with concerns about trauma memories.

Ken's research examines how the current understanding of and approach to human memory impacts and benefits those coming into contact with the evidence gathering elements of the criminal justice system.  His research will examine how concepts such as common-sense memory belief systems may influence the approach taken by investigators and how to develop effective tools to translate memory science into practice. 

Doaa’s research focuses on false memories and the ways in which our memories can become distorted as we reconstruct past experiences. She is particularly interested in why these memory errors occur so readily, and whether processes that can lead us to remember things inaccurately may also serve useful cognitive and social functions. Doaa's PhD is part of the FRAME project, funded by the European Research Council. 

Mikaela’s research centres around false memories, examining potential adaptive functions of autobiographical false memories for wellbeing. She is employing experimental methods to better understand the potential upsides of memory "errors" for individuals in varied contexts. Mikaela’s research is part of the FRAME project and funded by the European Research Council.

Recovered Memories & Clinical Practice

Co-supervised with Dr Conor Linehan

John's PhD research focused on the societal and personal impact of deepfake technology. His work uses case studies and experimental research to examine the use of deepfakes in misinformation, entertainment, and online abuse and harassment. His doctoral work was funded by Lero, the Research Ireland Centre for Software.

John's Google Scholar profile

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