University of Limerick Department of Psychology

Rebekka Kesberg is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex. For more information see profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p525373-rebe...

Social media 'well down the list' of factors impacting youth mental health, experts say Placing blame on social media distracts from 'more fundamental societal issues' causing mental health issues among young people

In the Irish Examiner, Dr Ruth Melia and Dr Daragh Bradshaw from UL's Department of Psychology discuss the proposed blanket social media ban for under-16s.

Read on: www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41...

#StudyAtUL #StayCurious @ulpsych.bsky.social

Dr. Rebekka Kesberg

Join us for an online presentation by Dr Rebekka Kesberg, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK on MS Teams, Monday 23/2/26 at 1pm

Dr. Kesberg will talk about ‘The Democratic Double Standard: Why Some Political Attacks Seem More Acceptable Than Others’

To access the meeting, email maeve.maguire@ul.ie

Final Year student Orlaith Condren is recruiting participants for a 15-minute online study exploring the relationship between exposure to mental health content online and a tendency to self-diagnose. To participate, go to unioflimerick.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

This presentation will take place at 1pm, rather than 11am as stated in the original post

For more information on Chloe's work, go to pure.ul.ie/en/persons/c...

Dr Chloe Boyle

All are welcome to attend an in-person presentation on Tuesday 17th February at 11am in E1-022 by our own Dr Chloe Boyle

Chloe will be around for coffee/tea afterwards to discuss and connect!

#PsychoNeuroImmunology #PsychologyResearch #StayCurious

New from Alistair Nightingale and Sarah Jay of @ulpsych.bsky.social . A nuanced examination of the rhetorical justifications used by protestors against the accommodation of asylum seekers at a rural Irish hotel, and how such protesters seek to inoculate themselves against accusations of prejudice.

Christmas jumpers for Jigsaw fundraiser

Christmas jumpers for Jigsaw fundraiser

Before the break, we raised over €400 for our Christmas Jumpers for Jigsaw fundraiser: www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/d....

Thank you to our Faculty, Staff and Students for supporting such a worthy cause!

If you want to know more about Jigsaw, go to jigsaw.ie/location/lim...

Final Year student Vicky O’Connell is recruiting undergraduate participants for a study examining the impact of volunteering on perceived employability. The study takes 10 minutes. To participate, go to: unioflimerick.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

To find out more about our speakers, go to:

www.uni-siegen.de/lwf/departme...

flavioazevedo.com/about

#Conservatism #JingleJangle #Replication #LLM #Embeddings

Dr. Alexandra Zapko-Willmes

Professor Flavio Azevedo

Join us Monday 9th Feb at 1pm for a presentation on Measuring Ideology: Current Practices, Its Consequences, and Recommendations by Alexandra Zapko-Willmes, University of Siegen & Flávio Azevedo @flavioazevedo.bsky.social, Utrecht University

To access the meeting, email maeve.maguire@ul.ie

The Structure of Psychopathology on Reddit: Network Analysis of Mental Health Communities in Relation to the ICD Diagnostic System Background: Social media platforms such as Reddit have become important spaces where individuals articulate their distress, seek support, and explore alternative ways of understanding mental health ou...

www.jmir.org/2026/1/e80958/

Network Based on Diagnostic Criteria (ICD-10)
Visualizes the co-diagnosis network derived from symptom-based similarity of disorders.
Interactive: ouestware.gitlab.io/retina/beta/...
Gist: gist.github.com/boevkoski/44...

Reddit Network of Psychopathology – Negative Associations
Shows significant under-representation of shared users between disorder communities.
Interactive: ouestware.gitlab.io/retina/beta/...
Gist: gist.github.com/boevkoski/4b...

Interactive versions of the three main networks are available:
Reddit Network of Psychopathology (Positive Associations)
Displays statistically significant co-posting links between disorder-specific communities.
Interactive: ouestware.gitlab.io/retina/beta/...
Gist: gist.github.com/boevkoski/29...

The results reveal substantial structural differences between associations emerging from Reddit and ICD. At the same time, both networks display a highly interconnected structure, empirically reinforcing the need to rethink and refactor psychiatric nosology.

Read more here: lnkd.in/dRQ_D9nu

In short, we construct a Reddit-based network of 545K user accounts seeking support across mental health subreddits and compare its structure to that defined by formal diagnostic criteria.

We use network analysis to study diagnostic boundaries, transdiagnostic patterns, and tunnel visioning by examining connections within and across diagnostic categories for mental and behavioral disorders in the International Classification of Diseases.

Network of positive associations among disorders derived from Reddit coposting activity in 2022

Comparison between 2 networks of mental health disorder relationships: 1 derived from Reddit user activity and 1 constructed from clinical diagnostic definitions

Interactive versions available at sites in text

What is the structure of psychopathology when viewed from the perspective of individuals seeking support?
New research just published by Srebrenka Letina, with Bojan Evkoski & Petra Kralj Novak of CEU Department of Network and Data Science in the Journal of Medical Internet Research lnkd.in/eNcUjPGi

EHSREC Approval Number: 2025_12_05_EHS (FA) Invitation to Participate in a study on Early Life Stress, Substance Use and Chronic Pain Dear student/participant, We are conducting a Master’s Research Project at the University of Limerick. This study aims to see if factors such as early life stress and substance use among other psychosocial factors (e.g. depression, coping, emotion regulation) are important for health, in particular chronic pain. You are invited to take part in an anonymous online questionnaire that takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. Your participation is voluntary and completely anonymous. At any stage you are free to stop participating in the study. Please note that data is anonymous and therefore it will not be possible to withdraw data after it has been submitted through either completing the survey or exiting the survey early. Before beginning you will be provided with a participant information sheet outlining the study purpose, your rights, and data protection details. You will be asked to confirm you are over 18 years of age and will be required to tick a box to give your consent to take part. If you wish, you may also request a summary of the findings once the research is complete. If you have any questions about the study, please feel free to contact: Principal Investigator: Dr. Tracey Keogh, tracey.keogh@ul.ie Student Researchers: Adam Moloney, 21340307@studentmail.ul.ie and Jan Heng Li Buschmann, 25240722@studentmail.ul.ie If you have any concerns about the conduct of this study, you may contact: Chair, Education, and Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee University of Limerick Tel: (061) 234101 Email: EHSResearchEthics@ul.ie Your participation is greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Tracey, Adam and Jan

Adam Moloney and Jan Heng Li Bushmann are recruiting for a study exploring associations between early life stress, substance use and chronic pain through an online survey that should take no more than 20 minutes to complete. To participate, go to: unioflimerick.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Dr. Lorena Arnal presents her work at the 3rd University Learning, Teaching and Assessment Conference

Dr. Lorena Arnal presents her work at the 3rd University Learning, Teaching and Assessment Conference

Dr. Lorena Arnal presented "Integrating an Alternate Reality Game into First Year University learning: fostering a pedagogy of engagement" at the 3rd University Learning, Teaching and Assessment Conference. The study is co-authored by former MRP student Katelyn Crowe

Dear Student/Participant, We are conducting a Final Year Project research study at the University of Limerick. This study explores the identity-related factors that influence participation in pro-Palestine activism, both online and in person. We define Pro-Palestinian activism as ‘the willingness to speak out and take action against Isreal’s acts of genocide in Gaza as declared by the world leading International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)’. You are invited to take part by completing an anonymous online questionnaire that takes approximately 10–15 minutes. Your participation is voluntary and completely anonymous. No identifying information will be collected, and you may withdraw but you will not be able to withdraw your anonymous responses. All data will be stored securely in accordance with GDPR and university data protection policies. Before beginning, you will be provided with a participant information sheet outlining the study purpose, your rights, and data protection details. Proceeding to the questionnaire will indicate your implied consent to participate. If you wish, you may also request a summary of the findings once the research is complete. You can access the questionnaire here: https://unioflimerick.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_74HwopL1UmvCUdg If you have any questions about the study, please feel free to contact: Principal Investigator: Dr. Sarah Jay, sarah.jay@ul.ie Student Researchers: Julia Sztejner, 22337202@studentmail.ul.ie and Thomas O’Mahony 22339795@studentmail.ul.ie If you have any concerns about the conduct of this study, you may contact: Chair, Education and Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee University of Limerick Tel: (061) 234101 Thank you very much for considering taking part in this study. Kind regards, Sarah, Julia and Thomas

Julia Sztejner and Thomas O’Mahony are recruiting participants for a study exploring the identity-related factors that influence participation in pro-Palestine activism, both online and in person. The study takes 10-15 minutes. To participate, go to:

unioflimerick.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

New Graduates of the Psychology Department

New Graduates of the Psychology Department

New Graduates of the Psychology Department

Massive congratulations to our new Psychology graduates who had their conferring ceremonies this week. We are so proud of those who graduated from our BSc, Diploma, Masters and Doctoral courses

Well done all!

#ULGraduation #StudyAtUL

Robert Krause | Gatton College of Business and Economics Education PhD, University of Groningen, 2019 Download CV

Dr Krause will speak about "Using network models to investigate mechanisms"
You can find out more about Dr Krause's work at gatton.uky.edu/people/rober...

To access the meeting, email maeve.maguire@ul.ie

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Dr Robert Krause

All are welcome to attend an online presentation on Monday 26/1 at 1pm by Dr Robert Krause, University of Kentucky, USA

#NetworkModels #PsychologyResearch #StayCurious

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" #Loneliness is highest in young adulthood."
🌍 International Day of Unwanted Loneliness
✏️ @amcreaven.bsky.social, Associate Professor in Psychology at @ulpsych.bsky.social @unioflimerick.bsky.social erick.bsky.social
🔗 daily27.info/2025/12/16/w...
#Society #Youth #EmerginAdulthood #News #Daily27

Shows the abstract of the article entitled Personality and Mortality Risk: A systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Data (McGeehan et al., 2025).

Groundbreaking research reveals personality traits are powerful predictors of mortality.

Full article: [https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000577]

#newsweek article: [https://www.newsweek.com/tech-science]

#Psychology
#IrishResearchCouncil

@ulpsych.bsky.social
@hri-ul.bsky.social
@paraic.bsky.social

Dr Muireann O'Dea

Dr. Muireann O'Dea has won the International Society for the Science of Existential Psychology (ISSEP) best paper award! Congratulations to she and co-authors @igou.bsky.social, Dr Wijnand van Tilburg and @elainekinsella.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1002/ejsp...

#Awe #Boredom #ExistentialPsychology

Applications for the September 2026 intake of our Doctorate in Clinical Psychology will close on Friday January 9th 2026 @ 5pm, More information can be found at www.ul.ie/gps/course/c...

#ClinicalPsychology #Doctorate #StudyAtUL