Psychslam

montage of previous PsychSlam competitors. — Psychslam

Welcome to PsychSlam!

Registration for 2026 is open.

Are you a TY student interested in psychology and science communication?

Would you like to learn more about how psychologists understand how people think, behave, and feel?

The PsychSlam competition organised by the School of Applied Psychology UCC gives TY student teams the opportunity to research a topic in Psychology and present their findings in a 6-minute PowerPoint presentation.

Participating teams gain experience in teamwork and science communication, and build connections with other students, researchers and psychologists.

All teams will receive detailed guidance and support, including an in-person training session on how to prepare their talk, the topics, and resources they can use to put their talk together.

Every year, students tell us that they have a wonderful experience learning about psychology and research, as well as how to present information to audiences in an informative and engaging manner (read more in the Student Teams Feedback).

The PsychSlam 2026 training day will be on Friday 6th March and the competition day will be on Friday 24th April

Our Team

This year the event is led by Dr. Marica Cassarino, Dr. Kim Keating, Dr. Daniel O'Callaghan, Tadgh Connery, John Twomey and Catherine Sullivan. You can contact the team at psychslam@ucc.ie. We would also like to thank the founders of this event Dr Samantha Dockray and Dr Gillian Murphy and previous committee members including Dr Clodagh Butler and Dr Sinéad Kelleher.

Marica Cassarino

Marica is an Environmental Psychologist who does research on how the built and natural spaces in our community influence our wellbeing, and also on the psychological factors that lead people to behave sustainably. Marica is a Lecturer at the School of Applied Psychology and she is passionate about teaching quantitative research methods and psychological work with communities.

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Kim Keating

Kim is a clinical psychologist who works on the clinical psychology programme team in UCC. She has worked with young people with mental health needs, physical health needs, and/or disabilities for over 10 years in community services and hospital services. Kim is interested in teaching and research with young people related to managing strong emotions, managing co-occurring psychological needs, and why more young people might be seeking a clinical or self-diagnosis for psychological needs.

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Daniel O'Callaghan

Daniel O'Callaghan is a lecturer in the School of Applied Psychology and a postdoctoral researcher with the National Suicide Research Foundation. Daniel’s research interests revolve around the psychosocial and health implications of stigma, with a focus on addiction, suicide, trauma, and social inclusion, and how these factors affect individuals' experiences of care, recovery, and identity. Daniel is dedicated to producing high-impact research that promotes social inclusion and recognises the importance of multi-agency and cross-disciplinary approaches. In his work, he emphasises the importance of contributing to improvements in service design and delivery. He aims to highlight the often underexplored aspects of these issues and advocate for more inclusive approaches to supporting people impacted by complicated life challenges.

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Tadgh Connery

Tadgh is a PhD researcher interested in the psychology of death and dying. His current work focuses on understanding what predisposes people to death anxiety and how we can protect people against its harmful effects on mental health. In his free time, Tadgh likes to get out of UCC and runs community education courses across Cork City

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John Twomey

John Twomey is currently finishing a PhD in Human-computer interaction. His work focuses on the psychology of deepfakes (AI generated videos). His work particularly focuses on the harms of AI generated information when used in disinformation and harassment online. His work is funded by Lero, the Research Ireland Centre for Software.

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The PsychSlam Team are members of several research networks and groups, as well as a range of science communication activities including:

European Association for Research on Adolescence
International Society for Psychoneuroendocrinology
European Health Psychology Society
Society for Research on Adolescence
WellTeen Network Ireland & United Kingdom
beats-lab.com
Teen Advisory Group
Interdisciplinary Child Wellbeing Network
Aspire with Abbott
Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software
FameLab Ireland
UCC Environmental Research Institute
International Association of Applied Psychology
Psychological Society of Ireland Special Interest Group for Addressing Climate and Environmental Emergency
Children’s Research Network
Irish Sexualities and Gender Research Network
Psychological Society of Ireland, Division of Work and Organisational Psychology

Psychslam Interns and Volunteers

Every year, student interns and volunteers from the School of Applied Psychology play a crucial role in welcoming and supporting the TY teams during training and the PsychSlam final.

TY students will have a chance to meet our students and learn more about studying Psychology in our BA courses in Applied Psychology and Psychology and Computing in UCC.