Eilis Hennessy

Professor Eilis Hennessy teaches developmental psychology in the UCD School of Psychology. Her research addresses stigma, bias, and discrimination experienced by children and adolescents with chronic health problems with a particular focus on those who have mental health and behavioural problems. Her work has documented the prevalence of mental health bias and discrimination in children and young people from age 8 years to age 24 in schools and colleges in Ireland through her work with colleagues in NUI Galway and Trinity College Dublin. As part of this research programme she and her colleagues have developed and published questionnaires for measuring mental health stigma, examined the perception of stigma experienced by young people and their families, and worked with mental health charities to reduce stigma in secondary school pupils. Professor Hennessy was Vice Principal for Teaching and Learning in the College of Social Sciences and Law from September 2014 - August 2018. She was the director of the Masters in Psychological Science from 2011 to 2018 and was Head of the School of Psychology from 2009 to 2012.