Established in 2019 through funding received from the Health Research Institute in UL, the Physical Activity for Health Research Centre is, the first of its kind in Ireland, with a vision is to become “World Leaders in physical activity research that demonstrates real-world impact in policy and practice”. In this episode Professor Catherine Woods, Director of PAfH Research Centre, Health Research Institute, and the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, UL. Professor James Green, PAfH core member, School of Allied Health, Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, UL are joined by Michael Barry and Micheal Lynch, both who live locally and have been long time attendees of a community-based exercise programme for people living with a chronic condition run in UL. This programme, named ULMedX, was designed and is run by the Physical Activity for Health Research Centre. The Research centre is continuing to build an international hub of excellence in the area of physical activity and health research, key to this is a multidisciplinary approach that includes physiologists, sports and exercise scientists, physiotherapists, and health, sports and exercise psychologists.

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Professor Hilary Moss, the winner of the Presidents Research Excellence and Impact Early Career Researcher – Consolidator Award 2024. Hilary is Professor at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance and a member of UL’s Health Research Institute. Hilary’s interdisciplinary research integrates humanities, health sciences and other areas including computer science. Her research is an important scholarly contribution to the growing evidence that engaging with the arts positively impacts health. Innovative solutions are being piloted at UL, for example trialling telehealth music therapy with computer science colleagues for people with dementia, an international innovation. In this episode Hilary also discusses the need for the inclusion of Music Therapy in health care and she highlights examples of how music therapy specifically focused on dementia care has changed patients and their carers lives.

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Daragh Bradshaw, the winner of the Presidents Research Excellence and Impact Early Career Researcher – Starting Award 2024. Daragh is Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology and a member UL’s Centre for Social Issues-research. Daragh’s research specialises in the application of theory and method to address real-world issues. Focusing on the creation of ambitious applied projects increasing our theoretical understanding and achieving maximum impact for those most in need. Applying the Social Identity Model of Identity and Organisational Change in an applied setting addressing social and psychological outcomes. This research is conducted across a variety of community settings with demonstrable theoretical and applied impact such as stakeholder engagement, peer-reviewed publications, international awards, competitive funding, and through the application of his work in developing community supports. In this episode Daragh talks to me about his research, the real-world impacts, informing national policy, the importance of collaboration and the support that UL provides to early career researchers.

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