Nobel prize-winning economist James Heckman of the University of Chicago and UCD Professor of Science and Society is leading this five year programme, awarded by the European Research Council (ERC). The project will study the origins and the evolution of health inequalities over the life course and across generations, and the role played by cognition, personality, genes, and environments.

The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is a longitudinal, multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database of micro data on health, socio-economic status and social and family networks of more than 30,000 individuals aged 50 or over. SHARE is coordinated centrally at the Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA). SHARE’s scientific power is based on its panel design that grasps the dynamic character of the ageing process. SHARE’s multidisciplinary approach delivers the full picture of the ageing process and rigorous procedural guidelines and programs ensure an ex-ante harmonized cross-national design.

Over the past twenty years we have witnessed a chronology of contamination incidents and outbreaks of foodborne disease, which have highlighted the vulnerability of the food chain in an increasingly global market place. From animal feed related issues, such as dioxin contamination and BSE, to pre-prepared vegetables and ready-to-eat meals, no stage in the food chain has avoided costly errors. These incidents put consumers’ health at risk and damage consumer confidence in the safety of the food supply, in industry’s commitment to produce safe food and in the ability of the regulators to effectively police the food chain.

In University College Dublin we adopt a farm to fork approach to tackling food safety issues. Risk assessment, risk management and risk communication are the three big topic areas under which we address food safety for our own undergraduates, postgraduates and visiting students.

The aim of this work is to explore the biological processes underlying human decision-making in different domains of life.  The work utilises electrophysiological measurement techniques to examine how participants' brains react to the presentation of rewards that differ along dimensions such as the level of delay, the type of reward, the degree of risk and magnitude of reward. We aim to develop and test theories of intertemporal choice and to apply these theories to applied contexts, particularly in the areas of health and financial decision making.

The Centre for Behaviour and Health at the UCD Geary Institute is a leading centre for research on behavioural economics, population health disparities, policy interventions. Its research programme is at the frontier of social science and medicine incorporating longitudinal, experimental, bio-social and comparative research frameworks in large scale mixed methodological programmes.

At the moment, scientists in Ireland don’t know much about how people here feel about food, or why one person has different food safety or nutrition knowledge or perception of risk than another. Your answers will help us understand this. Ultimately, the information will be used to help policy makers and health professionals to plan food safety and nutrition campaigns that will get the right information to the right people in the right way.

The Geary Institute Health Behaviour Study is a major research project exploring health related behaviours. The current phase of the study will initially focus on the student population, with a view to developing innovative research methodologies to be used on a wider sample. The study aims to contribute to the literatures on health behaviour, particularly excessive alcohol consumption.

The aim of this Government of Ireland (IRCHSS) funded project is to improve the well-being of the Irish population through increasing the quality and quantity of social science information available to policy makers on the factors that determine well-being. It aims to assess the extent to which levels of well-being vary by environmental, social, psychological and demographic factors.