PraXis
Friday, 28 November, 2025
From October 14th to 17th, I participated in two back-to-back research symposia alongside many colleagues and PhD students. UCD Reclaim Funding, the Wellcome Trust, UCD Global, the UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Health Systems, and PPI Ignite seeding funding supported the four-day event. I am very grateful to everyone who dropped in, attended, and provided both direct and indirect support, enabling us to host 14 international visitors from the University of Maryland, the University of Birmingham, and the Maryland House of Delegates. It takes a village to bring any activity together, and the impact and goodwill from the daily sessions were palpable. Thanks again - Kate
What we did
On 14th October 2025, the UCD PraXIs team held a research symposium at the Charles Institute to share the results of our UCD Reclaim/Wellcome Trust-funded research study. During this event, we heard from PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty members who shared their experiences collaborating on creative, innovative research projects. Professor Orla Feely, UCD President, presented certificates and awards to PhD students from across the university's various schools who participated in our Hackathon event [supported by Anytime Creative - Jack Brophy], which explored One Health solutions for UCD students’ wellbeing. Finally, Dr Maria Quinlan, HSE Director of Research, Ms Stacey Grealis, PPI Member and Professor Grace Mulcahy joined members of the study team in a discussion to consider what's next for our research.
Our website is fully operational, https://www.ucd.ie/praxis/aboutpraxis/praxisteam/
PraXis Team: Assoc. Prof. Kate Frazer (PI), Co-investigators: Dr Andrew Darley, Assoc. Prof. Barbara Coughlan, Mr Diarmuid Stokes, Ms Mirta Knezic, Prof. Lizbeth Goodman, Prof. Michelle Norris, Prof. Patricia Fitzpatrick, Prof. Thilo Kroll, Mr Liam Cleere and Prof. Negin Fouladi.
From October 15 to 17, 2025, the University College Dublin School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Health Systems hosted the Universitas 21 Health Research Exchange (U21 HREx), a community of practice that connects students and early-career researchers across partner institutions. The UCD meeting was led by Prof. Negin Fouladi (UMD), Assoc. Prof. Kate Frazer (UCD) and Prof. Mark Exworthy (University of Birmingham) and brought together PhD and Master’s students for forward-looking conversations on health policy, insurance, and systems; the promise of localised care models; and the shared challenge of global mental health.
- 15th October: Lightning presentations from Professor Negin Fouladi, Prof. Mark Exworthy, Dr Ken Kerr, Maryland House of Delegates and Assoc. Prof. Hasheem Mannan, UCD Research, Dr Emma Dorris, and David Bennett. Thank you to Dr Anne Cody, HRB Head of Funding Awards; Ms Stacey Grealis, PPI Member; and Dr Janet Carton, UCD Head of Graduate Studies and Research Strategy, for attending and participating in our discussions.
- 16th October: Thank you to Dr Andrew Darley, Dr Nina Thamanam, and PhD students and ECRs who attended, presented, and participated in the fantastic morning event (Adam Chukwu, Adam Seidu and Dr Praveen Kumar Aivalli, Phil Gordon, Helen Crump). Thank you to Dr Julie Gauly and Dr Jo Parsons for your input and sharing from the University of Birmingham. Thanks to UCD Prof. Emma Sokell, Dean of Graduate Studies; Prof. Dolores O’Riordan, VP Global Engagement; Dr Collen Doyle, UCD Global, and Mr James Hayes, Director NMHS, for attending and supporting the U21 meeting. We had a fantastic afternoon of research activities led by University of Maryland ECRs Phil Gordan and Maryam Hashmi, collaborating with Anytime Creative gurus Jack and Fergal Brophy!
- 17th October: Meetings and presentations from UCD Prof. Tim Lynch, Dr Lisa Rogers, Dr Deirdre O’Donnell and Dr Sean Paul Teeling. Thank you to Assoc. Prof. Suja Somanadhan, Assoc Dean Global Engagement NMHS, for attending and supporting the event.
Through lightning talks, roundtable discussions, and group exercises, participants shared practical methods for translating research into measurable impact, true to HREx’s mission of knowledge translation and professional development within U21. The network, anchored by UMD, the University of Birmingham, and UCD, continues to expand opportunities for mentoring and collaboration. U21 HREx partners plan to convene next at the University of Birmingham in Spring 2026 to maintain momentum and co-design solutions that strengthen health systems across diverse contexts.
13th to 15th November EUPHA European Public Health Conference, Helsinki, Finland (opens in a new window)https://ephconference.eu/index.php
The PraXis team had an oral presentation at the EUPHA conference (13th November). This was a great opportunity to disseminate more information on our living library systematic review. Lots of interest in what we have done!
The conference abstract is published in the European Journal of Public Health.
K Frazer, D Stokes, N Buckle, Y McCague, A Darley, B Coughlan, P Fitzpatrick, L Goodman, M Norris, T Kroll, Systematic review of human living libraries mapped to the social determinants of health, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 35, Issue Supplement_4, October 2025, ckaf161.010,
(opens in a new window)https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/35/Supplement_4/ckaf161.010/8301450