Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at University College Dublin.
Laura’s research is framed by an intergroup developmental approach to study risk and resilience processes for youth in settings of protracted conflict. Her work has implications for child outcomes, such as aggression, prosocial behaviours and social identity, as well as broader psychosocial processes, such as shared education and intergroup relations, which may fuel or constrain conflict. Toward this end, she studies how and why violence affects behaviours and attitudes related to conflict transformation, primarily during childhood and adolescence.
Jung Yul Kwon
Jung Yul Kwon
Postdoctoral Researcher
At UCD, Yul works on the GENERATION PEACE project, building a cross-national Youth Peacebuilding Indicator to investigate the impact of youth peacebuilding on quality peace. His research interests include how people perceive norms and how these perceptions influence intergroup interactions. He holds a PhD in Social Psychology from Arizona State University and was a postdoctoral research fellow at The New School for Social Research.
Ellen Kneeskern
Ellen Kneeskern
Postdoctoral Researcher
Ellen is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Helping Kids! Lab, where she works on the ASPBelong project. She holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Rochester, in Rochester, NY. She attended Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN for her undergraduate degree, and also worked as a research coordinator at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital before beginning her graduate studies. Ellen’s research interests include how children learn and think about social identities and inequalities, the sources of information that influence their beliefs, and their reasoning about trust and social issues. The ultimate goal of her work is to promote equitable and inclusive thinking and actions towards diverse others in childhood.
Dearbháile holds a Master’s degree in Psychological Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, both of which were earned at University College Dublin. She became a member of the Helping Kids! Lab during her Master’s in 2020-21, completing her thesis under the supervision of Dr Laura Taylor. Dearbháile’s current research interests are centred on identifying the individual and family-level factors that predict children’s intergroup prosocial behaviours, with thanks to the generous support and funding of the Irish Research Council (IRC New Foundations) and the Swiss Embassy in Dublin.
Isabelle is investigating children’s superordinate (European/national) identities, and how they relate to social inclusion. She holds a BSc in Psychology from University College Dublin and a MSc in Cultural Psychology from the University of Amsterdam. Isabelle is interested in research which promotes social change and social inclusion, and has 3+ years of research experience in academic and non-academic settings.
Twitter: @iniccraith
Siobhán McEvoy
Siobhán C McEvoy
PhD Researcher
Siobhán has a professional background in community engagement with displaced people in conflict settings and post conflict political participation. She is entering into her final year of the PhD program with research focusing on community building and integration of refugee women in Ireland.
Meabh Finnegan
Méabh Finnegan
Postgraduate Research Assistant & Lab Coordinator
Méabh holds both a Master’s degree in Psychological Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from University College Dublin. She joined the Helping Kids! Lab in 2024 as a research assistant on the ASPbelong project, contributing to research on the belief barriers to implementing a school-based, smartphone-enabled mental health intervention. Her broader research interests lie in health psychology, particularly exploring the potential psychosocial impact associated with chronic illnesses.
Nadia Ng
Nadia Ng
Research Assistant
Nadia holds a BSc in Psychology from University College Dublin and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Psychological Science at Uppsala University in Sweden. Her research interests focuses on developmental psychology, in particular promoting prosocial behaviours among youth.
Tara Burns
Tara Burns
Master’s Research Assistant
Tara holds a BA in Business from DCU and a Higher Diploma in Psychology from UCD. She is currently pursuing a master’s in psychological science at UCD. She joined the Helping Kids! Lab in September 2025 as a research assistant, where she will work on the ADO-AI project. Her academic interests focus on children and adolescents’ AI interactions, promoting prosocial behaviours, memory distortions and susceptibility to misinformation, and ADHD in women.
Madeline Cometa
Madeline Cometa
Master’s Research Assistant
Maddy earned her BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Psychology and an additional major in Education Policy. She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Psychological Sciences at University College Dublin. Her research aims to identify factors that contribute to healthy social development in youth to inform educational policy and practice.
Lina Leven
Lina Leven
Master’s Student & Autumn Intern
Lina holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Maastricht University and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Psychology at the University of Konstanz. She joined the Helping Kids! Lab in September 2025 as autumn intern, where she contributes to the Generation Peace project and Isabelle Nic Craith’s Ph.D. research on national identities. Her academic interests focus on social identity, intergroup relations, political psychology and discrimination.
Lab Alumni
Vivian Liu (PhD)
Postdoctoral Researcher at University College Dublin
Vivian holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology from New York University. Her research explores how children develop intergroup attitudes in a context of inequality and finding ways to address related stereotyping and biases. At University College Dublin, she works on GENERATION PEACE, a cross-cultural, mixed-methods project investigating youth peacebuilding in post-conflict societies.
Isabelle Zammit
Former PhD Student at University College Dublin
Isabelle worked on her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Laura K. Taylor. She is a teacher by profession and has worked with NGOs in different countries. Her PhD focuses on how religiousness is transmitted in early childhood, and how transmission effects children’s prosocial behaviours.
Celia holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology and two Master’s degrees (Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy; Communication Science). She joined the Helping Kids! Lab in 2020, contributing to cross-cultural, macrosystemic peacebuilding research. Her clinical PhD explores youth group interventions, focusing on interdisciplinary, participatory research framed by a Social Ecology Perspective.
Mary-Jane Emmett
MPsychSc Student at University College Dublin
Mary-Jane holds a BSc in Psychology from Dublin City University and is a Masters in Psychological Science candidate at University College Dublin. She worked as a research assistant with the Helping Kids! Lab from 2022-2023. Her research focused on the influence of parents on their children’s prosocial behaviour.
Andrea Maynard(PhD)
Postdoctoral Researcher at University College Dublin
Andrea is a post doc on the COORDINATE / GUIDEPREP projects, funded by H2020. Andrea’s research interests are in student wellbeing and engagement. Her PhD, funded by the Irish Research Council, utilised a mixed methods design to explore the impact of a social innovation education intervention on student, teacher and community wellbeing.
Lauren Walsh
Former MPsychSc Student (2021-22)
Lauren holds a Higher Diploma in Arts in Psychology from Dublin Business School and a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Music from Dundalk IT. Lauren worked as a research assistant for the ROI/NI Developing Belief project. Her masters research focused on children’s belief development in collaboration with Jocelyn Dautel and Hannah Kramer.
Dean O’Driscoll (DECAP)
Chartered Educational and Child Psychologist
Dean holds a Doctorate in Educational, Child and Adolescent Psychology from Queen’s University Belfast. While working with the Helping Kids! Lab, Dean’s research explored intergroup processes among youth living amid protracted conflict, including the development of prosocial behaviours. Dean currently works as an Educational and Child Psychologist supporting children, adolescents and adults with Special Educational Needs within public service and private practice.
Helping Kids! 