Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 September 2020
205. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if research will be funded into the psychological and emotional impacts of Covid-19 and the restrictions on society, including persons that contracted the disease. [26234/20]
View answerThe outcomes of the first Rapid Response Call to COVID-19 that ran under the national coordinated research and innovation response to the pandemic were announced in April 2020. The Irish Research Council and the Health Research Board jointly funded a strand of this call, which focused on the development of medical countermeasures, health service readiness, and social and political countermeasures to COVID-19. A total of 21 projects were selected under the joint HRB/IRC strand with an investment of €3.4 million. The projects funded include -
- How to support mental health among frontline healthcare workers in a pandemic is being led by NUIG's Professor Brian McGuire, and looks at the importance of protecting the mental health of frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Why don’t we keep our distance? Evidence for more effective communication in the pandemic is being led by Dr Gerard Molloy at NUI Galway, and uses expertise in behaviour change interventions to gather information about how different groups in society feel about physical distancing, and how future communications could be tailored to encourage greater adherence in order to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Impact of Covid 19 on Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Caregivers is being led by Dr Christine Linehan at UCD and outlines research to explore the impact of COVID-19 on individuals who have intellectual and developmental disabilities and their caregivers.
The full list of the funded projects are attached.
