About Us
Our Story
At Attune, we have a shared goal to improve body image perception and the mental health of young people through the use of innovative digital design. In order to achieve this goal, we have formed a multidisciplinary team with experts in a range of areas such as mental health, body image, co-design, digital interventions, assistive technologies and human computer interaction. With our amazing team, we hope to collaborate with a number of stakeholders to produce an effective and engaging digital body image programme.
Meet the DCU Team
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Dr. Ciara Mahon
(BA Hons, Sch., PhD)
Dr. Ciara Mahon
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Ciara is an Assistant Professor at DCU. She is interested in understanding the factors that support positive body image, and how these can be harnessed in innovative ways to improve body image and psychological wellbeing. She's co-led several multistakeholder, international projects focused on school-based body image interventions and is currently a principal investigator on a Research Ireland Pathways grant developing novel digital interventions to support body image in adults.
Dr. Louise Hanson
(BA, MA, PhD)
Dr. Louise Hanson
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Louise is a postdoctoral researcher at DCU. She is currently investigating what young adults want in a body image app to make it more engaging while maintaining its effectiveness. Louise is particularly interested in how we can gamify existing body image improvement modules to make them more engaging and accessible to a range of people. Her recent PhD investigated what risk factors are most salient for body image development across the lifespan, particularly in children and adolescents.
Ms. Clairiz Nel
(Bsc, Msc, PhD Candidate)
Ms. Clairiz Nel
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Clairiz is a PhD student at DCU. She is committed to producing research with real‑world impact; using multidisciplinary, pragmatic, and co‑design approaches to develop innovative interventions that support physical and mental wellbeing by combining technological solutions with human ingenuity.​ For her PhD, Clairiz is examining effective therapeutic approaches and engagement strategies for developing a digital body‑image intervention for young adults from diverse contexts.
Prof. Pamela Gallagher
(BA, PhD, PGCE, GDipE)
Prof. Pamela Gallagher
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Pamela is a Professor and the founding Head of the School of Psychology at DCU. She is a respected international expert and leader in her research field of psychology, with a particular interest in assistive technologies, living well with illness and disability. Her professional background, especially in regards to assistive technologies will undoubtedly provide a great insight and contribution to the Attune project.
Dr. Zali Yager
(BA, PhD)
Dr. Zali Yager
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Zali is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Victoria University and the Executive Director of The Embrace Collective. She is an internationally-recognised expert focussed on figuring out ‘what works’ to build better body image. Zali brings a wealth of experience in research translation for innovation and impact, the design and dissemination of digital interventions to this project.
Dr. Amanda Fitzgerald
(BA, PhD)
Dr. Amanda Fitzgerald
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Amanda is an Associate Professor and Director of the Youth Mental Health Lab at University College Dublin. Her research is focused on youth mental health, specifically youth co-design, early intervention, digital technologies, and implementation science methods. She co-founded the Body Image Research Network (BIRN), an interdisciplinary person-centred network of excellence for research on body image and body-image related disorders.
Dr. David Coyle
(Bsc, Msc, PhD)
Dr. David Coyle
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David is an Associate Professor with the School of Computer Science. David's work focuses on Human Computer Interaction and digital health, with an emphasis on digital mental health. David's work is often interdisciplinary and has included research on online interventions for adults, clinical interventions for young people, and specialist interventions for adults with intellectual disabilities.
Mr. Ian Power
Dr. Ian Power
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Ian is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Youth Mental Health Lab at University College Dublin and Special Advisor to the Minister for Mental Health. He was also the CEO of spunout for 11 years. In addition, Ian was previously President of the National Youth Council of Ireland from 2015-2019, was a member of the National Taskforce on Youth Mental Health, and a member of the oversight body for the implementation of Ireland's national mental health policy 'Sharing the Vision'.