My PhD focuses on public awareness and behaviours related to antibiotics, antimicrobial resistance and vaccines in Ireland. 

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is having worrying impacts on infirmity and mortality rates; vaccines may not protect against all strains of a bacteria, but can reduce the burden of AMR on public health and healthcare systems by instigating protection against the strains which are most commonly resistant. Our understanding of cross-border differences in knowledge, belief and/or attitudes to antimicrobial resistance, vaccination and/or service-related issues have not been addressed. 

I will use mixed methods approaches to understand how individuals’ capabilities, opportunities, and motivations influence their decision-making behaviour, and how their individual context including physical health (e.g. if someone has a health condition such as diabetes) or mental health (e.g. if someone is engaging in unhealthy alcohol/other drug use) influences their decision-making.

This is part of the All Ireland Vaccine Training Alliance (AIVRT) - a consortium of 17 PhD students with partners in University College Cork, University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, and Queen’s University Belfast. The aim of AIVRT is to better human health through vaccination and to train the next generation of all-island researchers in vaccine design, development, testing and deployment research.