Caoimhe is a final year PhD student. Her mixed-methods PhD focuses on public knowledge, awareness and behaviours and beliefs related to antibiotics, antimicrobial resistance and vaccines across the island of 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 the island of Ireland around knowledge, belief and/or attitudes to antimicrobial resistance, vaccination and/or service-related issues have not been addressed. 

This PhD is funded by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and 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.