Associate Professor Michelle Downes, Lab Director
Michelle is an Associate Professor and Ad Astra Fellow at UCD School of Psychology. Before joining UCD, Michelle completed her PhD in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London and further training in London and Boston. Her research has primarily focused on brain and cognitive development in typically developing children and paediatric patient populations.
Michelle established the UCD Babylab to investigate the impact of disease-related and environmental factors, such as sleep, digital technology and family function, on executive function and learning development in infants and young children.
Some of Assoc. Prof Downes’ recent publications can be found here!
Abigail (Abby) O’ Connell, PhD Student and Lab Member
Abigail is a second-year PhD candidate in the School of Psychology at University College Dublin (UCD), supervised by Associate Professor Michelle Downes. She holds a BSc in Psychology from UCD and an MSc in Clinical Neuroscience from the University of Galway.
Abigail’s research interests lie in developmental neuropsychology, with a particular focus on early childhood. Her MSc dissertation examined the relationship between parental bonding, inflammatory biomarkers, and cognitive outcomes in adulthood—an experience that deepened her passion for neuroscience and shaped the direction of her current research. She is now pursuing her PhD as part of the ECHO project, which investigates the neurocognitive development of infants prenatally exposed to e-cigarettes.
As an active member of the UCD Babylab, Abigail is heavily involved in research exploring how early life experiences influence brain and cognitive development. In addition to her research, Abigail is currently serving on the International Neuropsychology Society’s student committee
Tobias Constien, PhD Student and Lab Member
Tobias is a PhD candidate with the School of Psychology at UCD under the supervision of Assoc. Prof Michelle Downes. He is a trained dramatherapist (Nürtingen-Geislingen University) and a graduate from the Psychology Conversion Course at Trinity College Dublin and the Master of Psychological Science at UCD.
Tobias is interested in the multifaceted benefits of play and imagination to children’s development and health, which has brought him from his work in dramatherapy to Psychology and ultimately to the UCD Babylab. His PhD is titled the TEDDY project, and is focused on the association of children’s pretend play and their cognitive development, specifically executive functions, in the toddlerhood period.
Dr Áine Ní Choisdealbha, Lab Member
Áine is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow at University College Dublin. Áine undertook her PhD in Psychology at Lancaster University, using behavioural and neuroscience methods to study infants’ social and motor development. She has held postdoctoral positions at the Centre for Neuroscience in Education (University of Cambridge) and the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (University of Washington), as well as at the ESRI. Her main research interest is in how motor development helps infants to interact with the social and physical worlds around them.
Áine’s work at UCD is part of the Perception and Motor Cognition Group. She is currently investigating how motor processes in the baby’s brain help them to learn about what other people are doing, and how these processes change as infants grow older and learn new motor skills. You can find out more here!
Past Lab Members
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Nabil Hasshim, currently lecturing at University of Salford
PhD Students
Dr. Jennifer Keating, currently a research associate at Cardiff University
Dr. Lisa Keenan, currently a research associate at Dublin City University
Dr. Clara Sherlock, currently a researcher at CHI Temple Street
Dr. Alice Bazzurro, currently a researcher at University of Genoa
Interns
Rosie Rogers
Basak Ozkara
Anna Collins
Kathy Trinh
Tom Herrnsdorf
Clinical Doctorate
Dr. Rebecca Gaffney
Research Assistants
Sarah Conroy
Maria Dinca
Emma Cullen
Students
2024-2025
Ella Byrne, MSc Behavioural Neuroscience
Theodora Coroliuc, MSc Behavioural Neuroscience
Florencia Sandoval Gomez, MSc Behavioural Neuroscience
Joanna Kelly, MPsychSc
Past Students
Maisie Flynn, MPsychSc
Olivia Wynne, MPsychSc
Michelle Nevin, MPsychSc
Marion Gildea, Undergraduate
Ibak Baky, Undergraduate