Two projects involving UCD receive share of €2m funding for healthcare innovation
12 February 2026
Two projects involving UCD are among seven awarded over €2.1 million in funding under the Research Ireland - Innovating in Health and Wellbeing Challenge.
The challenge was developed to help support new, potentially disruptive ideas that create solutions to complex health and wellbeing challenges in Ireland.
Along with academic researchers, each project includes a Societal Impact Champion, who comes from a non-academic background. They will help with identifying barriers and developing strategies to overcome them, maximising the societal impact of the solution.
The projects involving UCD that received funding are:
CHECK-ME: Cancer and Health Embedded ChecKs for MEntal health services
- Lead: (opens in a new window)Dr Paul D’Alton, UCD School of Psychology
- Co-Lead: (opens in a new window)Professor Brian O’Donoghue, UCD School of Medicine
- Societal Impact Champion: Louise Mullen, National Cancer Control Programme, HSE
This project will address low cancer screening and prevention among people with severe mental illness, aiming to improve early detection and reduce health inequities.
“One in every two people in Ireland will have cancer in their lifetime, but for those living with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression, their chances of surviving the disease are drastically different – their life expectancy is up to 30 years less,” explained Dr D’Alton.
“[There is evidence] that we can help people with severe mental illness to undergo treatments with fewer interruptions. We can actually do something to address one of the most profound inequities in our healthcare system.”
Moving Well - Being Well Computer Vision Assessment Tool
- Lead: Dr Stephen Behan, Dublin City University
- Co-Lead: (opens in a new window)Dr Deepu John, UCD School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Societal Impact Champion: Barry Horgan, Sport Ireland
This project uses AI to understand how children’s physical skills and feelings about physical activity are connected to their overall wellbeing.
“The funding is a vital catalyst for our mission to address childhood physical inactivity through scalable, privacy-first technology,” said Dr John.
“By developing lightweight, embedded computer vision models that run directly on affordable hardware, we are moving assessment out of the research lab and into the hands of teachers and parents. This award allows us to bridge the gap between complex AI and real-world health promotion, ensuring every child has the foundation of movement competence they need for a healthy, active life.”
Challenge-based funding is designed so that research teams work to develop a solution for a specific problem in collaboration with key stakeholders.
These can include healthcare professionals, patients and patient groups, policymakers, educators and businesses.
“Through the Innovating in Health and Wellbeing Challenge, we are empowering research teams to take bold, interdisciplinary approaches to some of the complex issues facing our healthcare system,” said Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, CEO of Research Ireland.
“These projects have the potential to reshape care pathways, improve outcomes, and ultimately contribute to a better healthcare system for all.”
By: Rebecca Hastings, Digital Journalist, UCD University Relations
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
