Project Area: Health service and technology evaluation
Project Summary
Healthcare systems are increasingly moving towards digital-first models of care. While new technologies promise efficiencies and improved coordination, they also bring significant changes to how healthcare professionals work, make decisions, and relate to patients. This PhD project focuses on what digital transformation means in practice for mental health professionals working with children and young people, using Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) as a key case study.
As CHI transitions towards a digital-first hospital group, mental health professionals are being asked to integrate electronic health records and other technology-enabled systems into their everyday clinical work. This research moves beyond asking whether these technologies are adopted, and instead explores how professionals experience and adapt to digital systems during periods of organisational change.
Using qualitative research methods, the project will examine clinicians’ everyday experiences of digital transformation, including how they maintain professional judgement, develop workarounds, and build competence in the systems they are required to use. The research will also examine the policies, implementation plans, and professional guidance shaping CHI’s digital transition.
By bringing together policy analysis, interviews with mental health professionals, and collaborative workshops, the project will develop practical insights into how digital systems can better support, rather than constrain, mental health practice.
The findings will be relevant to clinicians, service leaders, and policymakers involved in digital health planning and mental health service delivery. By centring the experiences of professionals working through change, this project will inform more trustworthy, supportive, and sustainable approaches to digital transformation in mental health services, producing lessons for healthcare systems beyond CHI.
Skills Required
(If applying for this project you will be asked to outline how you meet the skills required below)
This project requires a candidate who is not only methodologically capable, but also adaptable and open to working across disciplinary and professional boundaries. Given that the research is situated within a period of active organisational change at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), particular emphasis is placed on sensitivity, reflexivity, and interpersonal competence.
Essential Skills and Attributes:
- Sensitivity and ethical awareness
The candidate must demonstrate the ability to engage sensitively with mental health professionals who may be experiencing heightened levels of stress, uncertainty, and workload pressure as a result of digital transformation. This includes conducting interviews and workshops in ways that are respectful, non-judgemental, and attentive to participants’ emotional and professional contexts. Prior experience in mental health, healthcare, or related settings will be advantageous, but an explicit commitment to ethical, reflective practice is essential. - Strong qualitative research capability
The project relies on in-depth qualitative methods, including interviews, document analysis, and participatory workshops. The candidate should have foundational skills in qualitative research or a strong interest in developing them, including data collection, reflexive analysis, and interpretation of complex, context-dependent findings. - Ability to engage with policy and implementation frameworks
The candidate will need to work confidently with policy documents, digital health strategies, and implementation science frameworks. This requires analytical skills to interpret formal texts, identify assumptions and gaps, and relate policy intent to lived professional practice. An interest in health services research, implementation science, or sociotechnical studies is therefore essential. - Adaptability and comfort with complexity
Digital transformation is an evolving and uncertain process. The candidate must be comfortable working in contexts where plans, technologies, and organisational priorities may shift over time. This includes adapting research plans where necessary while maintaining methodological rigour and ethical integrity.
Desirable Skills and Attributes
- Facilitation and group engagement skills
The later phases of the project involve participatory workshops and stakeholder engagement activities. The candidate should either possess facilitation skills or demonstrate a clear willingness to develop them. This includes supporting constructive dialogue, managing differing perspectives, and creating inclusive spaces for reflection and discussion. - Interdisciplinary openness and collaborative mindset
The project sits at the intersection of digital health and health services research. The candidate should be open to learning across disciplines. - Communication and translation skills
Strong written and verbal communication skills are important for engaging academic, clinical, and policy audiences. The ability to translate complex qualitative insights into accessible, actionable outputs will be particularly valuable.
Overall, the project is well-suited to a candidate who is curious, reflective, and motivated to conduct research that is both empirically rigorous and attuned to the realities of professional practice during periods of change.
Supervisory team:
The PhD will be supervised by an interdisciplinary team with complementary expertise in digital mental health, Human Computer Interaction (HCI), and applied health research.
Dr David Coyle (UCD Computer Science) will act as PI and Primary Supervisor. He has a strong background in the design of digital mental health technologies, has prior experience of supervising PhDs in this area and has successfully led large multi-disciplinary projects. He currently leads the EU COST Action on Digital Mental Health for Young People (YouthDMH) and previously lead the TEAM, an EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network on youth mental health.
Dr Claudette Pretorius (UCD Computer Science) will act as Co-Supervisor, bringing expertise in counselling psychology, qualitative health research, and the design of supportive digital systems for mental health contexts. Dr Kevin Doherty (UCD Information and Communication Sciences) will act as Co Supervisor, contributing deep expertise in the design, sociotechnical study and implementation of computing technologies in healthcare.
Dr Phillip Coey, Clinical Psychologist with Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), will join the supervisory team as a Clinical Co Supervisor. He will provide critical clinical and service level insight into paediatric mental health practice, digital transformation within CHI, and the realities of delivering care in a large national children’s health system. His involvement will ensure that the project remains grounded in clinical priorities, ethical considerations, and service practicalities, and will support meaningful engagement with clinicians and services throughout the research process.
This project will be based in UCD.
